Cloth diapers. « Back to Group Discussions

[finnegansmom]

Anyone planning on using cloth diapers?  We will, and I have a big stash for my 13 month old which is mostly one-size, thankfully.

BUT.......I can't help wanting to start looking at newborn diapers.  I like newborn fitteds for the first few weeks because they fit so well under the cord stump and even though my 9-10# babies only fit in them for a matter of days or weeks I feel compelled to buy some.

I need to wait...really I do....but..........

Anyone else getting itchy to start buying?

Oh and I never got around to selling some of my other son's stuff, including the wool longies we wore on the day he was born so this baby gets to wear them.  :)

[Marissamom]

I have s full stash of newborn prefolds and covers, and I think I'll be getting some hand-me down fitteds from my sister, but I'm still itching to buy some more, because the newborn ones are just so tiny and cute. I still have my 12 month old in diapers full-time and my 35 month old for naps, bedtime, and when we leave the house. it's going to be a lot of diapers. 

[sere234]

My 19 mo wears BG 3.0 and FB OS so when this LO gets big enough, we'll need to either buy more for sharing or simply hand them down (fingers crossed DS potty trains before November!!). We use prefolds for when the baby is tiny and I'll probably end up buying more of the tiny sizes since we didn't have enough when DS was born. For having the baby in them for only a few weeks, prefolds are a great deal! I reeeeeally want to buy them now as a reward for living through all this m/s but I'm still waiting! 

Looking forward to just dumping that EBF baby poop diaper directly into the diaper pail. DS's toddler poop is, ahem, fun to get into the toilet from the diaper! 

[finnegansmom]

Which newborn covers do you like?  I have a handful of flips but I think they run big, like possibly too big for newborns (especially with the onesize PF inside).  I think I had a few thirsties XS last time, I can't remember if they were too small though since my last son was 10.5# and gained weight quickly.

My friend had a baby 2 years ago and never sold her NB stash, I'm hoping she has some KL0s to let me buy...they are no nonsense but nice for newborn stage.  You would think after 3 kids I might be able to use a PF....not so much.  I can trifold into a cover.  That's it.

[faithsstuff]

I've started on my stash.  There's a local consignment store that has a pretty good selection on diapers.  So far I've got 18 nb prefolds, 3 nb covers and a couple small thirsties.  I also have a bunch of larger prefolds and pocket dipes left over from ds.  I'm just suprised I was able to wait so long :)

[kateaton]

I've never used cloth with my 2 daughters, but with this one I'm really determined to do this exclusively.  I have to start from scratch and am still learning all the different choices, etc.  I did buy a few AIO's off zulilly for a good price, but I have a lot to buy.  Unrelated to cloth diapers, I just bought 2 pairs of see kai run shoes on clearance (for a boy) b/c I feel very strongly this is a boy... which is very premature, but I couldn't help myself.

[tibris]

I have a stash from my last one, can't wait to use it again!

[nemrac917]

*raises hand*  I have a good stash going, so far, considering it's my first.  I had a good start as I used to live right by Jillian's Drawers and would go in every month or so to add an item or 3 to the growing stash. I can't wait to be able to see a little bottom filling out the fluff.

[Dealea86]

I have a very large stash from DD, more than enough for each stage.

Unfortunately, the ones we have now stink. No amount of stripping is getting rid of that urine smell, and it's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do anymore. I've tried different kinds of detergents, I've tried different wash routines, everything. So DD (who sill isn't potty trained ) is currently in disposables. I've got to get this figured out by November, though, or we could be in trouble. Any suggestions??

(LG front loader, have used both Allen's Naturally and Rockin' Green detergents, usually wash them like 30 times - okay, more like 3 - before taking them out to dry)

Edited by Dealea86 - 4/12/12 at 6:27pm

[finnegansmom]

Dealea, have you tried RLR?  It's supposed to removed residue which builds up and holds in stink.

We have a front loader too, (I'm not a fan but we have a well so it serves that purpose) but I'll strip the diapers with RLR in our jacuzzi bathtub.

Oh it's a huge undertaking but you should see the gross foaminess that comes out of the diapers.

I actually thought my diapers stunk when I used RnG and went back to All F&C and no smell.  Maybe it just didn't work well with our water.

Lots of CD online stores sell RLR, it comes in packet and they are maybe $2 each? 

I'll probably do mine (especially the MF inserts) when it's a nice day and I can hang them out to dry in the sun.

ETA --- it takes many rinses to get the foam out.  I'll rinse then once in the tub then a bunch of times in the washer.

and I do the RLR when the diapers are clean, not dirty. 

[Marissamom]

urine smell: is it urine or ammonia they smell like? ammonia smell is usually from them not getting clean enough while being washed. often increasing detergent amount or adding water softener like Calgon or white king to the wash helps. 

Newborn covers: I used Thirsties Duo size 1, which cover both newborn and small sizes. they fit DS for 7 months, and by the time he outgrow them he could fit even our largest OS covers. 

[ananas]

I will be cloth diapering. I've been looking around on a few sites but haven't bought anything yet because I can't figure out which "system" I want to go with...

[chrissy]

We will definitely use cloth!   For newborns, I really prefer infant prefolds, with a snappi under wool covers.  I am sure I will buy a few cute ones though, just for fun! 

[EnviroBecca]

My son wore fitteds, newborn size and then one-size, with Dappi pull-on nylon pants--we tried several other covers at first, but none of them worked as well as Dappis which were the cheapest!  I sold both stashes long ago.  I am so tempted to start buying cute little fluffy diapers now, but I'd better wait until 2nd trimester at least....

[finnegansmom]

Oh that's right, the thirsties duo size 1!  I think I had a few of those for Henry when they first came out...they worked well because he was so big at birth.

I used to use fitteds and wool so much more with my older kids, but now with #3, I just don't have the bandwidth to be caring and washing wool on top of the 2+ loads of clothes laundry plus diaper laundry I have to do each day...oy.  I do like them at birth though, they fit so well....

I'm getting excited to start shopping...ack.

[lulubikes]

I will be cloth diapering too. It's my first baby so I don't know which kind I'll use yet. I'll be looking to all you more experienced cloth diaperers to see which direction to go. 

I have been thinking about them, but I'm going to wait to start buying diapers. I don't want to jinx things. I'm only 7 1/2 weeks now!

[oikophile]

This is my first baby and I'm really curious about EC (which for most of my life I read as "emergency contraception"--gotta get used to that!). I definitely want to use cloth diapers, but I am a big believer of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order. So hopefully if we do EC, that'll help with the Reduce part, and I am hoping to get a lot of cloth diapers used (either buy secondhand or hand-me-downs from friends). I'd like to keep it as simple as possible. Definitely not in buying mode yet--I'm still kind of superstitious about going all out acquiring baby/maternity stuff. :/

Glad to know all of you seem to know what you like in cloth diapers--I may come back here later with questions!

[tibris]

Stink - do you notice an odor for your other clothes? I have a front load washer and I have to wash the washer constantly or my clothes just don't get clean.

 

ananas - I'm a big fan on all in ones. I have plenty of others, but I ended up making my own all in ones and found those were the ones I was happiest with. My kids are holders so when they pee they fill and overflow the diapers, cloth or disposable.
 

[laurac5]

I used prefolds on dd, then prefolds and flats on ds, and now I've finally come full circle and am back to 100% prefolds and I'm SOOO happy to be back to my simple stash with NO folding.  :-)  I think we needed the flats for a time, because ds has very sensitive skin and was getting rashes in prefolds for a while.   But he's gotten better and I'm SO over the folding.  We use wool for bigger babies but BSWW for infants.   I don't need newborn dipes for my 8.5lb babies. :-P

Dealea, are your prefolds better off than your AIO's and fitteds?  What temp do you wash on?  How much detergent?  Do you dry in the dryer or on a clothes line?  I think drying on high heat in the dryer made a difference for our CD's, killing germs and all that. :-D

[Dealea86]

I'm going to try the RLR treatment when I hit the I'm-feeling-great stage of pregnancy. I'd never heard about that before, and it looks like it's worth a try.

Originally Posted by laurac5 

I used prefolds on dd, then prefolds and flats on ds, and now I've finally come full circle and am back to 100% prefolds and I'm SOOO happy to be back to my simple stash with NO folding.  :-)  I think we needed the flats for a time, because ds has very sensitive skin and was getting rashes in prefolds for a while.   But he's gotten better and I'm SO over the folding.  We use wool for bigger babies but BSWW for infants.   I don't need newborn dipes for my 8.5lb babies. :-P

Dealea, are your prefolds better off than your AIO's and fitteds?  What temp do you wash on?  How much detergent?  Do you dry in the dryer or on a clothes line?  I think drying on high heat in the dryer made a difference for our CD's, killing germs and all that. :-D

We don't have AIO's. It seems to me that the synthetic fibers are worse off than the natural fibers, though they're all bad. We wash on high heat, use 2 scoops of RG or 1/4-1/2 scoop of AN. We dry on high in the dryer.

I think part of the problem is that if I use too little detergent, the diapers don't get clean and they stink. If I use too much detergent, they don't get fully rinsed. I'm having a really horrible time finding that balance. And it could be that a perfect balance doesn't exist for my washer.