just wondering how you girls look at this way of pampering your baby. We were considering to get cloth diapers only for our baby, just wondering how much more work(washing), if the price is cheaper or rather the same, how is it timewise? do they leak? do they increase the occurence of rashes? any other problems you came accross?
cloth diapers are much much less expensive. Before switching to cloth, I was spending over $100/month on diapers and wipes because I couldn't get by with the cheap disposables, they would break my baby out in a rash. There's the initial expense, but you don't really have to buy those fancy $30 cloth diapers. I prefer the cheap prefolds (diaper service quality, unbleached chinese prefolds) with covers anyway. They are no more work, really. You either carry the dirty diapers outside to the trash, or downstairs to the washing machine when the bag gets full. No big deal. They are much less likely to cause problems to tender sensitive baby skin. They don't leak if they fit properly and you put them on right, if they are absorbent enough, and if you have been washing them correctly. I never had the poopie blowouts with cloth that I had with disposables when my first baby was in that newborn poop like a goose stage. try this for inspiration: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/1126/diapertext1.html http://diaperpages.com/ http://www.thediaperhyena.com/
I only cloth-diapered my daughter. And only after trying literally every type of disposable diaper I could find and having her poor tush turn angry red from rashes. The rash problem alone is worth using cloth if there are allergies or sensitive skin issues in your family. Had I switched sooner, we could have saved tons on disposable diapers, and saved my little girl months of agony. And mamaboogie's right about blowouts too... we had them literally every single day with disposables; all the way up her back some days. I never had a problem once we switched. It's "magic!" I used the fitted ones... the ones that look & go on like a disposable diaper, because wonderful things like Snappis weren't around quite yet and I was scared to death of poking my daughter with a pin. I had friends who made diapers, and there were a couple BOGO sales so I stocked up. With the sales, they ended up being $6 apiece... so I figured that after about 2 weeks apiece, they'd paid for themselves. If I were to do it again, I'd use the chinese prefolds with a couple good wool or fleece covers and just have 2 or 3 of the fitted ones on hand for when Daddy or Grandpa watches the baby & doesn't want to deal with "origami diapers." Washing them is really no big deal at all. If you get a sweater drying rack, you can sun-dry them... it cuts down on electricity/gas AND the sun will bleach out any stains that might happen. If you are planning on having more than one child, I would HIGHLY recommend going with cloth diapers. After my daughter was potty trained, we sent her diapers on to her younger cousin. All we needed to do was re-stitch some of the velcro tabs. (took about 2 minutes per diaper) And SHE just sent them on to another little girl; again, just re-stitching a few of the tabs! Good luck love, mom
I got a diaper service for all my kids. With so many people inthe house, and after the fourth baby was born, more than 14 loads of regular laundry a week, I was not gonna wash them. The service wasn't expensive at all. Much less than disposible. I had a few wraps, but I started changing babies diapers in the late 60s, and I got used to plastic pants and pins. I used those most of the time. There are some nice wraps, though. Some people love them. But, with the service, you just throw them in the bag in the pail and a dude comes once a week and takes them away and leaves nice clean ones. our service also would make extra pick ups, like when the kids were sick, and I was cleaning up shit and puke with the diapers. Ugh. I loved my service. When Sage was about 2.5 and near learning the potty, she suddenly became allergic to the detergent the service used on the diapers. She was our last, and buying all new diapers with your fourth kid, when she is less than a year away from potty learning seemed a lot of money. I (gulp) switched to throw away diapers. I kept the service for a few months, hoping the allergy was a fluke, but every time I put the diapers on her she broke out. Turns out she is one of those kids with really sensitive skin, and breaks out a lot. But, I had service for years and years, from 1986 to 1995. And then again from 99 to 02.
You will never go wrong using cloth. Our son is almost a year old now and has worn fold and pin flannelette flat fold diapers and rubber pants since day one. I swear by cloth diapers so there's nothing I can say bad about using cloth on my baby. There's lots of options out there when it comes to cloth diapering nowadays, so look around, and if you have to, try a few different types out before you buy. With me I was always sold on pinning and folding, so that was my first choice. Everyone has their own personal preference although. Regarding cost, cloth diapers will save you big time! Like after a month or two the cloth diapers will already have paid for themselves once over, which can't be said about disposables. Laundry, no problem. It's all about establishing a day to day routine. I always tell people that if there's someone you know that uses cloth diapers, get in touch with them. An experienced mom that uses or has used cloth diapers in the past will be able to tell you all sorts of things.
I had a service with my first for a few months (my family chipped in and bought it for me as a baby gift --- great idea!!!) but they went out of business and there were no more in my area. We used BioBottom wool covers that were passed down. I loved them, but I think that company went out of business. We did buy a few AIO (all in ones) and they REALLY helped out with babysitters. Although I kept a pack of disposables around for emergencies! Me being a bit lazy, I also used the 7th generation disposables for my second, until those first black tar poops passed through. No rash occured with the disposables. Cloth is better for rashs if you are dillagent about changing. I got used to more frequent changes, my babies got to run around naked in between and maybe that even helped potty changing because both kids really potty trained themselves! I tried using regular disposables with my dd on a long car ride while she slept. When I went to change her there were all these little gel - balls all over her yoni! Ugh....who wants that??
Hey, I have a good question. About how many cloth diapers would you suggest having around? I bought a thing of 12
if you are talking about those cruddy Gerber diapers they sell at Walmart, save them for burp cloths and get some chinese prefolds instead. Bare minimum, in my opinion, is two dozen, with at least four good daytime covers and two breathable night time covers. You can always save the smaller sizes to use as doublers when your baby gets bigger and needs more absorbency.
With a newborn ,you will need more. They need to be changed a LOT. 2 dozen sounds about good. Another good thing is that your child will probably potty learn sooner. Virginia started around 18 months because she could feel the wetness so much sooner than with a disposable. It makes them uncomfortable so they want out of them! Hint: don't use fabric softener. Use vinegar instead.
Sounds like I'm the odd mama out here, but I couldn't stand prefolds and DH wouldn't even TRY them. I started using AIOs and pocket dipes. They are a bit more expensive, but they ROCK!!!! Plus, they are so easy to use....just like using a sposie only better!!!
if you have ever used any other diapers, you would know what is so cruddy about them! They aren't absorbent enough, and they fall apart with the kind of washing diapers need. They worked great as burp cloths, cleaning rags, and with my other diapers when I needed a little extra absorbency but baby wasn't big enough to go up a size. Never buy cloth diapers somewhere they sell millions of dollars worth of disposables each year. If the cloth diapers they sold were worth a flip, they would start losing money on the throw away dipes. check out those links I posted earlier in this thread! There is so much info available about diapering, it will blow you away.
Yeah, I wouldn't have bought them, but I live in a small town where Wal-Mart just TOOK OVER so there's no where else to go for things like that. Maybe I'll just take them back and start chargin online.
keep them, they will come in handy. You will always need something to wipe up spills, leaks, snot... I used my Gerber diapers to prop up my boob so I didn't have to hold it with my other hand while nursing (when baby is small, you shouldn't let the weight of your breast rest on their chin, it tires them out and they might not nurse long enough). I loved having them, I just did not use them as diapers. I got all my diapers online. Mostly from www.punkinbutt.com and www.naturalbabies.com I found some good bargains at auction websites like ebay, and wahm mall (or whatever it's called now) and I traded my babyslings for some from moms who owned internet businesses, too. I even tried my hand at making my own out of DH's old t-shirts and longjohns, and some velcro, but that was much too much bother for the end product, but they did work just fine and cost me absolutely nothing but time.
I get so confused with all the cloth diapers out there. I wanted to try the AIO's like Fuzzibunz but then I read that they are harder to clean and restuff. Now, I'm leaning towards the chinese prefolds and bummis. I would love to hear more suggestions and just get some help with what kind of diapers and covers I will need. Also, what about cloth wipes? It seems so much more reasonable to be able to wash them with the diapers instead of tossing them in the trash. I used disposables (and still am) with my now 3 year old son. I still can't get him potty trained, and he spent a lot of time with rash. I regret not using cloth with him.
yes, I was also wondering about that. How about the wipes? I just don't know about the wet stuff that comes on the disposable baby wipes. I mean, WHAT IS IT? and should it really be used to wipe an ass?
I just use cheapo cotton washclothes for wipes, dampened with tap water. Works great. Actually, I started using wasclothes before I switched to cloth diapers because the throw away wipes irritated my baby's tender skin. I do have some of those fancy sherpa cloth wipes (free samples, gift with purchase sort of thing) and if I could justify the expense, would have been using them all along.
You can get a yard of flannel and cut it into little squares the size of washcloths or the size of wipes. You can zig zag stitch or serge around the edges to keep them from fraying. To make them wet you can get a small spray bottle and just put water in it. Or mix a small amount of baby bath. Or mix lavendar essential oil or even tea tree oil in the water. Spray the baby's butt and then wipe clean with your handmade wipes. Then toss the wipes in with the dirty diapers. For traveling you can keep the wipes in a zip lock bag. Either moisten them before you leave home or carry a small spray bottle with you. They work great. I belong to a cloth diapering coop on yahoo groups. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cloth_diaper_supplies/ Right now they are running a coop on chinese prefolds. premi/newborns $8.00 a dozen, infants are $12.00, regulars are $14.75, premiums are $17.50 and toddlersare $22.00. You can go directly to the group and click on the join this group link. Even though I'm not using diapers anymore, they run some great coops on sewing notions, wool, hemp terry, fleece, and jersey, and cotton fleece and jersey. I bought black hemp jersey for something like $4.50 a yard. So if you do any sewing for your kids or are interested in making your own diapers check this site out. And no, I'm not related to them in any way. I just spend way too much money there. Kathi
I only used the bird's eye flat diapers, the kind you have to fold (bought mine at K-Mart) and never had a problem with them. They lasted well until after baby was out of them, they're easy to wash and dry in minutes, and don't stain. When the baby got bigger, I just pinned two on at night. They're one size fits all, just fold to fit your growing baby. For wipes, I used those cheap little baby washcloths.
