Working full time and cloth diapering?

[dylan1984]

So I didn't think I was going to get my job back after I had this baby (due in August), and was going to have at least all winter to stay home with him or her, maybe longer depending on if construction picked up and dh was working a lot. I thought it would be a perfect chance to start cloth diapering! Then I found out there is a good chance I will be offered my position back, and after lots of thinking and soul searching I really cant see how I can turn it down. SO, my question is. Can I still cloth diaper? I am assuming the answer on this forum will be yes, so I guess what I'm really looking for is the hows and some encouragement. I'm not sure how daycare is going to feel about it. They have been pretty flexible for me in the past over smaller topics and I think they appreciate that I actually pay them on time each month, so they are a "maybe" as far as if baby will get CDd while at school. If they say no, should I bother CDing at home and just having disposables at daycare? If they say yes, I'd love anybody's experience for what diapers/quantities/supplies/washing protocols to have at daycare work best. I guess just any general opinions and ideas and experiences would be appreciated. I did a search for this topic but couldn't find anything, so sorry if this has already been well covered and I just missed it. TIA! eta: it is looking like I will have about 3-4 months off before going back to work.

[mommyhopeful3]

Let me just give you the run down. I work FT and have my own business. I am still able to CD FT. If I can do it...so can you

For day care... I did have to get a doctors note. As soon as they saw the pockets they were all for it. They keep asking me to bring something new. So they now contribute to my addiction. I must get new diapers to keep it fun for them too I bring everything home and back each day. The only thing they keep is the container to keep them in. I change out the pail liner each day to bring the diapers home in. Yes, all the poop is still there. But to be honest, I am the lazy one that waits until laundry day to clean everything out anyway. I do laundry 2-3 times a week. It works out.

I did do cloth part time for a while. It still saves you money. He was in cloth at night and on the weekends. I did laundry on Wednsday, Friday and Sunday. Now I just have a bigger stash

[Teenytoona]

It can totally be done. You just have to work out a schedule, but it's doable. We use one-size pocket cloth diapers. They look the most familiar and least intimidating to people who go "cloth diapers!! ewww!! lalalaalal!" and then stick their fingers in their ears. Plus being one-sized, they have the advantage of not having to be bought with every time baby grows. We started out in prefolds and covers, but that's when I was still home.

Now, I enjoy doing the diaper laundry and pride myself on managing it just so I can even hang in on the line, but that's my craziness. Even if you just pop them in the dryer, it can sure be done.

While looking for daycare, bring in the diapers with you. Show them there's nothing to fear, no pins to worry over. That helps TREMENDOUSLY. People have no idea there are other options besides pins and plastic pants.

[Masel]

My daycare was bad about cloth diapers but I still did it at home. Totally worth it!

[Mrsboyko]

I am on kid #2 that is CD and I work FT, both kids are in day care. We had DD in a larger center style DC for a while and even they were pretty good about the diapers. The only issue we did have is a few (kinds $$) fitteds went missing. That was my fault for sending them though really. Overall we have had no issues. I used rice paper liners when DD's poop got more solid. The DC would actually dump the poop in their diaper trash and put the rest of the cloth diaper in her pail for me.

We have a large stash, so I only need to do laundry 2x a week. I have mostly pockets that have 2 openings (front and back) so I don't need to worry about unsuffing them, the insert comes out in the wash. We also use cloth wipes to keep it simple. I did use sposie wipes for a while, but i got tired of seperating the trash wipes from the clean diapers before putting them in the dryer. We do have a number of OS diapers, but most of them are sized. DS is just now moving on to the mediums DD PT'ed out of. He is 2.5 months old (and a big baby) and she is 2.5 years old (and has NO butt). i know I will need to buy larges for him at some point so any new stuff I have jsut been buying OS so he can use them NOW, and once he is out of the meds. THe FB OS are great for him.

[JMJ]

Until just recently when I had my own, I worked in daycare. One of the places I worked actually had a diaper service. The key for getting a daycare to work with you would be to make it as easy for them as possible. Also ask them about their regulations. Some daycares have rules that the complete diaper has to be changed with each diaper change, so you can't reuse covers without washing. You'd want to provide your own diaper pail, and unless they're really nice, you may be picking out your own poo. Really, though, cloth diapers don't have to be any more difficult than disposables, and if you can show them that, they'll be much more likely to work with you. Also, you'll want to make sure that your diapers get properly sanitized before you send them back to the daycare. You don't want there to be any chance that they spread germs.

[bea3]

Our daycare was very open to cloth and it worked very well UNTIL they were told that it would jeopardize their national accreditation due to health code violations (which could be a thread in and of itself)!!!! Fortunately DS was nearly ready for learning to use the potty by that time (what is the difference between this type of "accident" and CDs, I ask you?).

So my first piece of advice is to make sure that this is not an issue.

Prior to that, this is what worked easily:

At that time we used Fuzzi Bunz exclusively (the only way I could get DH to cloth diaper and still the only dipes he'll change without complaining ). We had 24. At the beginning of each week we brought a plastic tub with about a dozen stuffed pocket diapers, each lined with a flushable liner, basically as ready to put on as a disposable diaper. The tub also contained two zipper wet bags (small). The teacher would change our son about three times a day (he was there only six hours)... this is also something to take into consideration, because daycare centers often have scheduled changing times (in addition to addressing poopy diapers right away), which could definitely influence the type of diaper you choose! If it was a wet diaper the teacher put it straight into the wet bag (disposable liner and all). If it was poopy she dumped it into the toilet (right next to diaper changing station) and flushed it, putting the diaper into the wet bag. At home I would sort out the dipes... taking out the microfiber insert and tossing the paper liners, etc. for our own laundry. We washed every 2-3 days. I would bring fresh diapers in once or twice a week, trying to keep his supply stocked.

I found it was really well worth having enough diapers to leave a substantial number at the daycare center so that if I forgot about restocking for a day or two, I wouldn't have to stress out about it.

The teachers (while it lasted) were really supportive and they loved engaging with my son about what color FB he wanted to wear, etc.

I hope it works for you!

[inky leeuhhh]

when i was teaching preschool, the infant room took babies who wore cds. most of them used fbs. as far as i know, none of the women working in that room had issues with it, but they knew i was a lover of cloth dipes so they may have not mentioned anything to me, lol. there was a state reg that the cd'd baby had to have their own diaper pail, and they were not allowed to dump the poo. the pail liner had to go home with mom every night. i'd go for it. with dd1 i cd'd part time and i still think it was worth it. because i changed every time she wet, she still went through tons of dipes even only during evenings and weekends. plus, the cd's were too cute for me to give it up just because i was working! :P

[Ifluffedthree]

totally do-able.
I did it as a single parent, working full time with a house and one child.

The key for me was to find a caregiver who used my cloth, while I worked. She came to my home, cd'd and used my expressed milk. It was a really great fit.

[Climbergirl]

I work full time and we cloth diaper.

I usually do about 2-3 loads a week as well. I have an HE washer so it takes a little more planning because the wash is about 4 hours worth. But, other than that, we have been fine.

I had several DCP tell me they were illegal (which was bull since I know the local diaper service delivers to at least 5 centers). I would bring a (clean) BGOS and show them and say, "all you have to do it put it in the bag I provide instead of in the trash. everything else is exactly the same". And that has worked.

The only thing would be to tell them (if you have aplix dipes) to fold them up like they are on the baby or you will get them stuffed in your bag like a sposie (ok, I did say they work like them) and you have aplix stuck to everything and poo everywhere My current provider (until the end of the week) will throw the "ploppers" in the toilet and the new place uses the diaper service I spoke of previously.

I have 18 BGOS. I send 5 in his bag with one on his butt. I think they go through way too many since I am double stuffing them, but that is fine. I try to have a fresh stash for Monday (so laundry on Saturday). On Tuesday, I do left over from Sunday/Saturday and the Monday dipes. Then I can make it until Friday (depending on how many dipes he used) and then 1-2 loads on the weekends.

I also just throw everything into a pail and rinse when I am ready to put in the wash. My HE washer is programmable so I do sometimes put stuff in and have it run in time for me to put in the dryer when I get home from work.

You will find a groove and it is totally worth it.

Oh, any my BGOS are the daycare dipes. I try to have fun with my "at home" dipes. And we don't use the BGOS on weekends unless we are running low in the other ones. You gotta still have fun dipes

[LindsC]

I agree that it is definately doable.

I work full time and DS is in a home daycare setting. His provider was more than willing to cloth diaper him and it actually turned her into a cloth diapering mom with her new baby. I bring a wetbag with clean diapers every morning and bring home the dirty diapers every night. The wet diapers she just puts in the wetbag and the poopy ones she dumps in the toilet and then puts them in the wetbag. We use all types of diapers except for prefolds at daycare.

[phrogger]

i am getting my certification for daycare right now and one of the questions I had was about CDing. The monitors originally told me NO, it wasn't allowed, but I pushed the issue. They realized that they could not prevent any parent from using CD, but there were protocols that we have to use to keep our accredidation. Basically, we can not clean poop off the diapers at all. The whole diaper must be put into a sealed can or bag. Basically, we have to treeat it like hazardous material and do what we would do if a child had an accident on their clothing, rather then it being a diaper. So if we can't wrap it up and put it aside all together, then it wont work. So basically, I would then tell parents that they should use cloth wipes too, and I will just fold it all into one thing, like you would with a wipe and a disposible diaper.

I wont start working until august, but I have one potential mom that hearing this has changed her mind and she will be using cloth, at least at daycare and if life gets hectic at home, she might use disposibles at night at home.

My thought is, if I am going to use it on my own kid, I might as well with other kids.

[kirstenb]

Another one chiming in with how doable it is!

DS used to be at a daycare where they didn't take cloth diapers so we just used CD at home and sposies for daycare. He switched last August to a large center and it was surprisingly easy to use CDs there. They didn't ask for a doctor's note or anything. I bring in diapers every morning and a clean wetbag and they just put the dirty dipes in there once they change him. When I pick him up I'll bring the wetbag home with me. They can't flush the poopy ones down the toilet so I just do that when I get home. I wash diapers every 2-3 days.

I use a mix of Fuzzi Bunz and Swaddlebees at daycare and they were surprised how easy it was. I prestuff the ones that need to be stuffed so all they need to do is put it on like a sposies. It really is no extra work for them. They always comment when I buy new diapers.