Few questions about Cloth Diapering

[mandica]

It's my first baby and I will be CDing, with my own home sewn All in Ones. I have a few questions since I'm a true beginner and know NO ONE who CDs.

Question 1: Should I be using cloth wipes too? How much does one normally spend on disposable wipes in a month, say? Is it worth it? What do you think?

Question 2: Anyone use Kushies (or other?) disposable liners? Again, is it worth it? Are they helpful if you can afford it?

Question 3: What is YOUR soaking formula?

Question 4: Since they are my own homemade diapers, I don't have a recommendation for laundry soap. Do you have one? We generally prefer unscented, but need something affordable. (Also dryer sheets? Yay or Nay?)


Any help you can provide is SO MUCH appreciated Thanks mamas!!

[octobermom]

Question 1: Should I be using cloth wipes too? How much does one normally spend on disposable wipes in a month, say? Is it worth it? What do you think?

We used some degree of both having cloth wipes are 100000% worth it they will save you a ton cloth are thicker bigger and just work better FWIW we found disposable wipes better on the go in hot weather as the cloth ones just totally dried out and the spray bottles the water just got buring hot and evoporated but yes ttoally get cloth wipes I just used those gerber baby washcloth type things and liked them better than any fancy things.

Question 2: Anyone use Kushies (or other?) disposable liners? Again, is it worth it? Are they helpful if you can afford it?

I love flushable liners for the solid poo stage especially when traveling outside of home found them pointles in the NB breastfeeding stage my favorite were the Imse Vimse Flushable Diaper Liners

Question 3: What is YOUR soaking formula?

none I never soaked diapers actually I did but I found a dry pail much better I did rinse and toss a dirty diaper into the pail if I felt it necessary. Soaked diapers jsut got dingy and it broke down the fabrics faster. Tossing a few wet cloth wipes with some Tea tree oil or lavenader ect helped eliminate any pail odor inbetween washes and we jsut kept the pail out in the garage next to the washer.

Question 4: Since they are my own homemade diapers, I don't have a recommendation for laundry soap. Do you have one? We generally prefer unscented, but need something affordable. (Also dryer sheets? Yay or Nay?)

I became an avid Charlies soap fan its enviromental friendly no dyes perfumes ect I prefered the liquid for my DD sensitive skin and it is way affordable. No on the dryer sheets it will coat the fabrics and reduce assorbancy or cause repelling issues.
HTH

Deanna

[Bromache]

It's my first baby and I will be CDing, with my own home sewn All in Ones. I have a few questions since I'm a true beginner and know NO ONE who CDs.

Congratulations on your little one and on CDing!! It's so much fun, you'll love it! I didn't know anyone IRL who CDed either, but did a TON of research online. Just reading message boards is very helpful for solutions to common problems and so on. I found Pinstripes and Polkadots to be a VERY useful website for explaining basics, particularly their research on laundry detergents. (That second link is for top-loading machines. There's also one for front-loaders; just follow the first link and you'll find it.)

Question 1: Should I be using cloth wipes too? How much does one normally spend on disposable wipes in a month, say? Is it worth it? What do you think?

This is a personal choice thing. Disposable wipes get expensive and have lots of chemicals in them you may not want to use on your baby everyday. But they ARE convenient! For me, I like to use regular old baby washcloths and a basin of warm water for at-home diaper changes. We use baby wash for poopy or very wet diapers, but otherwise just warm water. My basin is a plastic mixing bowl from the dollar store, cheap and easy to find! But many people use a wipes solution with washcloths instead, or disposable wipes. (We use the sposie wipes when out and about only.) Many people also like a fancier wipe, but I find the washcloths work just fine for my needs. Over two years and still going strong!

Question 2: Anyone use Kushies (or other?) disposable liners? Again, is it worth it? Are they helpful if you can afford it?

Liners are nice when the baby is older and the poops are more solid. I use reusable liners made from strips of fleece. (I cut up fleece scarves from the dollar store -- again, I'm cheap!) They didn't need any sewing and wash up really well with the diapers. I find them worth it because most of the poop gets on THEM instead of the diaper, which is easier to dump in the toilet and then rinse off. Also, there will be less staining on the diapers themselves. But they're not necessary by any means.

Question 3: What is YOUR soaking formula?

I don't soak. We rinse off poopy liners and diapers and wipes right away, but otherwise, everything just goes in the dry pail liner in a kitchen trash can until wash day.

Question 4: Since they are my own homemade diapers, I don't have a recommendation for laundry soap. Do you have one? We generally prefer unscented, but need something affordable. (Also dryer sheets? Yay or Nay?)

The link above should give you all the info. you need for laundry detergents. Definitely NAY on the dryer sheets or other types of fabric softener. (Personally, I don't use these for any of my laundry because the residue can stay in your machines. Reuseable, chemical-free dryer sheets can be used instead, or dryer balls.)

Any help you can provide is SO MUCH appreciated Thanks mamas!!

I hope that was helpful! Have fun!!

[DevaMajka]

Question 1: Should I be using cloth wipes too? How much does one normally spend on disposable wipes in a month, say? Is it worth it? What do you think?
I use cloth wipes usually. We went on vacation last week, and used disposable wipes. I find it much easier to use cloth wipes- you just toss the wipe + diaper in the pail. With sposie wipes, you have one thing going in the trash, and one in the pail. Minor, but I found it really annoying.
For day trips, I do find sposie wipes to be easier to take along.

We were gone for 5 days and went through a whole tub of wipes. Granted, ds is 2 mos old and does poop really often, but geez! It was 1/3 of a refill pack, and the pack was on sale for $6. So $2 for less than a week's worth of wipes.

Question 2: Anyone use Kushies (or other?) disposable liners? Again, is it worth it? Are they helpful if you can afford it?
Disposable liners are nice to have if you need to use diaper cream. I didn't use them much for ds1 though. I guess there are some that you can wash and reuse if they are just peed on.

Question 3: What is YOUR soaking formula?
I use a dry pail with the lid partway off so air can circulate.

Question 4: Since they are my own homemade diapers, I don't have a recommendation for laundry soap. Do you have one? We generally prefer unscented, but need something affordable. (Also dryer sheets? Yay or Nay?)
Lots of people use Tide on diapers. If I get any stink, I use Tide for a few washes. Usually I use NatureClean- I think it's Canadian though.

[leavemealone]

Should I be using cloth wipes too? How much does one normally spend on disposable wipes in a month, say? Is it worth it? What do you think? That's an individual decision. I use disposable wipes b/c I am very poop averse and I can wipe it away and get rid of it. I like Parent's Choice wipes the best. I don't know how much it averages out to per month, but it really isn't very expensive. Most name brands (Huggies, Pampers) have sales and coupons for their wipes and I'll use Huggies if the price is right.

Anyone use Kushies (or other?) disposable liners? Again, is it worth it? Are they helpful if you can afford it? I haven't used any liners, but I have thought about it. For now, I am using a tip I got on this board and that is to use a cheap spatula for scraping poop off diapers. It gets most of it off and the rest comes off in the wash.

What is YOUR soaking formula? I don't have one unless the diaper is really poopy and then it's just to swish it around in the clean toilet water to get most of the poop off.

Since they are my own homemade diapers, I don't have a recommendation for laundry soap. Do you have one? We generally prefer unscented, but need something affordable. (Also dryer sheets? Yay or Nay?) I use Charlie's for all my diaper washing. I have a box of "Tiny Bubbles" that I received for free, but I haven't finished up the Charlie's yet so I haven't tried it. An 80 load container of Charlie's will cost about $15. I only use it for diapers (an occasionally towels) and I wash about twice per week so the detergent will last about 40 weeks (maybe a little less). To me, that's not very expensive, but there are lots of other options. As others have said, skip the dryer sheets on diapers.

[lifeguard]

We use disposable wipes. I have a pile of cloth ones but they just don't get used - I find them kind of a pain now that we've moved & the change table is no longer in the bathroom.

I've never used the liners, haven't felt the need to.

We use a dry pail. I did do a wet pail for awhile & just put a quarter of a lid of detergent & 2 drops of tea tree oil in it. It worked well but with a front loader washer transferring to the washer was disgusting so we went back to the dry pail. If I had a top loader I'd definitely do a wet pail.

I just use whatever eco brand is on sale. Sometimes I put in a couple drops of tea tree oil.

[mandica]

Wow Mamas! Thanks for your great responses.

Bromache - That detergent page is great !