OK -- Give it to me straight

[crystleyz42]

Hello Ladies,

I admit it -- I'm still somewhat of a CD skeptic.

I used disposables on my DD (3.5 yo) and am considering cloth for DS (5 wo) mostly for the cost savings. If I go cloth, I would be using a diaper service with prefolds, covers (Bummis or Thirsties), and flushable liners for when we are out of the house.

Before I jump ito CDs full-on, I want to make sure my expectations are realistic. Can you ladies please give it to me straight?

- I didn't really have a problem with disposables with DD leaking -- will this become more of an issue with cloth provided I'm using a properly fitted cover?

- What about overnights? Will I have to change diapers in the middle of the night?

- Will I be setting myself up for failure if I expect that cloth will roughly equal in terms of work and functionality to disposables?

- What else should I know or expect?

Thanks!

[inky leeuhhh]

we love our covers and prefolds. you should just know that there is a learning curve. you need to make sure you have the right sized prefold under the cover to absorb enough pee, and make sure the cover fits properly and keep everything tucked inside the cover (not as complicated as it sounds, lol). we don't have any more leaks in cloth diapers than we do in sposies. we are using prefolds from greenmountaindiapers.com ( i think?) with thirsties duo wraps, along with an assortment of fitteds and wool soakers. i have been using cloth on my girls for six years and love it. overnight can be a little tricky honestly, but once you find something that works it can be just as effective, or even more so. and there's no rule that says you still can't use sposies at night or on occasion if need be. a package of them will last you forever if you're only using one per night (though i would def try to find a night time cd system first!). i would suggest going into it with an open mind, and use this board to ask any questions you have. don't be intimidated or afraid to ask questions. we love cding and there's no way i'd use sposies even if i was getting them for free!

[lifeguard]

1. I have had waaaaay more problems with leaking & pooxposions with disposables than with my cloth.

2. I've never changed in the middle of the night unless ds pooped or if we were wide awake anyway.

3. With a diaper service I would expect that the work would be no more - but I haven't used a service myself. As for functionality I find cloth pretty equal to disposables, if not better. With a prefold & cover as you are planning it is slightly more work to put on a new diaper but hardly a huge difference.

4. Clothes do tend to fit differently over cd's. I find that some brands work better than others & often need to go up a size to accomodate the big bum.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by crystleyz42

I used disposables on my DD (3.5 yo) and am considering cloth for DS (5 wo) mostly for the cost savings. If I go cloth, I would be using a diaper service with prefolds, covers (Bummis or Thirsties), and flushable liners for when we are out of the house.

If you are going for the cost factor I don't think the diaper service is your best bet. It seems like the most expensive way to CD and may not be too far different economically from using sposies.

I would encourage you not to be afraid of washing your own dipes. Honestly one of my favorite things about CD is that I do not have to deal with hauling huge stinky bags in and out of the house. I much prefer just throwing my little bag of dipes in my own washer at home.

I didn't really have a problem with disposables with DD leaking -- will this become more of an issue with cloth provided I'm using a properly fitted cover?

Depends on the cloth. I hear prefolds/covers are pretty bulletproof though.

What about overnights? Will I have to change diapers in the middle of the night?

(I assume you mean after your child stops pooping at night )
Some people find good nighttime cloth solutions, others never really do. We needed a bit of experimenting to find ours, though it seems pretty leakproof now that we have it. Some people use cloth for day and sposies at night. Others have leaks with sposies overnight as well though.

Will I be setting myself up for failure if I expect that cloth will roughly equal in terms of work and functionality to disposables?

You cannot leave a cloth diaper on as long as a sposie. Cloth needs to be changed every 2-3 h or it will leak. (Nighttime diapers that can go longer are usually much bulkier and wouldn't be good for when baby is awake and mobile.)

I used to change sposies that often anyway bc I felt it was a bit gross to leave dd sitting in old wees, but with most cloth you cannot just forget to change your LO for hours and expect the diaper to hold up.

Also, once your LO starts solids you need to get rid of the poop before tossing the diaper in the pail. I now hear you are supposed to do this with sposies too bc poop is not supposed to go in landfills, but everybody does it and so did we when we were using sposies. So just be aware that this will be an extra step. I use a little plastic squirt bottle to encourage the poop off the dipe and into the toilet. I don't find it too difficult at all.

What else should I know or expect?

I just wanted to reiterate that I find cloth easier than sposies. I just want to get that out there bc I know most people would not expect or believe that. But I hate hate hate taking stinky bags out to the Dumpster every few days, and I find going to the store with a baby SUCH a project. It is SO much easier to dump my dipes in my own washer and press a few buttons. Really!

[Logan]

I second everything Mambera said!

Also, I would never do a diaper service or disposables. I love doing cloth. I love the ease and self-sufficiency of just popping a load of washing on and never running out of diapers. The diaper service seems to me like a big PITA, none of the joy of cloth, nor cost-savings and all the same effort of disposables.

Also if you are looking for ease I would NOT go with a prefolds system. Ive been doing cloth happily for years and I still hate prefolds. If money were super tight, and/or it was between a prefold and a disposable, I would choose the prefold. But those are the only two reasons. They are even last after a flat, because at least you can have the flat folded ready to go, the prefold you have to fiddle with and adjust while putting it on.

I have had occasional (wee) leaks with cloth, but this was always user error. I've never had the actual diaper fail- this is not true of my few months experience with disposables when I had to take spare changes of baby clothes everywhere.

I always change in the middle of the night if they are wet because we are ECers. I also toilet her in the middle of the night so wetting is actually rare. But none of that applies to you. I dont think most regular cloth users bother changing in the night, but from what I can gather the majority do double up/boost the diaper so it can hold enough. So you would probably have to do something like that unless your little one is a really light wetter.

[Lineymom]

I am cding for the first time with my 3rd child. If I would have known it was this easy I would've done it with the others! We use pfs. Laundry service is not availible here, but it is not a big deal, really just one extra load ever 2-3 days.

I do change more often than with sposie mostly because with the sposies I was always trying to "get my money's worth" out of them. Also, they do feel more wet so I want to get it off her, even though it doesn't seem to bother her. I have hardly had any problems at night until recently (4 months 20lbs) and that is because she has outgrown her covers.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Logan

I dont think most regular cloth users bother changing in the night, but from what I can gather the majority do double up/boost the diaper so it can hold enough. So you would probably have to do something like that unless your little one is a really light wetter.

I do change my little guy int he middle of the night. He's only managed to get through the night with a single diaper a handful of times... he's just a really heavy wetter. But, I don't expect him to go 12 hours in a single diaper - just thinking about that makes me cringe. When he wakes to nurse in the night, I change him then. You do have to keep in mind that unless you have a stay-dry liner in the dipe, then the wetness is sitting right next to their skin for that 12 hours. My little guy will get welts from that, so I always try to avoid it.

[Xavismom]

I cannot say enough, how much I love my cloth diapers. My main reason for using them is health/comfort reasons for DS. Everything else is just a bonus!

Washing them is no big deal, and call me crazy, but I actually like doing my diaper laundry. I love never running out of diapers or wipes, and having to run to the store too.

I used sposies for about a week and a half when DS was born, wating for meconium and his cord to fall off. Just those few days were enough to convince me that I despise using sposies.

I started out with pockets only, for ease of use. I was very intimidated by prefolds. We did have some night issues with them though.

So I bought some prefolds, and fleece soakers for nighttime. I have no honest idea now why I thought I would hate prefolds, because I LOVE them. They are my first used diapers now over my pockets. Allthough I do use the pockets when we take a trip out for the day, its just easier. And cloth diapers, especially pockets (or an AIO) is exactly as easy as a sposie for using out of the house.

I would definately suggest at least one good soaker for night time diapering if you are going to be using prefolds. I havent had any leaks since we bought ours, and DS pees like a firehose at night.

Cloth is so fun, honest. You will love it!

[lalemma]

I am not at all a purist. I think there are benefits and drawbacks to doing both cloth and disposables. Whatever works for your family is what's best!

My in-laws bought us diaper service after the birth. It was nice to not have to do diaper laundry (especially in the newborn phase!), but honestly diaper laundry isn't that big of a deal, and diaper services are pretty expensive, almost as expensive as disposables.

For a while, we did disposables at night. Our diaper service had a part-time package that we switched to after realizing that we were just not going to change a prefold a couple of times a night. I feel totally okay about this. You get some people who are into CDing who are very sneery or all-or-nothing, but I think that's nonsense. Cloth diapering, if you go with the frugal options like prefolds or flats, is definitely cheaper than disposables. SOME cloth diapers are definitely a better environmental choice - but I think it's very debatable if this is the case for all CDs.

Anyway, every cloth diaper you reach for during a diaper change is one disposable that doesn't end up in a landfill, and one disposable you don't have to buy. So if thinking about doing cloth from birth and full-time sounds daunting, just buy a dozen prefolds and a couple covers and see how you like it! You can always add more as you go.

- I didn't really have a problem with disposables with DD leaking -- will this become more of an issue with cloth provided I'm using a properly fitted cover?

I almost never have leaks or blowouts with either cloth or disposables. I'm not sure about the claims that one is so much better than the other: if your diaper fits it'll be okay.

- What about overnights? Will I have to change diapers in the middle of the night?

This is why we did disposables at night at first. I do not get enough of a smugness high from using cloth 100% to make up for the lack of sleep. YMMV!

Once you get out of the newborn pooping phase, pockets are a good option for night. I don't feel comfortable leaving my guy in prefolds or flats all night, but a pocket feels dry against his skin, so if he just pees, I'm okay with it.

- Will I be setting myself up for failure if I expect that cloth will roughly equal in terms of work and functionality to disposables?

I do find cloth diapering to be a bit more work in certain ways. You DO have to do laundry every few days. In the newborn phase, that can be daunting! And you DO have to change more frequently that you probably would with disposables. And for some cloth diapers, there is more of a learning curve than there is for disposables.

On the other hand, you never run out of diapers with cloth (if you keep up with the laundry.)

Overall I find cloth to be slightly more work, but not THAT much more work. And in terms of functionality, I think cloth and disposables are pretty close.

- What else should I know or expect?

CDing people can get way into collecting diapers. No way would I buy 30-dollar diapers, but if you're prone to shopper-itis, you should be aware that there's lots of it out there.

CDing people get obsessive about natural detergent and bleach being terrible. It's easy to get confused about "stripping", the latest, most-natural detergent, etc. But I figure, keep it simple. You're washing fabric that caught pee and poop. Wash it hot with a simple detergent, rinse it a lot to get the soap out, if your diapers get smelly, add a couple of tablespoons of bleach to the wash.

You don't need flushable liners for breastfed baby poo. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it just rinses right out in the wash.

If you're set on a diaper service, I think the newborn period is the time when you want it! Most newborns are so tiny that they really need the smallest size prefolds, but they outgrow them really quickly, too. (If you do decide to buy your own, you can repurpose the newborn prefolds as stuffers for your pockets, later.) And of course you go through approximately one million diapers a day.

Good luck!

[jimblejamble]

Cloth rocks, disposables suck, end of story.

(you said to give it to you straight! )

[zinemama]

Not a purist here. I used cloth for both of my kids and am glad I did. But my babies were both the kind that peed all the time and couldn't stand to have any wet on them. So at night, we used disposables. I simply wasn't willing to give up more of the limited sleep I was getting to change dipes all night long. This worked very well for us.

You have to change cloth diapers more often. You just do. But it's not that big a deal.

I would only use a diaper service if you can truly afford it - or maybe when the baby is a newborn and you want that chore taken care of by someone else. Otherwise, washing them yourself is really not a big deal. No fancy system required. If cost is your bottom line, forget the diaper service.

[Chamomile Girl]

One thing about a diaper service that is kinda gross is when I researched it here they only picked up the diapers once a week...sooooo all that smelliness would sit for waaaay to long in my book. I do a diaper load every other day and I never have to worry about my house smelling like pee. At least not from the baby...the cats are another story.

[Addie]

Just another set of personal anecdotes:

1. I can count on one hand the number of leaks/blowouts we've had w/ cloth, and we've been CDing almost exclusively for the 4 months that DS has been around. We've used disposables when traveling, and had some sort of blowout situation every time.

2. We haven't done a middle of the night change in months. Like PPs said, everyone seems to find their own nighttime solution. For us, a stay-dry pocket diaper works wonders.

3. I can't really compare the "workload" because I've never exclusively used disposables. But an extra load of laundry every other day doesn't bug me, and I love knowing that we always have what we need - like during the epic snowstorms this winter!

[Blueone]

- I didn't really have a problem with disposables with DD leaking -- will this become more of an issue with cloth provided I'm using a properly fitted cover?

I had leaky disposables when I used them, cloth has rarely leaked for me.


- What about overnights? Will I have to change diapers in the middle of the night?

For nights I use two flip inserts and haven't had a leak after 12 hours of use except for once or twice. I ended up buying a thin wool pair of longies from Green Mountain Diapers that were designed as a back up for diapers that already had a cover at night so that we wouldn't have to worry about damp jammies or sheets.

- Will I be setting myself up for failure if I expect that cloth will roughly equal in terms of work and functionality to disposables?


Nah, I don't think so. But there are those exceptional babies that are really heavy wetters and soak out of everything. But they also soak out of disposables too.

I'd really encourage getting a diaper detergent. We tried regular detergent and it took forever to rinse out. I'm all for Crunchy Clean detergent.

- What else should I know or expect?

Well, I was overwhelmed by all the options. I decided to do All in 2's and went with gro baby. It turns out that around 5 months when babies really wake up my son realized how much he hated feeling wet so we had to switch to a stay dry diaper. I was so glad Flip Stay Dry was available because I wasn't willing to use all pockets. It was also cheap but well made.

I'd suggest getting a bit of everything before settling on a decision. We have pockets for baby sitters and going out, the main diaper Flip, and I'm happy with it.

In Short, Cloth diapers are the best!!! So easy and worth it.

[alsoSarah]

We used sposies for our first, and are CDing our second.

I got pfs with snappis and Thirsties covers, and some BumGenius 3.0s.

Both cloth systems fit well, laundered easily, leaked *way* less than sposies ever did, and looked cute.

Despite all of the raves I read about prefolds, they were just way too fiddly for me. The BGs just made diaper changes so much faster and easier for me that I quit using pfs and switched entirely to BGs. For us, BGs also worked much better for nighttime, and I like the idea of the dry-feel liner.

So, I would absolutely recommend cloth, but different things suit different families....

Good luck!

alsoSarah

[mamadelbosque]

We've used BG 2.0s & 3.0s for the past 3yrs w/o issue. I used sposies for the first month w/ both boys cause' the bgs didn't quite fit, and for a month when DS1 was ~3-4 months when my DH was in the hospital and I just didn't have the time. I can honestly say that I have had *FAR* *FAR* fewer leaks with bgs than I did with sposies - especially poop! I don't think I've had a blowout with DS1 in, oh, a good 5-6 months. A few times they've leaked slightly, but that was my fault for not changing ds for like uh... 5hours At night I double up (regular & "newborn" insert) and we're generally fine till morning that way Good luck!!

[swd12422]

Another mom here who's had way more leaks with disposables at night than cloth. I actually switched to disposables at night (for a few weeks only) b/c DS is 2 yo and I was putting him in a hemp fitted stuffed with a hemp prefold AND a cotton prefold and he was soaking EVERY inch of those diapers at night. HOWEVER, I use a wool cover at night and he has never once had a leak where I had to change his sheets using that system. I thought if I switched to sposies at night they'd be more absorbent, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Out of three weeks using them at night, I changed the sheets and/or his PJs due to leaks no fewer than 8 times. So more than a third of the time they leaked. That's a lot when you have such a little baby and a long way to go til they're dry at night!

I've also put him in BG AIOs with a doubler at night, and he's been dry, but I keep them more for daytime (easier to change while out, as they're all one piece).

I did try prefolds with Thirsties covers and just couldn't get it right. He was in the explosive/runny poop stage and they'd leak now and then, and he's squirmy, so wrestling him into a prefold and then a cover was a little painful.

I'd suggest pockets or AIOs if you have a squirmer....

[Bokonon]

I was dubious that I would enjoy cloth diapering. I LOVE it. And I'm so glad I didn't go with a diaper service, because that takes all the fun out of it. I love trying different styles and brands. I just scored a huge lot off Craigslist - 24 Mother-Ease fitteds, 12 Mother-Ease covers, and 4 Kushies fitteds - for $75!

I did have a lot of leaks with Happy Heiny's pocket diapers, but never with FuzziBunz, fitteds or prefolds. I think the HHes just weren't a good fit for Peepers.

I never change her diaper in the middle of the night. And she never leaks.

You do have to change cloth more often than sposies, but if you know it's going to be a while before the next change, you can diaper accordingly, with a doubler or bamboo or hemp, or a different prefold fold.

[CeciMami]

We started out using sposies, then switched to gdiapers, and then when i stopped working and the money went bye bye, switched to pf's and covers (Wigglewormbottoms). As for leaks, we experienced some during all three methods, I never noticed one being better than another. I enjoyed CDing way more than I thought I would but by the time DS potty trained I resented the smelly laundry so much that I could've screamed. Not because doing laundry is hard. Not because doing laundry takes time. Because of the smell. And I'm not sensitive that way usually. I swore that I would NEVER CD again after that. I was all about using biodegradable sposies (definitely can't afford gdiapers this time so was looking into Baby Nature Care through Costco) until I learned about a new diaper service in town that costs $20 week for unlimited diapers picking up once a week. I think I jumped for joy! In order to combat the smell of diapers sitting, I'm just going to have my dirty diaper pail out in the garage if I feel like the pail that they provide isn't stink free enough (they include a charcoal deodorizing disc thingy with it. I am all about keeping sposies out of the landfill so this was the perfect solution for OUR family. Hope this helps!

[crystleyz42]

Thanks, Ladies!

Thanks everyone! You've given me a lot to think about ... keep it coming!

One thing that I am dead set on is using the diaper service. I HATE doing laundry and as it is can barely keep up with what my family of four makes now (my mom comes over once a week, and 9 times out of 10 is doing my laundry for me -- ). I know myself well enough to know that I would be setting myself up for failure if I wash my own dipes -- even one more load a week is WAAYYY too much for me.

That said, I'm going to check the math (long term) on the cost savings vs. disposables. I still think it's there. Here's the rates for the service I'd be going with: https://www.spottedhorse.com/sites/b...om/service.htm
From your experience(s), is that cheap or expensive?

The service also limits me to using PFs w/ covers since the service doesn't launder all in ones. This is fine with me -- I've got a babywearing collection that takes up 1/2 a closet -- I'm not interested in building another collection of diaper types.

I guess, for me, the bottom line is this -- If I can't do it with the service's PF's using covers (a handful of Thirsties or Bummies w/ a few fleece soakers for overnights seems reasonable) I'm not really interested. Does this change things? Is it still worth it?

Thanks again!!