Do/did you use cloth diapers?

[MHowell]

Cloth diapers are a huge part of our lives. All of our friends and most of our acquaintances used them at least part time. What says the hive?

[PIE!]

yup - we've used them with all four kids. Throwing diapers away makes me feel like I'm just putting money straight into the trash.

[freesia]

yup - we've used them with all four kids. Throwing diapers away makes me feel like I'm just putting money straight into the trash.

 

Same here.

[Daisy]

I didn't. I didn't know anyone who used cloth diapers when my children were babies. It wasn't even on my radar.

 

I'm all for it though.

[Farrar]

Twins. Got a diaper service. Tried. Ooh, we tried. We spent about three weeks pretty much living in s*** as a result. All over the babies all the time. We ruined half the clothes we had. The diapers couldn't contain anything. The exact opposite of what all the cloth diaper evangelists had told me. So then I gave up and canceled the service.

 

But I think if I had known what I know now, I might could have made it work better by getting better products. I just didn't know and I didn't know anyone hardly who had kids at the time to give me better advice.

[higginszoo]

No, we didn't. With the first, we didn't have a good enough washer, would have had to schlep to the laundromat. Then we had two more in close succession, so I had 3 in diapers, with dh working 16 hour days with an hour commute each way and no family within 1000 miles (we moved there when the third was a newborn, so no time to make friends for a support system).

 

I considered it with my fourth, but dh wasn't supportive, and the laundry was his domain.

[kalanamak]

Other. We did it for a month and then my husband, who changed 98% of the diapers, asked for paper. I bowed to his request.

[beaners]

Would we be full time or part time? We do cloth except for traveling or on those rare occasions like when we are battling diaper rashes from cutting teeth. (Doing that now. Poor kid has gotten 3 in the last week, with 3 more pushing through.)

 

My biggest obstacle is keeping up with covers. We do prefolds or fold our own, then pin them and stick a cover over the top. It seems like the covers get harder to find and more fragile every 6 months.

[Mrs. A]

I love using cloth diapers - especially with wool covers! But I put part time with all of my kids because I use disposables at night. I just haven't found a cover that doesn't leak all over the place with my heavy nightime wetters.

[Laura in MI]

I thought about it my youngest, but dh and the kids do the laundry and they did not agree with the idea.

[myfatherslily]

I used cloth diapers from my 1st baby's infancy until my 3rd baby was about a year old. So about 5 years. Then I officially became a cloth diaper drop-out :D When I got to the point where I was putting off taking care of the dirty ones, I knew it was time to stop. I figured 5 years was plenty!

[In the Rain]

I used cloth diapers when I was a nanny. The family had a diaper service.

 

I was not at all interested in using them when we had kids. Dh was strongly opposed to cloth diapering. I only had one friend and one relative who used cloth. I know more moms using cloth now, but I'd say most of my friends use disposables.

[MHowell]

Would we be full time or part time? We do cloth except for traveling or on those rare occasions like when we are battling diaper rashes from cutting teeth. (Doing that now. Poor kid has gotten 3 in the last week, with 3 more pushing through.)

 

My biggest obstacle is keeping up with covers. We do prefolds or fold our own, then pin them and stick a cover over the top. It seems like the covers get harder to find and more fragile every 6 months.

 

If you buy less than 3 packs a year I would say full time. :)

[Ummsamiyah]

I have been MIA because I have been pregnant. But I am using CD's with this little person. I have a nice stash of prefolds, fitteds and all in ones. I LOVE cloth for my kiddoes. I don't think they have ever had a rash and they look so adorable in them!

Edited January 23, 2012 by Ummsamiyah

[usetoschool]

100% full time with one of my kids, just as a kind of experiment. She never wore disposables. It wasn't too bad or hard but it does matter which kind and brand you use. We never had a diaper service - just rinsed them in the toilet and had a hamper with soap/bleach next to the toilet. I only had two kids at the time though and the first was on her way to being potty trained while the second was in diapers. I couldn't have done more than one in cloth diapers without a service.

 

I tend a baby right now and every time she poops immediately after changing a wet diaper I think how much cheaper it would be to use cloth.

[Sara in AZ]

I love using cloth diapers - especially with wool covers! But I put part time with all of my kids because I use disposables at night.

 

Me, too, only I call myself a lazy cloth diaperer. I use paper at night and when we are going to be out of the house for a long time, or when I don't have any covers left, or when all the clean ones are out in the garage where the laundry is, or I'm tired of soaking toddler poop in the toilet, or, or, or, you see what I mean? ;) I was closer to full time with the first baby, though.

[Zuzu822]

Full time, all three boys. If we have any more, we'll continue CD.

 

My mom cloth diapered my sister and I and it never occurred to me to do otherwise. My sister initially thought I was crazy, but then she went on to use cloth with her DD. :D

[Guest]

I just blogged about this!

 

Yes, I used them some with all my kids; my second-born used them almost exclusively. I love them.

[MHowell]

I just blogged about this!

 

Yes, I used them some with all my kids; my second-born used them almost exclusively. I love them.

 

Nice blog! :)

 

Oh and ANY 'high efficiency' label on a washer means 'not cloth diaper friendly' lol If you really need it to work, add a wet towel to the load and it will trick the load sensor.

[eternalknot]

My youngest sibling and our oldest nephew and neice are only a few months apart in age, and the three shared cloth diapers. Those are the same diapers that went through every neice and nephew we have, until it came time for my own kids to use them. My younger nephews are currently using them.

 

I'm not against plastic diapers; in fact, my kids wore them on international flights, which happened several times each year. I just usually do things the way my own mother did, and she used cloth for us. No one else I know IRL used cloth diapers, and they'd always wonder (loudly) why I bothered. I now see it in some of the homeschooling families locally, but those people weren't on my radar when I had kids in diapers.

[LibraryLover]

I had all my little fluffy diapers and wool covers all set, even with my first. I remember washing them for the first time when I was still pregnant so that they would be soft and ready for the baby. Some of the 'older' moms here probably remember the Biobottoms catalogue. :)

 

I just did a search for old time's sake, and they are still around. :)

 

http://www.nanasnaturaldiapers.com/

Edited January 23, 2012 by LibraryLover

[Samiam]

Only used them with my 3rd, before that I was a little, well, dense, and didn't realize there were actually other viable options besides Pampers/Huggies.

 

Now, I would have another baby JUST to use cloth diapers on their cute little butts, lol!!

[MHowell]

Only used them with my 3rd, before that I was a little, well, dense, and didn't realize there were actually other viable options besides Pampers/Huggies.

 

Now, I would have another baby JUST to use cloth diapers on their cute little butts, lol!!

 

I totally agree! I see some of the new covers and prints and it makes me want another baby!

[stripe]

I've used them but never spent any time discussing them with anyone in real life.

 

Oh, except my grandma who told me not to use them, and my mom maybe once or twice. Once my dad saw I didn't use pins he was sort of uninterested.

[Guest]

Nice blog! :)

 

Oh and ANY 'high efficiency' label on a washer means 'not cloth diaper friendly' lol If you really need it to work, add a wet towel to the load and it will trick the load sensor.

 

Thank you! :001_smile: Good tip. I would try that if I ever needed to again. Thankfully, I don't have that horrible machine anymore, though I don't have my old clunker anymore, either.

[MeaganS]

We started with cloth when my oldest was 8 months old. I'm an independent cloth diaperer, as I came to the decision without knowing anyone else who does it. We cloth diaper for mainly financial reasons. I don't love it, but it isn't the worst thing in the world. We cloth diaper about 80% of the time, although we don't cloth diaper on vacation or in the hospital or any other time it is very inconvenient. That means I've been cloth diapering for about 3 years straight and with no end in sight!

[MHowell]

I'm really impressed at how many of the hive have tried/use cloth diapers!

[Parrothead]

My mom mentioned it, but it wasn't even a consideration.

[Acorn]

Both my kids wore cloth diapers. One of them for 6 years due to night time use. I never had a problem with our HE washer. Everything was clean and fluffy.

[Matryoshka]

Started with my twins with a service, and originally thought I'd use disposables just for going out. But then I had to remember to buy them, and find a place to get rid of them. What a pain. So then bought AIOs for going out. Much better. Then I realized it would be just as easy to wash a whole load as just the AIOs. Cancelled the service, got my own cloth dipes, and never looked back.

 

Except for those first few weeks just for going out and a trip to California when the twins were almost 2, used exclusively cloth for all three of my kids. (Had all three kids in dipes for 6 months - that was intense! :tongue_smilie:) I was never even slightly tempted to get disposables, though.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Yep. Started back in 1992 with plain old white ones and vinyl pants.

[Gentlemommy]

When I had dd1, all I knew about CDs were the prefolds and pull on covers with pins. I thought I'm never gonna stick a huge pin near my baby! Then when she was 10 months, I started really researching and bought fitteds and covers. I loved them right away, tried every single type out there, and finally settled on prefolds lol. I've been using the same diapers for three kids now, and I love it. Super simple, easy, cheap, and cute. I crochet, so I make our woolies, though we do have PUL covers now as well. Most people think I'm looney for using them.

[mama2cntrykids]

I have a love/hate relationship with cloth. I won't go into it, but I'll use cloth for a little bit, take a break, use for a little bit, take a break and on and on and on. It's annoying really. I mean my on again/off again is annoying not the cloth per say.

[LostSurprise]

I answered 'part time some of my children' but the answer was more complex.

 

I couldn't with my first son, but the rest were cloth diapered at least part time (a few full time). I even made my own newborn prefolds, and a few all-in-ones and fleece covers.

[sewingmama]

I tried -it was a disaster. DD soaked her clothes every 20 minutes so I was stuck washing diapers as well as 6-7 outfits a day. DH got fed up and told me to use his spending money if we couldn't afford disposable

[gardenmom5]

I did cloth for the four olders. washed them myself too. I kept my diapers until TWO MONTHS before I got pregnant. (like nine years after no longer needing them. I also got rid of my crib and craddle.) I refused to go buy more and used paper for dudeling.

[ereks mom]

I tried them with ER, who was a preemie. This was back in 1990, in a very small town with limited shopping options (no Walmart back then, LOL). I tried to use cloth diapers--which I found in only one size--covered with "rubber pants" (as my grandmother called them) because no one had even heard of diaper covers at that time, and it was a complete disaster. The smallest "rubber pants" I could find were WAY too big for my tiny baby, even though I bought the smallest size I could find. It was way, way too messy and he was much too uncomfortable, so I wound up ordering Huggies preemie diapers from the manufacturer (got the contact info from the hospital where ER was born) because they weren't sold in stores back then. There was no Internet in 1990, so I had to call the Huggies company and give them my credit card number, then wait for UPS to deliver the diapers a week or so later.

 

EK was also born early, and I didn't even bother to try cloth diapers for her. We used Huggies Supreme because that's what worked best.

Edited January 23, 2012 by ereks mom

[happypamama]

We've used cloth with all four babies. I used disposables a handful of times when DD was a baby but haven't used them at all since she was six or so months old. The boys have only ever worn cloth.

[Jennifer3141]

A paper diaper never touched either of my kids' bums. :D

 

Oh, Granny's Ark custom dipes. I miss those days sometimes.

[LibraryLover]

 

I miss those days sometimes.

 

:D I loved how cute cloth is. So so so cute. Big fat wooly bums are so adorable.

[Jennifer3141]

:D I loved how cute cloth is. So so so cute. Big fat wooly bums are so adorable.

 

Oh, the wool pants. Oh so cute!!

 

But I lost my heart on the GA whale AIO. I gave most of my stash away but kept the custom ocean wool pants, a custom GA pocket dipe with a fall theme, and a handpainted prehistorc fish dipe from this amazing artist woman out west but I don't remember her company!!

 

I swear, if I ever do have a late in life baby, the stash building that would commence... Oh!!!! :lol:

[LibraryLover]

Oh, the wool pants. Oh so cute!!

 

But I lost my heart on the GA whale AIO. I gave most of my stash away but kept the custom ocean wool pants, a custom GA pocket dipe with a fall theme, and a handpainted prehistorc fish dipe from this amazing artist woman out west but I don't remember her company!!

 

I swear, if I ever do have a late in life baby, the stash building that would commence... Oh!!!! :lol:

 

When my sister told me she was pregnant with her son (now 6), the first thing I did was order her diapers. She had the baby with a midwife in a hospital, but I was there when the nurse put on his first diaper; she said she had never seen anything so cute. I was so proud. lol

[Catwoman]

Nope. Never. Not even a passing interest in it.

 

We used disposables from Day One, and never looked back. :001_smile:

[RoughCollie]

No. I didn't have time.

[Ummsamiyah]

i forgot to mention. I bought the compostable/disposable G-diapers for when we have long outings and for her meconium. i am not a fan of cleaning up that sticky tarry stuff!

[Jennifer3141]

When my sister told me she was pregnant with her son (now 6), the first thing I did was order her diapers. She had the baby with a midwife in a hospital, but I was there when the nurse put on his first diaper; she said she had never seen anything so cute. I was so proud. lol

 

 

Our pediatrician would scream about how cute they were. I used to buy new dipes just to impress her. I remember DD wandering down the hall in her ocean wool pants while was DS just handed off to everyone so they could see his train dipe.

 

Granny's Ark made me a custom Xmas tree dipe that everyone just laughed and laughed over. It was so cute because it had this super strong tinsel sewn onto the tree. We laugh at baby pics because half of them are of the kids' butts!!!

 

And coordinating Baby Legs... That was fun!!

 

And if you were really good, for the monthly LLL meeting, you coordinated the soft shoes to the Baby Legs and the cloth dipes.

[SKL]

I did with my much-younger siblings, full time. Wanted to with my kids, but the people with whom I share the washer wouldn't hear of it.

 

I took custody of my [adopted] kids at 12mos/9mos and started part-time potty training right away. Switched to pull-ups 3 months later, gradually switced to cloth trainers/undies. Said goodbye to diapers 100% when the kids were 19mos / 17mos.

 

So while I did use disposable diapers, I didn't use all that many of them.

[LucyStoner]

FT till potty training at 2.5 for oldest son. FT till age 2 for younger son. We stopped for a couple of reasons, mostly caregiver and rash related. Now he is in cloth trainers but is far from fully potty trained. We did washing at home, mostly pockets with prefold inserts.

[LibraryLover]

Our pediatrician would scream about how cute they were. I used to buy new dipes just to impress her. I remember DD wandering down the hall in her ocean wool pants while was DS just handed off to everyone so they could see his train dipe.

 

Granny's Ark made me a custom Xmas tree dipe that everyone just laughed and laughed over. It was so cute because it had this super strong tinsel sewn onto the tree. We laugh at baby pics because half of them are of the kids' butts!!!

 

And coordinating Baby Legs... That was fun!!

 

And if you were really good, for the monthly LLL meeting, you coordinated the soft shoes to the Baby Legs and the cloth dipes.[/QUOTE]

 

 

:lol: Yes. LLL/bfing/Kinder Music meetings were great for that. I had Maggie's Organic tie dye leg warmers when my youngest was tiny. It wasnt until she was about 18 months or more that Baby Legs were popular and we started knitting them in our group. lol

 

btw, I'm one who could let the nurse suggestions of certain antibiotics etc., go in one ear and out the other. But she did love my cloth diapers, and I did like spreading the word.

 

Different topic. My youngest predates Ergo popularity, but I had a few gorgeous wraps (with my oldest all I had was the Dr Sears baby sling) and she always made such a big deal out of how beautiful they were and how great it was that I carried the baby. She actually embrassed me once in the waiting room, drooling over how awesome...I really wasn't there to make the mothers with carseats upset. I guess she saw one too many flat heads. (Btw, no flames, because I get it. My youngest had reflux and slept in a baby swing sometimes.)

Edited January 23, 2012 by LibraryLover

[MHowell]

You all are amazing! I knew I loved this forum, but the amount of cloth love astounds me! :)

 

 

I actually own a cloth diaper service (which is why we are surrounded by it). We've lost quite a few clients in the last month because of potty training or them just not working for the family and I must say I've been bummed out by it. I know it's not personal, and we still have LOTS of happy customers, but it always makes me sad when we lose customers. We had one cancel last week who have only used 10 diapers. They didn't even give it a real shot IMO.