Is it worth it to continue in cloth if EC'd daughter only uses a few diapers a day?

[Natsuki]

I've cloth diapered both kids since birth and wash my own. Right now I'm averaging .07/diaper change which is compared to what my friends who use disposable diapers/wipes pay.

Two weeks ago on a whim I decided to put my 9 month old daughter on our baby bjorn potty and she peed! I did it a few more times and she peed or poo'ed each time. I have started doing part-time EC'ing and wow has she taken to it - she's now able to control when she eliminates and prefers to put the vast majority of her pee and poo in the toilet (in addition, she is waking up dry from naps, not peeing as much at night, and seems to prefer the potty ).

But now I am facing an awkward issue - is it environmentally unfriendly to wash my cloth diapers when there are only a few diapers in the pail? I think it's gross to let them sit for days until the pail is full, I've always washed every third day. But at the rate DD is going, that will mean washing less than 10 diapers. It seems like a colossal waste of resources to do the hot water wash and dryer for that few of diapers. Are disposables a friendlier choice?

What have you other EC mamas done?

[rachelsmama]

Is your dd pooping in the diapers at all, or is she pooping exclusively in the potty? When dd got the the point where she was only going through a couple diapers a day and only peeing in them I started mixing the diapers with other laundry. I would put the diapers in the machine, do a presoak, drain the washer, then add in the other laundry and continue. I mostly added socks, underwear and other such things that could benefit from a diaper cycle.

[theboysmama]

my dd uses waterproof trainers at night (essentially washable pull ups) and she is only going through about 3-4 of those a week. she is in undies the rest of the time so we might have a few wet outfits a day (or not). I just throw it all in the regular warm/cold wash w/ and extra rinse and sort the colors accordingly.

[Erinz]

When my older son was just peeing in an occassional diaper I'd throw it in with our regular laundry always. Every great once in a while a poop would happen and I'd just hose it out before throwing it in regular laundry. Maybe I'm gross though

[mamatobe08]

I'm a big germaphobe so I don't want to put diapers in with clothes(not that they're germy with all that washing, but still, I get the heebie jeebies lol). I will just throw towels in with them because they tend to get pretty dirty fast too so they can use the extra cycles.

[hrsmom]

In with the regular laundry here, too. My main issue is with velcro and the regular clothes. The trainers we use now don't have heavy velcro so it works nicely. Erinz, I would do the same thing with an occasional poop miss!

[pixiepunk]

i'm pretty anti-sposie, but really i don't think an extra small load or two of laundry a week can compare to dozens of disposables sitting in a landfill for hundreds of years, polluting the ground water.

but as pp's have said, there's really no need to do the separate load if you don't want to. just do a rinse prior to adding the rest of the stuff, and wash with the regular laundry (i do them with towels, usually).

*or* you could just switch to undies, and wash a couple of extra pairs of pants every couple of days. we've stopped using trainers at all in the house and she almost never pees in them when we're out, but the rare time that she has a miss at home and she's dressed she just gets a different pair of pants and the pee pants gets washed in the next load of laundry. when there's no extra layers to get clean (like in diapers) they clean up just fine in a regular wash.

[Carlyle]

Pee is sterile--we always just chucked pee diapers in with the regular wash, which we do on cold/cold to save energy.

[Sheryl1678]

I always throw in the pee diapers/trainers in the regular wash. I try not to let them get buried so they can dry out and not smell.

That said, if you feel sposies are going to work better for your situation, then don't beat yourself up about it. We have to do what works for us.

[sapphire_chan]

Wash them with your regular laundry. Rinse off the worst of the poop and go on with life.

[JMJ]

Even if you don't change how you're washing them, you'll probably have more luck with EC with cloth diapers. She might not prefer peeing in the potty if she feels dry in a sposie.

[JessieBird]

I'll be the lone one who just washes diapers less frequently. I have a huge stash so only ever washed once a week before starting EC with no problems whatsoever. I've kept up that routine - the load is just a lot smaller now, but not so small that it's a waste. I don't mix diapers in with regular wash simply because laundry is the one area of housekeeping that I really fail at. It takes me days to fold and put away clothes and I'd hate to be searching through the dryer every time I needed a clean diaper. (I seem to have far more respect for diapers than I do for clothes, they get neatly stacked an put away promptly.)

I agree with pps - stick to cloth. Sposies (or fake diapers as we call them in our house) stink, create garbage, and their stay-dry properties may hinder your EC efforts.

Congrats on starting EC btw, it is so rewarding!

[rissa523]

My dd is 16 months and is in panties almost exclusively. It was hard to find panties that fit so I went to a consignment shop and bought all the 6 month size diaper covers that go with dresses and use those as panties. We are down to mostly pee diapers if any and I throw those with the regular wash. My dd prefers to poop in the yard so we don't have many poopy diapers and those will usually get rinsed and washed with laundry too. I think about what would you do with the occasional poopy clothes accident with a typical potty training child, you'd rinse it out and wash it. I vote just work the diapers out and move into underpants.