Cloth diapers

TucknBoom · March 2016

I searched and didn't find anything on here so if this discussion has already happened I apologize. Is anyone going to cloth diaper? Has anyone on here used cloth diapers? If so did it affect how your kids clothes fit? Will you be doing it again? And what brand did you use?

grannysmith912 · March 2016

I'm planning to also, but I'm a FTM, so I'm afraid I only have more questions, not answers.

Here's my question: From what I've read, it seems like all-in-twos are the only option that lets you change just the insert, rather than the cover as well, every time there's a potty break. Am I understanding this correctly? If that's the case, wouldn't you need to have dozens of pocket diapers or all-in-ones on hand in order to keep up with the, uh, demand? The covers aren't exactly cheap, so that sounds like it could seriously add up!

mrsasolomon · March 2016

I will not be cloth diapering this time but I have in the past.

Yes it will affect how your kids clothes fit, at least pants and the bottom of one pieces.

Covers and Prefolds you can just change the Prefolds as long as nothing gets on the cover. I just those sometimes but mostly stuck with pockets. We had probably around 36-40 pockets I believe.

2undertwo2bee · March 2016

I cloth diaper my now ten month old. We use mostly sun babies and a few custom wahm in the mix. We didn't cloth in the new born stage until she was about 3 month. We use pockets with bamboo microfiber inserts. Wash routine I every 3 days with Charlie soap. We use a diaper sprayer and spray pal for poop diapers and pee diapers just go straight in the diaper bin. I dry my diaper in the dryer though some say not to. I've only had to strip them once when I was using tide and figuring out my wags routine. Since using Charlie soap I've had no problem. We do use a disposable overnight now that she pee so much at night. I have roughly 40 diapers and don't even use them all now. Though earlier on I wa because the frequency of change. I'm super excited we already started cloth because besides the first 2-3 months with new baby we basically are saving a ton of money since we've already built our supply

TucknBoom · March 2016

mrsasolomon said:
Yes it will affect how your kids clothes fit, at least pants and the bottom of one pieces.

How severely does it affect the fit? Like do you have to go up a size?

jarethinafrock · March 2016

I tried to cloth diaper last time and I ended up never really getting into it. It was a lot of laundry and we did a lot of traveling with my daughter so I was always like "after this trip to *** , we'll start" and it just never really happened. Oh well. I still have my stash so maybe I'll try again this time around.

jarethinafrock · March 2016

Oh and we used the BumGenius All-in-Ones.

een23 · March 2016

I cloth diaper my 9 month old DD. We started using them at 3 months old when I was tired of throwing money away on disposables. We use flats and covers. I have about 30 flats, 5 blueberry coveralls, 2 Nikki's covers, and a few wool soakers and longies (for overnight). I wash the diapers 3 times a week, the covers by hand about twice a week, and the wool gets washed every 2 weeks. The covers get reused unless she leaks poop onto them (a rare occurrence now that she's eating solids). She has to go up a size in onsies and pants unless they're really loose sweatpants or stretchy leggings. I love it and can't wait to start from birth with our new LO!

whaat · March 2016

I'm considering it. How often will I have to do laundry? What are all of the things I'll need? Talk to me like I have no idea bc I really have no idea. Thanks so much.

beforeyou · March 2016

^ this. I'm so lost when it comes to this stuff

rspalding001 · March 2016

I cloth diapered our DD until she was about 1. Keep in mind a newborn might need a diaper change as many as ten times a day in the beginning, at least mine did. So you want to have enough on hand that you are not doing laundry every single day. also you cant use traditional diaper rash creams like desitian unless you have a washer that gets hot enough to "strip" the diaper of the cream and home washers will not get that hot. We used a diaper service that picked up soiled diapers and dropped off clean ones every week. So no laundry yay, but it does kind of make it not so cost effective. However since they used an industrial washer you could use any type of diaper rash cream you wanted because they had the ability to "strip" the diapers in their washers. I loved the prefolds with the diaper covers. I think overall she did really well in them and it wasn't so difficult, just needed to carry a wet bag with you to put the soiled diapers in when you were out.
Other things you might need besides diapers and diaper covers are those snappy's that hold the cloth prefolds together and a wet bag.

talkthewholetime · March 2016

https://forums.thebump.com/categories/diapering

TB has a whole forum

kns1988 · March 2016

We're doing it. My best friend cloth diapers and she's going to set me up with the whole system. I think she has about 30 covers and in addition to the insert, she uses a thin cut of some kind of gauze or cloth that's disposable. She went in with another friend of hers and they ordered a ton of them in bulk from China - it was cheaper that way, so hopefully I'll be able to find a deal like that. They have snaps on them that allow them to go from newborn size up to a larger size. Her baby is a year old and still wearing the same ones he had as a newborn.

They definitely made onesies and the butt of his pants not fit as well as an average size diaper. I think she did go up a size. She has a whole system for laundry - soaking, multiple washes, etc. I think in the end it's worth it ecologically and financially, though. I'm excited to do it. Man, you can tell my friend and I talk about diapering a lot! haha

doraleigh35 · March 2016

talkthewholetime said:

https://forums.thebump.com/categories/diapering

TB has a whole forum

This^^. I learned a lot by just lurking on the forum. We are planning to cloth diaper. I have a friend who uses all in ones with her DS and has invited me over for a tutorial. I'm hoping to figure out what I'm doing before Earth Day, because I've heard a lot of sites have sales on cloth diapers during that time. It would be nice to stock up while they are on sale.

mrsasolomon · March 2016

Things you need

diapers (pockets, covers, flats, Prefolds, whichever you choose)
snappy if using Prefolds or flats
diaper pail with a washable liner suggested (can be a garbage pail and then a liner)
diaper sprayer (makes poopy diapers SO much easier)
wet bag for the diaper bag
detergent to wash them (there are a few CD friendly ones but I suggest one of them over like tide of gain)
CD friendly diaper rash cream

i personally did laundry every 3 days, sometimes two if needed. How often you do it will depend on how many diapers you have.

Clothes wise, yes we had to go up a size in pants and onesies to accommodate the adorable fluffy butt.

If if any husbands are like mine he only likes pocket diapers because they were easiest since they are stuffed and ready to go. These are also the most adjustable with the snaps that adjust them so last the longest. Most covers and other diapers you'll need mutille sizes.

2undertwo2bee · March 2016

Yes my husband loves pockets the most. He actually prefers them to disposables. We only use coconut oil on her bottom which is cloth safe and she's never had a diaper rash until last week when we had her in disposables because she had tummy big and littleraly had diarrhea every hour. Besides that she's been great. She wears a lot of stretchy leggings specifically old navy which are 6-12 months so they give a lot. Or just baby leggings. I prefer pockets because in the moment of diaper change you just put them in lien a regular diaper. You do have to stuff them but I do t in the evenings after wash and it takes maybe 15 mins.

juliehollz13 · March 2016

I plan on cloth diapering but DH is iffy. To compromise, we will get several boxes of disposable diapers for going out, overnight, and probably for the newborn stage when they poop every other hour it seems.

Megz1902 · March 2016

juliehollz13 said:

I plan on cloth diapering but DH is iffy. To compromise, we will get several boxes of disposable diapers for going out, overnight, and probably for the newborn stage when they poop every other hour it seems.

Yes, this is me exactly. Hubby has never changed a diaper and is not sure on the cloth diaper thing. Probably will have to compromise similar to yours.

mrsflamingo · March 2016

We rarely had issues with fit of clothes- I don't ever remember going up a size.

I recommend checking out the Fluff Love and CD Science group on Facebook. They're a wealth of information when it comes to washing routines.

We use pockets and all-in-ones. I'm thinking of trying some nb prefolds and covers this time around.

NatashaSprout · March 2016

DH and I are a total role reversal with everything. He wanted a baby. He wants to CD. He wants to make organic baby food from scratch and I am over here like formula and disposables sound great! I work a lot so I guess ultimately it will be up to him since he will be with the LO more than I will.

TucknBoom · March 2016

I've gone back and forth between cloth diapering or using honest company or some hippy unbleached brand. After reading through this Im certain I want to use CD. I'm now eyeing the Charlie Banana ones... H probably won't be okay with the primary color ones. So I guess we will go white!

Edited: autocorrect prefers bandanas over bananas.

whaat · March 2016

NatashaSprout said:

DH and I are a total role reversal with everything. He wanted a baby. He wants to CD. He wants to make organic baby food from scratch and I am over here like formula and disposables sound great! I work a lot so I guess ultimately it will be up to him since he will be with the LO more than I will.

Lol this sounds like my situation. It's not that I don't care about the environment as much as I really do care about convenience. But after my leave, he will be changing a lot more diapers than I will because of our schedules.

Although I do think we will need to do both, as our parents will not help out if it means they are changing cloth diapers. And their help is important.

MrsBigTime · March 2016

I was a CD failure last time. Our daughter was too small for our BGs for a long time (born <6 lbs) and we got into the disposable swing of things. I never felt like we were spending a lot of $ on diapers and when we did more research the water use for washing CDs was about as damaging to the environment than using disposables. Mostly, though, we got used to the convenience of disposables and switching to our cloth was a pain in the butt. If you're gonna go for it, go all in and don't give yourself the option of disposable for very long.

As far as the environmental impact of diapers go, we plan to plant a tree for every diapered bootie we produce as penance!

Kermie53 · March 2016

I CDed my daughter from (basically) birth-19 mo when she potty trained. I loved it and will use all her diapers for next baby too. We received a lot of cloth diapers for our shower, so I barely spent anything out of pocket. Combine with the fact that we weren't using disposables (rarely) and we basically spent no $ on diapers. We used a mix of prefolds+covers, AIOs, and a few pockets.

I would check out the CD board on the bump and also Fluff Love on the web or Facebook. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but honestly, it's as hard as you want it to be. We washed every 2-3 days. I really had no issues...it was like doing another load of laundry. Good luck!!

NatashaSprout · March 2016

whaat said:

NatashaSprout said:

DH and I are a total role reversal with everything. He wanted a baby. He wants to CD. He wants to make organic baby food from scratch and I am over here like formula and disposables sound great! I work a lot so I guess ultimately it will be up to him since he will be with the LO more than I will.

Lol this sounds like my situation. It's not that I don't care about the environment as much as I really do care about convenience. But after my leave, he will be changing a lot more diapers than I will because of our schedules.

Although I do think we will need to do both, as our parents will not help out if it means they are changing cloth diapers. And their help is important.

Yes our nanny will already have 2 boys to take care of. I am not thinking she will be a fan of CD as well. Though we probably will when one of us is home.

Piercegram · March 2016

I want to cloth diaper while I'm out of work. I'm due a few weeks before Thanksgiving, so I'll be home a lot around the holidays and hoping to delay day care until 2017. I want to cloth diaper until we start day care, but SO isn't so enthusiastic about it. He tried it with his son and hated the routine.

mamabear0813 · March 2016

We CDd our first until just about a year then switched to disposables because I was pregnant and between not wanting to buy the next size up in prefolds and covers and my sheer lack of interest in laundry, I wasn't into it anymore. DD was NOT a fan of cloth. I tried all types and such and she just hated peeing in the cloth so she never really used them.

We will be CDing this new babe. I'm planning on flats and prefolds with covers. I always feel like stuffing diapers is actually more work for me than folding a diaper really quick. I can just fill a laundry basket with clean dipes and grab them as I need them, instead of having to make sure they are stuffed and all that.

evilgreencows5 · March 2016

We CD out first for about 6-7 months and then I got pregnant and started school spin had trouble keeping up with the laundry. I currently have one potty training. And one in disposables. I'm torn on if we will CD this one.

kgrisham18 · March 2016

I still cloth my DD and she's 18 months. I used mostly BumGenius Freetimes, some Smartbottoms and Blueberrys (all-in-ones). I will cloth #2 because they are all still in great condition. I have 40+ diapers so I only have to was every 4 days, so no big deal. My DH wasn't sure about it at first but now tries to talk our friends into it. It's a decent upfront cost but will pay off in less than a year. If anyone is interested and has questions, let me know.

kimberdubs · March 2016

Sorry this feels like it's a dumb question, but when a Diaper Sprayer is mentioned, are we talking like a sink in the laundry room? a stain remover? hose in the back yard?

I'm tempted to try this if I can get my DH on board. He's all about convenience, but also all about saving money. Gotta have my data prepped for my presentation

TucknBoom · March 2016

@kimberdubs the one I'm looking at attaches to the back of the toilet and you spray it down the toilet. Idk what everyone else is talking about though.

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · March 2016

We CD'd and used disposables with both of my kids but eventually my daughter's skin just got so sensitive around 8 months that she couldn't use cloth anymore. I spent weeks and weeks treating the diapers and her skin. I stripped the diapers repeatedly, boiled them, etc. but she just kept getting these horrific, stubborn rashes with any of the cloth diapers (I have a big variety, the problem wasn't limited to any style or brand) which only went away when we used disposables, so she stayed in disposables until she potty trained. We'll give it another try this time since I still have our stash and it may as well get used, although a fair number of the diapers are nearly ten years old now!

evilgreencows5 · March 2016

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

We CD'd and used disposables with both of my kids but eventually my daughter's skin just got so sensitive around 8 months that she couldn't use cloth anymore. I spent weeks and weeks treating the diapers and her skin. I stripped the diapers repeatedly, boiled them, etc. but she just kept getting these horrific, stubborn rashes with any of the cloth diapers (I have a big variety, the problem wasn't limited to any style or brand) which only went away when we used disposables, so she stayed in disposables until she potty trained. We'll give it another try this time since I still have our stash and it may as well get used, although a fair number of the diapers are nearly ten years old now!

Did you ever try stripping with RLP? A similar situation happened to my son and I tried all the home methods until I came across RLP laundry treatment and it worked. Obviously it doesn't matter now since your daughter is potty trained

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · March 2016

evilgreencows5 said:

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

We CD'd and used disposables with both of my kids but eventually my daughter's skin just got so sensitive around 8 months that she couldn't use cloth anymore. I spent weeks and weeks treating the diapers and her skin. I stripped the diapers repeatedly, boiled them, etc. but she just kept getting these horrific, stubborn rashes with any of the cloth diapers (I have a big variety, the problem wasn't limited to any style or brand) which only went away when we used disposables, so she stayed in disposables until she potty trained. We'll give it another try this time since I still have our stash and it may as well get used, although a fair number of the diapers are nearly ten years old now!

Did you ever try stripping with RLP? A similar situation happened to my son and I tried all the home methods until I came across RLP laundry treatment and it worked. Obviously it doesn't matter now since your daughter is potty trained

I tried EVERYTHING. If you mean RLR, I did try that. And various liners and different wipe solutions and eventually just plain water. Plus sunlight (actual sun light and the soap) and so many different detergents and cleaning styles.

Her skin just couldn't handle having pee near it for any length of time and I wasn't going to keep putting her through that horrible discomfort while I tried to figure it out, you know? I feel bad for the weeks I did spend trying to figure it out before I noticed it went away with the disposables.

evilgreencows5 · March 2016

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

evilgreencows5 said:

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

We CD'd and used disposables with both of my kids but eventually my daughter's skin just got so sensitive around 8 months that she couldn't use cloth anymore. I spent weeks and weeks treating the diapers and her skin. I stripped the diapers repeatedly, boiled them, etc. but she just kept getting these horrific, stubborn rashes with any of the cloth diapers (I have a big variety, the problem wasn't limited to any style or brand) which only went away when we used disposables, so she stayed in disposables until she potty trained. We'll give it another try this time since I still have our stash and it may as well get used, although a fair number of the diapers are nearly ten years old now!

Did you ever try stripping with RLP? A similar situation happened to my son and I tried all the home methods until I came across RLP laundry treatment and it worked. Obviously it doesn't matter now since your daughter is potty trained

I tried EVERYTHING. If you mean RLR, I did try that. And various liners and different wipe solutions and eventually just plain water. Plus sunlight (actual sun light and the soap) and so many different detergents and cleaning styles.

Her skin just couldn't handle having pee near it for any length of time and I wasn't going to keep putting her through that horrible discomfort while I tried to figure it out, you know? I feel bad for the weeks I did spend trying to figure it out before I noticed it went away with the disposables.

I did mean RLR, thank you. I clearly have pregnancy on the brain. Well I'm glad you were able to figure it out. I could totally see how that could happen since CD don't wick away the moisture as well as disposables.

kimberdubs · March 2016

Interesting! Thanks! Didn't know such a thing existed.

roundthree24 · March 2016

We did cloth diapers for the first 18 months with our first (he's 99-100 percentile and started growing out of them) and plan to do it again this time!! DH and I both loved it. We used prefolds and covers starting around 1 month, and started using our other stuff around 3 months maybe? We did mainly pockets and a few all in ones. It wasn't too much of a hassle taking extra cloth diapers (and a wet bag) when we went out, although once he was a toddler running around, he wore disposables when we went out. My favorite brands were the bumgenius and the blueberry pocket diapers. I used rockin green detergent...they make a kind for hard water which was good when we lived in a different city with super hard water. We have a normal front loading HE washer although I'll admit it would be nicer to have a top loader. We did overnight disposables basically from the beginning though, I couldn't find an overnight cloth option that worked for us.

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