Do/did you use cloth diapers?

[bluemongoose]

I voted yes, part of the time, with all my children. And I am gearing up for the new little guy who should be here very soon.

 

Really I used them most of the time with all of my children, but we did use disposables when we were on all day outings (rare) or over night stays (very very rare). And with my boys, I had to use disposable overnight as they were lighter sleepers and would wake up constantly if they could feel any wetness. The sleep was more important to me!

 

Oh, and I made my own with cute prints and velour on the inside. They are fun and oh so soft!

[AdventureMoms]

I put full-time, but that's only mostly true. DD was really, really full time. She potty trained at 26 months, 4 months before the twins were born. With the twins we didn't start until they were about a month old (they were preemies and FTT, so it took awhile for them to grow into even the newborn sized cloth). We also use disposables while traveling (if we fly) now since cloth for two would take up too much space and require too much finding-of-washing machines. If we drive to, say, my parents' house, we take the cloth, but use disposables for the drive. A few times I've gotten annoyed with the the whole overwhelmingness of life with twin infants and a toddler, and dropped the cloth to "give me a break". Usually about two days later I remember that disposables don't really save me any work. I still have to deal with the poop and change the diapers, plus I have to remember to buy the diapers and I end up spending any time I might have saved trying to find cheaper diapers because they're so darn expensive with two kids using them. It's easier to just toss my diapers in the wash and get on with life. Many things about twins are difficult, but frankly cloth diapers are not one of them.

 

I admit I'm somewhat mystified when people claim that cloth diapers are a ton of work and impossible if you have more than one kid in diapers. I just haven't found them to be all that difficult, but maybe it's because I did cloth first, so it is what I'm used to.

 

Plus they're super cute. Matching Sunbaby pockets with babylegs. So sweet!

 

ETA: Another plus for me right now - the boys are just starting to walk. The cloth gives them a nice padded bum to fall down on! Built in fall protection!

Edited January 23, 2012 by AdventureMoms

[Embassy]

Yes. I hate paper diapers. I actually started a cloth diaper retail company when my oldest was a baby and cloth diapers became our family's bread and butter.

[MHowell]

Yes. I hate paper diapers. I actually started a cloth diaper retail company when my oldest was a baby and cloth diapers became our family's bread and butter.

 

Cloth is our bread and butter now too. What company do you have?

[K&Rs Mom]

I didn't, mostly because it wasn't really on my radar at the time, but if we have any more I think I'd like to.

[MrsBasil]

With DS I did when he was older, 9 or 10 months I think until just recently. He's potty training now.

 

With DD, I've tried with pre folds and with hand me down one size pockets and they don't contain anything. I'm using disposable and don't love that, but don't really have the money to buy and try various diapers right now. I have enough for store brand disposables OR trying different cloth options. I'm hoping to try again with her in a few months and see if I can make it work!

 

We use cloth wipes though and I love those.

[Embassy]

Cloth is our bread and butter now too. What company do you have?

 

I don't any more. I sold it back in 2008:tongue_smilie: There is no way I could have continued it and homeschooled effectively. It took up 50-60 hours of my week!

[scubamama]

I credit them with potty training success before age 2. Go cloth diapers!!!!

[VeganCupcake]

We are very full-time cloth diaperers! I still have two in diapers :glare: and neither have ever worn any kind of disposable anything on their bottoms. My DD is almost 3.5 and approaching potty learning very cautiously. My DS is almost 10 months.

 

With two in diapers, I have to wash daily in order not to overload the washer and lead to less-that-clean diapers. The worst part is the constant basket of clean diapers to put away. It was much easier with just one diaper-wearer because I could go 2 days between washes. Oh well. DD will PL eventually.

[MHowell]

We are very full-time cloth diaperers! I still have two in diapers :glare: and neither have ever worn any kind of disposable anything on their bottoms. My DD is almost 3.5 and approaching potty learning very cautiously. My DS is almost 10 months.

 

With two in diapers, I have to wash daily in order not to overload the washer and lead to less-that-clean diapers. The worst part is the constant basket of clean diapers to put away. It was much easier with just one diaper-wearer because I could go 2 days between washes. Oh well. DD will PL eventually.

 

Why put them away if your going through them everyday? Find a wicker basket with a top and don't worry about them. :)

[Hannah C.]

My mom used cloth diapers on several of my siblings, and I did the diaper load for a while. It completely grossed me out. So I've never used cloth with DD and have no desire to.

[JFSinIL]

For my first kids, the twins, yes. I was talked into it by my s-i-l, who had her (singleton) babies in them. Then, chasing toddlers, I used disposable for the next baby, and was hooked. Had I to do it over - I would NOT have had those twins in cloth!

[Melinda S in TX]

I voted other. First two I tried cloth diapers off and on, but I couldn't make them work. We tried a bunch, but just couldn't find a brand that would work good for us. When my third was almost a year old I found Motherease Sandies and Airflow covers. I used them for 2.5 years with my third and with my other three for 2-3 years each. Hannah has had some trouble with her bladder since radiation, so I pulled out the toddle size and she is using them again.

[Plucky]

I loved cloth diapering. After I had my 2nd child (rough birth) I was unable to use regular pads, and had to use soft cotton. From then on I switched my babies to cloth as well. It feels so much better on the tushie. I did have paper dipes around for my in-laws & babysitters. My dh was a champ at cloth diapering.

[scrappyhappymama]

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!

 

This was me, for my first two babies. I was still traumatized from diapering my baby brother years ago, and accidentally piercing his fat little wiggly thigh with the diaper pin, more than once! My mom also made us older kids take the dirties to the toilet to do the dunk-n-swish, which was SO disgusting, so I always swore I'd NEVER cloth diaper my own kids.

 

Cloth diapering was my one crunchy mama holdout, or at least the biggest one. By my third baby, I was persuaded by my mama friends and their cute fluffy butt babies to give it a try. They all swore that modern cloth diapers are "not your mama's diapers." I've happily cloth diapered my last two boys.

 

Until... we visited my mom for several weeks and encountered her HE washer of death. I'm still not sure exactly what I did wrong, but after two weeks of washing at her house, my entire size large stash was ruined. I continued using them for a couple more months, but they wicked and leaked SO badly that I was going crazy trying to keep up with all the extra laundry. Even my go-to bulletproof nighttime diapers were ruined. SO sad. My son is 2 1/2 and really ready to potty train (I've just been dealing with pregnancy nausea, so I'm not ready!), so I was trying to hold out and make them work, but finally my husband convinced me to just buy some disposables to tide us over until he's trained. He's been in disposables (for the first time!) for the last few weeks and it hurts every time I have to buy a bag. It feels like throwing money away!

 

My only consolation is that in a few weeks we'll (hopefully) find out the gender of this baby and I can start building a new stash! :D

[Stayseeliz]

I've used them with all of my kids at some point. I don't use them when they are newborn because they grow out of them too fast. I have one size pocket diapers that I love and I usually start putting them on the kids around 4 months. But I will admit that my youngest is almost 10 months old and she's only been in cloth a few times. I'm just so tired and it seems like more work at this point. I think I'll start using them when I run out of the huge box of luvs I have right now. I use disposables for trips.

[Heather in Neverland]

No. Not ever. Can't even fathom it. :tongue_smilie:

[silliness7]

Yes, full time, 1st four kids.

 

I do not miss them.

[silliness7]

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

 

 

Same here. (except my oldest was born in 1997) I tried a couple of those velcro pants but nothing worked better than plain white diapers, pins and standard plastic pants for us. The gals in the church nursery were awesome. They changed those cloth diapers right along with us for years. My 1st 2 are 17 mos. apart and the next two are 21 mos. apart so we had two in diapers frequently. :tongue_smilie:

 

The worst thing about CD, ime, was the rinsing in the toilet. It really seemed the ultimate luxury to be able to throw away a diaper and not have to touch it, look at it, mess with it, ever.ever. again.

 

My kids seemed to poop every time we were on our way out the door. So we changed it, threw it in the toilet and went on our merry way, only to come home, run to the bathroom to use the toilet, and come to a screeching halt upon spying the diaper still at the bottom of the toilet.

 

So then you're all...

 

Rinse. Flush. Rinse. Squeeze. Hold your Breath. Open the Diaper Pail. Toss it In. Wash Hands. Dry Hands.

 

Ahhhh....NOW, I can sit on the toilet.

 

Did I mention that I don't miss them?

[desertmum]

I used cloth diapers with my ds. Not at the very beginning though because I had a c-section and bending down to put them in and take them out of the washing machine was a no-no. Also when travelling or visiting friends overnight I cheated and used disposables -well, I didn't expect friends to let me wash diapers in their washing machines :tongue_smilie:

 

I used fleece liners so the poop didn't stick to the diaper itself. I have to say I got addicted to cloth and I miss using them. I've tried introducing my friends to cloth diapering and no-one seems interested...

[MHowell]

 

Until... we visited my mom for several weeks and encountered her HE washer of death. I'm still not sure exactly what I did wrong, but after two weeks of washing at her house, my entire size large stash was ruined. I continued using them for a couple more months, but they wicked and leaked SO badly that I was going crazy trying to keep up with all the extra laundry. Even my go-to bulletproof nighttime diapers were ruined. SO sad. My son is 2 1/2 and really ready to potty train (I've just been dealing with pregnancy nausea, so I'm not ready!), so I was trying to hold out and make them work, but finally my husband convinced me to just buy some disposables to tide us over until he's trained. He's been in disposables (for the first time!) for the last few weeks and it hurts every time I have to buy a bag. It feels like throwing money away!

 

My only consolation is that in a few weeks we'll (hopefully) find out the gender of this baby and I can start building a new stash! :D

 

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.

[MHowell]

Rinse. Flush. Rinse. Squeeze. Hold your Breath. Open the Diaper Pail. Toss it In. Wash Hands. Dry Hands.

 

 

It sounds horrid the way you tell it!!

 

Anything that cannot be shaken off a diaper CAN and WILL be washed away in the washer, I promise! Or you can use liners that can be flushed.

 

My cycle when I washed at home: Diaper gets shaken into the toilet, never wet in toilet water. Tossed into dry pail. After 1-2 days pail bag gets dumped into washer, bag turned inside out and added to wash. Warm wash and warm rinse cycle. Hot wash with soap/vinegar/oxy bleach, warm rinse, extra rinse. DONE.

 

I can't say I'd ever dunk my diapers and ring them out in the toilet. I did get a sprayer attachment to the toilet but I only used it on pocket diapers after removing the insert so it wouldn't get too wet.

[Amber in AUS]

I used them full time with babies 2 & 3. I tried hard to use them with baby 4 but with so much going on with him, hospital visits, Dr appts, therapy etc I just found it all too much and have gone back to disposables.

[RoughCollie]

I admit I'm somewhat mystified when people claim that cloth diapers are a ton of work and impossible if you have more than one kid in diapers.

 

Some people have other priorities.

 

Some mothers of multiples do not have time. I barely remember my boys' first year because I was so sleep-deprived. Having extremely premature infants is a lot more time consuming than having full-term triplets. I could not have laundered 700 diapers a month on top of everything else. DH did the shopping.

Edited January 23, 2012 by RoughCollie

[Home_s_Cool]

All 4 dc used them but to varying degrees. The last - I hardly used them, but when I had him my oldest was 5 and I had started hsing - so diapering was not top on the priority list!

 

With my first I used them almost exclusively for a while, even taking them to outings, and bringing them home in a plastic bag.

 

I folded my own, used some pre-folded and the plastic covers. I didn't have any of these fancy all-in-one diapers that everyone seems to use now.

 

Plus I only had a portable washer - no dryer. So our dining/living room in our condo normally had diapers on drying racks in the winter and them I strung up lines on our deck for nicer weather.

 

In hindsight - I went to alot of work, not sure if I would do that again. But I was determined to use cloth to save money, not because it was better for the environment!

[JudoMom]

My oldest was in cloth full time until his brother was born 14.5 months later. Then we did cloth with both part time for awhile. Then we had 3 more close together (I almost always had 2--for a time I had 3--in diapers), and I couldn't keep up.

[Carrie12345]

I never really thought about them as an option for my first three, even though my mother had used them (old style). We were living in apartments when they were born and laundry was expensive (no services that I know of), so I suppose it was for the best.

 

#4 was 100% cloth until we switched to pull ups for overnights. I wasn't about to collect one cloth per night until it reached load-worthy.

 

#5 was in cloth until our dryer broke. It's ridiculous b/c I should be taking the money I'm spending on disposables and putting it toward fixing the dryer! But I can't keep up with line drying clothes for 7 AND diapers. Right now, we're using 7th Generation disposables because they lack the majority of gross chemicals in most disposables, but they're pricier. I can't wait to get my dryer fixed and go back to cloth!!!

[Mommy_of_4]

We use cloth diapers at home and sposie when we are out.

[mchel210]

I had to use cloth with my last baby. She was allergic to diapers. UGH!!! I cant say that enough!

 

She was allergic to almost everything that touched her. I went bananas with her. She was fine with the cloth diapers and I could use one brand of wash. It worked out great since we saved lots of money and she was potty trained super fast!! I think that kid was out of diapers most of the day by 15 months!

[Matryoshka]

It sounds horrid the way you tell it!!

 

Anything that cannot be shaken off a diaper CAN and WILL be washed away in the washer, I promise! Or you can use liners that can be flushed.

 

My cycle when I washed at home: Diaper gets shaken into the toilet, never wet in toilet water. Tossed into dry pail. After 1-2 days pail bag gets dumped into washer, bag turned inside out and added to wash. Warm wash and warm rinse cycle. Hot wash with soap/vinegar/oxy bleach, warm rinse, extra rinse. DONE.

 

 

:iagree: I never left a diaper in the toilet. I just dumped it and tossed in the pail that was right next to the toilet. If it were particularly sticky, I'd flush while holding on, that would strip almost everything - no swishing, no soaking, no hand getting wet. But even that ended after I got some great terry liners that had nylon mesh sewn to one side - everything just slid off, and the main dipe was spared.

[ereks mom]

Regarding the environmental impact: Here's some food for thought: http://www.sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn321diapersed

[Lady Florida.]

I used them part time, though "all of my kids" is only one. I used disposables when we went out of the house.

[AdventureMoms]

Same here. (except my oldest was born in 1997) I tried a couple of those velcro pants but nothing worked better than plain white diapers, pins and standard plastic pants for us. The gals in the church nursery were awesome. They changed those cloth diapers right along with us for years. My 1st 2 are 17 mos. apart and the next two are 21 mos. apart so we had two in diapers frequently. :tongue_smilie:

 

The worst thing about CD, ime, was the rinsing in the toilet. It really seemed the ultimate luxury to be able to throw away a diaper and not have to touch it, look at it, mess with it, ever.ever. again.

 

My kids seemed to poop every time we were on our way out the door. So we changed it, threw it in the toilet and went on our merry way, only to come home, run to the bathroom to use the toilet, and come to a screeching halt upon spying the diaper still at the bottom of the toilet.

 

So then you're all...

 

Rinse. Flush. Rinse. Squeeze. Hold your Breath. Open the Diaper Pail. Toss it In. Wash Hands. Dry Hands.

 

Ahhhh....NOW, I can sit on the toilet.

 

Did I mention that I don't miss them?

I've never rinsed a poop in the toilet. Breastmilk poo just goes in the washer (it comes out fine) and solids poo I use a flushable liner.

[Susan in KY]

I thought they were especially good when potty training came along. My dc just didn't want to feel wet, and trained quickly once I put them back into cloth.

 

FTR, I used cloth for 2 years while we lived in another country, but switched to disposables when we got back.

[amyable]

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.

 

:iagree:

 

This was us (except for the first baby part). Many of my children were MORE rashy in cloth no matter what detergent I used or how many times I rinsed, so I eventually gave up with all of them, but I did use them part time for many months for each of them. I think if it weren't for the rashes, we would have used them much more.

[beaners]

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.

 

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?

[KS_]

I tried them when my first was about a month old (I had a c-section and couldn't go up and downstairs and deal with the laundry at first). He *hated* them. He wasn't good at napping as it was, but with the cloth diapers, he'd start screaming as soon as he wet them and by the time I'd get him to the changing table, he'd be so worked up, it took a few minutes to get him calmed again. I figured he might get used to them, so I stuck it out for a week or two, with no better results. With my second, I didn't even try (I had already sold all the cloth diapers anyway).

[LaxMom]

I used disposables with my first (pre-Internet, had no idea where one would even find cloth/covers), and cloth full time with the three youngers.

 

We used prefolds and Bummis or wool covers.

[littlebug42]

I voted that I didn't use them and had no desire to. That was the case 10 years ago but if I were doing it over now, I would use them at least part time.

[curlylocks]

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.

 

 

:iagree:

[silliness7]

I've never rinsed a poop in the toilet. Breastmilk poo just goes in the washer (it comes out fine) and solids poo I use a flushable liner.

 

Well I had never heard of flushable liners. Sounds amazing. My mom was the only one I knew who had done CD and I just did it the way she showed me. Have you heard the story of the woman who chops off the ends of her ham before she bakes it? :D

[Kathryn]

Wasn't sure what to vote. I voted full-time, some of the kids. We CDed DS2 for the first year. Ditched it after that. Once he was eating solids and I couldn't just throw it in the wash, it was just awful. He never got "ploppable" poop. It was about 5 minutes of spraying, with him screaming outside the bathroom door the whole time, or else getting in the way. And he still poops at least five times a day. If his poop was a different consistency we would have stuck with it.

 

ETA - flushable liners just got bunched up in the diaper. Did no good at all.

[Tammyla]

My babies had sensitive skin, and disposable were better for their tender bottoms.

[SailorMom]

I thought about it as a 'green" option, but it turns out all the washing of the cloth negates the "green"-ness of it.....

So - I decided to go with convenience :)

[In2why]

My mom used cloth diapers on several of my siblings, and I did the diaper load for a while. It completely grossed me out. So I've never used cloth with DD and have no desire to.

 

 

This was my reaction. My brothers are quite a bit younger than I am and I remember having to rinse out those diapers in a freezing toilet, holding on tight so that I wouldn't flush it down the toilet. It was the grossest thing EVER. Of course they weren't cute, and they had pins and those rubber pants covers with elastic that left marks on their legs, and OMG the smell from the bucket in between washings. Both brothers were in diapers and we didn't have a wash machine. It wasn't even an option in my mind. But I have seen some of the cute ones they have now with velcro tabs and cute little covers, and while I still wouldn't do it, I can see how they seem adorable.

[LinRTX]

I used cloth for my three oldest, but disposable for the youngest.

 

She was a surprise baby, came seven years after the others. I had gotten rid of all my diapers (and other baby things). At that point, buying cloth was just as expensive as doing disposables. Also with all the activities my olders were involved in, I wasn't sure I could make cloth work.

 

Linda

[Runningmom80]

Regarding the environmental impact: Here's some food for thought: http://www.sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn321diapersed

 

 

 

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. :)

[Runningmom80]

Why put them away if your going through them everyday? Find a wicker basket with a top and don't worry about them. :)

 

 

 

Yes, we just keep a laundry basket in the living room. :lol:

[BatmansWife]

My cloth diaper experience began when my youngest sister was born. I was about 12. I still remember having to rinse poopy diapers in the toilet and putting them in that stinky diaper bucket. Is that really how you do it now??? And she had those awful plastic pants with the elastic around the leg.

 

When my first baby was born, I was given a 1 month diaper service, with cute diaper covers (no awful plastic pants). I didn't continue it, only because I felt it was a bit questionable to be using diapers that were used on other babies....even though they claimed they were washed many times. :confused: And, I was too worn out to want to deal with washing cloth diapers myself. I knew from when I was a kid that it wasn't fun. Huggies were the best! :001_smile:

 

My sister (a different sister) has a baby and she's all into cloth diapers. Times have changed and there are nice cloth options available now. I just checked her eBay auctions recently and she sold 5 used Bum Genius diapers. The bid was for $45.00!

[kesmom]

We use cloth about 90% of the time. I've never found it to be difficult or gross and the money savings has been great.