Diapers- disposable, cloth or mix?

oriole2017 · December 2016

As was suggested in another thread, starting a diaper discussion. Leave your advice, comments, questions below.

My first question is- has anyone used these? Flushable inserts, compostable (#1 only)
https://www.gdiapers.com/

lynkat · December 2016

With my first, I did a mix of both! Cloth at home and disposables at daycare/out and about. My favorite cloth diapers are bumgenius, blueberry, and thirsties. I've had friends who have used gdiapers and I've heard mixed reviews. One friend loved them and another friend said they weren't very absorbable. No personal experience with them though!

dmbfan46835 · December 2016

Same as above, cloth at home. Daycare won't use cloth:( we use honest company at daycare because they will at least break down eventually. And my fave cloth diapers are lil helpers AI2s. The charcoal inserts seem to work best for us. DS was small at birth so we used swaddlers disposables until he was about 10 lbs or so and the cloth diapers actually fit him.

Check out https://www.fluffloveuniversity.com/ for awesome info on all things cloth diapering

bumpybump · December 2016

This becomes another one of those big debates for parents as they prep for their first child. Know there is no right or wrong choice. Some kids are allergic to disposables and some kids are allergic to the cloth used in cloth diapers or the detergent used to clean the diapers. Do what works for your family

If you want to do cloth, ask around to find daycares that will accept cloth or ask a daycare if they would do it. There are lots of daycares around us that will take cloth or even consider it if you ask.

We strictly did cloth after DD was two weeks old. We only did disposables for the first two weeks so that I didn't have to do laundry after having a csection (DH seems to forget how a washing machine works). And of course if she had a rash that creams to treat it were not cloth friendly. We used Blueberry newborns and then switched to Bumgenius Freetimes once she was big enough for them. We use Sustainablebabyish for overnight with a fleece or wool cover. We will do cloth for this LO as well.

erindippity · December 2016

I've always been interested in cloth diaper, but I've honestly never been around anyone using them. I'd have to read up a lot more on how that process works before I fully commit though.

kissthesky32 · December 2016

100% check with daycares before committing. I really wanted to CD my first, but they daycare we liked most and felt most comfortable with flat out refused to do it. We ended up going with disposables and the daycare we loved, instead of cloth and the daycare that we thought was just okay.

MatteaGabrielle · December 2016

I did a mix of both. Cloth at home and disposable at daycare.
This one won't be at daycare so it will probably be mostly cloth, but I'm okay with having a disposable from time to time.
I have bumgenius and lalabye from my first, so cost is free to diaper this one other then changing a few elastics.

Kathryn0903 · December 2016

I'm on the fence about cloth, but if I were to go cloth how many would you recommend starting with? Is going cloth more time consuming?

NYTino24 · December 2016

@Kathryn0903 I haven't cloth diapered myself, but I know people who have. Pros: cheaper over time, better for environment since they can be reused. Cons: have to wash them and / or throw out inserts depending on what kind.

lynkat · December 2016

@Kathryn0903 cloth is definitely more time consuming for sure. The bigger your stash is, the less often you have to wash. This might sound weird but I never minded washing diapers and I hate laundry. Maybe because they were so cute!

We mainly did it to save money and I feel like we definitely accomplished that. Especially since we already have a stash to use for baby #2 this time around. After my DS's poo became solid, I ditched the cloth at home. I couldn't do it even with the sprayer and liners.

The other thing I would say is cloth required a lot of research upfront, especially deciding which types were best for us and wash routines. I had a big baby with thick legs so certain kinds didn't fit him for very long.

And the fluffloveuniversity website is a great resource that @dmbfan46835 mentioned above!

lyse01 · December 2016

Stupid question: how many diapers a day are we talking about? It's been a while since I was nanny to an infant.

Less stupid: for cloth, what's this rinsing/washing process like? How quickly do you need to/like to do the load of laundry? Do you mix with other laundry or is it a load of diapers?

gipfish · December 2016

For those of you considering cloth, it's important to know about the different types of cloth diapers:

AI1 (All in one): An AI1 diaper is one which has the waterproof outside and the absorbant lining all in one piece. You don't have to worry about separate pieces with these. You simply use the diaper as you would a disposable, and then put the whole thing in the diaper pail when it is soiled. The main advantage here is simplicity.

AI2 (All in two): An AI2 diaper comes in two pieces, the waterproof cover, and absorbant liners. When you diaper your baby, you place a liner in a cover before putting it on, and when you change, you toss the liner into the pail but reuse the cover (unless there is poop smeared on it). This is a bit more complicated (but not that much). Some advantages are being able to switch out what kinds of fabric you use for liners, being able to double up on liners, and having less bulk in your laundry and in your wet/dry bag when you go out.

Pockets: A pocket diaper has a waterproof cover and a thin layer of fabric that lays against your baby's skin all in one piece. But you stuff liners through a small gap between these two layers. With pockets you have the disadvantage of AI2s of having multiple pieces to deal with, the disadvantage of AI1s of extra bulk of laundry, because you must wash the cover after one use, plus the added disadvantage of having to touch a pee soaked liner every time you change your baby (to unstuff the pocket). The only real advantage here is price. Pockets tend to be a bit more common to find, a bit cheaper, and you can use microfiber inserts with them, which tend to be cheaper than fabrics that are safe to touch baby's skin, such as bamboo.

How many you need for a stash and how expensive that stash will be depends entirely on which system you choose.

bumpybump · December 2016

lyse01 said:

Stupid question: how many diapers a day are we talking about? It's been a while since I was nanny to an infant.

Less stupid: for cloth, what's this rinsing/washing process like? How quickly do you need to/like to do the load of laundry? Do you mix with other laundry or is it a load of diapers?

If LO is EBF'd, no rinsing of the CDs is needed. So during that time, I just put the dirty diapers (urine and poop) into the pail liner bag (I have it in a flip top trash can) and put them in the washing machine using Tide Powder. Once solids are introduced, we use a sprayer hooked up to the toilet to spray poop off the diapers before putting them in the pail liner. Then I do a load of CDs, again using Tide Powder. The only other items that go in with my CDs are cloth wipes (I made them from flannel and terry cloth), wet bags, and pail liners. How often you need to wash depends on how large a stash you have. I personally did diaper laundry every third day. As others have mentioned, Fluff Love University is an awesome resource for everything washing diapers. HTH!?

gipfish · December 2016

bumpybump said:

lyse01 said:

Stupid question: how many diapers a day are we talking about? It's been a while since I was nanny to an infant.

Less stupid: for cloth, what's this rinsing/washing process like? How quickly do you need to/like to do the load of laundry? Do you mix with other laundry or is it a load of diapers?

If LO is EBF'd, no rinsing of the CDs is needed.

------QBF----

This statement always worried me when I was first getting into cloth, so I feel I should share that you don't need to rinse if baby is exclusively formula fed, either. Just once solids are introduced. :-)

oriole2017 · December 2016

And then there's the disposable/flushable liners with cloth covering. So far not many have used them.

MatteaGabrielle · December 2016

I used cloth covers and flour sack towels too. Super cheap option.
I probably have 50 diapers lol but you don't need that many
Washing is easy. Rinse. Wash with soap. Rinse and hang. Once solids are introduced then you need to add the dump into the toilet stage.
You keep a wet bag or pail liner with them and it actually smelled less then a diaper genie. I went every 3 days doing laundry with my stash. You ideally don't want to go longer then that.
Our water bill didn't change much considering we added a whole extra persons worth of laundry and more.

Mango517 · December 2016

I'm loving all the CD advice and insights. One of the few things regarding motherhood I really am dead set on is CD as much as possible. Husband is against it now but I'll keep on pushing my CD agenda. I have until August to change his mind.

Kathryn0903 · March 2017

Bringing back this discussion. Any affordable brands you recommend? If I do laundry every 2-3 days, how many to start with? Do others get the newborn size or just use disposables from the beginning? What's the whole toilet sprayer thing? Seriously considering this if it will save us money especially if we plan on having more kids down the line.

HappyToBeHere · March 2017

100% disposable here. Definitely not ANTI-cloth diapering, it just didn't fit for us. On DD's 2nd birthday, we bought her underwear and committed to potty training.

jaclynnn89 · March 2017

We really wanted to do cloth diapers before DD1 was born. We received about half of the stash we wanted (a dozen or so bumgenuis originals) as a gift off of our registry, and then purchased another dozen grovia ones ourselves. We ended up returning the grovias. We were moving overseas and it just seemed so daunting after disposables. Finally we tried them just at home & mostly at night (after she had started solids). Holy moly. We really tried but idk.. maybe we needed a different diaper pale/liner. But the smell of the CD after even 2 days was too much.. plus the bumgenius ones are the pocket kind. I wish we had AI1's but excited to see what other words of wisdom everyone has because I'd love to try again with this LO, after the meconium poos though!

dmbfan46835 · March 2017

@kathryn0903 we use Lil Helper CDs. They are AI2s. DS is 18mos and they have held up great. I plan to add to my stash for DD since a lot of his diapers are boy colors. Maybe get another 10 or so. And I have the Ubbi diaper pail and LOVE IT. Also get a large well made wet bag and that can keep the smell to a minimum. Highly recommend. We also have the toilet sprayer and usually his BMs just roll right out into the toilet. I wash them isuallly about every 2 days and air dry on a rack for about 2 days. I will dry outside once it gets ice out. I CD all weekend and most nights. But we do use disposables occasionally as well. I love honest company over nights for when he stays at MILs or when daddy get him ready for bed. He's still not a huge fan of CD. And our daycare provides their own diapers as part of the tuition. CD isn't as daunting as it may seem, promise. But it's a commitment for sure.

lewliv · March 2017

@dmbfan46835 what are the advantages of those over AI1s? Isn't an AI1 just easier to deal with?
I'm planning on using a mix of disposable and cloth but I'm still not sure on what type of cloth.

dmbfan46835 · March 2017

@livlew I'm adding pics. I think it helps explain them. I like these because they snap right in. Some people will reuse a cover if it's not soiled but I never do. And when they are tiny you can use the smaller insert. Then as the get bigger and pee more (lol) you can use the larger one or double up and use both. I usually just unsnap them and throw them in his wet bag or pail so it's super easy to just dump them right into the washer. I have a couple AI1s but I just fell in love with the lil helpers. And their customer service is amazing. They send you little gifts wth your orders too.

PinkPrincessPiper · March 2017

I envy CD moms. If I was a FTM, I would totally go for it, but laundry for a family of 6 is going to be crazy enough! 100% disposables here.

lewliv · March 2017

@dmbfan46835 do you wash the covers with the inserts? Throw them in the pail as well?

dmbfan46835 · March 2017

@livlew I do them all together in the same load. I haven't had the smelly issues that some people have had either. i think a lot of that is due to the frequency that I wash them and how long I let them dry before throwing them back into rotation maybe?

@pinkprincesspiper I can't even imagine laundry for 6! Ugh!

lyse01 · March 2017

Because I'm trying to figure out the differences and pros/cons in CDs and visuals are helpful:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4WAKv_9VGlw

25 min or so video on the available varieties, before we even get into brands.

(SO watches YouTube constantly...this is going straight to his inbox!)

PinkPrincessPiper · March 2017

dmbfan46835 said:

@pinkprincesspiper I can't even imagine laundry for 6! Ugh!

Laundry for 5 currently is hard enough to keep up! What was I thinking?!

bubblesmtu · March 2017

I hate doing laundry and don't have a lot of time to do it during the week so we were 100% disposable and plan to do the same this time around. At every diaper change for DD I would use a cheap cloth diaper insert (Gerber sells packs of them) to dry DD's bum after using wipes. That out of everything prevented diaper rash the most for us.

thistle8677 · March 2017

I'm planning to do cloth in the day and disposable at night. A friend of mine is gifting me her entire set of Charlie Banana pocket diapers. I always did a mix with my other children. Cloth diapering has come a long way as far as options in the past 10-20 years!

Kudlica27 · March 2017

@livlew, I use a few different type & brands if you want to see some more pictures. I love AIO but my hubby and mom can never get a good fit. I have Pockets for them. We also used a AI2 system, but my son is so large (he's 35lbs and 35inches at 21 months) that the brand we had no longer fit well. We also use a specific AI2 brand at night, which I love for night, but it too bulky for day time use.

Bountifulbride · March 2017

Disposables with baby #1 and I exclusively did cloth with babies #2 and #3, I did a mix with baby #4. Baby #5 has been disposable and #6 might be a mix of disposable and cloth (though like @PinkPrincessPiper mentioned, having to do laundry for a large family ~ there will be 8 of us! ~ might be more laundry than I'd care to tackle). Both have pros and cons. At different times one has worked more easily for our family than the other just depending on where we are living and what else was going on in our life at the time.

Mango517 · March 2017

I'm a freak that loves doing laundry (it's the only household chore I do well), so I know CD is right up my alley in that respect. Since I work from home and have a small family, I'm going to try really hard to CD full time at home and only use disposables when we travel. My plan is to stock a variety of styles and brands, figuring out which type works best for us and then buy more of that brand.

I plan to have a stock of the Green Mountain Diaper Workhorse fitted for the newborn/early days when they need a million diaper changes per day. I like how easy and simple those seem. Plus they are cheap!

lewliv · March 2017

@Kudlica27 may you tell me the diapers names/brands?

Kudlica27 · March 2017

@LivLew my AIO our Smartbottoms, my pockets are Bumgenius (I think I have an Alva and Imagine pocket at my parents), I have Best Bottom Covers, and a few thirstiest newborn covers. I also have Grovia Ones that we use overnight. An dI think I have some Bamboo Imagine AI2 somewhere!

MatteaGabrielle · March 2017

First was cloth and home and disposable at daycare.

This one I'll be home and plan on cloth.

We used bumgenius and lalabye baby with the first. Pulled them all out already. Excited to use them again.

bumpybump · March 2017

Kathryn0903 said:

Bringing back this discussion. Any affordable brands you recommend? If I do laundry every 2-3 days, how many to start with? Do others get the newborn size or just use disposables from the beginning? What's the whole toilet sprayer thing? Seriously considering this if it will save us money especially if we plan on having more kids down the line.

I'll answer each of your questions below and separate them into paragraphs for each question

Affordability wise, do not be afraid to purchase CDs used. I know it may sound "gross" but you can strip and bleach them (instructions on Fluff Love & CD Science) and no big deal. We bought lots used and did just this. I also replaced relaxed elastics and they were like new. We bought Bumgenius Freetimes (AIO's) for almost our entire stash. We also have a local co-op where we can purchase items for a lot less, like $8/ea (China made), and we purchased some bamboo AIO's that we used at DD's naptimes. Our nighttime CDs are not what I would consider "reasonable" price wise but they are awesome and we will use them for two kids so we will get our use out of them and they hold high resale values. They are Sustainablebabyish OBFs.

I'm a huge data nerd and really liked keeping track of DD's day from diaper changes to sleep to nursing so I have data on how many diapers a day we used from the start. If you want to do laundry every 2-3 days, I'd say you should start with 25 or more. That is, if you are getting a kind that can dry quickly when hang dried or use your dryer.

We have a decent amount of newborn sized CDs that we used for quite a few months since DD was 7 lbs, 3 oz at birth. Since I had a csection and was not to be carrying laundry around and going up and down stairs, we used up the disposables that the hospital gave us. Those lasted the first two weeks for us.

Toilet sprayer: I would not CD without one. IMO, these are a MUST! When the LO is EBFing you do not need a sprayer as EBF poop is water soluble (I'm not sure the rules on FFing). Once they start solids, you need to dump the poop (this can get really messy at times). We installed a custom sprayer to our toilet shortly before DD started eating solids. DH went to our local hardware store and bought a kitchen sprayer, tube, and the connection pieces needed for the hookup to our toilet. We also have a holder that suctions to the toilet tank. I can take pictures tomorrow if you'd like. Also, I DIY'd a spray shield instead of buying one (like a Spray Pal) because, yes, things can spray sometimes...

Since others mentioned smells earlier, we use a tall kitchen trash can with a foot pedal to open the top of the can. I made two large pail liner bags out of PUL that fit inside and hold the dirty diapers until wash day. If you wash your CDs enough, you should not have a lot of stink. But know that you are dealing with poop and pee...

Feel free to ask more questions if you'd like as I'm very willing to help you navigate all of this.

budzynb · March 2017

I'm quite envious of all you women who plan to CD! I am also a laundry freak and just love the feeling of pulling warm clothes out of the dryer and not having dirty laundry around in general. With that being said, the daycare we are totally set on will CD with us, but tuition includes disposable diapers, wipes, and food. With that being said, I am going to get what I'm paying for and let them do disposables. I really want to CD to save money but when the diaper bill is cut in half thanks to them, it is a pretty even split when I DD or CD. I'm anti-pregnancy right now and never plan to do this again, so I have a hard time thinking it will save me money on all the future kids. lol. Anybody else in this same situation and what did you choose??? I'm afraid it would be hard to do both. I'll have to send him in a CD to daycare and then at pick-up make sure I get my 1 single diaper back. And do I really want to only do half loads of laundry or wait 6 days between loads? Sounds gross to me...

Kathryn0903 · March 2017

@bumpybump thanks so much for all the info! Do you like the AIOs and are they easy to use? I saw you mentioned using something different for nighttime. Do the AIOs not work for nighttime?

erindippity · March 2017

Have any of you used the "swimming" cloth diapers?

bumpybump · March 2017

@Kathryn0903 yes, AIOs are super easy to use. Just like a disposable only you may have to spray it, put it in a bin instead of the trash, and wash. LOVE that I don't have to stuff them (we had some pockets when we started and I got rid of those fast). The AIOs worked at night initially but as she grew, she produced more urine and would soak through them. Some people are able to add extra pads and make them work. Our DD just pees a lot at night.

Diapers- disposable, cloth or mix?

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