To cloth or not to cloth

[KCrystal]

We cloth diaper our youngest baby and have since she was 4 days old. We are going for 5 days at the end of February when she will be 13 months old. We are a family of 6 with a 10, a 7 and a 5 year old. We will be staying at POR and I can request a room close to laundry facilities but I can't decide if I should use cloth while we are there and wash once or do disposables. I wash every 3-4 days at home typically so I would have to do them while there if we did use the cloth. Anyone else have experience with cloth in the parks and washing at the resort? Does anyone know if Disney resorts have soft or hard water?

 

[DisneyOma]

Are you wanting to haul diapers, clean and dirty ones, around with you all day at the parks? By the time my oldest was older than a year, we had to use two cloth diapers on her at a time and that would have been quite a few diapers to lug around, even with a break in the middle of the day to go back to the room. I think disposable would work best for the vacation, as it is supposed to be a vacation for you too! Then you wouldn't have to deal with the poop as much!

 

[Dreamer24]

We've traveled quite a bit, including to Disneyland with a 10 month old. We have 3 dozen flats. At home we use prefolds and all in ones. Traveling, I use the flats. I rinse in the hotel each night and then wash when I am close to running out which is 5 or 6 days. I don't worry about letting them sit longer (rinsed) or type of water because they're flats. They also pack easier and dry faster. I didn't want to worry about figuring out which disposables would work for my son who has never worn them. Also the 3 dozen flats cost about the same as disposables would have for our first trip and we've used them for 3 trips.

 

[tabrizia]

We did it when my oldest was 5 months. It was doable, we used pre-fitteds and covers. It wasn't bad, we played in the pool while the laundry was running, we had to do them twice. It did mean a much bigger bag at the parks though.

When we went back when my middle was 7 months and both kids were in cloth, we just took disposables. It was so much easier then dealing with the number of cloth diapers and the bulk we would have had to take for 2 kids in the park for the day.

 

[DisneyCAL]

I would say use whatever your daughter little tushy is used to. I'm assuming your daughter has now been through every season (temperature) at this point, and if you go at a hot time, her body and skin is already accustomed to the cloth in that situation and so are you. Our kids aren't that age anymore, but we did do laundry on our last trip and there is an app now that tracks the times on the machines in the laundry rooms so you don't have to sit there watching. We too, swam at the pool while doing laundry. It's doable if that is your preferred method.

 

[unrequited23]

Are you ok with washing your diapers in a machine that might have fabric softener or detergent residue? Do you turn your hot water above 120 degrees for diaper washing? Do you pre-soak, or do extra rinses?

We used cloth at home and disposables when we were out and about with our little ones. I never wanted to dunk in a strange toilet. I would use disposables for the vacation, the money and time spent in the laundry would offset the cost of buying diapers to me.

 

[GusGus77]

We did it once and did disposables after that. I had to wipe down all the washers/dryers we used with vinegar so we didn't get residue on the diapers. Can't do an an extra rinse, so you have to wash them twice once with and once without soap. Due to washer/dryer issues, it took me about 5 hrs to wash diapers!!! I do recommend putting a cloth cover over a disposable, though, just to guard against leaks and such.

 

[DSNY4ever]

We cloth at home and do disposables at Disney. I clothed on our first trip to Disneyland, but that was a short trip and I only had to launder them once (we wash every other day). We did do regular laundry once on our last wdw trip and it took forever and it was kind of gross, there was detergent spilled all over and lots of clothes forgotten and left for hours in washers and dryers. Considering how long our diapers take to dry it eats up a lot of time. It can be done if you really want, but it is hard.

 

[Hezzy04]

Maybe use cloth while at the resorts and disposable while in the parks?

 

[squirrel]

Maybe use cloth while at the resorts and disposable while in the parks?

This or do disposables for your trip, it's your vacation too!

 

[shaynar]

I'm the (horrible) voice that says don't do it! I cd'd all my kids, and I considered doing it at WDW once and dh wouldn't let (he didn't want a diaper bag in the room with us). Honestly, we just ordered disposables and it made life much easier. We even do laundry while we are there, but it's not as involved as cd laundry.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I should have added in my reply to keep in mind that if you switch for the trip your baby's clothes will run big once you put them in a thin disposable. We are hanging onto the size below what my daughter is currently wearing just so that we don't have shorts falling off on our upcoming trip.

 

[brooke789]

Generally, we do disposable for any trip that would require washing. The decision maker for us on our last trip with 2 2yr olds in diapers, was having to haul around dirty diapers in the hot summer!

This coming from an exclusive CDer of 3!

 

[mab2012]

Reasons for using cloth vary, as does commitment to cloth. Both of my kids were cloth diapered from birth, including during travel, as long as we would have access to laundry machines. I'm not a martyr, I just preferred cloth and didn't see washing them on vacation as a huge deal. My kids are waaay past that now, but if I were in that position again, I wouldn't hesitate to use cloth if I had in-unit machines, and probably would still go with cloth as long as there were machines in the building. I don't think there's anything wrong with switching to disposables on vacation; it's just my personal preference.

The one time we took a vacation with a kid in diapers and no access to laundry, I used flushable G-Diapers. They basically break down like toilet paper in water. They were probably a bit more expensive than conventional disposables for short term use, but they worked reasonably well and I felt better knowing that I wasn't leaving a bunch of plastic in an under-developed country's landfills.

 

[OZMom]

I'm going to second ^^^ I would use either a hybrid style like the g-diapers, or go with an organic disposable like Honest diapers or 7th generation. We preferred Grovia or charlie bananas for hybrids though, my DS had leaks with the g-diapers. I wouldn't trust the laundry facilities to be CD safe and the disposables would be much more convenient IMO.

 

[AZMermaid]

I used Flips (similar to the G diapers above) and used the disposable insert for travel. I used Flips at home, so it wasn't an extra investment besides the disposable inserts. After walking age though, flips didn't work as well for us and we switched to Bum Genius full time and did disposable for any trip over 2-3 days. Honestly, it was a lot easier!

 

[Bluegrrl]

You can also try best bottoms. The are similar to Flips, but use a panel that snaps onto the diaper. That way, you only have to wash a little thin panel of hemp, not a huge diap. They have a very slim profile, and are best for slim babies. They fit nicely under clothes and don't make baby into a big fluff butt either! Oh, and you can use regular Tide to wash them too! (The hemp ones have to be prepped washed before used)

 

[MickeyPretzel15]

If you do switch over to disposables, just make sure you give them a trial run at home to ensure there are no skin/rash issues. We never cd'd, but certain brands of disposables seemed to leave DS more prone to rashes.

 

[KCrystal]

You can also try best bottoms. The are similar to Flips, but use a panel that snaps onto the diaper. That way, you only have to wash a little thin panel of hemp, not a huge diap. They have a very slim profile, and are best for slim babies. They fit nicely under clothes and don't make baby into a big fluff butt either! Oh, and you can use regular Tide to wash them too! (The hemp ones have to be prepped washed before used)

Our stash is mostly Best Bottoms, Bumgenius freetimes and Flips with prefolds so it sounds like we should be good!

We did it once and did disposables after that. I had to wipe down all the washers/dryers we used with vinegar so we didn't get residue on the diapers. Can't do an an extra rinse, so you have to wash them twice once with and once without soap.

I didn't think about residue in the washers. That's a good point to consider. I usually do a cold wash with a small amount of detergent and a hot wash with a full cap of detergent so I would have to do two runs anyway. But I didn't think about how time consuming that would be and it will probably be too cold for pool time. That would make for some bored kiddos!

We are only going for 4 days so realistically I could wash the day we get home and we would be perfectly fine. I usually wash every 3 days anyway but have enough diapers that I can go 4 or 5. Thanks for everyone's input!!!

 

[megaliciousb]

First off, I love that this is a thread. Second, I am sure it could be done, for sure! I'm not quite brave enough (I have all pockets), so it is just easier for us to use disposables on trips I bet it would be smart to bring cloth though especially if sweat and sitting a while could cause issues. Also these laundry routines are awesome, any Fluff Love & CD Science facebook peeps here??