cloth diapers?

[luna99]

anyone use them? and if so, would you mind sharing your experiences, good and bad with them?

I'm not a mom yet but next year am planning on starting a family and I'm really interested in using cloth diapers... for the environment and for money savings... so I just wanted to get some first had experiences from real mom and dads! thanks!

 

[emh1129]

We love them. There are so many kinds out there & I've only tried a few, but we really like pocket diapers, like Fuzzi Bunz.
The initial cost can be expensive (it doesn't have to be- you could use all prefolds), but if you are planning more than one child, it's really an investment.

 

[J3nn78]

I LOVE cloth diapers. They are so easy to use and so much better for baby and environment.
I started off using fuzzi bunz. I liked them alright, but decided I could make my own and save even more money. I made over 100 pocket diapers for about $175. They have diapered 2 children and have much more life in them still. I will be passing them on to my sister.

One good thing about fuzzi bunz is that they have great resale value.

For beginners, I recommend using a pocket diaper. It goes on so easily and either snaps or velcros into place.

Washing is simple too. I wash mine 2 times a week. How long you go, depends on how many you start with. It is recommended to start with at least 2 dozen.
Anyway, back to washing. I bought a 1 gallon of Allen's naturally detergent. YOu cannot use regular detergents because the perfumes and additives will build up in your diapers and make them stink. My gallon of detergent cost about $30 and lasted for 2 years of washing. I only used 1/4-1/2 an ounce in each load. I run the diapers in the wash on cold/cold with no detergent. THen I run it on HOT with detergent. I sometimes run an extra rinse to make sure the suds are gone. Then I like to line dry them. But they can go in the dryer too.

I had lots of people tell me I was nuts and how it must be so much work. But, it is no more work than adding an extra load or two of laundry each week.

I have soooo much info. I would be happy to share more. Ask a specific question and I will try to answer.

 

[bumbershoot]

LOVED them.

STarted with chinese prefolds and covers, moved into a plush fitted whose brand name I can't remember right now (gasp), then found FuzziBunz. Those formed the bulk of our diaper supply, with occasional forays into cute things like Rumpsters.

Then towards the end of DS's time in dipes, we found side-snapping pocket Swaddlebees, which we absolutely adored. The FBs never really fit perfectly on my son. He was tall and lanky, but with sumo legs. The Swaddlebees fit more like a high legged bikini, giving his legs room while letting us get the waist snug enough (but not TOO snug, or you'll have up-the-back-of-the-onesie explosions, LOL). Once he started figuring out the potty, we used Bumkins training pants.

http://www.sunshinediapers.com/ has a great tutorial, along with washing tips. I ended up using a few sprays of Simple Green, a small handful (and I have small hands) of washing soda, and that's IT for our diaper washing.

Once we got the thrush/yeast problem at the beginning sorted (thank you gentian violet for helping with that), and once I realized I couldn't take grapefruit seed extract drops AND eat a grapefruit on the same day for DS's bottom's sake, he never had diaper rash. And he was pretty much done with diapers at around 2, though nervous-Molly kept them around until he was 2.5, when I did the final wash and put them away.

I would use them again in a heartbeat!

 

[luna99]

thanks for the responses so far everyone! a few questions:

I started off using fuzzi bunz. I liked them alright, but decided I could make my own and save even more money. I made over 100 pocket diapers for about $175.

are you super skilled with a sewing machine? I can sew but not all that great.. and if making them would save even more money I might look into this as well as buying some to start out with. basically I'm asking is making your own easy to do?

The FBs never really fit perfectly on my son.

yeah, I was kind of curious about the fit. I mean, I was looking at some youtube videos of happy hiney's cloth diapers and they have some that supposedly are one size fits all and you can use them from birth until they are like 2 I guess? and how can that be? I mean, do they fit snug on kids or are they going to be all bunchy and stuff?

lol.. I guess I would have more questions about this if I actually had a baby and was trying to use the diapers.. thanks so much again everyone for the information you've already provided! I'd love to hear anything else you might know about them. BTW, I am thinking DH and I will have 2 kids (crossing my fingers) so this will really save us some cash! thanks!

 

[Camno's Mama]

I did it for a while with my second one. I really loved it for the most part. The washing and all that was really easy, and not nearly as disgusting as most people think it is.

My only problem was that I had not cd'd my older ds, and all of the clothing we had didn't fit right with the cd's. His booty was just too big!

My choice was to get new clothes or use disposables for certain parts of the day or with certain outfits.

Honestly, I hate wasting stuff! It really bothered me not to use the clothing we already had. This is not a problem you are likely to run into since you are starting with your first one.

Other than that, I loved it and would do it again! (I do recommend using a diaper service or being okay with the occasional "sposie" in the beginning...being a new mom is overwhelming and if it's too much at first, take it easy on yourself. It gets so much easier as they get older. They don't go through nearly as many diapers!)

Good luck...you'll feel very good about your decision! And I'm telling you, my ds loved them! He requested them over the sposies as he got older!

 

[AQW]

LOVED cloth diapering. Really no downside as far as I'm concerned. I'm almost sad now that my daughter uses the potty... I miss those cute dipes and her big cloth-diapered booty.

 

[gigi1313]

i wish i was using cloth diapers... but mil is against them and since she's my daycare on work days and does all of our laundry (yep, for all five of us), i can't really argue with her...

but! i do know a company that makes awesome cloth diapers... www.clothetc.com i use their wipes and they're great!! they also sell out realllllllly quickly, but worth keeping your eyes open and jumping on them when they get listed for sale

 

[bumbershoot]

yeah, I was kind of curious about the fit. I mean, I was looking at some youtube videos of happy hiney's cloth diapers and they have some that supposedly are one size fits all and you can use them from birth until they are like 2 I guess? and how can that be? I mean, do they fit snug on kids or are they going to be all bunchy and stuff?

lol.. I guess I would have more questions about this if I actually had a baby and was trying to use the diapers.. thanks so much again everyone for the information you've already provided! I'd love to hear anything else you might know about them. BTW, I am thinking DH and I will have 2 kids (crossing my fingers) so this will really save us some cash! thanks!

The one-size dipes have about a zillion snaps. They were just getting big when we had already bought a ton of FBs, and there were even more being created as DS was figuring out the potty. They are intriguing, but.....frankly....I liked the variety. I liked being able to decide "hmm, today's a red swaddlebee day, and tomorrow might be a orange/red chili pepper design Rumpsters day". To have all of the CD "stash" bought from the beginning would have ruined some of the sheer fun for me. Though if it were JUST about budget for me, it sure is a good way to budget!

The FBs were also a terrible fit for my newborn. Many people have said that. He was too big for the tiniest sizes, but just too small for the Small. So the CPFs were good at the beginning.


Since a huge reason for ME doing CDs was environmental, once we got him home he was never in a disposable. We got two in the mail while I was pg, and I never used them, and actually keep them around b/c they have the instructions on the bags stating that you need to put the "solid waste" into the toilet before throwing the diaper away. I *love* that they state that, and love finding that info on the Pampers site every so often. Almost NO disposable user knows this. My friends all were disgusted by having to handle poop like they think I did, but in reality, they should have been doing just as much "poop handling" as I was doing. I just love having those around for that reason.


And I never had a service b/c there's only one service around here, and they use heavy bleach in laundering the dipes. I am dreadfully allergic to bleach, so even if DS wasn't (I don't know if he is) it wouldn't have been good to go into an asthma attack b/c of the bleach, when yet another reason to not use disposables was b/c I go into asthma walking down the disposable diaper aisle at the grocery store!


mothering dot com is great for info, diaperpin dot com too. I bought most of our dipes from kellyscloset dot com, with some from puddlesplace dot com. My town has TWO CD stores now, one with a storefront, the other without. It's so fun, I can't wait to have another bebe.

 

[MommyBryn]

We cloth diaper too. I think I've gone through one of every brand out there. LOL We're on baby #2 in cloth now. I LOVE it. And it works really well with EC'ing if you're interested in that (elimination communication- check out diaperfreebaby.com I *think*).

Anyway, don't really have anything to add, but just wanted to say good luck, and you'll probably fall in love with cloth!! It's more like a hobby IMO.

 

[bumbershoot]

i wish i was using cloth diapers... but mil is against them and since she's my daycare on work days and does all of our laundry (yep, for all five of us), i can't really argue with her...

I cannot even imagine letting my MIL (or mother, if she were still around) even *touch* my laundry, let alone do everyone's laundry.

Sorry she's being such a pain about it. There are people who do it part-time...is it possible to do that, and just do that laundry on your own?

And it works really well with EC'ing if you're interested in that (elimination communication- check out diaperfreebaby.com I *think*).

I was too wiped out and later too lazy to really do EC, but I kept it in the back of my head, and once I *finally* noticed his signals (got really squirmy while sleeping) we figured out the potty at night, and that went into daytime. So I definitely credit the combo of being an EC wannabe along with the CDs with DS's relatively early potty-learning.

 

[gigi1313]

Sorry she's being such a pain about it. There are people who do it part-time...is it possible to do that, and just do that laundry on your own?

oh, she's not being a pain... i suggested it, she dismissed it, i carried on w/life and disposable diapers! LOL! she's too awesome in too many other ways to fight this fight... did i mention she cooks too?

 

[happymommy]

Okay I'll be the first to say I never would even consider cloth. Loved my Pampers. So sue me, worked for me and my kids! Also was good for both my kids sensitive skin and all - more absorbent.

Easier - yes. More convenient - yes. Sounds less "romantic" - yes. Sounds less "earth friendly" - yes. Sorry but I thought the whole idea was icky and a pain (and I wore cloth as a baby, yes although I was potty trained at 18 months I remember those icky diapers).

 

[minkydog]

Its not an all-or-nothing deal. Nobody stands there with a medal for you when you finally get all the kids toilet-trained.

All three of my kids wore cloth diapers. They also all wore Pampers. For me, because I was staying home at the time, it wasn't a problem to do the diapers and hang them on the line. At one point I had two kids in cloth diapers and I'm telling you, it wasn't a problem. (I used the cheap pre-folds you get from Target, btw. Prolly cost me a total of $60 for both kids, including vinyl pants.) During the daytime it was easy to change cloth diapers every hour or so, but I found that nothing beat Pampers at night! I used disposables while we traveled because I just didn't want to haul wet or dirty cloth diapers around with us.

 

[J3nn78]

Cloth can be just as absorbent if not more so than disposables. In fact my boys only ever leaked in disposables but never in cloth, even 12 hours overnight.

I do not understand why it is thought to be so icky. These are NOT the kind of cloth you wore, not even close. My boys prefer the comfy soft cloth to paper. You still deal with the same poo and pee. Instead of rolling it up in a diaper to sit in a landfill for hundreds of years you plop them in the toilet. In fact you are supposed to dispose of poo in the toilet with disposables too, though no one does.

I think that those who would never even consider it are ignorant to the idea. I know because I used to be too.

As for the questons about making them. No I am not super skilled at making them. I used a brand I liked on my son and made a few adjustments to make them fit better on him. I traced the diaper and added a bit of extra for sewing. I ordered the PUL (waterproof material) online and got the microfleece for the inner at walmart and joann fabrics. The elastic was from walmart. I chose to do snaps on mine. I got a ton of snaps and a snap press on ebay for $80. I could easily resell the snap press for the same or more, but it is so convenient to have around for other things. So I do not calculate that in my overall cost.
I suggest getting a cheap or free diaper off a For Sale/Trade board on www.diaperswappers dot com and checking it out. Then you can "dissect" it to see exactly how it is put together. Pocket diapers are not complicated.

I did not make my inserts. I got them all super cheap on clearance or from the FSOT board.

I agree that Cloth Diapering is a hobby and passion. I actually considered starting my own business. But I just have too much on my plate. I would love to get the word out there and convert more people to cloth. I am sad that my little one is starting to potty train. I had sooooo much fun making and buying diapers for them. I was addicted.

 

[J3nn78]

Here are some pics of my boys in their cloth

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[J3nn78]

Here are some pics of my boys in their cloth

 

[emh1129]

My town has TWO CD stores now, one with a storefront, the other without. It's so fun, I can't wait to have another bebe.

We have two here, too. Cloth diapering is really becoming more main-stream, which is awesome.

 

[emh1129]

J3nn- cute little guys you have there!

 

[MommyBryn]

I'm jealous of those of you with local CD retailers! We have a few WAHM's around here but no retail stores. Then again, I'm like the only one within 100 miles who CD's around here!!