Clothe Diapers

I have used a diaper service, Cheek to Cheek for over three years and am completely happy! It's very easy. I think they are the only service in the metro area anymore. Frankly, i think it's more reasonable then disposable, and MUCH better fir the earth.

D.

Hi A.,
I used a diaper service with both of my children. I think I received a coupon in the prenatal info they give you at the doctor's office. Both of them were fine and the cost is pretty equivalent to using disposable diapers. The biggest upfront cost would be the wraps to put the diapers in.

C.

I used cloth diapers 99% of the time for my son and his sister. We even traveled extensively while they were in their diaper stages. Though it was slightly more work than disposables, since we didn't use a diaper service, it was just not a big deal. You no longer have to carry diapers down to the river and beat them on a rock to clean them. Washers, dryers, diapers and cleaning products do most of the work. Diaper services are available as an alternative.

It requires a little more commitment, like breastfeeding, in the the face of some cultural biases against it. Cloth diaper babies often give up diapers earlier than those who use disposables. I say go for it.

My kids are healthy, we saved the landfills and waterways from thousands of disposables, and it was less expensive in the long run. Good luck!

Good for you! Cloth diapers are awesome and incredibly easy to use. Don't let your mom and grandma scare you - they probably are thinking of the cloth diapers from their generations and those were much trickier to use. I have found it incredibly easy to wash my cloth diapers at home (much less expensive than the one diaper service we have in the Twin Cities) and it is very cost effective if you start cloth diapering from the beginning.

There are a ton of options out there and that can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning (it was to me!) I would suggest starting to explore some of the cloth diaper sites on the internet to learn more about the various options. Also, have you heard about the Parenting Oasis? Its just a casual place for parents to meet up and they are having a cloth diaper sharing session next Saturday at 11 am. I don't know any of the other moms going but I am going to attend to see first-hand what others use and what they recommend. I use Fuzzibunz on my toddler son but I'm checking out different options for my new baby due in April.

Check out www.parentingoasis.com and click on "upcoming events" for more info. That would be a great way to start.

Good luck - I think anyone can use cloth diapers and it is such a saving for the planet!

B.
Momma to a crazy toddler and #2 in April

We use cloth and love it! My son never has a blow out with cloth diapers, but when he has on a disposable (he has to have them for daycare) he has a blow out almost 50% of the time. The cleaning is a snap. I use the mother-ease one size dry diapers. You can check them out online at www.motherease.com.

K.

I used cloth diapers for my children because of the cost. I made them myself out of flannel cotton fabric in a square about 36". It is folded like a kite from one corner, the top is pulled down, and the tip of the kite is folded over to make the right length for the baby from his back to front ( if it is too long make a smaller square by folding two of the sides over lengthwise before making the kite in the corner).
I made probably 36 of them and didn't have to wash more than twice a week as I remember.
Dump the poo in the toilet as it happens and rinse it out in the toilet and squeeze. Put in diaper pail until wash time. Prewash to get out the urine. Wash with Dreft because it is gentle on the skin of an infant. Do a second rinse to get the soap all out and no fabric softener.

I did not find this too much trouble and was glad for the contribution I made to the environment.

What the heck did they say to scare you. Dealing with cloth diapers was not a big deal from my viewpoint. I just tossed them into a lidded pail (no soaking). When it was full I tossed them in the washer and did a cold rinse cycle with a scoop of borax powder (available in laundry aisle at most groceries). Then I did a hot washcycle with just a little detergent (too much detergent leaves a residue on the diapers that makes them less absorbent.

I mostly used good quality Chinese prefolds (bought them at Peapods) along with Prowrap covers. If you start with new prefold diapers they do need to be washed 5 times or so before using them on the baby (to fluff them and increase the absorbency). I started with 2 dozen of the infant size diapers and about 5 covers (about $100). When they are little the covers can be just rinsed out and hung to dry a few times before a full washing. Then I added the larger diapers and covers as he grew. I bought a few fitted diapers and All-in-one diapers off EBay when he was a couple years old (he liked the fun patterns).

Hi!
I used cloth diapers about 16 years ago. We had a diaper service at the beginning, then I decided to wash my own. We used the velcro diaper covers. We did use disposable when we went out, etc.
So....we found that my son had diaper rash/redness from the diaper service, even with the sensitive option (he doesn't have sensitive skin right now) ANYWAY....rinse the diapers of course to get the chunks out. Baby poop doesn't have the same kind of bacteria that adult diapers do. The only thing special I did was....I eventually used "cheer free" or something with no additives and after I washed them in hot water, I did an extra hot water rinse. I'm not sure if that is too much work or what, but it worked great.
I'm not a tree hugger, however, I HATE all the stuff in the landfill, so I have a problem with disposable things as a general rule.
Hope that helps. Do what works...you may as well try the cloth. It's not as gross as you think.

I've been cloth diapering for 10 years and always washing them myself at home. For the sake of our children's health on this beautiful planet (at the risk of sounding like a tree hugger ;) ), I really hope you are not scared away from using them.
Check out www.babyworks.com for their tips on washing at home. The only differences for me are that I do not fill my diaper pail (I use a 9 gallon Rubbermaid) with water and I do a prerinse and spin instead of just a spin. I'm sorry I have never used a diaper service so I cannot comment on that.
I use disposable for the first three weeks (or more) after my babies are born (five so far).
I really encourage you to use cloth. The more people using cloth the better the health of our earth is (and the less on-the-fringe that I am!).
A.

Good for you! We used cloth diapers with our daughter and It was so easy. We used Mother-Ease sandy's fit. Our daughter is very petite and the regular mother ease diaper was too big. I really like the idea of the fuzzy buns diapers but I found them to leak (maybe because our little one is so petite) The mother-ease covers I found to be the best and it worked for us. One thing I really recommend is getting a spray hose attachment for your toilet. I can't remember where we got ours, but I remember just googling it and ordering it online. It attaches to your toilet then you can spray off the dirty diapers in the toilet them just throw in the bin. we used a dry diaper pail, just a plastic bin with a heavy duty diaper bag inside-I think fuzzy buns makes it. Then you just bring the bag to the washer, throw the whole thing in and your done! So easy. I did a load of diapers every other day. Good luck!

I use cloth diapers. We use some organic cotton prefolds and some gerber cotton prefold ones that you just fold according the sex of your baby. There are also different ply for the age of your baby. You just use a diaper cover with them. I have used Thirsties which are fun colors and also prowraps, which I didn't like at first because they were huge on my baby and didn't have the fold over diaper tabs for washing. But now that they fit him they are fine. (You can use the covers over and over unless the poop gets on it.) As for washing, I used to wash diapers and covers in cold water rinse first and then in hot with a very tiny amount of soap. Too much soap was getting trapped in them and they were starting to stink. So I reversed and used soap first and then the second hot water wash was sure to get it all out. I use Costco brand kirkland signature (fake tide). I also just bought another brand there that is environmentally friendly but I can't recall the name. I also have used fuzzy buns diapers which I really like but they are more expensive. They are trimmer and have snaps. They have an insert and you only use it once and throw into the diaper pale. I wash every 2-3 days. The diapers are easiest to wash if you breast feed. No rinsing required prior to the washing machine. Just toss in. After the turds start getting less seedy and more like turds, you have to shake them into the toilet (7 month old age). It has saved us a ton of money. For the small amount of disposables we do use we buy target brand. there are no weird scents in them and they work just as well as pampers. Check out Nikkisdiapers.com, the diaper pin (online source for rating all sorts of diapers), and Peapods store in St Paul on Snelling if you're in the area. Even my husband uses the cloth. And he was against it at first. it's not like our mothers used to have it. And you don't need any pins. Hope that helps!

Up until last Wednesday, we used Cheek to Cheek diaper service in Mpls. Sandy, would bring us 40 diapers in the beginning, and the last six months we were down to only 25 a week. I like the fact that I didn't have to do the cleaning of them. Just dump the whole diaper, poop and dirty wipes too into the provided diaper pail. I think the prices are compareable to what you would normally pay for Huggies or Pampers, so for us it was definitely worth using the service. For the wraps/covers, I really liked the Swaddlebees vs the one free cover that Sandy provides.

What your mom and grandma say is true - but their advice applies to decades ago, when you were just a wee little thing. These days, cloth is the way to go! Trust me, the cloth diapers of today in NO WAY resemble the cloth diapers of your mom and grandma's day! There are so many brands of diapers out there (fuzzi bunz, bumkins, etc.) that are easy to use, easy to clean, and really cute! You don't need diaper pins - they all have either velcro or snaps. You don't need to soak them in a nasty diaper pail, or flush them out with toilet water (yuck!), you just soak them with your washer's soak cycle, wash them in hot water, and voila! You have perfectly clean diapers. I have been using Fuzzi Bunz with my son since birth, and he's now almost one. They are expensive, but when you calculate the enourmous cost of disposable diapers over time, you make your money back in about 3 months. Plus, you can use them again and again with future children.

Obviously, I'm a huge fan of cloth. I never thought I would be, and it took a bit of convincing with my husband, but we are so happy we went down this road! Good luck!

p.s. Just enter "cloth diapers" in a search engine, and you will find all the info you need!

If you find the right cloth diapering system for your lifestyle, cloth diapering can be just as easy as using disposables. My 2-year-old wore cloth diapers until she potty trained and my 3-month-old is currently using cloth diapers. They are very easy to care for. I simply store mine in a lidded trash can with a washable pail liner and throw the liner in the wash with the diapers. I have enough diapers that I end up doing a wash every other day. Washing is easy once you get into a routine. It's no more difficult than doing a regular load of laundry.

We use pocket diapers for our little one. I have a combination of Fuzzi Bunz and BumGenius One Size diapers in our collection. I've been happy with both brands. I have yet to have a poopy diaper explosion with cloth. Most leaks I've had have been because I didn't use the right insert or I didn't fasten the diaper snug enough around his legs.

Cost-wise, cloth is a big initial investment. In the long run, using cloth will probably save you a lot of money, especially if you plan to reuse the diapers for additional children. I'd estimate that we've spent about $1,000 TOTAL on cloth diapers and cloth diapering supplies (pail liners, wet bags for the diaper bag, cloth wipes, etc.) for two children. That includes enough diapers to get us through about 2 days in a variety of sizes. I didn't purchase everything at once, so that cost was spread out over the last 3 years. You can spend more or less depending on how many diapers you want in your stash and what type of diaper you plan to use. I don't *need* to purchase anything else to keep my son diapered until he potty trains, but I may add a few more boy-ish diapers to the collection as he outgrows some of his smaller ones. At nearly $10 for a package of 40 disposables, it doesn't take long to recoup the cost of cloth diapers. I haven't noticed a difference in our water and utility bill with the few extra loads of laundry each week.

If you can make it to the event that Bridget mentioned, seeing diapers in person can be a huge help. Peapods in St. Paul also has a limited selection of cloth diapering products. It honestly sounds more complicated than it really is. www.diaperpin.com is a good place to find general cloth diapering information as well as reviews for diapers and online diaper retailers. Good luck!

Washing cloth diapers isn't hard. Store the dirty diapers in a dry pail and wash them every two days. I do 2 cycles, the first on cold (washes the diapers without setting stains) and the 2nd on hot. Use a small amount of dye free, scent free detergent. I like Arm & Hammer Free powder. Don't use Dreft or any fabric softener. If you want to use a diaper service to give yourself a break the first couple of months, Cheek to Cheek is the only one in town. I'd check out Pea Pods store in St. Paul too. They have a great staff and tons of cloth diapering supplies.

Hi A.-

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your baby. I would also recommend cloth diapering. I did it with my daughter for about the first 6 months, and honestly part of the reason we stopped was because my husband was not completely on board with the whole thing (which he admits).

I would recommend looking at www.kellyscloset.com; they are an online store that sells cloth diapers and also have good information about cloth diapering in general. I would also recommend www.peapods.com; they are a local store (in St. Paul) and also sell cloth diapers online. If you go to the store they are great about giving you tons of helpful information about cloth diapering, especially about washing.

I found I liked the pocket style diapers (bumGenius & fuzzibunz), and I did the dry pail method (versus the wet pail method).

It is a big expense up front, but does pay off in the long run. I don't remember which website it was, but there was one out there that had cost calculations/comparisons about cloth versus disposables.

Hope this is helpful to you -- Good luck!

Jen

Hi A., My friend's daughter has had very good luck with doing diaperless baby. Her loving boyfriend and her worked with their baby and they have the most amazing baby. Sharene(the mom) did research on the internet as most of the world does things differently than the US there is info out there. Let me know what you find and if you need Sharene as a resource. K. Joy Lakeville ###-###-####

A.,
I use cloth diapers and, while they make a lot of laundry, I've never had huge issues dealing with them. I usually do a cold rinse/soak and then a hot wash with mine and use regular detergent. If it looks like they need a boost, I just put a bit of Borax in there and no problem. Also, there have been huge advances in diapers since your Mom and Grandma had babies. I'd encourage you to try it out. Cheek to Cheek is the only diaper service in town. It would be a great option to try them for a month or two and see what you think.
Also, if you think of the impact of disposable diapers, you're either going to deal with the issues of cloth at home or let someone else deal with the issues of paper diapers in the landfill.

I used cloth diapers with my first four children. I agree with you in regards to the environmental impact of disposable diapers. I did use a diaper service for the first month and found it very convenient. I'm afraid I don't remember the name of the company and that was 15 years ago. However, after that, I just soaked the diapers in a good diaper pail with Borax, after rinsing out the messy ones. Then you drain the pail and wash them hot and hang them out to dry in the summer or dry them in the dryer in the winter. I found it so rewarding to see them come out nice and white after the sun had bleached them. It's really not that big of a deal once you get used to it and so soft on your baby's bottom.
J. C

I did the same thing. Our little girl was 6 lb 12 oz. It was really tough trying to figure out how to get that cloth diaper too fit proper on that little tiny body! Then, when she put them too use, it was so tough to clean up! I just switched for the ease and efficiency of the disposable. You can try the cloth, but just have the disposables ready so you don't get too frustrated.