Which would you choose: diaper service or coin-operated washers?

[escher]

If you rely on coin-operated laundry facilities and you cloth diaper, do you use a diaper service or wash your own? How did you decide?

It seems like a major pain to deal with washing diapers in our apartment basement laundry room (especially when we're dealing with a newborn and sleep deprivation), but the diaper services in my area cost $70-100, which seems fairly pricey. Thoughts? Thanks!

[Ola_]

I would probably go with the coin-op and get natural fabric diapers (which rules out most pocket dipes I believe) - that should avoid a lot of the issues that require a picky washing routine.  If you didn't have diaper facilities on site and had to use a laundromat then I'd probably lean towards the service instead.

If it makes it easier on you, you could always start with sposies and switch to cloth once you feel you've got a bit of a routine going and the initial craziness is over.  Personally I found that in the first few days our baby didn't use that many diapers, certainly not as many as she uses now at 8 weeks old (there's that chart about how many pees and poops you can expect in the first few days).

[katie9143]

service 100%!!! let me tell you why (from exp) when we bought out current house there were no hoopups so for the last 9 mos of our diapering i used the laundromat...it was bad.  i think it was from all the other ppl that used it and the funky soaps that build up inside the washer and in the dispenser.  I tried washing the washer out with vinegar, running our clothing through the machine first using our diaper soap and nothing.  i ended up boiling diapers ATLEAST once a month to remove buildup.  it was bad and there were no services available in our area either...

gl

[PatioGardener]

I also had to make this choice. I went with the service (about $30/week) for 3 months, and then switched to pocket diapers. At about 3 months I could cope with the laundry, but I did miss the service!