Cloth Diapers at Daycare

I agree with the other moms that say there isn't a need for rinsing out cloth diapers while breast/formula fed. I put my cloth diapers in plastic sacs when I'm out and about as well and don't have any problems. As for staining... I never worried about the diapers staining because, well, they're *diapers*. They're meant for bottoms. but, that's just me. The real issue for the daycare is that cloth diapers have to be changed *way* more frequently than disposable. So, they may feel irritated about that.

What you could do is see if they would be willing to let you bring a pail or bucket with a lid and fill it with soap and water. Them when they change the diapers they can just throw them in the pail/bucket. They wouldn't be rinsed but they would be soaking so they should stain. Just a thought.

I wouldn't worry about stains or liners until after introducing solids. Strictly breastfed baby poo just washes right out in the washing machine. Unbleached cloth diapers are really forgiving of stains if you're worried about that. I also like to add a squirt of BioKleen to the wash once a week to help with stains and odor.

I would recommend going with M/L size Imse Vimse flushable liners once you introduce cereal. You can get 200 for $12.99 on www.cottonbabies.com. That's one of the better prices I've found online - their shipping is really reasonable, too. They're so big you could easily cut them in half for a younger baby which would make them more cost efficient. I've also heard of people using cut up pieces of flannel to make their own liners and then they're obviously reusable.

Good luck! Hope this helps!

**EDIT** I came back to your post to read other comments as I am also interested in hearing about alternatives to flushable liners. I noticed there were a few comments stating that you won't save any money with cloth diapers and just wanted to comment that that is definitely not always the case. If you are going to invest in only all-in-ones and then only use the diapers for a few months, then yes, disposables are cheaper. However, I only spent about $200 on my daughters cloth diaper "stash" (I have 4 Bummis super whisper wrap covers and enough unbleached Chinese prefolds to last 2-3 days between washings). WAY cheaper than disposables! I have been using them for 5+ months now & have already "earned" my money back and then some! They have fit her since she was 13 lbs and they will fit up to 30 lbs! I also strongly disagree that the environmental impact is a wash, but that is just my opinion.

Hmmm... what is the reason they won't "rinse"? And what exactly will they do? I guess I mean with breastfed babies, no you do not need to rinse. But once they are on solids and have more solid BMs, will they remove the solid waste from the diaper, or just roll it up in the diaper and put it in the bag? I have in a pinch simply used a wipe to 'pick up' the solid poop and I put it in the disposable diaper trash can (I have 2 small white trash cans with lids, one for trash/sposies and the other for cloth).

For liners, I have a ton of felt like liners. They are not disposable, but I am happier to have them stain than my diapers... only because I will probably sell my diapers when my kids are done with them, and the liners will probably go for free or to the trash. And even now if I get a REALLY bad diaper, I might just throw out the cheapie liner.

I am a home daycare provider and personally, I find the disposable diapers to be a hassle and smelly. On the weekends when I don't have the sposie diaper can full of diapers, my laundry room smells WORLDS better. I am so glad to hear there are other daycares willing to allow cloth diapers!

As for the comments on cost... I recently got a taste of the cost of disposable diapers. When we moved to our new home we left our washer/dryer as negtiable on our old house, so we had no laundry equipment for 6 weeks. My son was in disposables that whole time, and Oh. My. Gosh for the expense! There was little to no change in our gas/water bills when we started using cloth, but to add the $20 a week to my grocery trip bill... ouch! I also use the cheapest version of cloth (and use fairly cheap sposies when I use them, AND use coupons, but it is still a huge difference) as we use prefolds and covers.

And before we used cloth diapers, my son had leaks all the time. Currently the only time he has a leak is at night, when we use disposables more often. This is the case with most every cloth diapering mom I have met.

And I 2nd the bleach comment... Do NOT use bleach on your diapers! I also use All Free & Clear (not expensive). I do a quick presoak, in the washer, with hot water and a bit of baking soda (again, cheap), wash in hot with the All and occasionally a bit of tea tree oil (natural antiseptic). Then occasionally I will add a bit of vinegar (cheap... noticing the trend?) at the rinse cycle, but I really don't do this very often at all. With only these simple items my diapers are all nice and white, with the occasional sunning... in the winter put them on a rack or back of a chair in a bright spot in your house and it works just as well.

YOU ONLY THINK YOU ARE SAVING MONEY
In my experience, cloth diapers do not save you money. And they are so time consuming. The main reason to use them is that they are more environmentally friendly if you handle them properly.

The hidden cost of cloth diapers is that you have to flush the waste that's in them, soak them in prewash (like biz) to keep them from smelling, and wash them with bleach and fragrance free detergent in hot water. If your baby is sensitive like mine, you have to use the extra rinse feature on your washer to thoroughly remove the bleach/detergent/prewash. That's a lot of detergent, bleach, and prewash, not to mention the increase in your water bill from the washing and flushing, plus the cost of hot water. Also, they leak much more easily if your baby has soft stools (like breastmilk babies do)which means even more soap, hot water, and time doing laundry.

Obviously cloth diapers didn't work out for me! However, my friend bought a cloth diaper system (check One Step Ahead - catalog baby supplies - onestepahead.com) and they worked as well for her as disposable did for me - but I breast fed and she bottle fed so her baby's stools were firm. As far as staining the diapers...the diapers are really just inserts anyway- you cover them with a diaper cover or pant, so the small amount of staining that does happen does not show.

Best of luck on your decision!

C., i understand your plight with cloth diapers, i am a mom of 3 kids which are older now, but i did use cloth diapers on my oldest when we too were low on money. i enjoyed having my kids clean and the feeling i got while using them due to know i am giving them the best, we also ran into issues of the poo poos staining them while sitting for long periods of time, but every load came out nice and fresh and clean, we tried the liners with them , that was just an added mess, not worth the trouble, when you get home take diapers to bathroom, deposit the soil in toilet put in wash machine on hot bleach water, they recommend washing them agian, so i would using dreft and a borax , use softners sparingly, as too much repels water, ahahahah but use one, yes after use, they get soiled and spotted, but so does our real underwear if we dont buy new ones from time to time, they make great rags for cars or other things when you are done with them, but i alway loved how white they can get, hot water and bleach, and i think i would use more bleach than recommended, but one mom told me once, she had five kids, and always dressed them in white , i was appalled, and said why do you put them in that color, dont it get all stained, she said yes, but its the best color, for kids i can bleach it out and you would not know it was there, that advice went along way, and it made sense and her kids were clean, so dont fret over them sitting, just have them roll em up and seal in a bag, however you might need a clothes pin for the smell, but soon they will be fresh and ready to go agian, we would go to weekend seminars with the kids, and had to do that with the kids, and be gone all day with them, ive tried taking along buckets of soapy water, ive tried alot of stuff, and it was way easier to just roll em up and do them when i got home, no fuss, just clean em when you get home, i think yhou will enjoy it too, D. s

We cloth diaper and luckily don't deal with daycare but here is how we handle diapers. Until you introduce solids (for breastfed babies) you don't need to rinse out the poop, its thin enough to wash out. Once you introduce solids you have to dump the poop in the toilet before washing, my husband doesn't do this and so when he is with the baby the dirty diaper sits in the bathroom till I get home. It is harder to get the poop of the diaper but it doesn't leave any worse stain or smell. TO get stains out you can put wet diapers in the sun. I do diapers about twice a week, they stay in a rubbermaid tub (no water) until laundry day, then I just dump that in the washer, run a rinse cycle, add fragrance/dye free detergent, run it through wash cycle and a rinse then throw in the dryer. Pretty easy. Let me know if you want more info...I'm in a hurry right now! Theres some great websites on the topic too! :-) Good luck!

Hi there,
We used cloth diapers at daycare and for the most part it worked really well. I never had a problem with stains. What I would suggest is that when you get the diapers home at night, put them in a bucket with some laundry soap and a little oxyclean (or stain remover of your choice), and let them sit overnight. Pop them in the washer the next day and give them a good wash on hot. That should take care of any odors or stains. It's good to hear that there are others out there doing cloth diapers at daycare! Cloth diapers are great and so much more comfortable for babies. Good luck!

Staining has really not been an issue for us. Depending on what type of cloth diapers you are planning on using, I can give you more help. But, in general, you can also use fleece liners (either microfleece, or just thin polar fleece from Walmart't craft dept. cut into the size you want, no sewing involved) or there are stain treaters you can use before washing, too. Hanging diapers in the sun to dry occasionally will bleach out most stains. There are several good cloth diapering forums online where you can get help with any questions or problems you have. Diaperswappers.com, and Diapertraders.com are a couple, and I think there is a Delphi forum for cloth too.

what is your reasoning for choosing cloth diapers? From what I've read, it's a horse a piece both financially and environmentally. My cousin had twins and was not able to keep up with nursing and had to switch to formula; in order to save money they contemplated cloth diapers but she did the math and realized that the time and money spent on the extra laundry was a wash (no pun intended) compared to the cost of disposable. I have read a handful of articles indicating that environmentally, it's about the same too by the time you take into account all the laundry detergent and water use and electricity to run the washing machine. I'm all for convenience when it comes to being a "tie" with the other factors.

I also used cloth diapers. I tried for taking them to daycare for one week. It was a challage. However I used a diaper service. (No rinsing)( I work full time and my husband is diabled.) Anyway I found it too difficult. Have you looked in to the diapers called Tushies. They are dispoable, but made of cotton. So My little girl still felt the wet. She was potty trained at 18 months. They also make washable reuseable diaper covers. NO pins needed they use velcrow.
I found that the Tushies worked really well. No leaks. I would buy I case a month from the diaper service. It was cheeper than buying them at the store, and nice when I went to visit the in-laws.
Hope this helps.
Coodos to you for using cloth.
Virginia & Elizabeth

AS long as the daycare agrees to dump solid poop into the toilet, then I wouldn't worry about stains. IF they throw the diaper poop and all in a bag, thats gross and would prompt me to use disposies at daycare. BUT I doubt they'd do that to you, so if the yare going to dump the poop then put in a bag, then its all good. Plus if you do get a stain, you can lay the diaper out in teh sun for a couple hours, it'll bleach it right out. THe only thing that won't bleach out in the sun is hemp.

IMHO, if I were a daycare provider, I would want it as easy as possible and would prefer disposables. However, if your daycare provider doesn't mind, perhaps she can give the cloth diaper a dunk in the toilet and THEN put it in a bag for you to take home. You might want to give her plastic gloves for her inconvenience to do this. Are you paying for a service or are you laundering these cloth diapers yourself? Think of the hot water and detergent you will be paying for to get cloth.

I've worked in a daycare before and that's the last thing I would want to deal with is cloth diapers to be completely honest. I don't even know how to properly use one LOL ....

If it is about money who cares if they are stained. It's not like anyone besides daycare see's your babies diapers. Stock up on bleach.

Hey! I use BumGenius cloth diapers and honestly, I never rinse them out until right before I'm going to wash them (and I don't even wash every day!). I don't have any stains at all. You can roll them up just like a disposable diaper, so they aren't going to be staining each other in the bag. I usually buy them off of www.diapers.com, where you can also buy disposables for cheaper (cause they come in bulk), if you decide to go that route. Another GREAT site for cloth diapers is www.nopins4baby.com. We do cloth to save money too and I am happy we did. Another thing about the BumGenius brand is that they have the one-size diaper, so they grow with your baby (which makes them even cheaper in the long run!!) I hope this helps. Good luck!

Hey C.! It is no problem to have you cloth in a diaper all day long. The liners are a great investment esp. when your child is really young and doesn't have solid poop. The ones I got at sunshinediapers.com were very inexpensive and were so big that we cut them in half so we got double what we paid for. Plus, once your little one has a regular BM you don't have to put a liner in every diaper, just the one you know the baby is going to go #2 in. As for stains, oxy clean is great to soak the diapers in over night. It gets stains out wonderfully and another thing that really works is sunshine. When it get above freezing we will put our son's diapers out on te drying rack in the sun and I swear to you it works. It seemed like a farse when I read about it too, but the sunshine works to whiten diapers like magic! If you have any other cloth questions I love to tell people about cloth. My experience has been wonderful and I love to share the fun with other moms.
A.

We use cloth diapers and are gone most days - we just put our dirty diapers in a plastic bag and keep a dry pail, and about 6-18 hours before washing, soak all the diapers in cold water. It has worked fine for us! That was the recommendation given to a friend by the local diaper service, which has spotless diapers. Also, if you get stains, hanging out to dry in the sun helps get rid of those.

see if there is a cloth diaper cleaning service nearby. i live in a small town and there is not a high demand for this service but about 10 miles from here, there is a place that will come and pick up the diapers and deliver them when they're clean. i don't believe they charge too much for this either.

I was new to cloth when my 2nd child was born. (I didnlt have the money for disposible) My mom thought I was crazy, but even she is impressed now. I bought mine used and although they are really worn now, they work great. Do not use bleach on them, it is really bad for your babies skin. I use ALL free and clear, it doesn't have the perfumes that dreft does. I use different types of diapers. The Bumkins all-in-ones are velcro and have the cover attached. They really are just as easy as disposible, I just have to wash every other day. I also use some flanel fold diapers (homemade) and just fold them and put them in a velcro cover (no pins needed). These are really bulky but work well at night. The kissaluvs are nice but I have to use a cover. Sunning them will get out most stains, but in the winter I dont even bother. Cloth diapers are fun and will save you money, as long as you dont get carried away shopping for them, it can be really fun. Happy shopping!

I am a single mom of 2 girls, 5yrs and 16 months(she is working on potty training already)

I cloth diaper and with the ones I use it's not an issue. If they get stained you can put them in the sun to dry (you can use a little lemon juice if it's really bad. You can't use any stain treaters though, it'll wreck the diapers. I use Chinese prefolds and the sun really takes out any stains! Also you can get fleece liners pretty cheap, they will catch most of the poop and the ones I have have never gotten a stain. Plus they keep baby's skin really dry. I also use about a quarter cup of baking soda in every load and have never had smelly diapers. Make sure you use a recommended detergent or you will have to do a lot of stripping. (I also do a rinse and drain before the full wash cycle and then extra rinse during the wash cycle....your diapers will get cleaner because the wash cycle won't be so full of pee and poop). Good luck!

Reason # 1000000000000 to breastfeed.

breastmilk poo doesn't need any rinsing. Just throw soiled diaper in a bag and wash everyother day. Good luck

I wouldn't worry about stains. I don't rinse any of my diapers before they go in the pail and I've never had a stain. I use pockets on my oldest and prefolds on my youngest and wash every other day.

Hi C.,

My advice is really from the other perspective. I am a licensed childcare provider and have had prospective parents ask me to use cloth diapers. It has been my experience that they were more of a hassle at daycare than not. One of my clients provided me with a diaperpail and smelly tabs to put in the lid. I smelled diapers all of the time as the tablets really didn't work at eliminating the smell. To be quite honest with you, it was really kind of disgusting.

If it is at all feasible, I would suggest that you send your child daily in a disposable and provide the daycare with the same to use during the day. I don't know that the money savings is really worth the hassle. I tried cloth on my own children (I have four) and really only stuck with them for a short period of time, due to the added work and the fact that I didn't see much of a money savings.

Good luck on the birth of your new little miracle! Happy Family!

C.

There is no need to rinse out cloth diapers. I never have, my daughter is 10 months old, and I have never had a problem with stains. They sit in the bag until a load is ready to be washed- usually a couple days. Just make sure to run a load to rinse them well before you wash them. At least your daycare is willing to use cloth diapers. I have heard that a lot will not even do that! Good luck.

I've heard you can use strong paper towels as liners as well. If you give the daycare folks a small sealed bucket with a soap and water solution in the bottom, they should be able to drop them straight in and you can sort them at home. Eventually, they will get stained not matter what, it's just a matter of time.

SAHM of seven, have used cloth with four