Would you buy used cloth diapers?

[BadgerGirl84]

I have a baby due in July and I'd like to try out cloth diapering. I will be staying home for at least the first year so I anticipate having the bandwidth to be able to keep up with the laundy.

There is a huge market on eBay and Craigslist for used cloth diapers.

I am always looking to save money (my primary motive for wanting to try cloth) and I have no issues buying used clothes and things like that at Goodwill.

I had been scouting out some listings, when I listened to a podcast on the topic of cloth diapering...and one of the women asked, "Would you buy yourself used underwear at Goodwill and wear them, even if you washed them?" And my answer to that was NO!

So....now I'm thinking I should just buy new diapers. I wouldn't need to buy a ton right away since it seems like different brands and styles work better for each baby and people who have stocked up on one particular style before baby arrived have often regretted it.

Any experience with this?

 

[undertheradar]

In a word.........No. I wouldn't buy used underwear so I couldn't imagine buying used diapers for a baby.

 

[robinb]

I used a diaper service that delivered freshly laundered diapers every week because I did not want to wash them myself. So, my DD did wear diapers that were previously used by some other baby. I didn't think it was a big deal since I trusted the service to clean them properly and they were never stained. So yeah, I wouldn't have a problem buying used diapers to save $$. Take them to a laundrymat and wash them in an industrial washer in hot water and bleach and you should be just fine.

 

[North of Mouse]

Absolutely yes, I would and did buy used diapers. You wash and sanitize them good and actually (to me) were better, because they were softer after being used and laundered several times.

What do you think *diapering services* are????? *Used* diapers, of course

 

[amomma23]

I bought mine new, but sold them on eBay when my daughter was potty trained. If you want to try it out,I say go for it. Choose a few different styles and see what you like. Get some with snaps, Velcro, all-in-ones... It' s a good way to sample some different options without a big $$ commitment. Once you decide what works, you can buy a set of new diapers, if you decide to continue.

 

[Nettle]

I am currently cloth diapering and half of my stash is used. Prepping the new diapers I got were actually a pain, it was nice to have some that were all set after an initial wash. Not a big deal. No need to spent a ton of money on things kids poop in. Figure most cloth diapering moms take very good care of what they own. It's a rabbit hole though, we now use washable wipes. Lol. It's just as easy to throw them in the bin with the diapers. We cut up some receiving blankets we wernt using.

Another option is to look for co-ops on Facebook. You can get new diapers for a fraction of the cost. The down side is that it takes several weeks from ordering to getting.

An upside to cloth is reselling your diapers! I just made a nice profit on a few of my newborn ones. Making money to diaper your kid is awesome.

 

[geishagirl81]

Do you know of any Cloth Diapering groups specifically on Facebook? I did a search and didn't find one- just company pages. I have 11 never used, new cloth diapers that I would like to sell but I don't deal with Ebay anymore, and haven't had luck on Craigslist. Maybe a Facebook group would be the way to go. TIA

I laundered them to prep for use, but we ended up mostly using disposables as I broke my ankle terribly when DD was a young infant. I couldn't get to our basement washer on crutches for six months while carrying baskets of dirties

Otherwise, when I did the math the upfront cost of cloth diapering more than paid for itself in long term savings, and I would recommend everyone at least try it...even if it doesn't work out...

 

[Miss Peach]

<snip>Take them to a laundrymat and wash them in an industrial washer in hot water and bleach and you should be just fine.

I would be cautious about using bleach on anything that my baby then wet and it sat next to the babies skin. JMHO

 

[robinb]

I would be cautious about using bleach on anything that my baby then wet and it sat next to the babies skin. JMHO

Then maybe one wash with bleach to sanitize it and then another wash to clear out the bleach. I didn't wash my own diapers so I have no idea how they are sanitized.

 

[geishagirl81]

I would be cautious about using bleach on anything that my baby then wet and it sat next to the babies skin. JMHO

Yes! Don't use bleach. It is really harsh on baby's skin. There are tons of youtube videos on making very thrifty and good detergents for baby diapers. I used a mix of washing soda, borax, and a little Sun oxy clean. A little goes a long way. As for stains, Hanging them on an outside in the direct sunlight goes a long way to remove stains. My son used cloth diapers and never had a diaper rash. My daughter was in disposables from newborn to 8 months and had a lot more skin issues and I think it was because if you use gentle means to wash the diapers, they are more hypoallergenic.

 

[North of Mouse]

Yes! Don't use bleach. It is really harsh on baby's skin. There are tons of youtube videos on making very thrifty and good detergents for baby diapers. I used a mix of washing soda, borax, and a little Sun oxy clean. A little goes a long way. As for stains, Hanging them on an outside in the direct sunlight goes a long way to remove stains. My son used cloth diapers and never had a diaper rash. My daughter was in disposables from newborn to 8 months and had a lot more skin issues and I think it was because if you use gentle means to wash the diapers, they are more hypoallergenic.

I used bleach for all three of mine, plus our regular washing detergent, and never had any issues on the babies skin.

I obviously didn't bleach every time, long time between, and everything was well rinsed, and NO problems.

I didn't make my own detergent, also did not buy expensive detergent made just for babies skin - lots of media hype to sell expensive stuff.

 

[whoopsiedoodle]

I had used diapers for my DS. They are so much softer and more absorbant than brand new ones! And you don't have to go through the whole stripping them to get them the ready thing right before baby comes. To buy and sell from people who are extremely trustworthy and know exactly how to treat cloth I highly recommend diaperswappers.com They are a forum based community that is all about cloth diapering. They have a buy/sell/trade thread and can answer ALL your questions and concerns about using cloth. I found them extremely knowledgable and fun.

 

[geishagirl81]

I used bleach for all three of mine, plus our regular washing detergent, and never had any issues on the babies skin.

I obviously didn't bleach every time, long time between, and everything was well rinsed, and NO problems.

I didn't make my own detergent, also did not buy expensive detergent made just for babies skin - lots of media hype to sell expensive stuff.

I make all of our detergent....so it was really more to do with that fact than anything else. I just had a bad experience bleaching my son's diapers. I tried to bleach his diapers once and his little bum had a tiny red dotty rash..so I ran them through the machine again with nothing but water and then he never had a problem ever again. Every baby is different obviously and to me, sunlight was a pretty thrifty solution to staining

Just offering my experience, not my judgement.

 

[North of Mouse]

I make all of our detergent....so it was really more to do with that fact than anything else. I just had a bad experience bleaching my son's diapers. I tried to bleach his diapers once and his little bum had a tiny red dotty rash..so I ran them through the machine again with nothing but water and then he never had a problem ever again. Every baby is different obviously and to me, sunlight was a pretty thrifty solution to staining

Just offering my experience, not my judgement.

Yes, I understand, but I thought rinsing them thoroughly would have been understood. The times I did bleach, I did a double wash. I also hung my diapers to dry in the sun, as I had no dryer for a while.

 

[geishagirl81]

It was actually a third wash that removed the bleach for us, but I think the lesson here is that is really too easy for misunderstanding when having a conversation via forum posts I am sorry if you felt that I made any implication towards your post, I wasn't at all. I just had bad experience with bleach and cloth diapers and wanted to share that.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Thanks for all the responses. Reading through them is making me reconsider a used option.

I hadn't thought about the fact that diaper service diapers are used, and I wouldn't think twice about using those diapers if that was a more budget-friendly option in my area. I also hadn't considered that used diapers may be more absorbant than new ones.

I have some basic newborn prefolds and Thirsties XS covers on my registry to try out on my newborn, but now I will reconsider getting a few styles of diapers in the next size up from newborn to try out on my baby (AIO, Pockets, etc.)

 

[bumbershoot]

I have a baby due in July and I'd like to try out cloth diapering. I will be staying home for at least the first year so I anticipate having the bandwidth to be able to keep up with the laundy.

There is a huge market on eBay and Craigslist for used cloth diapers.

I am always looking to save money (my primary motive for wanting to try cloth) and I have no issues buying used clothes and things like that at Goodwill.

I had been scouting out some listings, when I listened to a podcast on the topic of cloth diapering...and one of the women asked, "Would you buy yourself used underwear at Goodwill and wear them, even if you washed them?" And my answer to that was NO!

So....now I'm thinking I should just buy new diapers. I wouldn't need to buy a ton right away since it seems like different brands and styles work better for each baby and people who have stocked up on one particular style before baby arrived have often regretted it.

Any experience with this?

I absolutely would buy them. I bought covers from someone I later found around here!

If Swaddlebees still makes a side-snapping pocket diaper, FWIW, those turned out to be the absolute BEST for DS. Fuzzibunz just never fit him right, though I sure did try 'em!

We started with chinese prefolds and really simple covers. Bought (actually, they were purchased for me by one of the few people in my life who were willing to support ME, not just how they wanted me to be) 36 and that worked out really well in those early days. Got very simple covers. And then once DS was here and I got my bearings I branched out into pockets, etc.

And just b/c everyone has to have their input, I ended up with a very simple washing routine that worked really well for me. I was doing complicated things that made it difficult, and finally I went with a handful of Washing Soda (not baking soda, but Arm&Hammer does make it, too) and about 10 sprays of Simple Green in the wash. That's it. Worked beautifully. Hot wash, extra rinse if possible (at that time we had basic, old-fashioned washing machines...I don't know what I would do now since our landlady has an HE washer that is horrible). Hung dry the covers on our rack (I rack-dry all of my clothes anyway so this wasn't a problem), dried the inserts and CPFs in the dryer. Simple, easy, and worked.

 

[daisyduck123]

No.

I wouldn't wear used underwear myself & would not put used diapers on my baby. That may be fine for other people....just not for me.

I'm all for saving $$$, but I draw the line at certain things.

 

[J3nn78]

I buy used all the time. Check out diaperswappers.com

 

[wendow]

About half of my stash of cloth dipes are used. I agree with others that it was nice to have dipes that were already prepped. Prepping takes a fair amount of work depending on which kinds of dipes you have. Absolutely NO problems with used cloth dipes