Cloth Diapers

I was wondering if anyone could suggest how many cloth diapers to have on hand. We are expecting our first next year and we have been seriously considering cloth diapers to save money. I'm just not sure how many we would need or how sizing works.

I would say no less than 24 for a newborn to get through 2 days washing. I ended up with about 70 fitted/pocket/all in ones plus 3 dozen premium prefolds & 3 dozen infant prefolds. I am a huge fan of prefolds & covers for newborns & then moving up to the fitted/pocket/aio territory as they grow.
What is your question on sizing? Some pockets come as one size that fit from about 10lbs to potty training others are sized like disposibles.
 
I would say no less than 24 for a newborn to get through 2 days washing. I ended up with about 70 fitted/pocket/all in ones plus 3 dozen premium prefolds & 3 dozen infant prefolds. I am a huge fan of prefolds & covers for newborns & then moving up to the fitted/pocket/aio territory as they grow.
What is your question on sizing? Some pockets come as one size that fit from about 10lbs to potty training others are sized like disposibles.


Actually you answered all my questions perfectly. Thank you so much. :)
 
I was wondering if anyone could suggest how many cloth diapers to have on hand. We are expecting our first next year and we have been seriously considering cloth diapers to save money. I'm just not sure how many we would need or how sizing works.

We just had our first last Wednesday, and we plan to use cloth diapers. We started buying a few at a time to spread out the cost once we knew what we wanted. We are using Bum Genius. We have quite the collection ready. We have the pocket style so we can adjust the absorbency as needed.

The best advice that we got was to use disposable at the beginning - our son weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces, so the cloth would be HUGE on him right now. We'll use disposable until he can fit. Our style is with snaps (I heard the velcro can wear out over time), and there are different snap locations to grow with the baby. So, we have the one-size fits all which means we only need that one size FOREVER. I was told to buy 12, 18 and 24 by different moms. I think we'll end up with 18-20. That means we will only have to wash them every other day or so.

The best news to us is that we'll save money now, and with each child after. :)
 
adventure woman, what is this wet bag you speak of? That sounds so simple to wash them using this technique. Is there an example on Amazon? Did you make your own.

Totally considering going cloth. OP I had never heard of sunbaby diapers, those are quite inexpensive! Very cool. I'm also going to peruse those resale sites to get a better idea of who much things cost used.

Also another question, we will probably be moving a few months after the baby is born to another state. Are diaper sprayers easy to set up and take down? Say to move from one toilet to the next...
 


I used BUm genius and some prefolds with my DS and loved them! I will say that I got all velcro and after a certain amount of time the velcro wore off on it. However, in 3 weeks we're expecting baby #4 and there was no way I was going back to disposable so I converted all my velcro to snaps. It was time consuming but so worth it when I see all those gorgeous diapers ready to go! :-) I do recommend to anyone starting out, invest in the ones with snaps.
 
Also another question, we will probably be moving a few months after the baby is born to another state. Are diaper sprayers easy to set up and take down? Say to move from one toilet to the next...

Well, we did a makeshift one using plans for a kitchen sprayer online (saved about $10) and we had the whole thing up and running in about 10 minutes, so I'm guessing moving it wouldn't be hard at all.
 
I'll be a first time mom in September, so forgive my ignorance, but what do you do with poop in the diaper?? Do you scrap it into the toilet before washing it?:
With all types of solid or semisolid matter (ashes, grease, jelly, etc.) you should scrape off as much as you can before getting out the bottle of cleaning fluid or throwing the garment into the wash.

Admittedly it is gross when dealing with feces or vomitus, but the more you clean off first, the less gets caught in other items, or left behind, after the washing machine rinse cycle is done or the carpet shampooer finishes sucking up.

When you do use cleaning fluid, sop up as much as you can using tissue or absorbent cloth that you dispose of immediately, rather than let it dry where it is.

More on keeping things clean:
http://www.cockam.com/clean.htm
 


adventure woman, what is this wet bag you speak of? That sounds so simple to wash them using this technique. Is there an example on Amazon? Did you make your own.

Totally considering going cloth. OP I had never heard of sunbaby diapers, those are quite inexpensive! Very cool. I'm also going to peruse those resale sites to get a better idea of who much things cost used.

Also another question, we will probably be moving a few months after the baby is born to another state. Are diaper sprayers easy to set up and take down? Say to move from one toilet to the next...

A wet bag is just a waterproof bag that you keep the dirty diapers in. When wash time comes you just empty the bag in to the wash, toss said bag in along with it & wash. I used planetwise brand & wahmies for my wet bags. I used the Bum Genius diaper sprayer & it takes less tham 5 minutes to attach or take off your toilet & there is nothing permanent.
 
I have read this thread with interest....all these new names like Bum Genius. :rotfl2: I am of the old school and cloth diapered my older ones because we were broke, and I "saved" the pampers for when I was out.

The diapers were a giant soft cotton square and you folded them to fit the baby. As the baby grew, you folded them larger. Overnight, you might fold two together. Plastic pants went over everthing. There was a diaper bucket to soak with a solution of water and Dreft. Then you washed separately in hot water, more Dreft and bleach, with rinsing twice. After potty training, the old diapers were used cleaning. :)
 
Just wanted to chime in! I have 3 boys; youngest is almost 8 months, and the oldest is 7. We cloth diaper and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I have tried tons of different diapers (so much fun!) and my stash is currently set at 30 pocket diapers, mostly Bumgenius but also Happy Heineys, Fuzzibunz, and one Blueberry and Grovia. My favorites are the BumGenius 4.0's with snaps. We use these for overnight and they work great!

My baby has been 100% in cloth since the day we brought him home from the hospital, but we are going to do spossies for our upcoming Disney cruise.
 
I used my cloth diapers mostly as burp clothes and sold them at my garage sale (bleached and clean) they went fast. DD was trained at 18 months, we bought a potty that stars appeared when she went in it, she really liked that. Plus she wanted Arthur panties really bad so I told her no more diapers and that was it.
 
I have read this thread with interest....all these new names like Bum Genius. :rotfl2: I am of the old school and cloth diapered my older ones because we were broke, and I "saved" the pampers for when I was out.

The diapers were a giant soft cotton square and you folded them to fit the baby. As the baby grew, you folded them larger. Overnight, you might fold two together. Plastic pants went over everthing. There was a diaper bucket to soak with a solution of water and Dreft. Then you washed separately in hot water, more Dreft and bleach, with rinsing twice. After potty training, the old diapers were used cleaning. :)

Cloth diapers are so much better & easier now. Even if you use prefolds there really is not much folding involved like the flats that you probably used. The covers are also no longer plastic pants they're nice covers with aplix(like velcro) or snaps. They're just as easy, if not easier than pampers. No more diaper buckets either just a nice little zippered bag.
 
I have read this thread with interest....all these new names like Bum Genius. :rotfl2: I am of the old school and cloth diapered my older ones because we were broke, and I "saved" the pampers for when I was out.

The diapers were a giant soft cotton square and you folded them to fit the baby. As the baby grew, you folded them larger. Overnight, you might fold two together. Plastic pants went over everthing. There was a diaper bucket to soak with a solution of water and Dreft. Then you washed separately in hot water, more Dreft and bleach, with rinsing twice. After potty training, the old diapers were used cleaning. :)

I also used cloth diapers that you folded on my two oldest (now 22 and 20 years old). I never used bleach though. I put the scraped diapers into a diaper bucket that had borox and water in it. I started washing with a spin cycle, then washed in Dreft with two rinse cycles, adding vinegar to the first rinse. I think they got some bleaching by being hung up to dry in the sun. It was a strange process because you'd have thought bleach was necessary, but they came out extremely white and clean that way.

The fancy velcro wrappers some posters have mentioned were available, but I was too cheap. We used plastic pants and diaper pins.
 
I am so glad I came across this thread! I have been trying to find out about cloth diapering, my DD is 2.5 months and we have spent sooooo much money on diapers and diaper genie refills! Last night, my DBF went to Walmart and bought a 180 count box of diapers and they were $40 :scared1: and we will be lucky if that lasts a month!!! I would LOVE some more advice and rexommendations on where to buy and what I need, Thanks :cutie:
 
I agree, OP. I used cloth with both of my kids, saved a ton, and made lots back at the end. I used a combination of chinese prefolds with covers, and AIO's. Some of the AIO's like FuzziBunz, I *know* I sold them on ebay for more than I originally paid! I recently found a box of diapers that had gone missing after I packed them up--I used those diapers with both my kids and oldest is 11 now. I sold them on ebay a few months ago, and yes, they went for a lot of $$$. Couldn't believe it!
 
I love cloth diapers. I've never tried reselling them, but I have 5 children and am praying for more, so we just use them until they wear out.

My preference is for covers with velcro rather than snaps. They're faster, and you get a more custom fit. I like to buy good quality prefolds as the basis of my diapering system. The ones from Green Mountain Diapers are awesome. In fact, I still have a lot of the ones I bought for my oldest son, and they're starting to show a lot of wear, but they work great.

For covers, I like to buy cheap so I can buy a lot. For little babies, I really like ProRaps. You can buy the seconds directly from the company for really cheap. It's been awhile since I bought any, but I want to say they were about $7 each. I like to have about 10-15 in each size, and I wash them and dry them with the diapers. They don't last as long if you dry them, but that's why I buy cheap ones.

As they get older, I prefer pocket diapers. A tri-folded prefold and a cover without pins or a Snappi doesn't cut it once they begin walking. They end up with saggy bottoms. A fitted diaper plus a cover is another option, but it takes a little longer to fasten the diaper on and then fasten the cover. I do like the workhorse fitteds from Green Mountain Diapers, though. They absorb a lot for a fitted and dry pretty fast.

I only keep a few all-in-ones around, mostly for the diaper bag. They're expensive, they take forever and a year to dry, and they don't last long. Plus I've never found any really great ones that don't leak easily.

I do not like "one size" covers. They aren't all that adjustable. I bought a few Econobums the other day because I was a little short on covers, and I regret it. I bought them for my 2.5 year old, thinking it was best since he's going to be potty trained soon, but they fit my 3 month old on the biggest setting. I imagine they'd fit some slim, small toddlers, but mine is really tall and a little pudgy right now because he's about to have a growth spurt. Plus they have snaps. Velcro will get icky and not as sticky over time, but you have to be very gentle with snaps or you'll rip the diaper.

When it comes to washing, I have a washable bag in a large kitchen size trash can (with a lid). I don't do any swishing, dunking, or spraying. I just wash the diapers as they are until the waste is of a "plopable" consistency. In other words, I'll plop anything that comes off easily into the toilet, but that's it. It's always worked well for us. However, due to a family history of food allergies and a really good milk supply, my allergist and pediatrician don't recommend I give my kids any solids until they're one. Before then, it's breastmilk only. I think it's mostly the kids who are 6-12 months old and eating solids who go through that stage where it's like peanut butter--in other words, very thick and sticky. Mine go straight from breastmilk poo to more adult-like formed stools.

There probably are better brands and options out there than what we use, but when I started with my 9 year old, there were fewer options. Most interesting diapers came from small, work-at-home moms. I found a system that I liked, and we've stuck with it.
 
Totally agree OP! Cloth diapers are VERY budget friendly and even more so when you resell them when you are done with them.

I spent $300 on cloth diapers for my twins (bought new, shopped sales), used them 2 years (potty trained at 23/24 months) and just finished selling them on a local lawn sale site on facebook, for over $250!! That means I spent $50 for diapers for my twins!!! That's less then $3 a month! Way better then the over $50 per month I would have spent on disposable diapers.

Cloth is so easy, its really just another load of laundry, anyone can do it. (Spoken by a busy working mom of twins :thumbsup2)
 
I'll second the notion. Also a big money saver if you use your cloth diapers for more than one child.

I also sold some of my stash of cloth diapers once my youngest quit needing them (gave others to a home for pregnant teens).

Dittoing that.. I used them on all 4 of mine, some from my 1st were stil going strong by my 4th ( 11 years apart in age)
 
I must applaud anyone who takes the time to use cloth diapers. Its not for me. I'll pay for the convenience of tossing stinky diapers in the trash. OP, you got a great deal!
 
CraftyMommy said:
I must applaud anyone who takes the time to use cloth diapers. Its not for me. I'll pay for the convenience of tossing stinky diapers in the trash. OP, you got a great deal!

It really takes no effort & you do realize that you're supposed to dump the fecal matter from disposible diapers in the toilet, not the trash, don't you?
 

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