If you don't use cloth, why not? - Page 5

[pjs]

I used cloth with my first two. With my third, I'm still trying to figure out how to keep up with laundry without having a load of diapers in the mix (soaking/xxtra sanitary cycle taking so much time). Number four is on the way and I already do 2+ loads of laundry just about every day (less in the winter as we're not out and about- getting sandy at the beach or sticky from dripping watermelon juice) so I'm not even thinking about attempting cloth unless $$$ gets really, really tight.

[Masel]

I had to come to terms that even if I couldn't do CD full time I would do what I could. Day care flatly refused to use them even though there is a provision in my state's day care regs that specifically mentions cloth.

My mother has arthritis in her thumbs and found doing the snaps on Motherease diapers difficult. If my mom was watching DD I'd give her options depending on what kind of pain day Mom was having.

When we'd go camping or on long drives I'd use disposables. I didn't want to spend my vacation in a laundrymat.

I think that there was this atitude that if you can't do cloth 24/7 then why bother. It just wasn't that big of a deal for us. Ever nasty disposable that we kept out of a landfill was a small victory to me.

[babymommy2]

I didn't use cloth becasue

#1 I am lazy and didnt' want to bother with storing and washing used diapers. I felt guilty about it, but not guilty enough to switch.

#2 occasioanlly I would think about switching and research the internet and ther is SO MUCH INFORMATION, and SO MANY KINDS, it was too overwhelming and I didn't know where to even start.

#3 BM stool doens't bother me at all, but the nurse in me could not get over putting solid food poop, ecoli and all that bacteria into my washing machine on a regular basis, even thought I have a disinfection cycle on the washer.

[CamoShades]

Originally Posted by pinksprklybarefoot

-Another thing that a PP mentioned that drove me away - the bulk. I love buying cute kids' clothes, and when DS was past the age where onesies and babylegs were cute, sposies started to look a lot better. I couldn't fit cloth under jeans. I felt like I was restricting his movement and making him miserable.

I'm glad to hear someone else say this. Honestly, it's probably my No. 1 reason for not sticking with CDing. I hated how they looked on my daughter, and I tried just about every combo out there. Vain, but true. And when we tried prefolds, no matter how I folded them, it looked like she had a FUPA. Not a good look on a baby. DH hated the look, too.

Besides that, I WOH FT, and we spend a lot of time visiting our families two hours away. Most weekends in summer are spent at the lake, and I hated the thought of bringing along enough bulky diapers, storing dirties during the weekend and then hauling them home. Too much hassle.

[rugbymom]

I started with cloth. I don't mind laundry, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that my son HATED cloth right from the beginning. He would not sleep at all in a cloth diaper and cried like every 5 minutes only to be soothed by a diaper change. We quit the cloth until around 6 months. He didn't mind it as much then. But, I was very used to the look of clothes without all that bulk. Stuck with cloth for the most part for a while, but am now in a bad sposie phase. I just really don't like the way he looks in the bubbly bottom cloth diapers. And, you totally need to have different clothes for each, so that makes switching back and forth between them hard. Plus, it is much more convenient to be able to run errands and not have to worry about diaper changes. My son isn't even bad about diaper changes, but it's so much nicer not to have to stop all the time to change a diaper.

[Anastasiya]

I used sposies with our first. Then when our second came, we started cloth.

At first, like pps have mentioned, it was overwhelming. Now, I stick with simpler = better. Those pockets and AIOs - hate 'em. They don't last. They leak, at least for us. Constant buildup, constant stripping. The best thing I did was sell them to another sucker.

Now, we do both. I've gotten a more simplied system that I love : and have used it for my second kid, my third kid and now my fourth kid. So it's been a huge $$$ saver for us and all the dipes have held up perfectly.

My "rules" are:
We use sposies at night.
We use sposies when we're in a pinch and the diaper stash is out.
We use sposies when we really want a trim butt.
We use sposies once kiddo is eating solids (in my house right around one year old) and I get to the point where I can't take the gross poops anymore.
We use sposies when I'm pregnant and have morning sickness, then resume with cloth when the MS is gone.
We use sposies if there's any inkling of a rash and I want to use rash creams.


Every other time we use cloth.

Never had a problem with our cloth being too bulky for clothes, but I do buy only very trim fitted diapers and covers, and we dress the babes in onepiece rompers and stuff, so there isn't a "waist/butt" issue like in pants or jeans. And any girls wear dresses or onepieces anyway.

(And as for the bulky issue, I'd much prefer seeing a baby with a big cloth butt than seeing a baby with overloaded-sposie-sag any day. I know too many sposie users who literally let their kids max out on the sposie capacity and by the time a change comes, that thing is hanging to their knees! That's just gross.)

[SaraC]

I have used cloth in various forms for all of my children.

DD #1-started CD at 6 month until potty training. She did wear a pull-up at night since she wet the bed until 3-4.

DD#2-used from birth until she was almost 2. We remodeled our house and moved the washer/dryer. We were without W/D for about a week and our house was a mess due to the remodeling so she was in sposies from then until potty training.

DD#3-used from birth until about 20 months. We moved and I was pregnant and just couldn't keep up with the laundry. She used them from time to time since then but only wears a diaper at night and it is a sposie.

DD#4-used from birth until about 2 months(she is almost 5m) and off and on since then. If I get to far behind on laundry then I go to the sposies.

I hate using them and I hate the cost but I have a hard time keeping up on the laundry.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Cherry Alive

Despite the fact we sometimes use disposable dipes, we always use cloth wipes. We have a HUGE stash of these as they don't take up much room. Even our doctor (who is more mainstream) recommends cloth wipes over disposable ones. He says that cloth wipes are way better in preventing diaper rash. If you don't want to invest in them, he says just to get a few cheapy wash clothes.

This. I need to get some more. We lost a bunch of ours (they're here, but I don't know where) over the last year or so, and I've been using disposable wipes. I really don't like them much.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Sancta

(And as for the bulky issue, I'd much prefer seeing a baby with a big cloth butt than seeing a baby with overloaded-sposie-sag any day.

I love the look of big cloth butt. It's adorable.

I know too many sposie users who literally let their kids max out on the sposie capacity and by the time a change comes, that thing is hanging to their knees! That's just gross.)

Yeah. I've seen that, too. It's grotesque. It's happened to me once or twice, when I was out or something and had forgotten extra diapers, but it's really gross.

[momma_unlimited]

I gave up because my son poops a million times a day. Well, now 5 or 6. Double that when he was an infant (he's 2 now). And, for whatever reasons, his poo is almost NEVER solid- it's like mayonaise texture, and won't "shake off", so I literally had to get a spatula and scrape it off while wearing plastic gloves, and if it doesn't land just right in the toilet, it splatters all over, or lands on the dry part of the inside of the bowl and doesn't flush off, and I have to clean my toilet almost every time I empty a diaper, wash my spatula, wash my hands, etc. The process took 10 minutes, or 50-60 minutes a day for poopy diapers only! And he pees like every hour in addition. I could really use the additional 1.5 hours a day to do something else. I don't think his poop texture is diet related- because my 4 yr old has the same diet as him and always has more solid stools- it's just this kid's constitution.

Also, if for some reason we had a busy week and I didn't get to wash the diapers within 48 hours, several times I found MAGGOTS. I do not know how the heck they got into my diaper pail, the thing looked like it sealed rock tight to me... maybe occasionally it wasn't shut just right? but it was so disgusting... I would have thrown the diapers away if they didn't cost like $17 each!!!

[frontierpsych]

Originally Posted by lilyka

the year was 1996 -

Cloth can be very expensive. I didn't have the money to get a stash going before she came and I certainly didn't have any money after she came.

There is a lot of cloth snobbery I encountered. and the crazy amount of hype. all the stuff people think you need to research. its like if they make it crazy complicated it makes them that much better. I don't know. people spending $200 on A diaper was such a turn off to me. I was really proud of myself for using cloth and then people started talking down about gerber dipes and plastic pants (which worked just fine on all my children thankyouverymuch). Good heavens even my pins weren't up to par because they weren't dritz. and for the record my $.99 diaper pins lasted through 3 kids, stayed sharp, and never ever bent going in. they were far and away my favorites. it was seriously equated with abuse to use less than whatever the diaper de jour was. so I stopped for a while. I didn't want to hurt my kids with using evil pants and I didn't want to be associated with "those" people. it was so much craziness. The excitement and uppitiness and constant hashing out of details creeped me out. they were poop catchers for crying out loud. no need to get obsessive about it.

Wow! That's pretty insane. I agree, I CD, but to me, they're just poop catchers. 90% of my diapers were hand-me-downs. I've spent less than $100 on diapers so far, and my son will be a year on Monday.

I can't speak for myself, since I do CD, but a friend of mine who used cloth with her first two has her youngest in sposies, because he has to be in daycare, and the daycare will not use cloth (not sure why she doesn't use a combo, was never interested enough to ask). Maybe you could include something in your paper about care providers who refuse to use cloth and how that factors into the decision?

[frontierpsych]

Originally Posted by momma_unlimited

several times I found MAGGOTS.

:Puke

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by momma_unlimited

And, for whatever reasons, his poo is almost NEVER solid- it's like mayonnaise texture, and won't "shake off", so I literally had to get a spatula and scrape it off while wearing plastic gloves, and if it doesn't land just right in the toilet, it splatters all over, or lands on the dry part of the inside of the bowl and doesn't flush off, and I have to clean my toilet almost every time I empty a diaper, wash my spatula, wash my hands, etc.

We had that issue, too. YUCK!

[natural_mama89]

I have used mostly cloth with both my kids and LOVE cloth. The only time it really didn't happen though was when I lived in an apartment with coin-op laundry. The machine wasn't very good and it was just too expensive. I did hand wash dipes sometimes and hung them to dry most of the time, but in a tiny apartment it was hard. Maybe if I had the $ to get a proper drying rack it would have been better. I found myself buying a pack of sposies each time I got paid, but still used cloth as I could. I am lucky that daycares I have used were ok with cloth. I may not have done it if I had to buy sposies for daycare anyway.

[AirMiami]

Originally Posted by momma_unlimited

I gave up because my son poops a million times a day. Well, now 5 or 6. Double that when he was an infant (he's 2 now). And, for whatever reasons, his poo is almost NEVER solid- it's like mayonaise texture, and won't "shake off", so I literally had to get a spatula and scrape it off while wearing plastic gloves, and if it doesn't land just right in the toilet, it splatters all over, or lands on the dry part of the inside of the bowl and doesn't flush off, and I have to clean my toilet almost every time I empty a diaper, wash my spatula, wash my hands, etc. The process took 10 minutes, or 50-60 minutes a day for poopy diapers only! And he pees like every hour in addition. I could really use the additional 1.5 hours a day to do something else. I don't think his poop texture is diet related- because my 4 yr old has the same diet as him and always has more solid stools- it's just this kid's constitution.

Also, if for some reason we had a busy week and I didn't get to wash the diapers within 48 hours, several times I found MAGGOTS. I do not know how the heck they got into my diaper pail, the thing looked like it sealed rock tight to me... maybe occasionally it wasn't shut just right? but it was so disgusting... I would have thrown the diapers away if they didn't cost like $17 each!!!

Well, you've sealed the deal. I will probably never cloth diaper now!

[victoriaaustin]

Originally Posted by holothuroidea

They just don't fit. DD is very petite and was from birth. She has skinny little legs and extremely narrow hips. To give you an idea of how narrow, she is now 12 months but is wearing size 3mo pants (as shorts, lol).

I planned on using cloth from early on, did tons of research, and I invested a lot of money ($300) into a good stash.

Yes, this. I bought a whole stash of BG OS and figured we'd be good to go when DC was around 8 lbs. Figured s/he would be born around 7 lbs and it wouldn't take long. Well, DD came 4w early at 5 lb 10 oz, so they didn't fit for a long time. Then they leaked, even though they seemed to fit. I waited a few weeks, tried again...leaks. Waited, tried again...leaks. After the third try, I gave up. The stench didn't help, the extra laundry didn't help, the stains didn't help...it just wasn't for us.

Luckily, I sold my stash to my SIL and her very chubby baby is happy in them, so it's all good. I hate paying for disposables, but I love that you just throw them away. I know, I know, I shouldn't love that...but I do.

I tell anyone who's planning on CDing to wait before buying a ton of anything and to try a wide variety, such as the starter pack from Jillian's Drawers. I think CDing is a great idea, but it just wasn't working for me, and I didn't want to keep throwing money into it.

[doubledutch]

i would like to use cloth and while pregnant with ds2, i started amassing a small collection of used cloth to try it out. it didn't work out for us. i'm overwhelmed by housework as it is, and although i felt guilty about using disposable diapers, i had to just let it go. it's an ideal, something i think is good and that i value, that i'm not going to live up to (like homeschooling! and growing my own food!). i try to focus on the things i am able to do with/for my kids and the greater community, rather than beat myself up about giving up on cloth diapering.

[busymama77]

I am cloth ignorant - have tried to figure it out for our next baby, but I don't know where to start, what's the best route to take, etc.,. We're not a crunchy family by any means - some things we do are semi-crunchy, but moreso, we're mainstream. Sposies are more convenient for us and for the grandparents that watched our DS when he was an infant and still in diapers.
Also, the laundry aspect. H is highly grossed out by the fact that poopy diapers will be in the same wash as his clothes or in the same machine altogether - so it's a hygene factor for him. I don't care either way.
Also, my DS was in daycare when he was an infant and is now in preschool, but potty trained. When he was an infant, it just makes things easier for everyone. So, more than likely, we'll continue to use sposies for our next baby. We'll consider the 7th generation brand or the pure and natural from Huggies, but that's about the extent of it.

[Funny Face]

Why we didn't cloth diaper with our last child was a mix of reasons listed and also you can't just go to a store near by and see a diaper, see how it fits, how it feels or compare to other dipes. You have to buy online (which makes me want to buy as much at once as possible to save on shipping) then get it home, try it, find it doesn't work for you and then hope to re-sell it on DS.

I can say that if we ever have a newborn in this house again there is no way I'd CD a newborn. Ds went from 8 lbs, to 12, to 24 in 3 months. I was out of some serious cash. Not to mention he had to be changed hourly around the clock and still got rashes. But at 8 months we are trying again, as you can see by my siggy.

ETA: Reading this thread was probably not a good idea for someone re-embarking on the cloth diaper journey. I'm feeling suddenly uneasy about my recent investment!

[~LadyBug~]

I guess I was not NEARLY as crunchy then as I am now. I never considered cloth an option (I had not found MDC yet!) and I truly regret it 100 percent. I got dozens of disposable diapers at my baby shower and didn't consider cloth. I wish I would have. I encourage my friends to use cloth though, so does count