Do/did you use cloth diapers?

[AdventureMoms]

But that doesn't account for those of us that use the diapers for multiple children. Also, environment aside, I don't want the chemicals from sposies on my babies.

 

I cloth diapered my older son from 6 months on. My twins started with cloth as soon as they were big enough to fit the newborn diapers. :)

 

It also doesn't account for those who buy their cloth used, or sell it when they are done. Nor does it account for the water used in the manufacturing process of the disposable diapers. (Paper uses a TON of water in manufacture) It was a study put on by, and fully funded by, a disposable diaper manufacturer.

[Princess Peach]

I tried an all in one diaper with my DD once. 5 minutes later she pooped in it and that was the end of my cloth diapering. I know that will bug a lot of people, but it is what it is.

[ktgrok]

I tried an all in one diaper with my DD once. 5 minutes later she pooped in it and that was the end of my cloth diapering. I know that will bug a lot of people, but it is what it is.

 

Do disposables prevent pooping? If so, sign me up! (sorry, didn't mean to tease. That is just my husband's response when people say the don't do cloth because poop is gross.)

[_melody_]

I actually did NOT cloth diaper when my kids were babies, but now I own a thriving cloth diaper forum. Go figure. lol

[PRTGSw2K]

We were mostly full-time. I used disposables when traveling and sometimes at night when they were having growth spurts and were super heavy wetters.

[scrappyhappymama]

Do you have a dishwasher? Sounds crazy but the dishwasher is the best place to strip diapers and my guess is all those diapers need is to be striped a few times. If you don't have a dishwasher (or just don't want to put your diapers in them!) you can boil water on the stove and wash your diapers in the boiling hot water. I have a pdf at the office that goes over stripping the diapers, if you want it pm me and I can email it to you.

 

Thanks! It actually isn't a stripping issue though. I know I made it sound that way since I said they wicked and leaked. But I stripped them repeatedly trying to make them work again. What actually happened was the integrity of the diapers themselves was compromised. I'd been using many of these diapers for 4 years now, so it may have been that they were almost worn out anyway and the HE machine was the last straw. Most of my stash were AIOs with snap in liners and within a few weeks of washing them at my mom's, all of the diaper liners started shredding and the snaps breaking off. Even so, I still tried using them, because I've had some very ugly diapers work just fine :001_smile:, but all the holes in the liners were too much for a toddler super soaker! But even my nighttime diapers which were sherpa stuffing and fleece covers and had previously worked wonderfully quit holding at all. So something happened to them, all of them. I don't know what exactly.

[AHASRADA]

I never considered cloth diapering my eldest 2 kids. I was only 23 when my 1st son was born, had never cared for a baby, never changed a diaper in my life, and while I loved being a mother, it was all brand new, uncharted territory for me. I knew cloth diapers existed, but I only saw a handful of mothers at LLL who used them, so it seemed like an unnecessarily extreme "crunchy" thing to do :D. Caring for a baby seemed overwhelmingly hard as it was; I couldn't imagine voluntarily adding extra, messy work!

 

Over a decade later, along comes little miss Caboose. Everything that was exhausting and inconvenient about parenting in my 20s is now a treat! I am cherishing every moment of her babyhood, which has included being obsessed with using various styles of cloth diapers, as well as keeping them in pristine condition. It may seem strange, but caring for her diapers is somehow therapeutic. I just love the washing routine, and folding bright, clean, fresh-smelling diapers straight from the dryer is a joy.

 

There seem to be 2 cloth diaper camps: the Thrifty and the Trendy (not that they have to be mutually exclusive, but in general). Those who use cloth mainly to save money typically use prefolds and covers for multiple children, whether they "enjoy" it or not. The Trendy camp uses more all-in-ones and pocket diapers in fashionable prints that can cost $20 per diaper. I tend to use the less expensive options at home, and keep a few "high end" diapers for outings. I like to think I am saving a bit of money using cloth, but bottom line I will use the diapers that work best for me and my baby, in fit and convenience, as well as using the best products to ensure the diapers are clean and safe for her bottom. Even if the financial and environmental impact comes out equal to disposables (which I doubt), at least my precious sweetie had real, soft cloth on her bottom, not chemical-filled paper, plastic and gel.

 

Yes, cleaning poopy diapers is gross, but it's a labor of love. I don't swish mine in the toilet because I'm worried about the bacteria from everyone else's waste contaminating the diaper. I drop the diaper into a pail, fill the pail with water to cover the diaper, scrub the poop off, wring it out, put it in my dry diaper wetbag, and pour the poopy bucket water into the toilet. This keeps the poop out of my washing machine, and also reduces staining. I could leave the diaper soaking in a diaper pail, but this is a drowning hazard, and can also wear out the diaper fibers through prolonged soaking.

 

As for those who try CD and drop out soon after, they probably need to try a variety of styles. I hated prefolds for EBF poop, because they don't contain anything, and I was constantly scrubbing covers. Fitteds solved that. Now that dd is up and running and eating solids, having to snap a fitted and also velcro on a cover has become a challenge, as she runs off before I get to the second step, so prefolds are back in favor! Some people swear by pockets, or AI2s or AIOs. I would suggest trying multiple options before giving up completely.

 

BTW, no one else in my house deals with cloth diaper messes. This is my gig, and I take full responsibility for making this choice. Dh and dc do change diapers if I am out, but the soiled ones are there waiting for me in the bathroom to be dealt with upon my return. Elder dd does think it's gross, but since I haven't made her care for the diapers at all, I'm hoping she won't be too grossed out to consider CDing her own kiddos. Heck, I would probably volunteer to wash them for her!

 

I definitely agree CD is not for everyone. BTDT. But at this point in my life, with one baby and big DC to help, it is a ton of fun!

[~Tara~]

I've been in an on again off again, love/hate relationship with cloth diapers over the past 12 years.

 

I started with child #2 when he was about 1. He was in them maybe 3 months then was fully potty trained.

 

I started anew with #3, then we moved and were without a house for 6 months...cloth just wasn't working for me. On top of being sick pregnant with #4 at the same time.

 

#4 I started again, but was losing the love. We still managed part-time/mostly cloth though.

 

#5, once again I started with cloth. My love was briefly renewed with G-diapers.. and once again, I fell out of love and we tapered off. Going part-time.

 

Then came #6 and I think we were pretty well part-time from the start. I wanted to want to do cloth, but I just wasn't 'feeling' it anymore. My diapers were needing replaced, I couldn't afford the upfront cost of replacement...part-time it was. Which tapered off more and more as we got to 1 yr.

 

Then with #7 I had a new boost. I was going to do this again...it may still be just part time..but I was going to do this. And then she went to the hospital and had surgeries and it was just so much easier to use disposables. And well, that's just where we stayed. Until we hit a really hard time financially in which I decided to go cloth again to help us through. I tried to stir up the love one more time. I just couldn't. I got through those few months, and that was that. Back to disposables...and while I hate spending the money continually and I don't enjoy the trash...I'm happy. I'm 'over' cloth.

 

I still think it's great, in theory. And support anyone else who does it. I will even encourage anyone considering it. It...it's just not for me anymore. I'm done. :p

[happypamama]

But that doesn't account for those of us that use the diapers for multiple children. Also, environment aside, I don't want the chemicals from sposies on my babies.

 

Yes, that. My first set of prefolds went through my DD, my niece, partly my first son (I also used some homemade fitteds with him), a friend's baby, my second son, and my other nice -- 5.5 kids! -- before being finally worn out too much to use. I paid $60 dollars for those diapers, so at $10 for each kid, that's pretty good for diapering for the first 3-6 months. Yes, there was some water cost involved, but it was pretty negligible in with all the other laundry I do. (And with my third and fourth babies, we have well water anyway, so there's not a direct increase in water, though slightly in electricity, and I suppose somewhere in the longevity of the well/pump.)

[MrsJewelsRae]

I cloth diapered all 3 from birth to potty training. I really enjoyed it, finally found my favorites when I had my third- Bum Genius 3.0- have a whole stash still in EC hoping I'll get to use them again. I honestly never found them difficult, laundry is as easy as pushing a few buttons during infancy.

[Jennifer3141]

That chemical smell in sposies made me nauseous. I hadn't intended to CD in ths hospital with DD but I made DH bring me back our first CDs while we were there. That smell and the expanding gel carp just freaked me out next to my children's gonads. :glare:

[Annie Laurie]

I had my first at a young age and wasn't aware that people even still used cloth diapers. :tongue_smilie:

 

My second baby, I had heard about it online because I was on a lot of AP/breastfeeding/cosleeping type Yahoo groups. But I thought it sounded too hard. Ironically, that kid had bf poop blowouts in disposables constantly and it would have been less work to use cloth, which we haven't had those kinds of blow outs with.

 

I got pregnant with my third when my second was only 10 months, so I decided to switch to cloth to save money. We used chinese prefolds, snappis, bummis super whisper wraps, and fuzzi bunz at night exclusively for the two of them for quite awhile.

 

Then I branched out and started trying work at home mom diapers, and got a lot crazy about collecting diapers.

 

Then I had a 4th baby and had three in diapers at one point. They were all in cloth full-time, day and night.

 

Now my 5th baby is in cloth part-time. He's extremely high-needs and a terrible sleeper and it's been a hard year for me so I had to let go of some of my ideals. :001_rolleyes: He wears disposables at night because I couldn't deal with the constant wet sheets we were having, this wasn't an issue with my other babies who wore cloth at night but he nurses practically all night long. And some days when I'm behind on laundry he wears disposables for a few days until I catch up. He has survived. ;)

 

Oh, and I have not gotten into the fun, collecting part of cloth diapering this time, I don't have time and don't find it fun anymore. He wears mostly all in ones and pockets for ease of use.

[lcelmer]

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

 

 

I did this with my firt... turns out it was the diaper combo I was using,they were used gerber with a nonabsorbent padded core and a pull on plastic cheapo pant on top... It was so bad he couldn't take a 1 hour nap without being just soaked... :-P I never tried again until he was older.

 

I had never heard of any other diaper combo, and then while dealing with nightime wetting issues, I found the diaperswapper forums.

 

I tried again when my odest 2 were potty training, and the older one had enurisis... It was so much cheaper to just buy 2-3 night nipes that worked and wash them... Those goodnights can get expensive!

 

Sooo...fast forward to baby3 and I was cding most of the time, with no leaks or diaper blowouts anymore. I take a break for the holidays, and if I get super behind on the laundry.

[Chris in VA]

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

 

Close to my experience--We had a diaper service with ds, and tried diaper covers, but ended up with vinyl pants and pins, which worked so much better. (1989)

Did the same with son #2.

By the time dd came, we had our own washer and dryer, so I did my own.

We occasionally used Huggies. I hated how some disposable diapers had hard "tabs." I think Luvs was the worst. They actually cut my kids. Now they are so much softer.

[Joanne]

Used cloth at home, and many places "out" but did use sposies for some situations and outings.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Someone gave me a 2-month diaper service gift certificate when I had my first baby and so I used it. It was a nightmare! We didn't have a washer and drier so I had to go to the laundry mat to do laundry and we spent so much money on all the clothes that got wet or p**py that it was truly inconvenient.

 

Yes we used plastic coverings and things--still had issues. Anyway, that's my experience!

[Faithseed]

I voted some of my children, part time.

 

I wasn't very "crunchy" with my first two children, so they didn't get do participate in any of my insanity, I mean crazy ideas, I mean fun. :lol:

 

The last 3 have been cloth diapered, but I did give up on overnights (too much leakage and/or bulk), big outtings, or during morning sickness. That give me the best of both worlds.

[Forget-Me-Not]

I voted "Tried. Wasn't a good fit for our family."

 

#1--full-time disposables.

 

#2--started CDing when she was 10 months old, with DH's reluctant support (he had memories of swishing prefolds in the toilet. A sprayer and pocket diapers sweetened the deal. . . some). Did it mostly at home and used sposies for out and about.

 

#3--planned to CD full time almost from the start. Had a stash ready to go. Had a very unexpected emergency c-section and resorted to using disposables. Tried to start CD when she was about 6 weeks old, but she woke up and screamed every time she wet them. I had 2 older children and needed, NEEDED this baby to sleep. Gave up and gave in to sposies. There was much rejoicing in the land (by DH). Lent my newborn stash to my sister 6 months later, then sold it all off when she finished with it.

 

If/when #4 comes along, it will be sposies. I love all the philosophical arguments in favor of CD, but when it comes to practicum around here, sposies are the better option for us.

Edited January 24, 2012 by LemonPie

[Crimson Wife]

With my 1st and my 2nd I looked into getting a CD service but there weren't any where we were living at the time. With #3, there was a service but DH said the price premium compared to disposables was too high for our budget.

 

I hate laundry too much to wash CD myself. :tongue_smilie:

[MHowell]

I wonder if your pdf has the same ideas I've tried or something new. Our local water company changes something with the water for a few weeks here and there. It usually happens when the seasons change. I have to try every trick I know of to keep the ammonia smell out of the diapers.

 

I have scalded them, run them through a rinse before washing, run them through a rinse after washing, used vinegar, used washing soda, used more bleach (which I hate because it tears them up), used less bleach, switched detergents, line dried in the sun, and I'm probably forgetting some of the other things I've tried. Our water goes back to normal after a while.

 

Does this sound like anything you have heard of?

 

I'm going to assume what the water company does is flush the lines and it changes the mineral content of the water. They do it here sometimes and I can tell the difference in our loads. We have a water softener and we can still tell when they do it.

 

The ammonia smell comes from build up on the diaper, though it sounds like you've done everything right to strip them. what kind of soaps have you used? Are you using vinegar in the rinse of the wash or the wash cycle? If you don't have a rinse aid dispenser in your washer use a downy ball, and warm rinses are better than cold. If you don't have a warm rinse option, you can start your washer on a warm setting then once the tub is full turn it to rinse. The amount of soap you use could be the problem too.

[MHowell]

It also doesn't account for those who buy their cloth used, or sell it when they are done. Nor does it account for the water used in the manufacturing process of the disposable diapers. (Paper uses a TON of water in manufacture) It was a study put on by, and fully funded by, a disposable diaper manufacturer.

 

:iagree:

 

 

 

We wash diapers for almost 60 families. Our water bill at home for a family of 4 is higher than our water bill at the shop. That study was funded by disposable diaper manufacturers as stated above.

[Pink Elephant]

Yep, sure did. Cotton flats, diaper pins, rubber pants (1980's), and would do it again in a snap!

[barnwife]

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.

 

 

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!

We use cloth, except for one extended trip when our oldest was young and the few days after he had surgery once (due to diaper area meds not being CD safe).

 

For anyone looking for amazing covers, Sweet Pea diaper covers are it. They are reasonably priced and contain everything. Also, meconium washes out quite easily (and suns out if there are any stains, just like regular poop). Our midwife tells us to put olive oil on baby's rear end to make cleaning baby easier during the meconium stage. We use coconut oil, but either works to make meconium cleanup way easier.

[HS Mom in NC]

Zombie thread.