Mom's With Multiple Kids in Dipes...

[chely7425]

I have a question for mamas out there with multiple kids in dipes We currently have 2 in diapers, a 2 year old and a 10 month old. We are expecting a 3rd in October and barring some sort of potty miracle my 2 year old (who will be 2.5 in October) will still be in diapers which makes 3 in diapers. I would REALLY like to get my butt back in gear with my cloth. I have a huge stash of prefolds (need to get a few more covers) and some pockets for Dad to use or babysitters or what have you. I just can't stomach the thought of the 50 dollars a month we are spending on sposies now... let alone the 100 it will probably be with a newborn!! Anyway here are my questions...

1. How often do you wash?
2. How do you keep everything organized?
3. Does it make you crazy?
4. Am I insane for contemplating 3 in cloth??
5. Words of wisdom?

[mmhinton]

Power to you! I have 2 boys - now 3 1/2 and 2 (who are thankfully both potty trained!! and we had both in dipes for awhile. Both have been exclusively cloth diapered (other than some travel occasions and it was SO easy and SO worth it (financially, environmentally, etc).
Let me start by saying that we have about 100 cloth diapers. I kept a "stash" (neatly laid out some days, in a big pile other days! in the living room and a few dipes in a few other rooms we were consistently in (e.g., bedroom, bathroom). The "pail" (it is a cleaned out 5 gallon kitty litter bucket that our neighbor didn't need is in the laundry room (which for us is on the main level ... if not, the bathroom would likely work also!). We never had a "changing" table - I found that the floor worked very well as that was likely where the boys were anyway (as was I!!).
So, when both boys were in dipes, I washed about every other day - but it really was not that difficult - just dump the pail in the washer, let it run, then throw them all in the dryer (except the covers). What I did was get the dirty dipe (wet or pooey) off my son, set it aside, put clean dipe on him then put the dirty dipe in the pail (I did like to rinse poo, but many don't when baby is exclusively breastfed). Very simple.
Yes, there were days that I felt like all I did was change diapers....but I am guessing I would have felt like that even with disposables!
Oh, and while three in dipes (regardless of method) will be *fun* I would guess that cloth (in the long run) will be money saving (more "up front" cost, but ours have paid for themselves long ago!...(and I plan to cut them up and make me some cloth pads to try...so then it is even more money saving!!!))

Words of wisdom...have enough cloth diapers that you don't have to wash every day... every other will likely be neccessary anyway just to keep the dipes from getting smelly

Good luck!!!

[chely7425]

We have 36 brown edged GMD prefolds (for the toddlers) 36 yellow edged (for the new baby) and a bunch of covers and 12 OS pockets and 6 small FBs pockets and 6 medium FB pockets... Plus some random fitteds (probably around 10) that are super cute. I know in the long run it will save us money especially because I already have it all!!!! I know I need some more covers... it is good to know it can be done!! What did washing every other day do to your electric bill? We live on a military base and they have an average electric usage for houses in our neighborhood with the same number of bedrooms and if you go over that by more than 5 dollars you pay the difference... we are REALLY hoping to keep under that so we don't have to pay!!!

[mmhinton]

That's great that you already have the dipes!! We bought about 50 with our first son and then added about 50 more when pregnant with the second...worked out well!
Our electric bill seems to be more varied depending on the weather (we live in Kansas) and how much we run the AC or heat than it ever did with washing diapers! We also did not notice an increase in water bills either, fwiw! Whatever increases we did have were not noticeable (though I did see in a different post a way to approximate what your cost might be.... I think it was the post regarding diaper service vs wash your own...if you wanna read through that).
Overall, I have to say that cloth diapering has been a great money saver for us (especially when both boys were in dipes)! Also, for wipes I used some of the liners (we didn't need as many as we had) that I cut into "wipe size" and then wet those. I wasn't as consistent with that as I wish I'd been, but cloth wipes are SO much more effective and would also be a way to save more $$. When I did use those, I'd just throw them in the pail and wash with the diapers.
Also, fwiw, I am fairly sure that cloth diapering has helped my boys potty train "early" and fairly easily (DS1 at about 25 months and DS2 at about 18 months) because they could "feel" when they were wet and did not like it! Maybe it was just a coincidence, but at least it made me feel like it helped

[chely7425]

Yeah we have cloth wipes too DH doesn't like using those as much but I don't mind buying some throw away wipes for him and he rarely changes diapers anyway I am really hoping our electric doesn't change much.. and we don't pay our water bill so I am not as concerned about that. I REALLY hope being back in cloth will help our oldest potty train quickly... the less time he is in diapers the better! Hopefully I can figure out a good wash routine and get a good system down before number 3 arrives..

[Nicole730]

We have 2 in diapers and I've been doing laundry every other day. I have plenty of diapers to do it less frequently, but then I would need more diaper pails. Almost all of our diapers are homemade flannel pockets that require stuffing and unstuffing. Which is a little more work, hardly ever are the diaper stackers full, usually I am stuffing the diaper form the laundry basket as I need it. It's not too bad though. Probably because I'm used to it I guess. I hang the diapers outside on the days it is nice enough too.

[chely7425]

I wish we could hang dry things... it is SO humid here though I don't think things would ever dry, silly Louisiana!! I think I am going to try a Thirsties Duo, a blueberry coverall (a 2nd one) a kissaluvs OS cover and a flip cover... should cover me for covers for awhile

[Katie T]

I had 2 in cloth but in the beginning I only had 18 diapers and so I had to wash 2 times a day.

Once I got more diapers I washed ever day day and half. I bought one of those clothes organizers that hangs in your closet rod and jimmy rigged it to hang from the door of my laundry room and organized my diapers and covers in that. It wasn't great but it worked. A book shelf would have been better but we didn't have room for one where I needed it.

Good luck to you, it is doable but will take organization. I saw a vidio of a family who had 2 in cloth and then had quints and cloth diapered all 6 kids. (it was on youtube). That is crazy but they did it for the money savings.

[chely7425]

Makes sense that organization is key... I am really hoping that since we mainly just use PFs and covers it won't be so bad but that might just be wishful thinking!

[Michigan Mama]

I had two in dipes for a while and the thing that surprised me was that even though I had enough diapers to wash every other day or every third day, all the diapers wouldn't fit if I waited that long! If I waited two days, the machine was too full for them to clean well. I could have gone every day & a half, but then I'd forget, so my best bet was to wash daily at first.

We EC part time, so once we got to the point where baby wasn't using quite as many diapers, then we could wash every other day.

I love using cloth, especially with nb where you don't have to rinse and swish or anything. Love pf's for LO's.

The great thing about pf's is you don't even have to fold them - just toss them all in a laundry basket or whatever. You could sort them according to size, but since they usually have different serging colors, you probably don't even need to do that.

I love Thirsties Duo Wraps - when my ds1 is still in dipes, both boys fit in the size two, so I didn't have to carry as many diapers in my diaper bag - both boys fit the same size. Ds2 outgrew the size one at around 15 lbs (2 mo?) so after that they were in the same size. ds1 has since PL'ed.

Good luck! You'll do great!

[threekstrio]

I'd say from our experience it is definitely doable. It's probably easier with prefolds and covers but we've always done pockets so on the middle shelf of the changing table we always had bins each labeled with the child's name to show whose diapers were whose. Our kiddos have all always been in cloth too (except for occasional vacation trips). How exciting that you get to try all of the new diapering things that are out now!

[katie9143]

i read this thread earlier and while talking to another mom about loving these a little while ago I thought I had to come back and send you to a link. I only have one kid but have used these new one size hugga buns and they ROCK!! They are super cheap and very durable too. I would think that a couple dozen of these would really streamline your stash (you could also use them as covers too and lay in your pfs). You can get them with and without the insert which would be great since you have lots of pfs - especially when no one is wearing the smalls anymore.

http://maineclothdiaper.com/proddeta...zecover&cat=39

[celestialdreamer]

I've got 2 in diapers full time (2yo & 4mo), but a total of 4 small kids, so my life is really hectic. I stick with OS stuff only and keep it really simple. I purposely don't keep a lot of diaper stuff around and wash daily or every other day at most. This for me keeps stinkies away and just makes keeping it all organized much easier. Since you have all the prefolds you want, I'd just use those along with a bunch of OS covers. We use Flip covers + inserts or occasionally flats folded up in the covers. I don't like having to have separate "stashes" for each child because my DH gets confused.

We have a simple setup in our closet - 1 basket for covers, 1 basket for Flip inserts, 1 big bin in the top of the closet for flats (for when laundry is backed up or for air time w/ a snappi). Cloth wipes live in a basket on the back of the toilet and get wetted with water at the sink before use. Also we don't use a pail - we use a large wetbag and keep it in the bathroom. I keep a small basket of diaper accessories for changing (wetbags, snappis, sposie wipes, changing pad) on the shelf next to my side of the bed where I change them.

When I change them I grab a wipe & wet it at the sink, grab an insert (and cover if needed) from the closet on my way to the bed. I lay them on the changing pad that is right next to the bed since my toddler is a wiggle worm. When I take a dirty diaper off, I purposely set it on the floor so the toddler doesn't grab it lol. When done, I take the dirty diaper to large wetbag that hangs off of the towel bar in our bathroom. The diaper sprayer is right there on the toilet if needed. Then I wash my hands at the sink.

I wash every night or every other night depending on what other laundry is going. I wash the changing pad at the same time. I make sure to get the diapers into the dryer before I go to bed and bring them up first thing in the morning to put away. Because we don't have anything to "fold" it literally only takes me a minute. We have a second wetbag to hang in the bathroom for the rare times I don't get diaper laundry done right away and in those cases I use a fleece baby blanket as our backup changing pad.

My biggest advice is to keep things streamlined and don't keep too much. Wash frequently so you don't need piles and piles of diapers to keep track of and fold.

[inky leeuhhh]

i am so obsessed with cding. three in dipes is like my DREAM. lol! i would do pfs and duo wraps if i had different sized kids in dipes. love our duo wraps and gmd prefolds. we keep about a dozen pocket dipes around for the daycare provider and dh.

[chely7425]

Originally Posted by inky leeuhhh

i am so obsessed with cding. three in dipes is like my DREAM. lol! i would do pfs and duo wraps if i had different sized kids in dipes. love our duo wraps and gmd prefolds. we keep about a dozen pocket dipes around for the daycare provider and dh.

This is probably basically what we will end up with... I am trying to stick with one size covers or 2 size ones to simplify things. We also have pockets for dh and babysitters

[inky leeuhhh]

Originally Posted by chely7425

This is probably basically what we will end up with... I am trying to stick with one size covers or 2 size ones to simplify things. We also have pockets for dh and babysitters

you can't beat them.cute and cheap!