Any cloth diapering mamas out there?

koehn27 · January 2015

My DD is 12 months (today!) And I've been cloth diapering since we brought her home from the hospital. I was nervous to do it in the beginning, but now I would never consider going back because I love it!! I use prefolds (Indian cotton from cottonbabies.com) and covers (rumparooz and thirsties because they have double gussets). My advice for new CD moms would be to give it a good try. Its so easy and there are different kinds of diapers to suit every need and preference! Also, poop really isn't a big issue (that was my biggest worry).

Any other CD mamas out there? What's your favorite kind/brand? Any advice for those new to the CD world?

Patella1129 · January 2015

I used CDs with my two and plan on doing so with this baby too. I use prefolds from green mountain diapers and have a variety of covers. My favorite covers are still the newborn Thirsties covers. Rumparooz, Blueberry Coveralls and Mommy's Touch were other brands I tried.

We have 4 bum genius pockets and those are definitely my favorite for ease of use. No baby-sitter (Grandmas included!) has ever figured out the Snappi for prefolds. They never pull it tight enough. If I were to do it all over, I would invest in more pockets and maybe even some AIOs.

+lisamarie+ · January 2015

I did total cloth with my DD. We used pocket diapers with cloth inserts. We attached a sprayer to the toilet for messy diapers and it was never a big deal. It is super easy to do and can seem a bit intimidating/gross to many. The biggest thing is the make sure you are using the correct detergents and to soak them. That's a mistake I made (not soaking them) and allowed ammonia to build up, making them stinky! I used the hybrid Gdiapers with disposal inserts with my last one. I really like the Gdiapers the best, but only with the disposables. There's no barrier when using the cloth inserts and can leave them with a rash if not changed often. There are many options out there and a few sires that will give you a few different ones to try out. Don't be intimidated any FTMs!!

PoppyKisses · January 2015

This will be my first baby but I have been doing lots of research and am excited to give cloth diapering a shot! Looking forward to hearing any tips you guys have!

GR8TDANEMOM · January 2015

I cloth diapered my son until he was 15 months. I ended up switching because he pooped a million times a day and the diaper sprayer couldn't be hooked up to are old toilet. My favorite diapers ever are swaddlebees all in one sized diapers. They aren't as cost effective but the are so trim and amazing!

Patella1129 · January 2015

I used a wetbag or a plastic grocery bag to hold the diapers for when we were out. Once baby was eating solid foods thought and the poop was grosser though, I used disposable diapers if we were out for a while and I thought they might poop. I didn't want to travel around with toddler poop in my bag!

mara005 · January 2015

When I was pregnant with DS I thought (and told others) I will NEVER cloth diaper, that's super gross!

Well it's my face red now! When DS was about 4 months old we moved into our house from an apartment and now had a washer/dryer of our own and then though, hell this will save us a ton of money! So I got a starter pack from GroVia and never looked back. I love that we clothed diapered, but before I got into it I definitely thought it was intimidating.

mamaZbo · January 2015

I cloth diapered my first for 2 years until she grew out of them. I used mostly one-size pockets- bum genius, kawaii, fuzzibunz and other random brands since that is what daycare was comfortable with. I used prefolds at home with blueberry covers. I expect to cloth diaper this one as well.

+lisamarie+ · January 2015

rainbowsandunicorns said:
I'm a FTM and planning on using cloth diadiapers. I love the cost effectiveness and environmentally friendly.

Any tips on washing and what you did when you were out and about with you LOs?

I used disposal inserts from Gdiapers when we were out so I could just toss it (or those you can also flush). There is nothing worse IMO then carrying around a crappy diaper, stinking up everything around

However, they do have these scented diaper plastic bags on a roll that did work just fine at masking any orders for when I did have to change the cover as well!

mara005 · January 2015

Oh yes, just like @+lisamarie+ we had a diaper sprayer and DH made a homemade "potty pail" (see picture)

mamaZbo · January 2015

Washing was simple. I use regular tide and do a rinse, wash, double rinse. Dry inserts in dryer and sun dry covers. No stink, no stains. I used medium planet-wise wet bags for daycare and out and about and large hanging wet bags for home. I have enough diapers I can wash every other, or every third day.

leighalou91 · January 2015

PoppyKisses said:
This will be my first baby but I have been doing lots of research and am excited to give cloth diapering a shot! Looking forward to hearing any tips you guys have!

This.

GR8TDANEMOM · January 2015

mara005 said:
Oh yes, just like @+lisamarie+ we had a diaper sprayer and DH made a homemade "potty pail" (see picture)

This is genius!

mara005 · January 2015

@GR8TDANEMOM Yes, DH was quite proud of himself, haha!

layloo08 · January 2015

I am a FTM and I love the idea of cloth diapering. DH thinks it is gross... We have a diaper service close to where we live and they have a wonderful website that tells the benefits. I had him read it and he is still on the fence about it. I wonder too about daycare and handling washing as a working mama? DH just got a new job so FX that me being a stay at home mom will be an option!

Beezee03 · January 2015

I would really like to cloth diaper . I had only had one experience with them thus far however. One of my friends used them (not sure what style brand) and my concern about them was the child's legs always seemed so separated and hips out of whack. Almost like a horseshoe shape. Jeeze I don't even know if that makes sense. Anyways, do certain brands cause this bulkiness? Were they using the wrong sizes? I'm clueless here lol and will obviously do research but just wanted to know if anyone has run into this! Thank you

cookiedough22 · January 2015

I've considered using cloth diapers but will need to get my husband on board. I've thought about using disposable liners to throw away poop.

Anyone have experience with using those?

artteacher19 · January 2015

I've been considering CD as well. What's really the cost difference?

cporter1020 · January 2015

I am very interested. Does anyone have any favorite reasonable brands out there?

Jenn2122 · January 2015

I really want to use cloth. My DH and inlaws have expressed their dismay over it quite loudly though so I'm not sure how Im going to make it work. My friend used them with her second and loved them! There's so many perks to them but my DH doesn't want to deal with the poop. I'm hoping after talking with our friends husband-it'll change his mind.

ShellyR · January 2015

The jury is out on what we are going to do. We are first time parents and I think it is either cloth diapers or Honest company diapers for our LO.

mamaZbo · January 2015

I expected I was going to use disposable liners, and I did when I remembered, but most of the time I forgot. I did not have a sprayer, I just pulled the inset out and swished them in the toilet. No issues. I don't feel like I came into more contact with poop than if I used disposables.

JumpAroundBucky · January 2015

I'm a CD failure. I tried for 2 days, but I couldn't make it work (I'm sure the colic and PPD had a hand in that). I still have all my diapers (mostly fuzzibuns pockets and other randoms). I have a lot of mom friends who CD and they're going to come over and walk me through exactly what to do, so I'll be all prepared for this one.

koehn27 · January 2015

rainbowsandunicorns said:
I'm a FTM and planning on using cloth diadiapers. I love the cost effectiveness and environmentally friendly.

Any tips on washing and what you did when you were out and about with you LOs?

Invest in a diaper sprayer to help rinse off poppy diapers. When washing, I do a cold rinse without soap, then a hot wash with soap. You don't have to buy fancy soap (I know plenty of ladies who use tide free), but I use Rockin Green detergent because I have a LO with very sensitive skin and it really helps cut out any ammonia that may hang around. Drying is mostly preference. I hang dry the covers and dry the prefolds on low

As for being out and about, just bring along a wet bag to toss the dirty diapers in and you're good to go. Its really no hassle at all! I've even traveled on a plane with DD in cloth!

koehn27 · January 2015

Oh! Something to add!! Make sure the diaper creams you choose are cloth diaper safe!! If its not, it will mess up the cloth and they will not be as absorbent, and its a pain to get that stuff off (I mistakenly used desitin once...oy!). My favorite cloth safe brands are CJs Butter (monkey farts is the BEST smell!) and Grandma El's. You can also use coconut oil!

SpartyKim · January 2015

We've been CDing DD since she was 6 days old (used disposables we were gifted for all the meconium). We used primarily prefolds & covers until DD started Mother's Day Out at a year old, then we bought some cheap but good quality pockets. The teachers weren't familiar with CDing but had no problems using them. I took a tote bag with clean diapers every day and a wet bag to put the used diapers in and picked them up every day. All our prefolds & pockets are DiaperRite brand from DiaperJunction.com and we love them. I use Thirsties covers with the prefolds.

All breastmilk and formula poop is water soluble and is the consistency of peanut butter so we didn't start rinsing the poop off the diapers until DD started eating solids and her poop became more solid. As long as you use the correct amount of detergent, your diapers will be fully cleaned and so will the washer. I cut up and surged the edges of old towels to use for cloth wipes, moistening them with water when I need to use them.

We have a diaper sprayer attached to our toilet and I transport the poopy diapers in an old wipes container from the changing table to the toilet, plop any turds out, spray the diaper and then put it back in the wipes container to take back to the diaper pail so it doesn't drip water through my house. Some people keep a wet bag right at their toilet. Some people also prefer to dip their diapers in the toilet and use a spatula to get poop off.

We switch to disposables when we go on vacation just because space is an issue when flying, but if we drive, I'll take cloth. Cloth diapers do require more work if your LO develops a yeast rash, like after taking antibiotics. The diapers have to be sanitized otherwise the yeast could take hold in the diapers & re-infect your LO, so it's a good idea to switch to disposables while the rash is present plus a few more days. The anti-yeast cream isn't CD-friendly anyways.

I used Tide Original powder to wash CDs until Tide started including the blue flecks (Activ crystals) then switched to Tide Free & Clear powder. I have a HE top-load washer and run a rinse & spin cycle first (spin is important so dirty water is expelled) then the Bulky Items cycle with Hot/Cold water and an extra rinse. The Bulky Items cycle fills the entire tub with water.

Sorry this is so long but we love our CDs! And the CD board on TB is great if you have questions.

lindy27 · January 2015

Us. Have been using them for 2.5 years and finally PTed this weekend. My favorite type are BumGenius 4.0.

koehn27 · January 2015

Jenn2122 said:
I really want to use cloth. My DH and inlaws have expressed their dismay over it quite loudly though so I'm not sure how Im going to make it work. My friend used them with her second and loved them! There's so many perks to them but my DH doesn't want to deal with the poop. I'm hoping after talking with our friends husband-it'll change his mind.

My hubby was not on board either, but because I'm the one who changes 98% of the diapers I made the executive decision haha! it also helped a bit to point out how much money we're not throwing away on disposable diapers, which he appreciated.

SpartyKim · January 2015

I'm a geek and have actually kept track of how many diapers I'm using, counting them each time I wash them. I've spent just over $700 on my CD stash but I figure I've used them more than enough to justify the cost.

DD will turn 2.5 yrs old later this month and I've used my CD's over 7,800 times. I know I change them more often than a disposable but they don't hold as much liquid and DD can feel the wetness when she wearing a prefold.

Avg disposables cost .17-.27 cents each for newborn size, .13-.25 cents each for size 1 and it goes up to about .32 cents each for size 5 which is DD's current size in disposables. A newborn goes through about 10 diapers a day and that decreases to about 5-6 disposable diapers a day for a toddler.

Enough geek-i-ness.

prairiedreams · January 2015

CD failure and proud! DS and I got crazy thrush that lasted 12 + weeks and I just couldn't handle the CD through it all.

A good friend made all her CD and uses them faithfully when they traveled to visit us you could smell her daughter- grossest thing ever, honestly felt bad for her little bum.

The other thing I wonder is people forget the cost of water, soap and electricity to run the machines to wash and dry them.

SidraJedi · January 2015

I CD full time for the first year with DD starting from her very first diaper. I now CD part time. Mostly bc I need to buy more covers bc I lost several in our recent move. I still use 100% cloth wipes. I have two wet bags that I use while out or sometimes I use plastic bags if I am in a pinch.

When DD started eating solids I clean the doodoo using the dunk and swish method. I use Charlie's Soap laundry powder.

I love thirsties o/s covers and I use The Indian cotton cottonbabies.com prefolds. I also like my bububibi o/s covers for older babies and I like my pro wrap and bummis covers for newborns too. But I reccomend the thirsties o/s (1's and 2's) bc that's really all I ever needed. However DD was born 8lb13oz so there's that.

I HATE Alva diapers I bought a bunch and treated them like my other diapers and they smelled like a barnyard after a few months. I couldn't even bleach (not real bleach) it out of them! And they fall apart (the plastic seperated from the inside). I also have a wet bag from Alva that fell apart before a year. Do not reccomend.

When DD was a week old I started to use a diaper service. I used it for about a month. It helped me get comfortable without having to do the work of cleaning the diapers in that tender PP period. It was especially helpful for me bc we didn't have a washer/dryer. I had to wash and dry my own diapers at the laundromat two blocks away. If you have a diaper service it can be worth it at first!

ETA: sizing clarity

piedpiper07 · January 2015

I love cloth diapers!!! We got 8 covers and 24 inserts (all in twos) and it was enough for us to CD our DS. Our original beginner pack was $300 (from AMP) and we only bought 8 more large covers for an additional $100 when DS was about 6 months old.

I will be doing CDs again for sure!

sparks4stp · January 2015

We have been cding since this lo was a little less than 2 months and he's going on 17 months now. Already got my newborn gmd workhorses for the new baby so I can start from the beginning.
We started off with prefolds and covers which were great for infant stage. I also had pockets for my mom to use on days she watched him and for overnights. I was never really a fan of pockets and he eventually outgrew the absorbency for overnight. Now I use fitteds without covers most of the time. We will use a cover when we are out and about and we use wool for overnight. I'm really starting to get into wool vs pul covers and just bought a huge lot of used sloomb that I'm excited to get!

malonc2 · January 2015

I've been doing a lot of research on this as well, and trying to convince my husband! This info is very helpful

does anyone use a diaper service? We have a good one near us who includes a bunch of natural disposables each week as well as the cloth diapers and I may look into this if I need to put my baby in daycare.

koehn27 · January 2015

prairiedreams said:
CD failure and proud! DS and I got crazy thrush that lasted 12 + weeks and I just couldn't handle the CD through it all.

A good friend made all her CD and uses them faithfully when they traveled to visit us you could smell her daughter- grossest thing ever, honestly felt bad for her little bum.

The other thing I wonder is people forget the cost of water, soap and electricity to run the machines to wash and dry them.

So sorry to hear about the thrush! That sounds terrible!!!

I've never had the issue of my LO being smelly...that sounds more like an issue with not changing her often enough.

As for the cost of caring for the diapers, I really see no difference. You don't have to use special soap, but I do choose to because of my DDs sensitive skin. I also use the same soap on her clothes, so I'd be buying it anyway. I only wash three small loads of diapers every week, so it doesn't have much of an effect on water/electricity. I do WAY more regular laundry haha

LawnDog1216 · January 2015

I love ours. I did my research, and made a purchase plan over the course of my pregnancy. MH and my mom and my MIL were all like, "NO WAY." I went ahead and bought 24 Bum Genius 4.0s, and 18 months later everyone loves them. They're easy, the poop is not an issue in the least (I bought liners and used those during the formula days), and we've never ONCE had a case of diaper rash. I got a trial size tube of diaper rash cream as a shower gift--and it's never been cracked open. LOVE the CDs.

andbabymakessix · January 2015

I'm a pretty loyal GroVia user. Diapers are fantastic and so is the customer service. Can't beat that! And I just found Lil Helper diapers with our last little guy. They make these charcoal diapers that are my new go-to for nights time diapering. Those things hold SO much pee and keep baby feeling dry all night. Magic

This will be baby #4 in cloth! I love sharing CD info....anyone feel free to pm me!

cookiedough22 · January 2015

LawnDog1216 said:
I love ours. I did my research, and made a purchase plan over the course of my pregnancy. MH and my mom and my MIL were all like, "NO WAY." I went ahead and bought 24 Bum Genius 4.0s, and 18 months later everyone loves them. They're easy, the poop is not an issue in the least (I bought liners and used those during the formula days), and we've never ONCE had a case of diaper rash. I got a trial size tube of diaper rash cream as a shower gift--and it's never been cracked open. LOVE the CDs.

Where did you make your purchases? I'm thinking of using an all in one (not sure if that's the right term) with liners as well.

I want the easiest diapers I can get. I think my husband would appreciate that more.

piedpiper07 · January 2015

YogiKC0519 said:

@piedpiper07‌ what brand diapers did you buy? That sounds like a great price!

@YogiKC0519 I bought AMP diapers, they are made where I live. I have linked the exact package I bought, although it is about $80 more since this was a few years ago and I bought the package at a Baby and Kids show when they were having a big promotion.

Still a great price, because I literally didn't have to buy anything else until he outgrew the small covers. I didn't have really any money the first time I was pregnant and this saved us so much money.

stahlop · January 2015

I've CD's with both kids and plan on doing it with this one as well. I use pocket diapers. I buy Alvababy brand (China Cheapies). I love them and recommend them to anyone who wants to try cloth (I've actually converted a few friends).

JGY · January 2015

We use a service and, for us, that has made it totally doable. Obviously it negates some of the cost savings, but we're okay with that. In theory we shouldn't have had to buy any diapers outright, but as it turns out we don't get nearly enough covers with the service (plenty of prefolds though), so I bought some Shine Baby brand ones on eBay and they've been great. Also, our daycare exclusively cloth diapers and they provide them while the kids are onsite, so that's cut down on cost quite a bit as well (plus we didn't have to fight any battles with them about what to do when DS shows up in the morning in a CD).

DS was a pretty good night-time sleeper in his first few months of life, so we started using disposables overnight at a pretty young age (I don't want to wake my kid up just to change him, if he's willing to sleep a longer stretch without nursing). That also worked well for us.

As PP have said, when we're out for longer stretches I will often put him in disposables. But that has more to do with giving us a little wiggle room on the time between needing a change, than it does in me not wanting to carry poopy diapers around.

We are also in the "No snappy" camp. I could never get that darn thing to work. As it turns out, I never needed to.

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