cloth diapering in an apartment? encourage me!

[leaves]

my son is 10 weeks old on monday, and we have only been using sposies. before he was born i was so close to using cloth, but we found out it would be more expensive to use the diaper service in the area, and we live in an apartment so we don't have our own washer/dryer.

is there anyone on here that is in the same situation and uses cloth? is it worth it to use cloth in an apartment? i'm worried about not being able to get them clean enough. is putting them in the wash enough, or should i do something else to get them really clean? i'm think that if we decide to use cloth, i will hang them to dry - other wise it would cost $2.75 just to wash and dry one load of diapers.

then there's the question of where in the world do i start? what diapers would be best to use? are pre-folds good enough, or should i invest in some good cloth diapers? and where do i find pre-folds made for diapering (other than gerber). yikes, there's so much to think about! any tips or advice would be appreciated.

[annettemarie]

I'm on my way to bed, but you can do it! We did it for four years in seminary. Granted, we were on friendly terms with everyone in our building. What I would do is put them in around 11PM, and then open up the lid when it had filled. I had a little sign that I would magnet to the lid that said "Diapers soaking; please don't close." Then I'd get up early in the morning, close the lid, and finish the cycle. No one ever complained. I was always overly conscientious about wiping down the washer when I was finished, and my diapers always were clean. We were lucky enough to have a clothes line, but when I didn't use that, I just dried them on a drying rack.

I think we mostly used prefolds back then. Also, I'm pretty sure we had a wet pail for soaking poopy dipes.

[octobermom]

We did it from 7 months till DD was just shy of 2 years with no washer dryer really it wasn't hard at all I learned to do a lot of washing at home in the bath tub diapers were well rinsed ect before they hit the pail so it wasn'ta huge thing then every so often I'd take everything down to the laundry mat and run them through never double did anything it all worked fine.

Deanna

[e_roehm23]

I agree w/ the drying rack. Also, you might consider using flats because they would dry much quicker, and they're usually cheaper. Have you heard of Little Lions Flats (look them up online)? They are suppose to be the best. If you go w/ prefolds, you can get seconds for 1/2 the price on clothdiaper.com. For covers, go to Nickisdiapers.com and get free shipping. If you're crafty, there is a sticky w/ good patterns for sewing your own dipes, covers, and recycled soakers/longies. Unfortunately, unless you're in a big city you may not be able to buy local.

Good Luck

[JudiAU]

We do it and it is a lot easier than I thought. I'll post more later but in the meantime, do you pay for water? Makes a big difference in my suggestions.

[srs]

I would also consider flats. We had a washer/dryer in our apartment, but I just went a week with a broken dryer and the prefolds took a really long time to dry.

FWIW, I would consider prefolds "good cloth diapers" , but if you mean the more expensive pocket diapers, fitteds, or all-in-ones, with no dryer I would do pockets for the fastest drying time. Fitteds and AIOs take forever.

[PoppyMama]

If you are comfortable with flats you can get enough to just wash once a week so that you can dry them in the dryer and still not spend much. Personally, I wouldn't hang dry all those diapers in an apartment it would be time consuming and take up so much room. I think GM flats are $15 a doz so you could have 8 dozen plus your initial covers for about $150. If you spray them with some bac-out they won't even smell much in your apartment- then double wash them in hot and you should be good.

[leaves]

wow thank you SO much everyone, for your encouragement... i have been researching some as well, and i am feeling more a lot confident with CDing in our apartment. i am so excited on how much money we would be saving! and putting some natural materials on my baby's bum. thanks for the tip about flats - i didn't even know that was an option. (i watched a few videos on how to fold them. good ol' youtube.) i'm pretty sure we are going to use flats or prefolds.

a couple questions - the gerber brand CDs that most people use for burping, those will be okay to use as real CDs? and also, how often do you have to change out/wash diaper covers? what brands are y'all's favorites?



poppy - excuse my ignorance - you mentioned GM flats... what brand is GM? i googled it and couldn't find a website.

judi - we do pay for water. looking forward to your input!

[PoppyMama]

Here is a link to the flats I was talking about.
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm#flat

I really like the Bumkins covers -especially the old style- you can find lots of stuff on www.diaperswappers.com I don't machine wash covers I just wash them out in the sink and throw them over the curtain rod. You can also try wool covers. They are nice to go over flats and need to be handwashed anyway. If you go with prefolds I would buy used standards and not try to buy new unbleached because you will have a really hard time prepping them up. To prep up flats you can try putting them in your sink with a little original dawn and pour boiling water over them and soak until cool, drain and repeat a few times then wash hot and dry. They won't be at their most absorbant but they will get that way as you go.