fuzzi buns/other cloth diaperers please weigh in!

[mrsklamc]

Although DH (and most everyone else) thinks I'm crazy, I am very seriously thinking about cloth diapers. I really like the look of fuzzi buns, but gosh they are expensive and I'm not sure how many I would need? Can you tell me your experience with them or other brands?

 

[wewantmore]

Have you checked out Diaperswappers.com? You can buy used.

I personally didn't like them, but I don't like any snap CD's, I prefer velcro.

The upfront cost can seem huge, but the BIG picture is you'll be saving TONS.

Michelle

 

[pperfectmom]

I used a few fuzzi bunz while the kids were tiny babies but ended up going to all Motherease since they fit from 8 pounds up to 35(although DS weighs more than that and I have just potty trained him). I agree that the fuzzi bunz are so cute. If you don't want to invest a huge amount up front, I recommend diaperswappers.com as well. I have a bunch of stuff right now listed on there. I definately feel like cloth diapers were the right choice for us. I don't know how much we saved but I know it's a lot.

 

[momofmickeyfans]

I have been using CDs since my DS, now 10 mos, was born. I tried several different brands/types, but settled w/ Bumgenius one size. They have the inserts like Fuzzibunz, but velcro instead of snap, and have an adjustable snap rise so one diaper will fit (hopefully) until potty trained. They are expensive upfront, but the savings are huge! Just 1 extra load of laundry per day or every 2 days. I have 24, but only use about 8 on an average day, so 10-12 would definitely be plenty if you wash every day.

DH thought I was crazy too, but he has gotten over it, and it's nice that they have the diaper liners so you can flush the really stinky mess, and not have to soak/dunk diapers!!! They are a lifesaver!

There are way less expensive alternatives to the pocket diapers that are just as easy. Hope that helps!

 

[bumbershoot]

Cloth diapers are wonderful!

We spent more than others, but that's b/c I liked so many things and couldn't make up my mind. And they kept making different kinds that weren't there when I first started looking!

On the other hand, there are others who spent WAY more than I did.

Washing is so simple; the more complicated I got, the worse things got. I finally just used a little big of Washing Soda and a few squirts of Simple Green, and my dipes were clean, absorbent, and lovely.

DS figured out potty-learning started at 18 months, and we did our final wash of the dipes and put them away when he was 2.5. He was probably "done" at 2, but I wanted to make sure. I put ALL of that early success "on" cloth diapers and his personality. I actually slowed down the process, LOL.

FuzziBunz were our staple after he was a couple months old; we started with 36 CPFs and some covers. I kept looking, though, because I was never 100% in love with fuzzibunz. Later, too late, I found Swaddlbees side-snapping pockets, and if we have another baby I'll likely get those. They fit DS better, b/c he had a thin belly and hips (he was tall, too) but he also got his papa's sumo thighs. The "bikini" kind of cut of the Swaddlebees worked very well for him.

You can also look at the one-size dipes, and assuming you get the kind that work for you kiddo, you could be DONE with purchases for dipes with just those.

My friends thought I was nuts. But some of them made no sense, anyway. I offered a pregnant friend a month of diaper service, and she told me I was nuts, that she could NEVER deal with keeping dirty diapers for a week in her house. And then at her shower she got a Diaper Genie, and routinely kept several days worth of dirty dipes all sausaged-up in that Genie, then they went in her kitchen garbage until trash day. One week's worth of dirty dipes in her house! And despite the fact that she was a neatnik, a very good house-cleaner, her house always smelled of dirty pampers.

If you look around the Pampers website, or look at many packages of disposables, you'll see that the instructions for use include cleaning fecal material off of disposables, before disposing of the dipes. Hmm. So...one is supposed to put poop into the sewage system no matter what type of dipe we use! Well I think I'll just use cloth.

Nothing made me happier, laundry-wise, than a big stack of clean diapers to fold and put away.

None of my doubting friends ever asked me how the CDs were going. None of them ever asked about his potty-learning. None of them ever asked if he had diaper rash (other than a yeast rash in his first couple weeks, quickly finished off with Gentian Violet, nope no rash). So thankfully I didn't listen to them, because *they didn't care much anyway* even when they were in my face telling me how miserable I would be.

I found this site after I was well into it, but Sunshine Diapers has wonderful information, especially on getting started and washing!

PinStripes and PolkaDots is great too.

My fave place that I bought from, though, was kellyscloset.com.


Have fun! You're the mama, and you won't ever be asking you friends or relatives other than DH to wash the dipes for you. They don't get a say! DH does, sort of, but check out some of those diaper savings calculators on there, remembering that CD'd kids have a tendency to potty-learn earlier, and that might help to convince your hubby.

Also, a big lesson my own husband learned, is that once you've decided to go forward with it, just don't talk about it to other people. You know your friends and relatives aren't interested, so don't talk about it. DH's co-workers will probably be just as against it. My hubby had his feelings hurt daily by his co-workers telling him how crazy it was, how weird I was, how he'd spend all this money and regret it...he never did regret it, but he regretted talking to his work friends about it! So just stay quiet with doubters, and your mental health will be much better for it. Once you're a year into it, then you can talk about it, but as first-time parents, there's no street-cred whatsoever, and you're really not allowed to have any opionins of your own anyway.


Have fun!

 

[wewantmore]

Also remember that the resale of them is GREAT.

 

[tonilea]

Are you planning to diaper a newborn? If so, my preference is about 36 prefolds (get the good ones, but they are still alot cheaper than the All In Ones or Pocket Diapers), 5-6 covers and about a half a dozen Fuzzi Bunz for going out and about or at night.

I didn't really think I would like prefolds, but so much of what I had was too small for my little chunk! With prefolds, you can fold them to fit. Newborns go though a lot of diapers in a day, so what I listed about will let you wash every 2-3 days.

Older babies, I would plan on having 15 to 20 diapers and wash every 2 or 3 days. It really just depends on your child.

I loved cloth diapering. I really liked the Fuzzi Bunz, but I liked Wonderoos more - however, I wouldn't recommend the newer versions of Wonderoos.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We've been cloth diapering since DD 27 months was a newborn. We do prefer Fuzzi Bunz, but Happy Heiny's solids are OK too. I just like the fit better with the snap diapers personally. The ones that we didn't like at all were the BumGenius diapers. They just didn't work well for us and didn't seem like they'd last all that long. Our Fuzzi Bunz are workhorses, though! We had a lot of smalls, which honestly was a waste of $$. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gotten through the first month with disposables or cloth prefolds and then put DD straight into Mediums.

We have 18 Medium Fuzzi Bunz, 36 medium JoeyBunz Hemparoo inserts (we double up), and the same amount of Large FB's. We used the medium inserts in the large diapers and they worked fine. DD has gone between a medium and a large quite a bit, but as she became a more active toddler she really slimmed down. We've just ordered 1 "Petite Toddler" size (rise of a large, cut of a medium). I swore that she'd have potty trained by now, but no such luck. My kid isn't training any earlier in cloth than she would have in disposables I don't think. I'll be the person with a 3 year-old in cloth diapers, LOL! At least I am not having to buy disposables for 3 years I guess.

While the diapers are an investment up front, you can make back 2/3 or more of your costs by reselling them on diaperswappers or Babycenter when you're done with them. You can't do that with disposables! I figure that we've spent somewhere around $800 on the diapers and inserts, gotten 27 months out of them, will reuse the same ones on #2 (currently in the oven), and then resell them for $500-$600. That's not too bad for diapering 2 kids!

We also use cloth wipes...we aren't fancy, though. We just use cheapo washcloths and tap water...works great!

 

[pperfectmom]

Don't lose hope LoveBWVVBR. I have finally convinced my DS to go in the potty and he was 3 in Feb. But he is doing so good now. We were able to use the Motherease one size up until now and he is a huge boy. My diapers are definately not worth that much money now, however after going through two kids but I know I still saved a lot.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Don't lose hope LoveBWVVBR. I have finally convinced my DS to go in the potty and he was 3 in Feb. But he is doing so good now. We were able to use the Motherease one size up until now and he is a huge boy. My diapers are definately not worth that much money now, however after going through two kids but I know I still saved a lot.

Thanks...I am losing hope lately, LOL! We were doing SO well with potty training before DD turned 2. I guess the novelty wore off or something, because lately she refuses to go unless she's trying to stall naptime or bedtime. Even worse, she has become a regular tubtime pooper We start swim lessons this week, and she'll be double-diapered (Little Swimmers with a FB over it) to ensure that she doesn't become a pool-pooper

 

[Lisa_M]

Are you planning to diaper a newborn? If so, my preference is about 36 prefolds (get the good ones, but they are still alot cheaper than the All In Ones or Pocket Diapers), 5-6 covers and about a half a dozen Fuzzi Bunz for going out and about or at night.

I didn't really think I would like prefolds, but so much of what I had was too small for my little chunk! With prefolds, you can fold them to fit. Newborns go though a lot of diapers in a day, so what I listed about will let you wash every 2-3 days.

Older babies, I would plan on having 15 to 20 diapers and wash every 2 or 3 days. It really just depends on your child.

I loved cloth diapering. I really liked the Fuzzi Bunz, but I liked Wonderoos more - however, I wouldn't recommend the newer versions of Wonderoos.

How old is an older baby? Mine is 6 weeks old and I'm considering going to cloth diapers after we go through all our disposables. I have about 300 size 1's left.

How many diapers can you fit in a load? We have to pay $3 a load to wash, so I want to figure out if this would be cost effective or not.

Also, if I started this would I be rocking the boat for the baby (Would she adapt to a different dipe?)? She's only had disposables so far and I'm disgusted at how many we have gone through in 6 short weeks...

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

How old is an older baby? Mine is 6 weeks old and I'm considering going to cloth diapers after we go through all our disposables. I have about 300 size 1's left.

How many diapers can you fit in a load? We have to pay $3 a load to wash, so I want to figure out if this would be cost effective or not.

Also, if I started this would I be rocking the boat for the baby (Would she adapt to a different dipe?)? She's only had disposables so far and I'm disgusted at how many we have gone through in 6 short weeks...

At 6 weeks-old, my DD was already in a size Medium Fuzzi Bunz. That is plenty old to start using cloth IMHO. Your baby won't know the difference, I promise! I am not sure about the cost of washing, though. We do a rinse cycle and then a hot wash, which is how many people wash their diapers. Would that cost you extra at a coin-op laundry? Could you hang the diapers to dry on a drying rack instead of putting them in a coin-op dryer? Maybe you could save some there. I honestly don't know if I'd switch to cloth if I had to use a laundromat, though. I think it could be really inconvenient to have to go to the laundromat 3 times a week, KWIM?

 

[neatokimmo]

I love Fuzzi Bunz diapers. Is this your first child? They are very durable, you'll be able to use them for multiple kids.

If I were to have multiple kids in diapers I would do 24 small, 24 medium and 24 large. But you are talking about $1200 easy. BUT if you are going to be diapering a lot of kids it's so worth it.

I prefer snaps over velcro, the diapers don't stick together in the wash.

Remember too, diapers are easy to make. Terry cloth is very absorbent, you could make diapers from old towels and robes. My best ones are hour glass ones I sewed myself out a really nice robe I bought at a yard sale for a buck.

So if money was an issue, I'd make the little ones and buy the medium and large fuzzi bunz for when they are more active and moving around.

 

[Ariel8676]

We used cloth here and LOVED it..we used Fuzzibunz and GAD's (Green acre designs) I LOVE, LOVE our GAD's http://greenacredesigns.com/
They have a GREAT resale value, as long as you take good care of them. I also recommend shecking out Diaperswappers...you can buy some used OR sell yours when you are done.

 

[monami7]

I just found this thread and I am so happy I did. Our two girls are both adopted and we currently use the other kind of diapers. however we are seriously considering switching to cloth.
The thing is that Lilly, our oldest will soon start potty training. We hope to start this summer. She is still working on talking and we just moved. We want to be more settled before starting a big change like potty training.
Our 15 month old has been home 7 month so mostly this would benefit her I guess. We wonder if the huge investment of Cloth Diapering is worth it for us at this point.
We are not rich. And after 2 adoptions in 2 years we are a little strapped! We are into the environmental issues and we love the idea. But if we are going to put that much money up front it has to be worth it.
I know about the resale market, but I am a little OCD and I can't do it. I would have to buy them new.
My questions are.
1. If you were us would you do it?
2. What would we need to start?
3. How many diapers a day do you think we would need? We go through about 10 total a day now, that is for both girls. They are in size 4 right now.
4. We travel a lot. Is it hard to travel with CD?

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I'll answer the traveling question. It's easy! We usually stay in DVC, so we have on-site laundry. If we're just going overnight to another hotel, I'll use cloth. If we're going for longer to another hotel with no washer/dryer in the unit/room, we pack disposables. We still use cloth for overnight (they work better than disposables for us), but we bring those diapers home to wash.

You don't give the height/weight of your girls, so it's hard to say what you'd need. My DD can wear a size 3 or 4 disposable, and she's in a Medium or Petite Toddler Fuzzi Bunz. She's very tall, though (36.5" and 30lbs at 27 months). We have 18 mediums, but I'd probably get more like 24 if I had 2 in the same size, one of whom would be potty training soon.

 

[monami7]

Lilly weighs about 25 pounds and is skinny, Rory is about 26 pounds and is a little chunk, Yes she weighs more than her sister who is older! I was thinking I should get large fuxxibuns, I am thinking of ordering 24 to start. I may just take the plunge. Do you think that a large is too big though?

 

[holly7347]

We almost exclusively used fuzzi bunz. We did use kissaluvs for the newborn tiny stage but then on to fuzzi bunz. Yes they can be expensive but their resale value is pretty good. And if you plan on having any more children that makes them an even bigger bargin. I bought some used off ebay (don't think they allow that anymore "health issues") used them through both girls and then sold them again myself. In the end they barely cost me anything. At one point both my Dd's were in the same size FB so I bought some new ones and even at the price of new they were still a savings over disposable. Plus at heart I'm really a tree hugger, even if it wasn't saving me tons of money I liked the idea that the cloth was just more enviromentally friendly.

For stuffers we used a hemp insert and wrapped it with a microfiber cloth. You can get microfiber cloths cheap at wal-mart/target etc in the automotive section for washing cars. The absorb tons and aren't bulky. I would lay the hemp insert in the middle of a microfiber cloth and tri-fold the cloth around the insert and stick that into the diaper.

Another tip - your fuzzi bunz will last longer if you don't dry them so I hung them to dry in the laundry room - it doesn't take them long to dry and it is ok to dry the inserts in the dryer.

 

[Lauren-n-Jeff]

I used Fuzzi Bunz on my first ds and I am using them on my newest ds. I absolutely love them and would never use another diaper. I have never had a single poop blowout using Fuzzi Bunz whereas with disposables (which we often use when on long out of town trips without access to washing facilities) I have had too many blowouts to count.

Don't let the laundering thing scare you off! It's so easy to wash and care for them.. and I honestly don't think it is any more work that disposables and it's SO much better for the environment and for your child considering all the chemicals in those disposables.

If you're looking for a bargain on brand-new first quality FB, go here: http://www.fuzzibunzonline.com/Seconds-and-Clearance_c_8.html They don't have much left and not a wide variety of sizes right now, but in the fall I was able to score more than half my stash for my newest baby for SO much less!

There is a new version of Fuzzi Bunz, but you can still find the old version for cheaper! I've never tried to new version, but I hear they're essentially the same thing...

Good luck! Cloth diapering is awesome!

 

[monami7]

OK OK You have all sold me on trying the Fuzzi bun now do I order the large or small?

Thanks so much by the way. I have been tossing this around for some time and this was like a final sign tonight! I went to Kellyscloset and I can start this for under $500. I love the reselling idea too! Hopefully they will be here before I run out of me disposable diapers!

Another question. What do you guys use as a diaper pail?