Thinking of cloth diapering...

[superbeans]

We're thinking of cloth diapering with our 13 month old. I've always wanted to cloth diaper, but we don't have our own washer and drier (have to go to a laundromat) and I work so I'm not sure if we'll have the time. The reason I'm really thinking of starting now is because I just found out what an insane amount of diapers the daycare wastes. They change the kids every 45 minutes-hour regardless of if they have peed or not (which I know N hasn't always done).

Diaper wasting is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Has anyone else CDed without owning their own washer and drier? How often did you go to the laundromat? How many diapers would you need for a 13 month old? Also, where should I start? Like what do I need....

[croleRN]

Have you checked w/ your daycare? Many will not do cloth.
However we started when dd1 was 15mo. loved it.
I have never used them, but what about g diapers; it may work w/ your situation.

[MerelyGod]

I used cloth on my first DD from the time she was about 6 months old until she PLed. I did not have a washer and dryer for any of that time. For the first year and a half, I went to the laundromat and for the rest of the time I lived in an apartment with washing facilities in the basement (three flights down, ugh!).

It was not too bad though, actually. I can't remember how often I went or how many diapers I had (DD is 15 now, so it has been a while), but I did not CD exclusively. I generally kept disposables on hand in case I ran out of clean cloth. I would recommend maybe 8-12 diapers per day and 4-6 covers (it is probably best to err on the side of excess in this situation though).

I would recommend using prefolds and inexpensive covers. The covers you can rinse/wash in the sink and hang to dry. They will dry quickly. Prefolds are the easiest things to wash, in my opinion, they are thin and don't tend to have as many issues with stink or build up which would require multiple washings. Also, since they are generally undyed, if you occasionally need to use bleach (which you might want to do if they are sitting for a while between washes), you don't have to worry about fading.

I used a dry pail, and scraped/rinsed poop diapers in the toilet. Others might have different methods (wet pail, or rinsing) that would work better, but I don't have any experience with those. It IS definitely doable, though not necessarily convenient!

Definitely check with your daycare provider first though (unless you are thinking of using cloth just at home to offset their waste?), because as the previous poster said, many will not use cloth. Some do, but have restrictions on the type (such as only pockets, or AIOs or something like that).