Babble

We use disposables, but if I could go back and do it over, I'd be using cloth. Disposable diapers get so expensive, and I cringe when I think of what we're doing to the environment. If we have another baby, it'll be cloth all the way.

That said, I HATE it when people get self-righteous about cloth diapers, as though the vast majority of us just don't care enough about our babies to do cloth. It happens with every aspect of parenting, but this is one of those issues that really seems to bring it out. I wish we could just all be secure enough to acknowledge that we can all be great parents, even if we're doing things differently... but I'm sure no one here is like that. :)

One question: What are you going to do when it's time to potty train? I'm guessing most people who do cloth diapers aren't going to jump to pull-ups whjen the time comes. Are there any cloth options out there now that are better than the thick panties I wore when I was 2? Just wondering- I'd like to look into it, since Simon is 20 months old, now. Thanks!

Hi BReno,

Here is a great article on caring for cloth diapers (washing etc.): Click to see article

A great idea is to use flushable liners, then there is no scraping you just flush the liner and put the diaper in the the diaper pail.

Another option is to get a handy sprayer ... then you just quickly spray the diaper off and put it in the diaper pail (I couldn't cloth diaper without this product).

 Hope this helps!

I have to say after using cloth diapers for about a month I quit.

1. I don't have the time to constantly wash diapers. If I can get the laundry done once a week I'm doing good. AKA I don't have a washer or dryer in my house.

2. Breastfed babies have that crazy orange sticky seedling poop that I found cold clocks cloth diapers

 3. Rubber/Vinyl pants are awful. They hold moisture and sweat in. They don't pull the moisture away from the skin like pampers do. I can touch a pamper and it'll feel perfectly dry

5. Diaper rash. The acid from the urine seems to stay close to the skin

6. I found myself changing diapers constantly because i didn't want her bum in any kind of moisture at all. I couldn't imagine using them outside of the house. Maybe if I was a stay at home I'd use cloth diapers more.

7. I will however put her in cloth diapers or no diaper at all when she is lazing around the house. Just throw her naked booty on a crib mattress pad.

8. Disposables are awful on the enviroment, I'll acknowledge that. But I choose to do other things to lessen my impact. Maybe when her poop is more solid (when she starts eating solids) I'll switch back to cloth. Than it'll be easier to dump/rinse out.

I'm still pregnant myself, so I haven't had a chance to try it out, but what I bought from www.greenmountaindiapers.com was an outside, waterproof piece, a pre-fold cloth diaper, and an inner light-weight paper piece that actually will catch the solids. My hope is that I'll be able to pick the paper out of the diaper and drop the whole thing in the toilet and flush most of the problem down the drain (don't use with a septic tank, though). If he doesn't have solids, I technically could wash the paper pice and air-dry it to use one more time, but I'm not sure how that'll work for me.

 Technically, we're not supposed to put full disposable diapers straight into the trash - it's solid waste. So I feel better that I'm drop the solids in the toilet anyway.

The big problem I see is that it actually takes 2 washes to get the diapers clean - 1 cold-water wash (to remove most stains) and a second warm wash to finish it up. And you have to pre-wash 4-5 times before you use them to remove chemicals that might give the child rashes. THat didn't kill me - I just added them to all of our washes, but you're still supposed to use baby detergent with them, and my clothes didn't come out as white. No problem for the future, though. 

We've been using FuzziBunz since our baby was born. It's really easy -- we have a sprayer attached to our toilet that we use to spray the poop off the diapers into the toilet. Then I do a cold water prewash and a hot water wash. I either dry the diapers and liners on the delicate cycle, or I just let them air dry -- they dry really quickly. I admit that the first time I had to deal with a poopy diaper at 4 in the morning I was less than thrilled, but it's really no big deal. I rinse off the diaper and throw it in a pail -- odor has not been a problem.

 My baby gets breast milk and supplemental formula (she's a preemie, so I have to supplement), but the poop is not that difficult to deal with.

 We bought 12 diapers to start, and did laundry everyday. But now she can wear the next size up, so we bought 12 more diapers, so now we just wash them every 2 days.

 
I recommend you give them a try. We just prewashed the diapers initially once. I recommend FuzziBunz -- they are a pocket diaper and are super easy to use.

 I think they are great -- I'm really pleased and am happy with the results.

Well, I desperately want to be an avid fan of cloth diapers, but here's what we've been through so far...

1. G-diapers.  First of all, they don't fit most newborns.  At 8 lb 5 oz, ours was on the bigger side, but the smalls still didn't fit right away. They kept leaking and creating a mess.  Then we waited til he was bigger and they still leaked.  I am a die-hard, so I tried again when he was 4 months old using the mediums.  They were wonderful, but we have 1916 plumbing in our old spanish cottage and they reminded us.  After 6 hours of snaking and pulling filthy gunk out of our pipes, my husband put his foot down and said no more.   Basically, the outer fibrous portion was what didn't go down so well.  I haven't given up yet, I have been composting them instead, but it gets to be a lot of work, to have to take each one outside when you have an active baby to tend to.  Also, they don't look like they are breaking down too quickly, so I'm afraid to "clog" our composter as well.  I have a plan though, I am going to try to start flushing the inner bulky portion and compost only the outer fibrous part.  I just love how cute they are and refuse to give up on them.

2. Fuzzibunz.  They seem to leak through!  My baby is a "heavy-wetter" and they don't even come close to lasting half the night.  Also, they don't keep my baby dry at all in the day.   When I changed him, his skin was always wet.  So... they're sitting in a drawer. 

3. Seventh Generation.  They still sit in landfills, but the fit is great, my baby is dry and there are no yucky crystals sticking to his skin (like the pampers do).  Also, they're chlorine free.  So this is what we mostly use.

I'm really wary of spending $20 each on a new brand if it ends up being as fallible as what I've already tried.  I've been debating purchasing bumgenius 2.0, but the burn from the g-diapers and fuzzibunz still has me scared.  If you can guarantee that I'll love them, I'd like to give them a try...

C

I posted earlier while I was pregnant, and am happy to say that I still love my cloth diapers after 3+ months, although we do use disposable at night and when we go out. The absorbancy just isn't there for night-times. I love the 3-piece with the outer shell and the liner - I'll stick with that in the future.

My son is on Alimentum (when I supplement), so his poo is very runny, which is a major downfall, but I just use a toothbrush in a sink we don't use for much anything else. And I clean that sink often, just in case.

It's so worth it to me (I have a w&d in the house) that I think I've convinced my boss and his wife to try it, and I'll sell them my diapers (their son will be 6 months younger than mine.)
 

I'm interesting in trying cloth diapers as i'm trying to reduce my family's footprint.  That said - i'm nervous.

I HATE the idea that I can't just run to the store and buy AIO's.  No other kind is really an option for me.  This is my 3rd (and final) child.  I want to be able to touch and feel what i'm buying before I sink a lot of bucks into a million different kinds of cloth diapers.

My biggest concern is that one of the cloth diaper mom's said very casually "the diaper is good for 1-4 hours" .  That seems like a VERY short period of time to me!  Pampers have only just begun to work at 3 hours.  I'm not saying that the baby is sitting around in a dirty diaper all day, but good grief 1-4 hours.  PLEASE!

I need to also be really honest here.  I love my children but I RARELY change diapers.  In fact i'm trying to remember the last time I changed a diaper.  My husband and the nanny are the changers.  Trust me, if I left it up to them cloth would not even be a consideration.  So I need something that's going to be VERY user friendly.

I need somthing that the nanny will use (and not hate me) and that my husband will wash - without a lot of fussing about it.

 I think I will buy 1 or 2 and give them a try.  We'll just have to see how it goes.

Just so you know, urine is sterile, however the chemicals against your baby's skin that are used in disposables were made illegal in feminine care products quite some time ago due to cases of toxic shock syndrome. Think about that. It's not 'just' about the waste, it's also about the health of our children. These chemicals cause reproductive problems and cancer. So maybe you should 'give it up'...