Cloth diapers v. Disposable

IBackBevo · December 2013

Kimbus22 said:

I'll throw my hat on the disposable side of this argument. Frankly I'm just too damn lazy for cloth. I do 8-10 loads of laundry a week already. I can't fathom adding more to that.

I only know one person outside the bump who uses CD. I know a few who tried it for a while but they all deemed it too much hassle, even the ones who used a diaper service.

This. I have a hard time even keeping up with bottles/sippy cups, dishes and laundry that we do have. With work and DS and just trying not to drown, I don't think I could add one more thing into the mix. Also, I don't know if my daycare would go along with CD...at least I don't know anyone there who uses them. Sometimes the dirty bottles from daycare sit around a couple of days before I have time to clean them/steam them (they usually are put in a bag and sometimes get overlooked...especially if DH picks up DS)...I can't even imagine if the dirty CD got overlooked or accidentally left in the car for several days. Actually, I can. One time DS got poop on his clothes and daycare put them in a laundry bag. DH just threw the entire bag in the laundry room (I didn't know about the clothes) and then they got other clothes piled on top of them. By the time I found them, there was literally some sort of organism growing on them and they had to just be thrown away.

I have never had a problem with stinky disposable diapers. When DS was younger, we used a diaper genie, but now we just use a trash can with a lid. Our trash comes twice a week and I just never notice the stinky diapers being a problem unless we literally go like two weeks without taking out the trash from the nursery.

I am not in anyway bashing anyone who CD's or CDing. I actually think what they are doing is awesome! I just can honestly say that it isn't for me.

Edit: I also have very rarely had a problem with blow outs or leaks..the daycare situation was really only one of about 2-3 times we have had blowouts that I can think of and my DS is 15 months. We use LUVS for daytime as we found them to be the best. We use a nighttime diaper (I think Pampers) for nights and that thing will literally hold about 12 hours of pee. It is incredible.

danabsd · December 2013

sthomas1222 said:

@lica001 no I don't change every time she pees. I change her every 2-3 hours. Even with a disposable you should change that often. I went through more disposables than cloth b/c I changed every time that blue line popped up! And there are far fewer rashes with cloth b/c there are no chemicals. The week we did disposables DD stayed super red & irritated. At almost 11 months we're having our first bout of rash due to crazy teething induce diarrhea. If a baby is sensitive to wetness there are stay dry inserts or fleece liners you can put down to keep baby dry.

I don't think that is a fair statement. I can count the amount of rashes we have had in disposables on one hand. They can be attributed to teething, antibiotics and pineapple. Never the diaper. I know plenty of bumpies in cloth who have dealt with more rashes and bumpies in disposables who have dealt with less. Another one of those things that really depends upon the kid.

Mittens14 · December 2013

danabsd said:

I'll be the odd man out. We do disposables. Pampers Swaddlers during the day and Baby Dry at night. Cloth just isn't for us. We don't do our clothes laundry more than once a week, so there's that. I had diaper raffles at both my showers and stocked up on diapers while PG. I am doing the same now. Beb was almost 8 months old before we had to buy diapers. Now we buy in bulk from mainly Amazon S&S. Unless BRU or Target is less with coupons and sales. We take a box to daycare when they ask and keep the rest here. It works well for us.

I literally could have typed this myself! We did exactly the same with DS, even right down to the brand/types that you used except we used swaddlers sensitive! And with Amazon subscribe and save I NEVER once ran out of diapers (or even had to go to the store to get them, snowstorm or not!) Once per month diapers/wipes/diaper genie refills magically appeared on my porch We also never dealt with any stench or smells from the diaper sitting around till the garbage went out... we have a diaper genie and emptied it on a regular basis. Also, DS's daycare did not permit cloth diapers. I will be doing the exact same thing for DD this go around, only maybe changing the type of diapers if the type I used for DS don't work for DD. Every family is different

ETA: DS also never had any blowouts and never once even had diaper rash with the diapers/wipes we used which is why those are the only kind we used.

KatieP71312 · December 2013

Just wanted to add Elementals have the WORST reputation as far as drying time goes. We never air dry and they would dry in one to 1.5 cycles in my dryer. Yes longer than pockets but I don't enjoy stuffing pockets at all.

Hnova86 · December 2013

We just started CDing our 19month old. I have about 24 pockets and 48 inserts. I've only spent $130 on the entire stash believe it or not!! I REALLLLLY like diaper safari pockets and I bought my others second hand and those are all sunbaby's. I just really deep cleaned and sanitized the heck out of the second hand ones. I HATE laundry too....but for some reason the laundry from CDing doesn't bother me at all. We do diaper laundry about every 3 days. We use pocket diapers and I LOVE them. Every once in a while we'll have a leak at night. But it's only happened maybe twice since starting and it was my fault for not putting the right doubler in :-/ and poop is no issue. Just plop it in the toilet and that's it. Figuring out a good washing routine was the hardest thing for us. But it only took me a few washes to figure it out. We do a cold rinse initially, HOT wash cycle with an extra cold rinse in the end. We haven't seen the cost savings YET because we get billed every other month for our water, trash and sewage. Our city lumps the bills all together. But I can't see it being too bad since its only 2 extra loads a week. But we still have some disposables left over from our amazon S&S membership that we are using for the babysitters or long outings. But once they are gone, they are gone. I just find CDing to be no more difficult than disposables. Easy peasy!! But it's definitely not for everyone.

HelenMae · December 2013

I'm interested in using cloth diapers with my first and was wondering if there is a waterproof cloth diaper you use for when the child goes "swimming".

jntaylor11 · December 2013

HelenMae said:
I'm interested in using cloth diapers with my first and was wondering if there is a waterproof cloth diaper you use for when the child goes "swimming".

Yes. Well sort of, no swim diaper is waterproof, they all leak pee, but they hold in the poo. You can generally buy them in the same places you buy regular cd's

sthomas1222 · December 2013

HelenMae said:
I'm interested in using cloth diapers with my first and was wondering if there is a waterproof cloth diaper you use for when the child goes "swimming".

I just use our Grovia cover without the insert (insert will weigh them down & could cause drowning). Grovia recommends this many times thought the summer on their Facebook page, doesn't void their warranty.

pistolpackinmomma · December 2013

HelenMae said:
I'm interested in using cloth diapers with my first and was wondering if there is a waterproof cloth diaper you use for when the child goes "swimming".

Swim diapers do nothing with pee (do not put a kid in a swim diaper before getting in the car to go to the pool!!) but simply hold in poop. We used a pocket without an insert. They sell reusable swim diapers but we already had the pocket diaper so didn't see the point in buying something else.

jenb_99 · December 2013

I briefly considered cloth but went with disposable anyway. It's always been super easy for us. DS hardly ever blew out after we switched to Luvs, and I order them on Amazon via Subscribe and Save, so we've never run out of diapers, not even close. Luvs are super inexpensive, especially with a subscription.

Even if we had gone with cloth during the day, DS still would've required a disposable overnight diaper.

danabsd · December 2013

HelenMae said:

I'm interested in using cloth diapers with my first and was wondering if there is a waterproof cloth diaper you use for when the child goes "swimming".

The low down on swim diapers: https://www.lucieslist.com/lucies-list-blog/2013/5/17/guide-to-summer-part-2-swim-diapers.html

Mimaloo · December 2013

Someone told me that cloth diapers actually aren't as eco-friendly as people think they are - more laundry, and if you hire a service, more gas, etc. I'm not sure if I believe that as I picture mounds and mounds of disposables in a landfill somewhere.

I've been going back and fourth too though. I like that cloth diapers are a cheaper and more eco-friendly option, but I also don't like the idea of cleaning them and them and folding and pinning in the middle of the night so I've already started stocking up on disposables.

sthomas1222 · December 2013

Mimaloo said:

Someone told me that cloth diapers actually aren't as eco-friendly as people think they are - more laundry, and if you hire a service, more gas, etc. I'm not sure if I believe that as I picture mounds and mounds of disposables in a landfill somewhere.

I've been going back and fourth too though. I like that cloth diapers are a cheaper and more eco-friendly option, but I also don't like the idea of cleaning them and them and folding and pinning in the middle of the night so I've already started stocking up on disposables.

Completely untrue (except maybe for the service use). My water & electricity have not gone up at all. Maybe having a kid in general is bad for the environment b/c I definitely do much more laundry than before lol!

right now there's no clue as to when a disposable finally breaks down, some estimates out it at 300-500+ years. So your diapers from when you were a baby are still sitting in a land fill somewhere...

pistolpackinmomma · December 2013

Mimaloo said:
Someone told me that cloth diapers actually aren't as eco-friendly as people think they are - more laundry, and if you hire a service, more gas, etc. I'm not sure if I believe that as I picture mounds and mounds of disposables in a landfill somewhere.

I've been going back and fourth too though. I like that cloth diapers are a cheaper and more eco-friendly option, but I also don't like the idea of cleaning them and them and folding and pinning in the middle of the night so I've already started stocking up on disposables.

The days of pinning are no more! There are pockets, all in ones and hybrids that go on similar to a disposable and if using prefolds/covers then the snappi is amazing!

sthomas1222 · December 2013

Yeh I don't even know anyone who uses pins & more of my friends use cloth than sposies! Even though I love a prefold I use a pocket or fitted for night time. For newborn we did better fit prefold, so just folded & laid in the cover, not even a snappi!

LeeLee86 · December 2013

I really wanted to do CD but DH WILL NOT even entertain the idea

We settled on The Honest Company monthly diaper service to start. Maybe I can get him on board after we get into the swing of FTparenting...
Jealous of all you CD mommies!

mirdamae03 · December 2013

All of my BF fluff is in and getting prepped right now! Woohoo!

ho11yday · December 2013

DH didn't want to use cloth and I didn't care one way or the other and, considering that DH is the primary caregiver, we went with disposables.

I don't ever remember spending $150/month on diapers and I've only bought Pampers (swaddlers/cruisers) since DH was born. I currently spend about $50-$60 per month on diapers, depending on where I buy them (online vs. mortar-and-brick stores); this last month, I bought enough diapers for the month for $54 in size 6. I spent more on formula per month than I ever did on diapers.

We only had blow outs when either the diapers weren't fitting right (needed to go up in size) or when we put them on incorrectly (silly us).

Several people I know used cloth and loved them.

tjkdlhb · December 2013

DH was not excited about the idea (he's not the most environmentally friendly person), but didn't care enough one way or the other.

He now says that he cannot believe that more people don't CD because it's easy and way cheaper.

pistolpackinmomma · December 2013

tjkdlhb said:
DH was not excited about the idea (he's not the most environmentally friendly person), but didn't care enough one way or the other.

He now says that he cannot believe that more people don't CD because it's easy and way cheaper.

I presented the cost savings to DH and that was all he needed to hear. I'll be honest, we do it because it's cheaper rather than for the environmental aspect.

sthomas1222 · December 2013

Yeh my tops reasons are I'm cheap & they're super cute. Environment is a good reason but not my top reason.

sws684 · December 2013

This advice is GREAT! Thank you all!

pistolpackinmomma · December 2013

sthomas1222 said:
Yeh my tops reasons are I'm cheap & they're super cute. Environment is a good reason but not my top reason.

Yeah I could have gotten by much cheaper on my stash but they're just too damn cute!!

sthomas1222 · December 2013

@pistolpackinmomma me too! Thankfully I won over $600 worth of stuff doubling my stash. To fund my new wool obsession I've been selling some stuff off. DH is actually mad b/c he feels like we need every last diaper. Uhm I don't need 3 weeks worth of CDs b/c yes it takes me that long to run out of diapers when I'm doing my mighty bubbles treatment & keeping stuff separate...

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