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Is anyone else out there using or considering using cloth diapers? I know there are a lot of ecological and budget minded women on this forum so I thought there might be a few out there.
We are using cloth diapers for our DD. I did use disposables the first few weeks home an still do sometimes when we go out. I really thought I would use the disposables more than I do but now that I'm in the swing of things I don't feel the need to. The cloth diapers are pretty dang simple and we are saving SO much money. Not to mention I feel super good about myself for using them.
If you guys are using them what kind did you go with??
i'm glad you posted this! i'm not pregnant yet, but we'll be trying soon after the wedding, and i've always been curious about cloth diapers. my mom always told me, "i would never let anything but cloth touch your tush," and i know that disposable are a lot better now, but i still feel that for some reason i'd want to go with cloth, so i'd like to hear what people have to say about them.
We are doing cloth diapers. As soon as my honey said it was so important to him that he'd do the laundry, I was sold.
We're going to use Bum Genius http://www.bumgenius.com/ with inserts most of the time, but he is also into pre-folds so we'll be getting a few of those as well. I think we've decided on Bio-Kleen detergent but we still haven't tried Rocking Green.
Here's a great resource on cloth diapering:
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/
Don't get me started on cloth diapering. I could talk all day!
that is great for all of you doing the cloth thing! I am still traumatized from baby sitting for two babies years ago, when I went to change their stinky diapers and found them in cloth with NO IDEA what to do about it!! But also, I live in a tiny apt and cloth just wouldn't be feasible....
also, while I would bet my money that the impact of cloth diapers is less, there are debates about how much less.....
We are buying 30 bum genius diapers and about 10 pre-folds. We expect to be doing laundry every 2nd to 3rd day!
Here's a cost break-down that I worked with:
i was cloth-diapered when I was a baby, so I'm hoping to do the same for my kiddies. hippy parents, what can I say? i might feel a wee bit bad for any babysitters we hire though. I'll just have to give them a tutorial i guess, teehee.
Denver- You can always use disposable when your baby sitter is there!
please do your baby sitters a favor and have a few disposables around for them! apprarently that is what a lot of people do, and these parents just totally forgot to get them out for me :)
The bumgenius diapers look pretty nice. However, (Sorry to be gross) but I'm assuming you don't just throw a poopy diaper into the wash...I couldn't get an idea from the website about the extent of how you clean them before throwing them in the wash. Can someone give me an idea of the amount of work involved in precleaning, cleaning, etc. ?
Thanks for the link Janna! I read it just now, and still think that the health benefits (decreased asthma, improved potty training) may be worth it for our family, even if environmental and cost benefits were a wash :) (no pun intended)
We won't be cloth diapering, but we'll be using another "alternative" form of reducing our use of disposable diapers: infant potty training/elimination communication. We're hoping to have our baby completely out of diapers by his/her one year birthday!
Chreee- with breast fed babies, no pre-rinse is necessary. I guess it cleans really easily (though I have absolutely no experience yet). But with formula fed diapers I plan to use a liner. It's a thin paper barrier that you put in the diaper that catches the poop. You can then flush the liner in the toilet leaving you with only a wet diaper to wash. We'll definitely be using this option when we transition from breast milk to formula. (I wish we didn't have to, but it's a health issue for me).
i babysit/nanny myself as supplemental income, cloth diapers don't bug me too much (I currently nanny regularly for a year old boy who's in cloth diapers - it'd defeat the purpose if his mom put him in disposables EVERY time i came over (3x a week). Having the disposables as a back up is a great idea for one-time/occasional sitters though.
DG- Good to know - that sounds pretty manageable! I guess once you're having babies you're up to doing zillions of loads of laundry anyway, so the added diapers probably wouldn't make a huge difference in overall laundry volume.
Cloth diapers have come such a long way from when I was little - and the BumGenius ones are too cute!
When we start talking about having a baby this is definitely something I am going to suggest to my husband. It is a thousand times more economically and ecologically efficient than disposable diapers... and one way we can really live out our ideals! Kudos to you women who have already made that decision!
My sister used fuzzy buns and dealt with the washing issue by doing a pre-wash on the rinse cycle in the washer and then adding soap and doing a full cycle. If it's at all possible, we'll use cloth diapers when the time comes. My BIL and SIL just discovered that they have to use disposables because the daycare won't use cloth diapers, which is a total bummer!
I use prefolds with thirsty covers. I have a couple of FuzzyBunz AIO's but haven't used them yet because they were a bit big on her. I have about 24 prefolds and 4 covers. I wash them every 2 or 3 days washing half at a time to make sure I don't accidentally run out.
I read the aritcle above and wish there was more info in it. I felt like it was teasing me with little factoids. I'll have to do some research and figure out if I can find a more efficient way to wash them.
@DG - where do you buy BioKleen detergent? I read it was really cost efficient but I've never seen it before. I've been using generic dye free scent free detergent, but it still has enzymes so I feel bad.
Bio-Kleen is available in Seattle at our regular grocery store (shockingly enough), but you can get it on Amazon. The powder is much more highly rated for cloth diapers than the liquid, so stick to powder if you can!
I wonder if you can get a sample from the company to try first?
PS- BioKleen smells so good! We've just started using it and I love the way things smell!
@mrsdg that was super helpful...thanks for the breakdown of the info!
I voted I wasn't sure yet...because let's be honest...I am not even pregnant yet :) But I hope to use cloth atleast when at home/able to. I really think it is a positive thing to do for yourself as well as your baby. My parents were able to do this (then again, my mom went through child birth without a single drug...and I kept her up all night!)
I voted not sure. I'd like to, but we have to do our laundry at the landromat and I don't entirely trust it to get regular clothes fully clean (but, what other option do I have really?) let alone soiled diapers- the water doesn't even get hot really! Going over there a couple of times a week just would be hectic as well. Just have to wait and see if we end up having our own washer/dryer when we finally decide to have kids, but I'm guessing we won't since we're in NYC
If you live in the city you could probably use a diaper service. According to the article above that would reduce your environmental impact.
I did a quick google search of diaper services in NYC but I wasn't really finding anything. Granted, I didn't try too hard since we aren't at the baby making stage yet. I was just curious how much it would cost.
Central New York Cloth Diaper Express
401 Wolcott Ave
Syracuse, NY 13207
315-317-5048
info@cnyclothdiaperexpress.com
www.CNYClothDiaperExpress.com
*Service area includes: Central New York region
Central New York Diaper Duty
341 Bald Hill Road
Brooktondale, NY 14817
cnydiaperduty@gmail.com
CottonTails Diaper Service
Buffalo, NY
716-907-7227
info@cottontailsdiaperservice.com
www.cottontailsdiaperservice.com
*Service area includes: Buffalo, NY and surrounding areas
We're going to.. I have a stash of Econobums and Flips (BumGenius's cheaper options, basically one-size prefolds and covers) all ready and waiting but I haven't bit the bullet to switch my baby out of full time disposables yet. Part of me is intimidated by the amount of diapers she still goes through at 7 weeks, and also, my husband changes her a LOT now, which will probably change when we're not doing sposies! :)
If you're interested in cloth diapering and the initial cost outset for the diapers is putting you off, and you are low-income, check out miraclediapers.org. We contacted them back when we were both unemployed, and now our little stash is supplemented with 4 Thirsties AIO's, 4 Fuzzi Bunz pockets, a bunch of prefolds and a Bummis cover, and a sustainablebabyish wool shortie. Without these, I would have to do laundry WAY more often.
Eek. I'd have to look into it more, but if it saves THAT much money and is that much better for baby (chafing, etc, whatever, i don't know), I'd consider it. But my main incentive would be money. Also since our baby will (hopefully) have a nanny two days a week and stay with DH's mom the other days of the week, I want to make sure I'm feasible on, particularly, his mom. My SIL uses disposables. At year 1 I'm ok using daycare a couple days a week and I've heard about the "no diapers by year 1" methods and will definitely be looking into that.
I am thinking of trying the prefolds and covers after reading this thread. It's just soooo much cheaper.
@ rnc620- How do you fasten your prefolds? I was thinking of gettin snappis, but I wasn't sure.
MsPeanut- We're getting Snappies. They're pretty cool and not clunky. Things stay in place really well!
Cheap and healthier for baby? I'm all over that.
My sister is pregnant and BIL is really adamant about getting cloth diapers. But he doesn't want to wash them. Go figure.
Hmm... this is something I'd be interesting in trying (YEARS from now when we're having a baby), but I still don't understand the logistics. What do you do with the dirties between washes? Maybe I just don't know enough about baby poo yet... lol.
I am not having kids yet, but was very intrigued by this thread. We didn't have disposable diapers in the country where I was born, so when I was a baby, my parents used cloth. I think they made diapers themselves from sheets. And they washed them by hand - mainly my dad.
So I always thought of cloth diapers as something people in developing countries used out of necessity. And now it's apparently an American trend with websites touting health and economic benefits, companies selling special cloth diapers, almost turning it into an industry.
PS When I asked my mom if she thought cloth diapers had any benefits for me, she said that I got potty trained at six months, but only because my parents were both tired of washing the diapers by hand so often.
Jeni- There is something called a wet bag where you put your diapers while you are waiting to wash them. Since we'll be using liners, I don't think they'll need much of a rinse or anything while waiting for the wash. If you don't use liners, you need to get rid of the poop (eww) before throwing them in the wet bag. If you are using inserts, you remove them from the pocket so that they can wait for the wash seperately.
Here are the general washing instructions:
@Jenirae- from what I read, they just go into a pail or hamper or bucket or whatever you use. When a baby is breastfeeding, their poo isn't solid. If the baby does have solid poo, you put the solids in the toilet first (which is where liners come in handy), and then the rest in the pail. They sell things to help keep smells at bay. You wash every 2-3 days or so, so the smell would hopefully not be too awful.
@rnc- Thanks. I looked but they don't service the NYC area. I did look again a little more last night though and it looks like a diaper service would cost $15-$30 per week which isn't that bad, but probably voids the savings of using cloth diapers.
Anyone know how much a weeks worth of Pampers would cost?
Joes- Check out the cost breakdown I posted above. Those are pretty conservative estimates... Some of the cloth diapering websites tout savings of up to $1500, but I felt that they might be biased, so I didn't include them :)
This is something I really want to do. I took an environmental ethics class in college, and did a study on diaper and feminine hygiene product waste. It seems like so much work!!
But, since you ladies seem ecologically conscious, have you heard of the diva cup, or moon cup? It is an alternate for tampons. I've been using one for three years now and LOVE IT. Any other diva cup users out there?
I just did the math, and for 3 trips to the laundromat per week, putting a load of diapers through the cycle twice (once with soap, the other just so I know it's totally rinsed) and 32 mins in a dryer, that would cost me about $10.50 a week (not including detergent, but I don't see that increasing the amount we normally use by a ton anyway since you're supposed to use less on the diapers than a regular load anyway). Not bad!
I'm not pregnant yet, but I always just assumed I'd use disposables. Reading this thread has me at least considering cloth, but what gets me is the laundering. I mean, I no you're not tossing chunks of poo in your washing machine, but still, it's POO! I don't know that I personally could put my own clothes in the same washing machine, knowing there'd been poop in there. How do those of you who use cloth deal with that, (not trying to be insulting, just trying to get a better picture of the way things are done)???
There is no way in the world that I'm washing diapers with other clothes! I think we'll have enough laundry with just diapers to be able to run loads every 2-3 days... Babies are messy!
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