Considering Switching to Cloth Diapers

I used cloth prefolds because they were cheaper than the fitted diapers. My impression is that the fitted ones are a little easier, but the prefolds weren't bad--I never had to use snaps or pins, just put them inside a Bummis diaper cover. By the time my daughter was 2 1/2 I was a little tired of washing diapers, but I'm glad I went with cloth because it is definitely better for the environment, and it saved a significant amount of money. I have an efficient washer and no dryer so the energy costs weren't bad. And I never bleached out the washer--just did a presoak and ran the diapers on the hot cycle with an extra rinse. They came out perfectly clean with no smell at all.

One thing I hadn't considered beforehand is that clothes fit a cloth-diapered baby differently, because their butts are so big! The plus side to that is, now that my daughter is toilet trained, she still fits into the shorts and skirts she wore last summer when she was in cloth diapers--another savings! :)

We use gDiapers - I have a bunch of coupons for starter kits and refills if you want to try them out.

Also, if you want to trial a bunch of different cloth dipes to see what you like, contact Jillian's Drawers (http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/products/clothdiapers/tryc...) - this is a trial offer where you get one each of a ton of different dipes and you keep for three weeks to try them out, then launder and send back. You only pay shipping!! It's a great idea.

A., If it truns out you find you want to use something inbetween cloth and disposable, we use the G diapers and love them. They have a cloth outside and you use a biodegradeable/compostable insert. We didn't like the idea of using so much water w/ cloth, we wanted to use the least amount of resources. The inserts are made from tree pulp that is grown and harvested for that reason. Good Luck w/ your decision!!!!!!

I switched because I couldn't stand to put another chemical filled diaper on my daughter or in the landfill one more time. I loved it. It did take a bit to get use to and being determined really helps.
I didn't check where your from but I went to Peacock Organics, which is a Mamasource Mom owned business on here, and Kimberly was absolutely wonderful. We've actaully become friends as well. She is welcoming and will provide any help you need. She's having a diaper swap soon also.
I refuse to go any other way with any future children we may have.
Best of luck.

we have used cloth diapers since the birth of our 16 month old. for 7-8 mo we had a service that picked up once per week. that was fine - not too stinky. It was about 25$ per week.
now we wash our own and we use flushable liners to which the poop sticks most of the time, so there's not toooo much to deal with manually. then we wash on hot with a little bleach.
good luck!

I am a 'Nana' now, but when my children were in the diaper stage I used cloth diapers. For my first born there was no alternative, for my youngest 'pampers' had just arrived on the market. My daughter was allergic to the pampers. I liked the cloth because I knew what was involved for chemicals. Plus I'm a crunchy tree-hugging type of person. But they are a pain. You'll need to get used to the idea of pre-cleaning them in the toilet prior to putting them in the diaper pail or laundry. You'll pobably be changing your baby more often and you'll need to think about when you're visiting, going on trips or eating out. In any case you could use both types. My daughter still had some diaper rashes. But I feel that potty training was much quicker and easier for both my children. In a cloth diaper wet or dirty is just that.
Good luck, now a days with the busy schedule you Moms have, determine what will work for you. Too often we are guilted into a situation by ourselves or others. Nana D.

Love my cloth diapers!

I started by taking Joanne's free cloth diapering workshop (www.zannadu.com) and was totally overwhelmed with the options. Then started reading more, talking to moms, and chose a combination of pocket style one-style (Bum Genius 3.0) and since my sister had given me a couple dozen really high quality prefolds, I bought a few diaper covers to use with those.

So easy! I wash every 3 days or so. I use Arm and Hammer Green Essentials liquid and only a tablespoon per load so it lasts forever. I do a first rinse to rinse out liquid poo and pee, then a full wash/rinse with detergent on hot, then an extra rinse to make sure the detergent is washed out. I've never bleached my dipes and some say you shouldn't. If I've used a bit of diaper cream on my dd, I'll squirt a bit of Dawn dish soap in the wash, if I'm worried about a bit of diaper rash coming on, I'll pour a bit of white vinegar in the last rinse to discourage bacterial growth. I separate out the covers (anything waterproof) from the prefolds and soakers, dry the prefolds/soakers in the dryer, let the covers air dry, then assemble as needed (some do this all at once, some do this per changing).

Dirty diapers go in a dry pail (I just use a large trash bin with the lid off for air circulation). Solid poops are scooped up with either tp or (I use) cloth wipes and dropped in the toilet, otherwise, everything goes in the dry pail.

Yes, you use water and that's bad for the environment (though it can be cleaned and put back in the ocean to be used again). But tightly wrapped poo/pee bombs in gel, sometimes double wrapped in an extra bag, are waaay worse. Yes, you do have to do laundry, but I've only found it to be 2.5 extra loads a week. And while I personally dread doing regular laundry, I actually enjoy washing dipes.

Finally, and most importantly for me, I love knowing that I don't have to go out and buy a bag of disposable diapers, then moments later, 'loaded' with a drop of pee, feeling guilty for checking her bum and putting the dirty dipe back on her, I change her, and throw that diaper away! Money I could have spent elsewhere.

And you can have fun, trying different diapers, different covers, different systems; the BG3.0s are perfect for my husband and MIL, I don't mind the covers/prefolds.

Regarding the environmental and economic impacts issue:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/diapers/politi...
It's long but interesting. May help sway you either way! Good luck! Email me directly with questions!

Hi A.,
I'm a first time mom of a 7 month old and I've been using Fuzzi Bunz w/ her. Cloth does not hold as much pee as disposables, so at night I will put her in a disposable right before bed time and then it's back into cloth first thing in the morning. Also, when we have gone away on the weekends I'll use disposables so I don't have to lug around a bunch of stinky diapers with me. I feel that even though I'm not 100% cloth all the time I'm making a HUGE difference on the environment. I end up doing 2 loads of laundry a week for the diapers, but I feel that it's worth it.

Hi A.,

I am a first time mom of a seven month old and I've been cloth diapering since birth. I love cloth diapers and find it very easy. I have about 35 diapers, half prefolds with two covers and the other half are all-in-one one size pocket diapers. I like the pocket diapers more because the fleece next to the skin keeps her feeling dry, but you can't beat the price of prefolds. At first I was washing twice a week, but now that she is older and goes less often, I only need to wash once a week. You are only supposed to use a very small amount of detergent with cloth diapers, so I'm only about half way through my package of Charlie soap that came with my diapers. Cloth diapering is a bit of an investment up front, but I think it pays off in the long run. Especially if you plan on using the diaper for more than one child. My stash seems to be holding up great! cottonbabies.com has a great package deal on prefolds and kellyscloset.com is where I purchased my pocket diapers. I hope this helps.

We are now cloth diapering our second child. We switched to cloth when our oldest was 10 months old and have never regretted it at all. The savings are huge, especially if you use mostly prefolds.
We have used many different diapers...bum genius, happy heiny's, bumwear, wonderoos, fuzzi bunz, and prefolds with all kinds of different covers too.
Here's my suggestion, there are websites that have package deals that let you chose different kinds of diapers at once(The only website I have bought from myself is www.nickisdiapers.com , but you can check out all kinds of reviews at www.diaperpin.com). That way you can get a variety and see what kind you like the best. It's not the same for everyone. Even the "best" diapers leak on different babies. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, get a couple dozen chinese prefolds and a handful of covers. So far my favorite cover has been Thirsties. For night-time use, I'd go with either a pocket diaper or all in one.
We have not noticed an increase in our electric bill due to extra laundry and I'd say we probably wash diapers 2-3 times a week. The environmental impacts cannot be compared to the amount of laundry you do with cloth. Disposable diapers account for millions of tons of trash on this planet. Cloth diapers can be used for many children and even resold when you're done with them. And if you hang your diapers to dry outside, you don't have to worry about the electricity your dryer uses.

I started CDing my daughter at 9 months, and I was able to re-use the same diapers for my son. Most of those original diapers are still in good enough shape that I will also use them for the baby I have due this summer - so for us, the economic impact has been huge! I do feel a lot better for not throwing out loads of disposables every week, too. I use pocket diapers, the ones I've been happiest with are BumGenius 3.0s and Huggabuns. I store them in a dry pail, run a cold rinse, wash in hot water, then dry. I just work it into my laundry routine and it's not a big deal. Folding them does take time.

I do use disposables at night and for going out for a full day (not if we're just going out for a couple hours), but there's no question that we buy a very small percentage of the disposables we would need if we weren't CDing most of the time.

Hi A.,
I have a 17mo and I just switched to cloth about 6 or 8 weeks ago. So far it's been great. I started by doing the $25 trial thru Diaper Lab in Somerville. http://diaperlab.com/index.html They have a great program where they send you home with 8 brand new diapers of your choice (they help you figure out what will be best for your baby/preferences). You get them for 2 weeks. You can keep (and pay for) what ever you like and just return whatever you don't. So if you decide the whole thing is a bust you're only out $25. I now have about a dozen diapers and do laundry every other night. I use diaper liners which are sort of like tp (but sturdier) so when he poops you just drop the liner and poop in the toilet. No scrapping or messiness. It's super easy. I have mostly one-size pocket diapers from BumGenius. I like them because they are super absorbent and will hopefully fit until he's through with diapers (and work with another baby). I finally made the switch because it really bothered me to throw out all those diapers while thinking that MY OWN diapers were still sitting in a landfill somewhere. That said - I live on city sewer. If I had a septic system I had to maintain I might reconsider. If you have any questions or want more info feel free to send me a note.
-E.

We loved using cloth. Even my skeptical husband had no problem with it. I used prefolds and pockets mostly, with a couple fitted and contours in there too. I wished I had found the contours earlier, actually as by the time I found them DD was almost too big for the biggest size available. Fuzzi buns were great, until my DD got bigger as she has a longer torso and they didn't really do it. But they were great for a long while. Pockets are also great if anyone else is taking care of your baby. Nothing to figure out at all (not that any of them are complicated, but you'd be amazed at how intimidated people can be).

Sunshine is a wonderful stain treatment for cloth diapers (and any clothes too). Seriously amazing!

The laundry really was no big deal. It is not like regular laundry. Yes you have to put them in and hit the buttons and throw them in the drier. But there really isn't the separating, stain treating and folding-that's what takes the longest with the laundry, I've found.

I totally recommend using cloth diapers and my husband, who was skeptical at first, loves them too. A lot of my friends have switched to cloth after seeing how easy it is. We began when my daughter was 6 months, and now we’re using the same diapers with baby #2. I recommend paying a bit extra for really high quality diapers. Not to discourage prefolds, but they don’t work as well as the pocket diapers and they don’t pull the wetness away from your child like pockets with fleece lining. I decided to buy BumGenius diapers because of their ease of use but mostly because they come in 3 sizes (you snap them to fit your baby’s size and shape). You then just buy about 18 diapers or so and you can use the same ones for small, medium, and large (up to 35 lbs) rather than having to buy more as your child grows.

As for environmental impact, there is no question cloth is better. You don’t use bleach with BumGenius (it ruins the diaper if you do) but you do need to buy an environmentally friendly detergent with no enzymes or dyes. You can replace water but not the impact of disposables in a landfill. I do about 2 loads a week and then hang them to dry overnight on a drying rack. You don’t need to dunk diapers in the toilet or anything like that. You just put them directly in the diaper pail (wipe off any large amounts of poop with toilet paper first) and wash them. Simple as that. I don't bother to bleach out my washing machine, but I do run the diapers on the hot cycle. They come out smelling clean and fresh. The only thing to consider is that day cares do not generally let you use cloth diapers in the daycare center.

Hi A.. I ended up using both.

I found that all the laundry was a real pain. I used a lot of laundry detergent, and the dryer was running all the time, so it was a more expensive electric bill.

With all the extra detergent, and water use, I was not so sure I was doing the environment any favors.

I also used a TON of bleach. I would bleach out my washing machine every few days - with just water, no clothes, to disinfect it. You really have to do that.

I also would take my DD's poop and flush it down the toilet after changing her, so then again, more water use.

I did recycle all the laundry detergent and bleach bottles, and I would have done that regardless, but I sure went through a lot of them!

So, I don't mean to discourage cloth diapers - many people like them better. Just my two cents!

We use G-Diapers, which you may want to consider to ease yourself into doing 100% cloth. G-Diapers are 3 parts: a cloth outter, plastic-y liner and a flushable insert (which you can flush, toss in the trash or compost; we compost the pee ones!) Check out the G-Diaper website. Oh and you can buy the inserts at Whole Foods.
If we are just hanging around the house I either sometimes replace the flushable insert with a folded-up basic cloth diaper into the G-Diaper liner, or good old fashioned cheap cloth diaper with pins. I only do this occasionally because we dont have a washer in our house, we only do laundry once a week, so all I do is rinse and kinda hand-wash the diaper and put it in a special bin to wait til laundry day.

I used cloth diapers for the first few months with my kids, but then decided not to continue. If you do make the switch, I would recommend making the investment in the one size diapers that snap smaller, and grow with your child. I used all prefolds and my kids out grew them, and I hated making another financial investment. I also took a class with the lady that owns zanadu.com. She gives workshops, and has many styles to pick from. Good Luck, F.