[name_m]Hi[/name_m] guys. We have been thinking about using resuable nappies for our baby due in [name_u]September[/name_u] and I was wondering if any of you Berries might have any experiences to share?
If so, we would love any feedback about what was good, what was bad, favourite brands or just general advice/comments! [name_u]Or[/name_u] even if you considered it and decided not to, what your thought processes were. We have already found an amazing looking brand online to try (LilHelper in Canada), but are still unsure about the logistics of cloth nappies in general. It is something we’re keen to give a go, but obviously the initial cost is daunting, and I know a couple of people who have tried it but gone back to disposables in the end.
We tried cloth for awhile with both boys and ended up using disposables mostly because we haul our water (dry cabin.)
Trying to crunch the numbers between hauling all the water for extra loads of wash vs. taking loads to the laundromat vs. just using disposables didn’t come out in favor of the reusables, a result that disappointed me somewhat as I thought of myself as a cloth diaper mom
Someone gave us a lot of secondhand KaWaii [name_u]Baby[/name_u] pocket diapers. They worked ok but irritated my babies’ skin more than disposables too. Didn’t try another brand because of reasons above.
Speaking to that brand, the customer service is absolutely amazing! They are a compassionate, inclusive and caring! If you have an issue, they’ll absolutely go above and beyond to fix it. I love the prints they have, too! The snaps are pretty easy to figure out. [name_f]My[/name_f] mom was very anti-cloth, as she had to use it for my sister years ago, but even she had to admit they were lightyears better than the old folded sheets and diaper pins!
Still, cloth was a huge struggle for us. Husband was not on board, so I had to figure it out on my own.
Washing them was SO annoying!! It wasn’t simple at all and I never did figure out what amounts of detergent to use. The amounts their delight team suggests are WAY too much. I did find an fb group that gave much better advice (i think it was cloth diaper wash & care?)
We found them bulky. It really bothered my kid and he struggled to learn to roll until we used disposables. Some cloth fans will swear up and down that this isn’t a thing but it was for us. Putting clothes on him and especially putting him in his carseat was very difficult. They also don’t hold very much urine, so we couldn’t use them overnight. No hack worked for us.
In the end, we took a very long cloth break. I felt terrible because I had put so much money into it but it was seriously hurting my mental health to deal with them. I found a good balance of using them during the day, especially when DH was at work, and using disposables at night, when we went out, or whenever I needed a break.
[name_f]My[/name_f] advice would be to find their buy/sell/trade page and get a few to try. If you don’t like them or if you do, it is at least more cost effective to buy them secondhand. Don’t feel like it has to be all or nothing! You’ll find what works for you and your family.
We use cloth diapers for my son and plan to continue for our next. As long as you have access to a washer and dryer in your home then I’d say it’s definitely worth it. I’ve known people who tried but had to go to a laundromat and it wasn’t worth it for them. But for us it’s been one of the best baby product decisions we’ve made. The cost and time spent on the extra laundry is basically negligible.
As for upfront cost it is a lot but you can try to find secondhand to save money. We bought ours new because I knew we’d have multiple kids and want them to last as long as possible, plus we knew we wanted all-in-ones and most people only resell pocket or all-in-two diapers. But even with buying new we’ve found the cost to be way worth it when we compare to what our friends are spending on disposable diapers. We’ve already saved hundreds of dollars and it’ll only continue to add up with each additional kid.
We’ve cloth diapered 3 kids for 5 years. Check out diaperlove.com for washing instructions and helpful tips. We’re in the USA. I used a hodge podge of diaper brands, buying used can be a pain if the elastic is stretched out and needs to be replaced (doable, but a pain). Bum genius was great at first but the elastic didn’t hold up as well as [name_u]Alva[/name_u] baby diapers. We had some trouble with wetting through but it was an issue of how we were washing the diapers in our routine. Whenever we had a new baby, we went back to disposables during my healing from surgery. So glad I invested in cloth diapers and stuck with it.
I reckon give it a try! We’re planning to and have gotten everything we need pretty inexpensively. I was gifted a small selection of various styles secondhand, and I’m also going to use bamboo birdseye flats which are cheap and very easy to wash as they’re only one layer. You can cover them with a wool or PUL/TPU cover.
We haven’t cloth diapered Rhett due to my experiences with cloth diapering at work (I work in a childcare centre). I found cloth diapers were so much harder to change because they have a million different options for sizing, and each brand fits differently, so trying to get the fit right to avoid accidents was difficult.
I’m also very glad we didn’t do cloth, because as a newborn, we easily changed him about 15 times per day on average, until he was probably 2-3 months. There was zero way we could have kept up laundry wise, even now with him being 6 months, we go through about 7-8 a day (sometimes more like 10, and there’s nothing “wrong” medically - we were concerned but both Dr & Midwife when he was younger said this is normal), and then the outfit changes with solids added to it - I still do one load a day, I can’t imagine having to find the time to do several with diapers as well.
I was also warned by our midwives that due to him having sensitive skin and eczema (severe allergies to synthetic detergents and soaps and triggered by skin being damp or air being too dry - not food related), that cloth diapering could make it worse for him as some manufacturers have more detergents in their washing instructions, and because they’re more absorbent, it’d be harder to tell when to change him and therefore he’d be more susceptible to rashes. We just felt the cons outweighed any benefits.
We use all eco-friendly disposables (we love Seventh Generation, Hello Bello and Honest Co.) and otherwise wash clothes in cold water, eco-friendly all natural detergent. We felt guilty at first not cloth diapering, as we know disposables aren’t great for the environment, but we found ways to still be conscious about it and to be eco-friendly in other ways, like our detergents and cleaning products, the brand of diapers and soaps we use, the temperature of the water we use, line dry vs. dryer whenever possible, and certain materials (prefer bamboo or organics for his skin over polyester) for clothing, etc.
We plan on doing reusable swim diapers just because we’ll be in the water with him a ton this summer and swim diapers need to be changed as soon as they become wet, so financially it made more sense for that scenario.
We have been cloth diapering the last three weeks with our newborn. We did disposables for about a week and I was scared to make the shift but it’s been good so far. The biggest thing for us is that we are using a service, so we are not washing the diapers ourselves. The service comes by once a week to pick up the dirty diapers and give us a new set of clean ones. I probably would not use cloth diapers if I had to clean them myself… so if that is an option for you, I’d look into it! Cloth diapering is more work, but I think it’s worth it.
One option you can try is borrowing some from someone who is in-between diapered kids, even if just for a couple weeks to see if it’s something you want to invest in. My friend is lending me a set of hers to try out for a short bit to see if we like it (we’ve been doing disposable for a long time with our baby). We haven’t gotten them yet, so I can r say how we like them or not.
I think most people who use resuables start out with disposable for their newborns because most of the one-size-fits-all reusable diapers don’t fit really small babies, so that’s something to take into account as well. Otherwise, I think you’d have to buy a reusable set just for those first several weeks. I do think that it’s a good idea anyway because those first few weeks are a big shock and adjustment, so not worrying about figuring out resuables right away can save you some stress.
