Recently I’ve been reading up on cloth diapering and wanted to hear any thoughts from berries who’ve tried or plan to try this method of diapering!!
I do have a few questions and thoughts here and all that weren’t clarified on my internet searches…
[name]One[/name] thing I was thinking about is my mothers take on cloth diapering. A long time ago I did ask her about it. And she is all for it and wanted to when she had my older brother… but in her town, you have town water and therefor its MORE expensive to launder the cloth diapers than to just buy the disposable. As I was thinking about this, it kind of makes me wonder. Me and my boyfriend rent an apartment, so if we were to have a baby and use cloth diapering, we’d have to walk to the community washers in the building and wash them there all the time. Would this turn out to be a hazard as well? Does anyone have experience in doing this?
[name]Do[/name] you think that using both cloth diapers and disposable is a good idea? I was thinking maybe using cloth diapers at home, but then disposables for the convenience on the go. But if I were to use only cloth diapers… what would I do with the cloth diapers after its been used and I’m not home? [name]Do[/name] I carry a specific bag to hold the diaper in and just stick it in my diaper bag? Would that stink? I am very interested on how to use cloth diapers on the go!
I was also reading about “one sized fits all” cloth diapers… but how long would one of these last? Is it more efficient to just buy the sizes in accordance to size diapers, or a one size fits all? I can only imagine a diaper lasting so long before it starts to give out… though I suppose using the one size for a few stages and buying more after that breaking point would be more cost efficient than the specific sized ones?
This is all I have for right now, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more questions as I go [name]Feel[/name] free to share your own stories of cloth diapering and any info that I will find useful!!!
My baby is nearly 3 months old, and we are just starting to use cloth. She has been too small to fit the ones I had up until now.
I have 2 kinds of diapers… [name]Both[/name] are the kind that grow with them. I have bum genius elementals that are all in one and Kissaluvs marvels that are pocket diapers, which are made with a pouch that you stuff a liner into for absorbency. You can stuff multiple liners based on need. If I had to do it again, I would buy all pocket diapers. What I’ve found with the all in ones is that they take forever to dry. [name]Forever[/name]!
I have 2 wet bags, which is what you store soiled diapers in. [name]One[/name] large one for her room and one small one for going out. I wash every other day. I don’t know much about Prefold diapers & covers, but one system that may be worth looking into for you may be gDiapers. You can buy cloth liners and disposable liners that can be alternated in a cloth shell. It seems like it may be better for your situation, since you are using a community washer/dryer.
We are planning on cloth diapering and right in the middle of building our “stash” for baby due in [name]October[/name]. I do cloth diaper education as a PP doula, but went through a phase of second guessing everything when I found out I was pregnant.
For communal laundry - people do it with CD! You may want to use some hybrid or all in two systems, or prefolds and covers, so you can reuse the covers before washing.
I think how long your diapers last depends on how many you have in your rotation. If you have 40 they are going to wear out more slowly than 12, as they are laundered less often. I have a mix of sized and one size diapers.
I’ll look into the pocket diapers, and definitely the gDiapers! Having the cloth and disposable liners sounds like it would be convenient for my lifestyle. Have you found that you really only need two wet bags? [a small and a large]. Because the websites I was looking at were recommending two large ones and two small ones… But I wasn’t quite sure why two of each were necessary.
Congrats on your baby, midwesterner! Thats very interesting, second guessing what you do and all I’ll definitely read more about all in two / hybrid sort of diapers. I haven’t read too too much about different types of cloth diapers yet, I’ve been intrigued by the cost difference and all, hehe! But I definitely need to look into the different types, and I’m glad I have some suggestions as what to look at!
I like the idea of having a mix of sized and one size <3 And I definitely do want to have a large rotation of them, or as large an amount as I can afford. I was looking at this website about different methods of cloth diapering all for under $200 and they seem to recommend around 24 in each method.
I have about 20 dipes and they have lasted two kiddos. I will need to replace the velcro/aplix or change to snaps if we use them for #3. We use prefolds the first few months because you change them so frequently. Then one size pocket diapers. We also use cloth at home and typically sposies when out and about. Sometimes I will take cloth and just use wetbags. They come in various sizes and are made to hold the dirty dipes.
I’m not expecting and am not TTC, but after reading and researching I have decided that I’m going to cloth diaper for when I do have children. I think your best bet is actually youtube, I have watched a number of videos on cloth diapering. People show the type of diapers available and also show their personal method of washing the diapers. From watching their first hand experiences it made me want to try it even more and I think helps put alot of peoples worries to rest. One video that I reccomend you watch is called “how to: Diaper sprayer” or you can search “cloth diaper channel diaper spray” and its the first video that pops up the channel is actually called “cloth diaper channel” its a spray they used by bumgenius that seems very easy to use. I would think this would be a good option for you or anyone to use. You would use that to wash out the diaper then after you put the diapers in a diaper basket, you will see them on the videos if you watch some then take the basket to the laundry room with you and empty it into the washer. To answer your other question as others have said you carry a wetbag and store the dirty diapers in there until you get home. hope you watch the videos and find the ansers your looking for! goodluck!
Wow, 20 diaps through two kiddo’s! That sounds like an amazing deal!! [name]Even[/name] if you have to replace a few parts for #3 it still is great!
And I’ll definitely be watching the youtube video’s! I have a general idea about them, but I feel like seeing this in action would be even more helpful and probably inspire me more to want to use them! I was telling my BF about cloth diapering and he didn’t seem enthused, but he really doesn’t care. He said I can do what I chose when the time comes that we are expecting. I feel like he wont care either way, and go along with either. Maybe I can show him more and he might like
We have 9 month old twins and have done cloth diapering basically from the start. We have 20 BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers, 1 Fuzzibunz, and 2 different kinds of Kawai [name]Baby[/name] (we bought a few kinds to try them out but BumGenius worked best for our boys so we bought more of those.) All of these diapers (except one of the Kawai Babies) is the ‘one size’ kind. I have to say I was pretty worried about how quickly we were having to use the larger sizes, but my boys were nearly 18 lbs at about 2.5 months. Once they slowed their weight gain we have been holding steady on the same snap size for a few months and I no longer fear that we will out grow the diapers before they are 1 year old. I think the BumGenius says up to 35 lbs and I can see us reaching that in these diapers about the time we want to be starting potty training. We have high hopes that they will last us the entire time we need diapers. The shells are still in perfect condition and we have only noticed signs of wear on a seam of one insert. We did recently purchase a 10 more diapers (not arrived yet) because the boys will be starting preschool in the fall and the washing (well really the drying) will become more difficult.
Once they got to sleeping longer stretches at night (hooray!) we found that their wet cloth diapers were waking them up. We could probably have double stuffed their diapers, but instead made the call to do a disposable at night time. It has sort of become part of our night time routine and is one of our key signals that it is bed time for the boys. We also do disposable if we are traveling (don’t really expect anyone to let us use their washer for our diapers!). If we are just out for the day though we definitely still use cloth. We just have a stash of plastic bags in a pocket of our stroller and we toss the bag in the stroller basket once it has dirty diapers in it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with them smelling. My kids don’t nap well in their stroller though so we are not frequently out that long. Although last week we were out from about 1:30 until 10pm for a special occasion and I didn’t notice a problem with the diapers smelling.
We thought about getting a toilet sprayer but didn’t and in the end we feel like it would have been a waste of money. We have only had an issue with getting the poop off the diaper maybe 3 times in all 9 months.
We live in an apartment but do have our own washer (no dryer though). I think it would be pretty hard for me to get by without a washer in our apartment. (Not just for the diapers but also the vast quantity of laundry the little stinkers generate. I swear they may be little but they create HUGE messes!!) I start a diaper load every day during their second nap to ensure that the diapers are dry by the next morning. I also run at least one other load of laundry a day, but this is probably because we do cloth wipes (for butts during diaper changes which get washed with the diapers and for faces during their meals which get washed with the other laundry). We bought the snap versions and have been pleased with them. We have a few things that have velcro on them and I always forget to hook the sides together so they don’t stick to everything in the wash.
As far as cost, for us it is definitely way cheaper for us to launder the diapers- water is included in our rent. We did some rough calculations and figured out that by the time our boys were about 5 months old the cloth diapers had paid for themselves.
I think cloth diapers are the best option for your baby which is organic and baby skin friendly made of cotton fabrics. You can easily wash it as well as reuse it so it is better than disposable diapers.
I am very interested on how to use cloth diapers on the go!
[name]Feel[/name] free to share your own stories of cloth diapering and any info that I will find useful!!!