[name]Hi[/name] Berries!
I am currently using disposable diapers on my almost 3 month-old daughter, but I am interested in making a cloth diaper attempt. My husband is very skeptical and borderline opposed. Any suggestions?
Thanks! 
Cloth is awesome! We love it! DD was in cloth from birth until 2.5 years when she potty trained (and is still using them at night) We used disposables for one weekend camping trip and I hated them - how they leaked, how they smelled, all the garbage etc. We even used cloth on a 2 week trip to [name]Cuba[/name] when DD was 18 months.
We personally went with fitteds and covers but depending on how much or little you want to spend there are a million different options.
My advice for starting out, especially with a skeptical DH, is to either invest in a month or 2 of a diaper service - that way there’s no laundry and no commitiment, or try one of the cloth diaperings stores starter packs that usually have a variety of different diapers so you can try them out and figure out what you like.
If you have any particular questions I’d be happy to try to answer them. I’m so, incredibly glad we went with cloth and I’m always happy to try and convert someone!
Thank you! What are “fitteds”? Are they the same as All-in-Ones? What brands do you recommend? Thank you so much! I’m still nervous to try them, but I’m not satisfied with the status quo. I need a little “umph” to give this a go and I’m sure it will be great.
Fitteds are a 2 part system - you use a diaper and a cover. Covers don’t have to be washed every time they are used, only when they get dirty. All-in-ones of course have the diaper and cover in one piece, so some find them more convenient, however the disadvantage is they can take a little more effort to rinse clean and they take longer to dry. There are other options like pre-folds, pocket diapers, or even the old style flats.
The ones we went with are MotherEase [name]Sandy[/name]'s but really there are a ton of options out there, including a bunch that weren’t even around when I bought diapers 3 years ago.
I used disposables with my first child – they were all the thing then – but was determined to go cloth with my son and a friend gave me all of hers. My son was premature so he was three weeks old before the mohel would consent to the bris. After the bris, the mohel said use disposables until my son healed, and my son refused to go back to cloth after that. I was so disappointed, because I was committed to being eco-friendly and I tried every kind of cloth, and it was still a no-go. So I’m afraid that I added to the garbage problem with both my kids :(.
I cloth diapered #2 from birth and my twins (now almost 17 months) from birth. I love cloth! I use mostly prefolds w/ covers - I like this because the covers can be used more than once (like a fitted- it’s two pieces not all in one). We have some All in Ones (AIOs) because my husband finds those easier to use and they are better for my older DD’s to help with changes too. Whichever diapers I use, I use a flushable liner–that catches most of the “dirty” and it allows me not to dip or rinse diapers. Once in a while I have to spot-rinse a diaper, but normally, I just put the dirty dipes in our diaper pail (no water in pail- there are many methods so I’m specifying what we do here) and then I launder every 2 days. We haven’t had any problems with smell or anything with this method. I know alot of moms have a sprayer connected to their toilet and they pre-spray/rinse all dipes then put in a diaper pail (with or without water to soak) before washing. We don’t do that like I said. I just put dry dipes in the pail. Make sure to use a detergent that is for cloth diapers and won’t strip the fabric of the absorbancy. Also, follow the directions for drying.
What specific questions do you have or suggestions do you want?
There are SO many options out there now. You can cloth diaper VERY affordably with the “one size” systems they have now. Essentially this is one set of diapers (fitted I think- so it’s a diaper cover and you put in inserts-- different absorbancies as needed) that will carry your baby through infancy through potty training. All in Ones are popular and so are fitted and there are ones call All in 2. The web is full of resources. I really only have experience with prefolds because they were the cheapest option when I was diapering #2 and we needed cheap at the time. That just became my preferred method so I went that way for the twins even though there are probably easier options (esp. for 2!) I am a sucker for all the cute bummis, thirsties, bum genius, swaddle bees, homemade by WAHM, etc covers!
This is one of my fav places to buy diapers online. VERY good prices. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/
Miloowen- I can’t believe a mohel would insist you use disposibles. Cloth is much more natural, so you’d think it would aid in the healing process right?! However, cloth do have to be changed slightly more often (well really all diapers should be changed with the same frequency, but it’s harder to tell when they are truly wet through all the chemicals and lining in disposibles) so maybe he didn’t want you let him sit in a wet diaper too long?
I used a cloth diaper service during the newborn period for both of my kiddos and it worked very well. We had the prefold basic diaper provided by the service and they picked up the dirties once a week and dropped us off a new clean batch. We purchased and cleaned our own diaper covers. We put them in disposables when going out just for convienence, but it would have been easy enough to bring along a zip lock bag for the dirty stuff. For us it worked well. To be honest, I found the disposable easier to deal with and had more leaks with the cloth, particualrly with my son. I ams ure if I was more invested in the process I could have found a better cloth solution for him.
The cost for the service in our area was just a little bit less expensive or about the same cost as disposable. We both work full time, so in day care disposable diapering was preferred. If we were going to continue to cloth diaper probably would have invested in diapers rather than use the service. [name]Even[/name] though we did this for a short time, we chose to do this mainly for ecological reasons - newborns go through so many diaper changes - far more than an older baby. So hopefully we reduced our family’s carbon footprint slightly with our cloth diapering in those early months - but with the washing and the gas for delivery, who knows.
Cloth diaper is the best to use for all baby’s that good for all sensitive skin type. It is made by using smooth material that really good for baby to wear and baby also feel good in cloth diaper. Cost effective is the main benefit of using cloth diaper.
Check out the cloth diapering 101 videos on YouTube. I think there are 7 in the series. They are great at describing the different diaper types. All of my diapers came from justsimplybaby and greenmountaindiapers. I use flats from greenmountaindiapers and pad fold them and put in the pockets of the jsb diapers. I have hard water, so it is really hard to get my diapers clean. The flats are just one layer of cotton, so they wash really well and dry super fast. They were the best option for my hard, expensive water.
I really wanted to use cloth diaper with DD. We tried them but DH was NOT a fan so we switched to disposable. I’m thinking with this one I might try again, especially considering how little DH changes diapers, due to his work schedule. I found a great place on-line called [name]Jillian[/name]'s drawers. They have a new to cloth diaper trial that I think is great. They send a few different kinds and in the end you only get charged for what you keep. If you decide cloth is not for you send everything back and it only costs $10. The instructions that came with them were so easy to follow. Good luck.
I’m pregnant with my first and plan to use cloth diapers. My problem is with my mom. She used cloth diapers on me and thinks I should use prefolds/pins/pull-on cover but I’m intimidated by the pins (I don’t have steady hands and I could easily see poking myself or the baby, especially when sleep-deprived) and I feel like a pull-on cover could create a bigger mess than a wrap-style cover getting it off if there’s a blow-out. I understand her opposition to AIOs for the cost factor, but I’d be infinitely more comfortable with wrap-style covers and fitted diapers or at least using a snappi instead of pins.
kunfualex- I use prefolds w/ snappis (definitely go with those over pins!) and I use mostly thirsties and bummis covers. I agree-- the wrap covers are more user-friendly. I do use pull on for night-time and we have a few other pull ons. Once you get the prefold and snappi on, it’s not too bad getting the pull-on back on a little baby that isn’t too squirmy. Then as they get older it’s also a good learning to show them how to pull on themselves.
Thanks for that. I might insist on wrap-style while he’s little and switch to pull-ons when we’re moving closer to potty-training time. I think I’ll insist on the snappis too. Mom may not have had any trouble with pins, but I’ve stabbed myself enough sewing not to trust my own hand-steadyness. The plan for now is we’re getting a little bit of everything. By the time he’s big enough to need the next size up, I’ll have had time to figure out what works best for us and can go from there. Part of me is concerned that even if I got the diapering system down, what’s going to happen when he has to go to daycare? Maybe I don’t give people enough credit, but my mom told me about getting me home and finding chewing gum stuck on me when I was still young enough to be in diapers.
Cloth diaper is good to use compare of other diaper that good for all baby skin type and not harmful of baby skin. If you are looking for cloth diaper than you have to use online shopping site that good option to find cloth diaper for baby.
You don’t have to use an online shopping site. We found prefolds at Target and a wider variety at several local shops. It may depend where you live, though. I do a lot of online shopping, but since this is a new type of purchase for me, I prefer to see the diapers in person so I can touch the fabric, see the sizes for myself, etc.