Cloth Diapers 101

FriendlySoutherner · June 2015

This is something I want to try eventually. I am unsure of the amount I will need at first, whats the best type (reuse at least once or twice) and an estimate price?

minivanmafia · June 2015

I have no advice... We have used disposables for the first two. However, we are entertaining the idea of me possibly staying home this time around... If so I may look into Cloth Diapering.

so I'm following your post!

vtwd40 · June 2015

There's a lot of options out there. We started CDing my little girl when she was 2 weeks. We did prefokd say and covers until she was about 6 months. We did pockets for day care, to make it easier on them. Figure you wash every other day. The best thing would be to see if you have a store local that you could get some ideas from.

kayjay44 · June 2015

We used NB AIO (newborn all in ones - bum genius and lil' joeys) starting at 2 weeks and started using OS (one size) at maybe 12-15 weeks (we use a combination of bum genius 4.0 pockets and Freetimes).

We've spent a ridiculous amount on CDs, but it's addicting.

We preferred AIO for the newborn stage as it is so easy when you are super crazy tired, but prefolds and covers are much cheaper. Same goes for one size dipes.

FriendlySoutherner · June 2015

Thanks ladies for all of your replies. I will have to google all of the terms and differences so that I can see how each are different. I plan to wait at least until the 2 week stage as well, maybe even 4 or 5. I saw some online at Walmart for $20+ bucks and was like omg! It may be cheaper in the end but the utility bill will likely go up along with all of the frequent washing. I guess I can test it out for a while and see.

kayjay44 · June 2015

FWIW, our water bill increase by maybe $2 a month. No big difference in electricity.

Wurrkingurrl · June 2015

Just an FYI there is a cloth diapering board where you can get lots of good advice and actually a lot of info on youtube too.

Jilly82 · June 2015

I started with about 12 Bum Genius diapers. I loved them and bought more eventually. If you have any questions, let me know!!

Life is Exciting · June 2015

There are a series of YouTube videos called cloth diapering 101 I think. It was very helpful in the beginning as I was starting to learn the terminology.

I have cloth diapered my son for 21 months now and use a wide variety of cloth diapers.

I also thought prefolds and covers were the easiest for the first few months, before he started daycare and started eating solids and got wriggly during diaper changes. I still use them as my overnight cloth diapering solution because they're easy to stuff with extra fabric.

For daycare, I find pockets, all-in-ones and all-in-twos to be the easiest for them.

My favorite brands are:
1. Bumgenius (snaps only, their Velcro is junk)
2. Tots bots (these are a little pricey and can be hard to find, but look on the cloth diaper websites for them. They are sooo luxuriously soft on baby's bum, have adorable designs, and have the added benefit of being really easy to spray poop off of). They have good quality Velcro.
3. Grovia (they make a snap-in insert that is gusseted and has a waterproof backing, so you can actually get away with just snapping in a new insert if it's just pee). They have good quality Velcro as well.
4. Thirsties all-in-one. I've never had a leak with these. They do take forever to dry though (because they're so absorbent)
5. Lil Joeys preemie/newborn diapers. I'm in love with these. We had two of them and they were the only cloth diaper that fit my 6 lb preemie. We alternated between those and disposables until he fit into the regular cloth diapers. (Fit up to 12 lbs)

FreshBakedBrownies · June 2015

I love using cloth diapers (cheaper, cuter, better for environment). I also feel so much better knowing cotton is touching my baby 24/7, not weird chemicals in disposables!
I've tried all styles, but I still like prefolds and covers best for my now 2 year old.

anamilia · June 2015

We use a cloth diapering service. They deliver clean diapers once a week and pick up the dirty ones. The price depends on how many you get, but I believe they suggest starting out with 80 diapers a week. This was about $90/month. Right now, at 22 months we are down to 20 a week (use goes down as they get older,we are potty training, and our daycare will only use disposable). We had to buy diaper covers and snappis, but that was the only other investment. We did make sure to get good diaper pails so that the smell was contained.

The cloth diapers have been great for preventing diaper rash. Our little one has only gotten diaper at daycare where they will only use disposables. So, we have only had to buy like 3 tubes of diaper ointment in 22 months.

You can Google diaper service and your city and see% if there are any services. I was surprised how many there are around the country.

ecmb · June 2015

Someone told me about workhorse fitteds (with covers) that I am planning to use initially. They don't require special detergent and can be dried in the dryer instead of line dried.

kayjay44 · June 2015

ecmb said:

Someone told me about workhorse fitteds (with covers) that I am planning to use initially. They don't require special detergent and can be dried in the dryer instead of line dried.

We wash all of our diapers with regular powdered tide and dry them in the dryer (currently only using BG diapers). It's never been an issue.

HBirdie · June 2015

I didn't like the CD101 video series, but the Cloth vlog on YouTube by ObbsAndLala taught me everything I know! There are so many types of diapers out there that you really have to do your research and see what works for you. We only use pockets. You can't reuse the shell but we find them easiest and least likely to leak of anything we tried. Our favorite brand is Charlie Banana, but I also like Kawaiis.

wagvan · June 2015

magnumJ said:

ecmb said:

Someone told me about workhorse fitteds (with covers) that I am planning to use initially. They don't require special detergent and can be dried in the dryer instead of line dried.

We wash all of our diapers with regular powdered tide and dry them in the dryer (currently only using BG diapers). It's never been an issue.

Yeah. In 22 years and 7 kids worth of cloth diapering, I have owned and used pretty much every diaper and diaper system known to humanity. Other than my woolies, I washed and dried all of them. And 90% of the time I used plain old free and clear detergent. And we have super hard water. I just laugh at the people who don't dry PUL covers and diaper. I just want to say, "Uh, you do know PUL was developed for use in the medical field and created to be autoclaved, right? A household dryer isn't going to hurt it unless its defective or sub-par materials." But I (usually) keep my snark to myself. I figure they must have scads of time to blow of complicated washing routines.

That being said, the GMD workhorse diapers are great! They are basically pre-folds that have been made into fitteds. (Not exactly, but that's the effect.)

Also, I went up in the attic and saw I have a bunch of nice diapers (Embroidered pockets and hyena fitteds and such) that have shot elastic. If you are looking for cheap cloth diapering, the best thing I have found is to buy diapers with shot elastic and replace the elastic yourself. You can often get them for a few $ or FFS (free for shipping) and if you have a sewing machine that you can use or borrow that does a zig zag (3 step zigzag is best) it is super easy to replace shot elastic.

Also, I used to be an admin at the Diaper Sewing Divas forum (It is now Make Laugh Love, but is going to be closing because the traffic is way down) I know how to sew about every type of cloth diaper out there. There are loads of free patterns out there, and you can upcycle things from around the house or goodwill to make a fabulous cloth diaper stash for free or almost free. Honestly, you can do it, even if you have never sewed before. Cloth diapers are the best thing to learn to sew on. Because even if your first few don't look perfect, they are just poop catchers and will function perfectly fine.

If there is interest, I'd be happy to lead some build your CD stash threads. If we made 1 diaper a week from now until birth, we would all have a sweet CD stash! I could maybe even offer up prizes like a diaper cut of PUL for anyone who participates each week. We could do a different style or type of diaper each week.

What do you think? Is anyone interested? We could do a thread a week over in the CD forum. Let me know if you are interested and what types of diapers you want to make and if you want to do upcycled (you'd need 100% cotton t-shirts/sweatshirts. flannel receiving blankets, 100% wool sweaters and poly fleece clothes to turn into your diapers.)

If you don't have a sewing machine, I can help you look for a good used one, or I can tell you how to hand sew diapers (though it is much more time consuming. But where there is a will, there is a way!)

wagvan · June 2015

Oh, and I can show you how to knit or crochet wool soakers, shorties and longies too. I love longies.

Life is Exciting · June 2015

wagvan said:

magnumJ said:

ecmb said:

Someone told me about workhorse fitteds (with covers) that I am planning to use initially. They don't require special detergent and can be dried in the dryer instead of line dried.

We wash all of our diapers with regular powdered tide and dry them in the dryer (currently only using BG diapers). It's never been an issue.

Yeah. In 22 years and 7 kids worth of cloth diapering, I have owned and used pretty much every diaper and diaper system known to humanity. Other than my woolies, I washed and dried all of them. And 90% of the time I used plain old free and clear detergent. And we have super hard water. I just laugh at the people who don't dry PUL covers and diaper. I just want to say, "Uh, you do know PUL was developed for use in the medical field and created to be autoclaved, right? A household dryer isn't going to hurt it unless its defective or sub-par materials." But I (usually) keep my snark to myself. I figure they must have scads of time to blow of complicated washing routines.

That being said, the GMD workhorse diapers are great! They are basically pre-folds that have been made into fitteds. (Not exactly, but that's the effect.)

Also, I went up in the attic and saw I have a bunch of nice diapers (Embroidered pockets and hyena fitteds and such) that have shot elastic. If you are looking for cheap cloth diapering, the best thing I have found is to buy diapers with shot elastic and replace the elastic yourself. You can often get them for a few $ or FFS (free for shipping) and if you have a sewing machine that you can use or borrow that does a zig zag (3 step zigzag is best) it is super easy to replace shot elastic.

Also, I used to be an admin at the Diaper Sewing Divas forum (It is now Make Laugh Love, but is going to be closing because the traffic is way down) I know how to sew about every type of cloth diaper out there. There are loads of free patterns out there, and you can upcycle things from around the house or goodwill to make a fabulous cloth diaper stash for free or almost free. Honestly, you can do it, even if you have never sewed before. Cloth diapers are the best thing to learn to sew on. Because even if your first few don't look perfect, they are just poop catchers and will function perfectly fine.

If there is interest, I'd be happy to lead some build your CD stash threads. If we made 1 diaper a week from now until birth, we would all have a sweet CD stash! I could maybe even offer up prizes like a diaper cut of PUL for anyone who participates each week. We could do a different style or type of diaper each week.

What do you think? Is anyone interested? We could do a thread a week over in the CD forum. Let me know if you are interested and what types of diapers you want to make and if you want to do upcycled (you'd need 100% cotton t-shirts/sweatshirts. flannel receiving blankets, 100% wool sweaters and poly fleece clothes to turn into your diapers.)

If you don't have a sewing machine, I can help you look for a good used one, or I can tell you how to hand sew diapers (though it is much more time consuming. But where there is a will, there is a way!)

Ooh. Fascinating. I'm intrigued.

HBirdie · June 2015

Cloth diaper PUL does not equal medical grade PUL. And yes, constantly drying your diapers in a hot dryer can delaminate them.

strlitemiss · June 2015

I am going to say putting your dyers in the dryer does ruin then and you can laugh at me all you want. I have lost several diapers definitely not subpar ones. Very very few diapers have medical PUL in them. Certainly not any main stream ones.

kayjay44 · June 2015

We do an hour timed dry on medium (which is a lower temp than if we just set the dryer to use it's sensor). It has worked for us for over a year and we've had no issues with delamination (yet). I have had to replace a few elastics in some 4.0s, but they were seconds diapers, so I'm not sure what really caused the elastic to go.

ecmb · June 2015

wagvan said:
Oh, and I can show you how to knit or crochet wool soakers, shorties and longies too. I love longies.

Once upon a time I knew how to knit and I would love to make some wool speakers since they can be pricey!!

ecmb · June 2015

wagvan said:

magnumJ said:

ecmb said:

Someone told me about workhorse fitteds (with covers) that I am planning to use initially. They don't require special detergent and can be dried in the dryer instead of line dried.

We wash all of our diapers with regular powdered tide and dry them in the dryer (currently only using BG diapers). It's never been an issue.

Yeah. In 22 years and 7 kids worth of cloth diapering, I have owned and used pretty much every diaper and diaper system known to humanity. Other than my woolies, I washed and dried all of them. And 90% of the time I used plain old free and clear detergent. And we have super hard water. I just laugh at the people who don't dry PUL covers and diaper. I just want to say, "Uh, you do know PUL was developed for use in the medical field and created to be autoclaved, right? A household dryer isn't going to hurt it unless its defective or sub-par materials." But I (usually) keep my snark to myself. I figure they must have scads of time to blow of complicated washing routines.

That being said, the GMD workhorse diapers are great! They are basically pre-folds that have been made into fitteds. (Not exactly, but that's the effect.)

Also, I went up in the attic and saw I have a bunch of nice diapers (Embroidered pockets and hyena fitteds and such) that have shot elastic. If you are looking for cheap cloth diapering, the best thing I have found is to buy diapers with shot elastic and replace the elastic yourself. You can often get them for a few $ or FFS (free for shipping) and if you have a sewing machine that you can use or borrow that does a zig zag (3 step zigzag is best) it is super easy to replace shot elastic.

Also, I used to be an admin at the Diaper Sewing Divas forum (It is now Make Laugh Love, but is going to be closing because the traffic is way down) I know how to sew about every type of cloth diaper out there. There are loads of free patterns out there, and you can upcycle things from around the house or goodwill to make a fabulous cloth diaper stash for free or almost free. Honestly, you can do it, even if you have never sewed before. Cloth diapers are the best thing to learn to sew on. Because even if your first few don't look perfect, they are just poop catchers and will function perfectly fine.

If there is interest, I'd be happy to lead some build your CD stash threads. If we made 1 diaper a week from now until birth, we would all have a sweet CD stash! I could maybe even offer up prizes like a diaper cut of PUL for anyone who participates each week. We could do a different style or type of diaper each week.

What do you think? Is anyone interested? We could do a thread a week over in the CD forum. Let me know if you are interested and what types of diapers you want to make and if you want to do upcycled (you'd need 100% cotton t-shirts/sweatshirts. flannel receiving blankets, 100% wool sweaters and poly fleece clothes to turn into your diapers.)

If you don't have a sewing machine, I can help you look for a good used one, or I can tell you how to hand sew diapers (though it is much more time consuming. But where there is a will, there is a way!)

I do owe a sewing machine and wasn't planning on sewing my own dipes but I could give it a go!

And thanks for the info on laundering. I'm planning to have enough covers to where I can manage line drying but line drying inserts sounded like too much to me. Glad to hear you're also a fan of the workhorse fitted. Everything I've read about them is great so far!

HBirdie · June 2015

magnumJ said:
We do an hour timed dry on medium (which is a lower temp than if we just set the dryer to use it's sensor). It has worked for us for over a year and we've had no issues with delamination (yet). I have had to replace a few elastics in some 4.0s, but they were seconds diapers, so I'm not sure what really caused the elastic to go.

We don't have heat options on our dryer

Maybe if I could do a cool dry I'd think about drying them. There are times when it would be super nice. But I don't, and I'm not willing to risk shortening the life of my diapers. I throw the inserts in the dryer, though!

wagvan · June 2015

I have 18 year old covers and pockets that have been washed and dried and none of them delaminated. Good quality PUL should not delaminate under normal use (which includes washing and drying.). PUL can be heat laminated or chemical laminated, but it should all be able to be autoclaved. If someone is trying to say that PUL is a diaper grade and not dryerable, then I would say they are trying to pass off crappy materials and get away with it. Although IMHO DIY PUL (fabric people send in to get laminated which is often not poly fabric) does have issues.

kayjay44 · June 2015

HBirdie said:

We do an hour timed dry on medium (which is a lower temp than if we just set the dryer to use it's sensor). It has worked for us for over a year and we've had no issues with delamination (yet). I have had to replace a few elastics in some 4.0s, but they were seconds diapers, so I'm not sure what really caused the elastic to go.
We don't have heat options on our dryer Maybe if I could do a cool dry I'd think about drying them. There are times when it would be super nice. But I don't, and I'm not willing to risk shortening the life of my diapers. I throw the inserts in the dryer, though!

I completely get it! We purposefully bought a brand new W/D when we moved into our house because we intended to cloth diaper

MamaFroFro · June 2015

I plan on sewing my own fitteds with high quality fleece outer and bamboo fleece and velour inside. I feel so horrible now though it won't happen until the second tri assuming I eventually get passed this "morning" sickness.

Everycol0r · June 2015

Wurrkingurrl said:
Just an FYI there is a cloth diapering board where you can get lots of good advice and actually a lot of info on youtube too.

*lurker*

That board is dead, FYI.

I use AI2, best bottoms. I dry the inserts in the dryer, I hang the covers to dry. The elastic in the gussets and waist can prematurely age in the heat.

wagvan · June 2015

Everycol0r said:

Just an FYI there is a cloth diapering board where you can get lots of good advice and actually a lot of info on youtube too.
*lurker* That board is dead, FYI. I use AI2, best bottoms. I dry the inserts in the dryer, I hang the covers to dry. The elastic in the gussets and waist can prematurely age in the heat.

I think we should wake the cloth diaper board up! I'm going to go start a weekly CD stash building thread. And yeah, elastic has a limited life, no matter how good it is, and heat does effect it. But for me, it is easier to swap out elastic than to line dry. The only diaper stuff that gets premium treatment is my wool.

wagvan · June 2015

Here is my post on the CD board: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12588744/week-1-build-your-cd-stash?new=1

Everycol0r · June 2015

wagvan said:

Everycol0r said:

Wurrkingurrl said:
Just an FYI there is a cloth diapering board where you can get lots of good advice and actually a lot of info on youtube too.
*lurker*

That board is dead, FYI.

I use AI2, best bottoms. I dry the inserts in the dryer, I hang the covers to dry. The elastic in the gussets and waist can prematurely age in the heat.

I think we should wake the cloth diaper board up! I'm going to go start a weekly CD stash building thread. And yeah, elastic has a limited life, no matter how good it is, and heat does effect it. But for me, it is easier to swap out elastic than to line dry. The only diaper stuff that gets premium treatment is my wool.

I do most of my diaper washing at night so I just hang my covers on the back of my dining room chairs when I finish putting the inserts in the dryer. I don't hang them outside. They're dry in the morning so it's just worked/been very easy for me. Once this weather improves & we are not plagued by BS tropical storms I want to line dry my inserts outside to see if I can get some of the stains bleached out.

I do need to replace the elastic on a few diapers, I'll have to YouTube how.

LittleLotero · June 2015

Random question, but I've seen it pop up a couple times - for my CD alumni, do you still use disposable wipes or do you use washables?

kayjay44 · June 2015

LittleLotero said:

Random question, but I've seen it pop up a couple times - for my CD alumni, do you still use disposable wipes or do you use washables?

We use reusable flannel wipes.

Everycol0r · June 2015

LittleLotero said:
Random question, but I've seen it pop up a couple times - for my CD alumni, do you still use disposable wipes or do you use washables?

Disposable wipes

HBirdie · June 2015

DH and I made cloth wipes with flannel we bought at the fabric store, @LittleLotero. So much cheaper than buying wipes. We have a small spray bottle with just water in it and we use that to wet them first. Easy peasy. Although we do buy disposable wipes for when we're out and about.

kayjay44 · June 2015

We make our own wipe solution - it's a little bit of baby oil, a little bit of baby soap, water and a few drops of lavender oil.

ohgoodness · June 2015

We use osocozy bamboo flats and fuzzibunz too.. i had some charlie banana pockets that were a shower gift and did not like them. I don't use them anymore. They were really bulky..

we will probably get more flats for this baby during the early months and keep using the fuzzibunz on my DD...ill probably eventually get some more fuzzibunz too. I like them a lot. I have the one size elites. They have worked great. My husband likes flats best..But he has always loved making paper airplanes... so he likes the folding.

We uses cloth and disposable wipes depending on what's going on.

kayjay44 · June 2015

For those who want to CD and do daycare, I recommend using liners of some kind (we use disposible, but you can make reusable ones) for poop. They aren't really needed until after you start solids, but some people who FF use them.

anamilia · June 2015

We use compostable disposable wipes (we order through amazon) for use with our diaper service - as long as the wipe is compostable, the service will pick it all up!

momPDX · June 2015

We've CD since day three with our 1 1/2 yr old. It is way cheaper (in the long run) and I like knowing that we're not sending plastic to the landfill. Also, our trash is picked up every OTHER week, not weekly like our recycling and compost...having poopy diapers sitting around for two weeks?!?! No thank you!

I'm so glad there are other CD moms here! We use prefolds at home and pockets for daycare and errands. (We do have disposables for those awful teething rashes.) We do our own wash and whenever we can (PNW) line dry in the sun. If not we just hang dry -pockets and covers- over our washer & dryer. Prefolds, wipes and inserts go in dryer.

Looking forward to hearing from you other moms about potty training out of CDs and/or having two different sized babies in cloth at the same time!

momPDX · June 2015

Holy crap!!! Ditto!!!

)

Edit *fail quote* @ohgoodness - your husband and mine would be BFFs!

Blinggal24 · June 2015

I have started looking into cloth diapers myself. Seems like they will save a lot of money. My friend told me to get the diapers covers with snaps.... Less washing for the covers. She said you have to wash the all in ones every single time and can't reuse. Also hey take forever to dry... Just a thought

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