Cloth or disposables on vacation?

[April Dawn]

So, I normally use FuzziBunz on my DS. He does wear disposables (seventh generation) for about 2 hours twice a week when my parents babysit him, but other than that he's all in cloth. Next week, we are going on vacation for three days (first time since he's been born, yay!). I can't decide whether to take cloth diapers on the trip or just put him in sposies. I was thinking we'd just use disposables on the trip; we won't have easy access to a washer and I don't want to lug a stinky suitcase full of three days worth of cloth diapers. But I'm worrying now that he might get diaper rash from a sudden switch into all sposies, since he's never been in them for more than a couple of hours. Has anyone had experience with suddenly switching from cloth to disposables for a few days? Did your LO do okay with the switch? Thanks for any tips!

[lifeguard]

It's never been troublesome for us.

Could you bring some cloth with you? Then if the disposables are causing problems you can switch to the cloth & if not they'll stay clean in your suitcase.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Never had a problem with switching either. I do bring my cloth on vacation though, and do a wash before we leave.

[Adaline'sMama]

We went across the country for 8 days and used cloth, however, I used all pockets while we were gone. I just thought to myself, "if it gets too hard, I can always go buy some disposables". Im glad we didnt have to switch.

[aramat]

You could start trying the disposables now for peace of mind. I wouldn't take cloth on vacation unless I had easy access to a washer. You can also put a layer of fabric (fleece? terry washcloth?) inside the disposable if needed, and just rinse that out in the sink after each diaper change and hang to dry. Or you can slather on barrier creams as rash prevention.

[stephbrownthinks]

When DS was around 2 months old we took a tree day trip to San Diego. I didn't want to deal with the cloth so we bought sposies. BIG MISTAKE. DS had so many blowouts that we ran out of clean clothes. He had never had a blowout in cloth before, so I thought I was doing well by bringing 2 extra outfits for a three day trip. Not so much.

Besides the blowouts, I just hated the way they smelled, hated the way his little butt felt (all sad and flat instead of fluffy haha). I decided from then on out, no more disposables.

About a month later we took another 3 day trip to San Fransisco for a wedding. We brought cloth and it wasn't a problem at all. I brought enough diapers so that we wouldn't have to wash (prefolds, fitteds, and pockets) and put them all in one suitcase. We just put the dirty ones in plastic bags and left them in our room then threw them in the trunk when we were coming home. It really wasn't hard at all. We'll be doing the same next trip I'm sure!

Lots of moms go 3-4 days between washes so you should be fine

[rhiOrion]

April- I think my general rule is to only take cloth if it's short enough that I don't have to wash.

But even then, when we went to my ILs' house for two nights I used 'sposies because I was going to have to take an extra suitcase just for cloth!

But when we went to my parents' house for one night we took cloth. I took a small garbage bag for a wet bag.

For a three-day vacation I'd personally use disposables. But L never has any issues in 'sposies except that they leak more.

[leaves]

I know some people say it's easy to take cloth on vaca, but I've never found it so! Only when I went to my mom's and was able to use her washer was it easy for me. Other than that, I feel awkward asking people to use their washer to clean our dirty diapers, and I hate dealing with poo at other people's houses. We use a laundromat at home anyway, but IDK, it just seems way more convenient to use sposies during long vacations! We've never had a problem switching. My son doesn't care for the plastic on his skin, I hate that too, but that's the worst of it. However, we have a lot of poopy blowouts in sposies. I think we've had maybe one blowout using cloth!

[April Dawn]

Thanks for all the input, everyone! I especially like the idea of lining disposables with cloth to help prevent rash!

[ChetMC]

No Problem

I've never had a problem with a short term switch to disposables either. We usually use disposables when we travel, though DH and I both complain about them the whole time.

When I've traveled with cloth it's been for very short trips. I bring enough diapers for the time period, I rinse them out and hang them to dry. I wash them for real when I get home, but they aren't stinky to travel with.

[octobermom]

If I have easy access to a washer/dryer I bring cloth if not I do disposables. We use gdiaper flushies in pull covers and regular sposies for night when we do sposie switch..

Deanna

[Biscuits & Gravy]

I've used cloth on vacation when we've had access to washer/dryer and we drove. Other than that I use disposables on trips. K is Mr. Sensitive Skin and I've had good experiences with seventh generation, and I really like the huggies pure & natural. They are soft (7th gen are not) and they don't smell like other disposables do. I have some left from when my mom was here if you'd like to try a few before buying!

[Biscuits & Gravy]

Originally Posted by ChetMC

I've never had a problem with a short term switch to disposables either. We usually use disposables when we travel, though DH and I both complain about them the whole time.

When I've traveled with cloth it's been for very short trips. I bring enough diapers for the time period, I rinse them out and hang them to dry. I wash them for real when I get home, but they aren't stinky to travel with.

LOL!! That's us, too. Especially once when DS was little and still had EBF poo. We went away for a weekend and used disposables. I almost ran out of clothes for him to wear because of the poopy blowouts! Those just don't happen with cloth.

[JessieBird]

Lugging home a bag of dirty diapers doesn't bother me so I take cloth almost all the time. When visiting grandparents, I'll use their washers if we're there for more than 4 days (though I prefer my machines and routine so I'd actually rather bring them home even if it's a lot) and I didn't even mind going to the small town laundromat when we rented a cottage for a month last summer.

I used sposies on a vacation for the first time last week - we went to NYC for 6 days, with extra days in Montreal on either end of the trip. That was way too long to go without doing laundry and I figured we'd be too busy for a trip to the laundromat. DS did get a rash from the sposies and it still hasn't cleared up five days later but it's not too bad and isn't bothering him.

[SubliminalDarkness]

If I was flying, I'd use disposables. If I was driving, I'd use cloth. We've only taken driving vacations, and have always used cloth, with or without washer/dryer access.

[Mosaic]

Originally Posted by ChetMC

We usually use disposables when we travel, though DH and I both complain about them the whole time.

This, and I do so HATE disposies. We ALWAYS get a rash in disposies, but part of that may not be disposie-related. We don't change her as frequently when we're running around a new place, or I eat something that disagrees with her at an unfamiliar restaurant, or she breaks 2 teeth, etc. So odds are higher than normal that she'd get a rash even in cloth. But finding a local laundromat and spending 2-3 hours every other day doing diapers doesn't fit well in our vacation plans unless we're visiting relatives.

We always plan on doing laundry, but it's a lot easier for regular loads rather than diaper washes (which always require at least an extra rinse and extra drying time). I find it's just easier to give DD a ton of naked time. If push comes to shove, I also don't mind washing regular clothes (and waterproof pads, towels, etc.) in the bathtub and hanging them to dry; but I don't feel comfortable doing that with dipes.