cloth diapering - The real truth

PrairieMom wrote: My inner Al Gore is prompting me to switch to cloth diapers, but I am unsure if it is actually for me. I am worried about the extra hassle, and mess, and cost and all that.
Can someone here give me the whole truth? Alexis is just a year old, so I have a good 2 years of diapers left.

moped replied: I dont' have the whole truth at all - but I am going to watch this topic like a hawk!

Calimama replied:
Ditto! I'm thinking of switching..

hoosier momma replied: I don't have any personal advice to offer, but there are some older threads about cloth diapers on this board. I think some of them are in the infant parenting. I was researching it a while back and wanted to give it a try, but I can't get my husband to see my point of view.

grapfruit replied: Hmmm...interesting, it SOUNDS messy, but then isn't their companies that will come switch out diapers? (Kind of like a uniform company) they come pick up dirty diapers and bring you clean ones???

holley79 replied: I started CDing when Annika was a year old. It really wasn't that much of a hassel. I thought it would be but it was very easy. I only had about an extra load a week of laundry which wasn't major. The inital cost was a little bit but once I got my diapers coming in it wasn't too bad. Just all depends what you want to do.

PrairieMom replied:
How do they work? do you use the kind with the liners?

mummy2girls replied:

holley79 replied:
Yes I checked into a company that does that also and after reading the chemicals they use, the cost of the diaper it totally defeated the purpose.

holley79 replied:
I bought the wonderworks. They don't require the liners and I haven't had leak issues with them. I also have some BGs and some homemades. Some do take liners and I will do a double soaker at night just to be on the safe side. We aren't 100% cloth though. We still use sposies when we go out. My dayhome provider doesn't mind doing cloth either.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Like Holley said...the initial cost was a bit expensive... but they're fantastic. My babies hardly ever got diaper rash.

I hold the diaper in the toilet and flush to remove the poop... and rinse them for the pee.... I just plop them in a bucket with water and vinegar and wash them with the regular laundry

We do use disposables when we go out though. And at the inlaws.

3_call_me_mama replied: Cloth Diapers rule!!!
Seriously! I have used cloth for Kathleen startign shortly after she turned a year old. She toilet trained herself at 21 months. Graham has been cloth diapered form day 1. Literally form teh moment he was born. He wore them in teh hospital and everything. They are really easy IMO. In fact I find them easier than disposables cause I never run out of them. Initially for kathleen I had no investment. Mollie (she used to be a member here) sent me a bunch to try out. And they were great. So i bought a few for kathleen from different diaper boards and companines.
For Graham i initially spent abotu $300 for newbon - size mediums. (we're still in meduium) I also have made my own. $300 up fron tmay seem liek a lot but I resold the newborns and smalls and recoevered abotu $150 of my money. So for 6 months I have spent about $150 or so. And these diapers will fit him until he's about 18 months or so.. and then i cna resell them for maybe $100. So I've spent abotu $50. I don't buy overly pricey ones. Some peole do. They spend $50 a diaper sometimes. BUT they always recoever their money when their baby outgrows it and someone else buys it. The work they involve is minimal.
Put a diaper on teh baby (wether you use an all in one, a prefol or a fitted with a cover) baby pees, you remove teh old diaper and put a new one on. IF they poop non breast milk poop then you dump teh poop into the toilet (you are supposed to do this with disposables too.. read teh package..) and tehn you toss teh wet/soiled diaper in a pail with a lid. When you get a pail full you dump them into the washer. Cold water you cna rinse or soak or whatever you want. add a tbsp of detergent. NO softener and wash liek a regular load of laundry. rinse. and dry in dryer or hang ot dry.
Seriously. i am lazy. I would not do it if it was a ton of work.
check out www.diapertraders.com or www.diaperdecisions.com or www.diaperpin.com for more info. There is a wealth of info out there.
Also i think it's fun! I LOVE to shop and since i really dont have extra $4 to spend on clothes for teh kids. and they don't need them It' sfun to shop for cute diapers and also resellign them gives you more shopping money. I sent a bunch of kathleens to Holley when she started with Annika and was glad that someone else could use them. You also meet a really neat network of people ni the cloth diapering world. Anyone that wants more info PLEASE PM me. I LOVE sharing it!! Also I wouldn't suggest a diaper company as they are really not good. They cost a lot. They ruin the diapers and it isn't so good for the environment in teh methods they use to wash.
OH and anyone that thinks it's gross to use used diapers think of them as another article of baby clothing. Cause we all know that baby poop doens't just end up on teh diapers!

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: Well I have to say I am the most anti cloth diaper person in the world...Johnny however breaks out horribly in absolutely every brand of disposable if he wears them for more than a couple hours. (as in I take off a disposable and put new disposable on...not the same diaper) So...We use Fuzzi Bunz (mostly) they are pockets and they take very little effort. I am looking at switching him to a one size (Bum Genius to be specific) because he needs a longer rise of one bigger than a small but still has a newborn waist. If I switch him now I could sell all of his Fuzzi Bunz and get back probably 90% of what I spent on them and shouldn't need any more diapers ever. He still gets little rashes just because of all of his other issues but his diapers n olonger contribute.
I loathe poop and I do get a little queezy dealing with the really dirty ones but it's not as bad as I had thought it would be. I secretly like it when he is more constipated because then nothing gets on the diaper
I do wash every few days and maybe once a month I will notice they are retaining a bit of a smell so I run a wash with vinegar in both teh bleach thing and the fabric softener thing and a little extra laundry soap then they are all better. Once it's warm the sun does an excelent job of drying the diapers and supposedly th eUV rays disenfect them...even more cool.
The enviroment nor the cost was what did it for me so can't say that that was any kind of selling point but it is kinda nice to walk past teh diapers when I go to Costco and spending the $$ on something more fun.

TANNER'S MOM replied: Well I don't talk about the cloth diapering much. But I did use cloth diapers only on Brittany. That was was almost 17 years ago though. That was before they had all the fancy liners and soakers. She was allergic to disposal diapers and had alot of yeast and plain diaper rashes. We used cloth, I was a stay at home Mom. So it was okay.. I would do it okay. I actually enjoyed them and the smell of clean diapers and getting them off the line after they had been sun bleached. It wasn't a bad expeirence, but it was years ago. We did have some leaks etc. But it was good. One thing I will say is Britt potty trained really early. I would say she strarted around sixteen months, and was complete way by 18 months. I think it was this way because she knew when she was wet. The disposal diapers hide that, but the cloth doesn't. I think it helped her.

Jackie012007 replied: I wanted to CD hut we don't have a washer or dryer - my mom does our laundry about once a week (we are spoiled and for some insane reason, she likes to do laundry). Is it realistic that I could CD with doing laundry only once a week? Honestly, Carly only poops onces a day, and it's usually after her AM feeding, so I could even put a diposable one on her overnight and then change her to cloth after that morning poo... I dunno. It seems like such a better alternative to disposies... we're spending like $20 a week just in diapers right now!!

3_call_me_mama replied:
realistically you can do cloth and wash once a week, as long as you buy several diapers. I was 3 times a week. But mainly cause i have favorite diapers tha tI really like for whatever reason. i ahev a friend tha washes 1 day per week and she does fine with cloth.

holley79 replied:
I do a load a week. When they are littler they go through a few more then the older ones. Right now Annika is potty learning so she is actually in big girl pants in the evenings when we are home, cloth during the day and cloth double soaker or sposies at night. Just all depends with her.

jem0622 replied: There are so many types out there. And the initial cost really varies (pins versus no pins, covers, doublers). The method that works best for you will determine the cost. If you take good care of them, then you can resell them. You won't recoup all of your costs, but at least some. All in all, you would spend far less than if you used disposables.

I tried them with my oldest DS, and I failed miserably. Enough said.