Thinking of cloth diapering baby #2 « Back to Group Discussions

[MommyofNRM]

Hi all. I'm thinking of cloth diapering my second baby- at least as much as possible. I didn't do it at all with my first son, but I'm very interested in it for a variety of reasons. My first question is how much extra work will I be creating for myself? I'll be staying home with this baby and my older ds who will be just about 3 when his brother arrives. Second, how much money do you feel like you save overall? And lastly, where do I even begin? I'm pretty clueless! Anyone else thinking of cd for the first time? 

[pregnova]

I cloth diapered my son from about 8 weeks until he potty-trained at 15 months (thanks to EC!) So, I know a lot of others will have more info, but I thought I'd give a try at answering your questions.

We saved an enormous!!!! amount of money, but then we approached it from a budget perspective. I started by buying a 18 prefolds and three one size Bum Genius diapers and two covers. I found a deal on those bumgenius by stalking online and finding a cloth diaper site that happened to be selling them as seconds because the stitching inside wasn't exactly perfect, so they were like $10 each rather than the closer to $20 price tag for perfect ones. The prefolds would have been around $30. And that was my stash until ds outgrew his covers and prefolds at around 5 months. 

At 5 months, I was still expecting to cloth diaper for a long time, so I did scoop up another 18 prefolds in a larger size, three covers, and another three Bum genius AIOs. I also answered a craigslist ad for some pocket diapers and picked up a half dozen of all different brands. A few months later, I bought two cloth diaper swim diapers, and another two Fuzzi Bunz. A few months LATER, lol, I answered another craigslist ad and received a BUNCH of FREE prefolds in an even larger size, a bunch of fitted prefold in a larger size, and a few covers that were never my favorite. I was lucky though that most of the time we cloth diapered, I lived in areas where it was very common, so there was lots to choose from second hand or free. 

I did wash diapers a LOT. But, since we were ECing during all of this time, we caught a lot of pees and most poops, so we didn't really use ALL that many diapers a day. I think I washed every two full days...so ON the third day, and normally was down to my last handful of diapers by that point. But work-wise, idk...it never seemed like that much extra. 

I think prefolds are the easiest to understand and the easiest to fit to your baby. The thing I found with with all in ones and pocket diapers (the nicer ones where you don't also need a cover) is that you'll find your own favorite brand through trial and error...so they're not really worth the splurge (in my opinion) unless you know for certain that it's the brand that fits your Baby perfectly and the one you personally love. Prefolds are like the workhorses of cloth diapering and SO cheap for the wear and tear you can put them through. I'm partial too though in that prefolds are a must for practicing EC. So, if that weren't a factor, and I was starting a stash from the beginning, I'd go for some newborn fitted prefolds and newborn prefolds with a few good covers...so like $100 to get you two days with no washing. (lol, that's what's in my cart right now) And then pick up all in ones and pocket diapers as you came across them in deals until you found the brand you loved, or else were committed to continuing with prefolds. 

Whew! that was a mouthful! I hope it made sense, and I'm sure others will have lots more to say!

[onyxravnos]

not much work at all. putting \ taking off a cloth diaper takes the same amount time as a disposable. For a BF baby who hasn't started solids it's no extra work. Take of diaper put in wetbag... wash as is. 

once you've started solids you'll need to take a sec to scrape off the poop into the toilet then repeat as above. 

 Cloth can be scary at first due to the $$ but if you do the math it's much cheaper. I myself have no running water at my house so i have to go to the laundry mat. Even with that added expense it's STILL cheaper then disposables. Having a washing machine in your house makes it even cheaper. You also don't need as many on hand if you have a washing machine.

Edited by onyxravnos - 5/31/12 at 11:31am

[springmum]

Cloth diapering is really simple now. The "all-in-ones" or "pocket" diapers have everything together, and I agree you definitely need to find the right fit for your babe - they are all just a little different.

I might be the only one that seriously struggled with prefolds and covers - I don't remember what the problem was exactly, but I just got seriously discouraged with the set up. I found the AIO's and pockets much simpler once I found the ones I liked. Really I never noticed the extra load of laundry once we were in the groove - I liked to wash them all together on their own, but I know some who wash them in with the towels.

I did a combo of cloth & disposables until DS was dry at night at about 18 months, then just stuck to cloth until he was out of diapers just before age 2. I didn't do the newborn stage either, b//c breastfeeding challenges were keeping me busy enough.

For me, b/c DS had lot of digestive related food intolerances, our poop issues were frequent (DS NEVER had a solid poop after starting solids and he went several times a day - what a mess!) , and so I kept disposables for long day drips and overnights - it made my life easier and the cost in the long run was still much less. I think being in cloth is what helped DS be ready for the potty so early, so I saved a bunch of $ on the fact that he was ready so soon too.

What I'm doing again this time is buying one of each of a few different styles of cloth (plus our old stash), doing disposables in the beginning (unless things are settling easily around) and then trying out the different varieties before deciding which ones to use regularly.

My personal opinion is that you don't have to go all or nothing in the beginning. Newborns are hard enough, as well as recovering, older children etc. My advice is buy a few different kinds, try them out as you go and don't stress over it. Likely if it's tough in the beginning, it won't be in about a month or two, so you can always start then. 

The other thing to consider is diaper services. I've heard good things about the ones in our area. They do all the cleaning, and give you a fresh clean stash when you need it - takes the extra work out for you! Then you can really compare costs of washing  etc.

[MommyofNRM]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies! I think I will search out a few different kinds (in different sizes?) and figure out which works best for him. I do laundry just about every day anyway, so I guess it won't be much different. Honestly, the idea of scraping poop out of cloth sounded pretty awful but after having my two year old, nothing grosses me out anymore.  Do most people wash them separately or with towels or something? And how clean do they really look after? I'm excited to give it a shot! I'll definitely be keeping some disposables for outings and trips. 

Oh and what kind of a bag do you store them in until you have enough for a load of laundry? Are there special bags specifically for diapers or just a regular laundry bag? 

Thanks so much for answering my silly questions! My other option is to ask my grandmother who cloth diapered in the 50s. I know she used a diapering service with her first child and had disposables by the time she had her second child. I also think she'll call me crazy for choosing cloth over the ease of disposables. Although she also thinks it's immodest to breastfeed... Oy. 

[UnderTheOldOakTree]

Wash them separately!  My FIL made the mistake of washing one of DS's diapers with his clothes (this was well into him eating solids) and he had to wash his clothes about 10 times to get rid of the smell (he also used a heavily perfumed detergent which made it worse).  

We had plastic diaper  pails that we used with cotton cloth bag liners.  This time we'll get some PUL liners for the diaper pails though.  

We cloth diapered for over two  years and when I looked at our diapers a few weeks ago only one had any stains.   It doesn't hurt to have some disposable diapers on hand, however we quickly realized that  we still preferred to use our cloth diapers when out and about around town and  when we were visiting family where we could wash our cloth diapers.  Our first experience with disposables after starting cloth was pretty awful (many more blowouts than in our cloth diapers and awful diaper rash).  We really regretted not bringing our cloth diapers with us on that trip.

Also, I know this probably wouldn't work for all families, but DH took over the diaper washing duties fairly early on.  I still did the other laundry but while I was focusing on nursing and pumping  it really helped that he took on those extra loads.

Hope that helps a little.

[LibbyLou]

Some of the online cloth diaper stores do trials where they send you a few types of diapers to try for a month or two.  You keep what you want and send back what doesn't work for you.  I'd highly recommend looking into that if you'd like to be able to evaluate them in-person.  If you can find a natural baby store in your area that sells cloth diapers, that would be a good resource too.  I know the one that we used to live near would do a cloth diaper class one evening a month.

We did cloth with DD starting at about 4 weeks, and I agree that it didn't seem like much extra work.  I washed about every third day.  We also bought a diaper sprayer once DD started solids, which made clean up super easy and is also really nice to have now that DD uses her little potty.

[onyxravnos]

I've washed them with clothes but I prefer not to. I'd wash them by themselves. I use a plastic garbage can with a PUL lined bag from Bummis. 

Scraping the poop isn't really that bad most of the time. You don't have to get every single little bit off just the big stuff and half the time just turning the diaper upside down over the toilet will let it fall off all by itself.

[MommyofNRM]

Thanks ladies! Very helpful. 

Originally Posted by UnderTheOldOakTree 

Wash them separately!  My FIL made the mistake of washing one of DS's diapers with his clothes (this was well into him eating solids) and he had to wash his clothes about 10 times to get rid of the smell (he also used a heavily perfumed detergent which made it worse).  

We had plastic diaper  pails that we used with cotton cloth bag liners.  This time we'll get some PUL liners for the diaper pails though.  

We cloth diapered for over two  years and when I looked at our diapers a few weeks ago only one had any stains.   It doesn't hurt to have some disposable diapers on hand, however we quickly realized that  we still preferred to use our cloth diapers when out and about around town and  when we were visiting family where we could wash our cloth diapers.  Our first experience with disposables after starting cloth was pretty awful (many more blowouts than in our cloth diapers and awful diaper rash).  We really regretted not bringing our cloth diapers with us on that trip.

Also, I know this probably wouldn't work for all families, but DH took over the diaper washing duties fairly early on.  I still did the other laundry but while I was focusing on nursing and pumping  it really helped that he took on those extra loads.

Hope that helps a little.

This is great advice! Not sure my DH will do it but wouldn't hurt to try  Thanks! 

[PrincessMRC]

it's really not that much more work--I CD'd my 3rd and 4th child but not my first (DSD) or my 2nd (wasn't educated) and not my 5th child. :( my DH is a stay at home daddy and I haven't been able to convince him...yet.... ;)

[Megan Plunkett]

CD'ing is really no extra work if you factor in no midnight runs to the store. A late night load of laundry is way better than having to go out and spend money in my opinion. And no worries about whether you have the money or not. 

I have cloth diapered my son from 5 weeks until now. He is 14 months. In total I have spent just under $600 on diapers. I could have gone way cheaper, but I wanted a mix of types and brands, and enough to wash every 2 to 3 days. I am now expecting number 2 in October and the cost to diaper this son will be $0!!!! I should be able to potty train my older son around 18/20 months thanks to EC, but even if not I am probably fine but may buy one or two more just because of patterns. Laundry soap, etc is extra, but I'd say $300 a kid is amazing! The average cost for disposables is between $2 and $3000.

Also, www.kellyscloset.com is one of the best sites because they always offer free diaper coupons with different size orders. I just planned ahead and took advantage of those offers. Overall, those coupons and a few Craigslist finds have earned me over 30% off the retail value of my diapers.

If you're starting out, prefolds and covers are a great place to start (and the cheapest). I would also strongly advise you to wait until your newborn fits in the one size fits all diapers. Buying newborn specific can waste a lot of many especially if you have big babies. My 1st DS was/is in the less than 1st percentiles for height and weight and he still fit in the one size diapers at about 8 weeks. My recommendation for brands are Flip covers (which happen to be on sale right now) and either the Flip organic inserts - they hold an incredible amount of pee, but can be bulky, or Bummis infant sized prefolds. My little man has been wearing the infant size from about 8-10 weeks until now and they still fit just fine.

Good luck!

[is it puppies?]

I have cloth diapered my daughter from day one (now 2 and sort of self training) but became pretty fanatical lol. I started out more budget minded and now am something of a collector and belong to various buy and sell groups etc. I started out with prefolds and covers and a few bamboo fitteds and it was great and easy and cheap and then as she got a little bigger I got a few clearance BG pockets and then more pockets and then more lol... it's a lot easier to use pockets or some people like AIOs (pockets have a pocket you have to stuff with the inserts and most you have to pull them out when you put them in the bag). AIOs tend to take a long time to dry and are usually more expensive than pockets. I have found a few really super cheap and super popular brands of pockets that I only started to buy recently and they are under $5 a diaper! Alva, Sunbaby and Kawaii, none of which I had even heard of in my first 18 months of diapering! So I would recommend looking at something like that but prefolds are a great start if you have smaller babies. The biggest reasons I didn't like prefolds beyond about 6 months was a)getting them on a wiggly baby and b)you have to change them a lot more often than a diaper that is stay dry (like a pocket or AIO). I mean I can literally go for 4-6 hours in a single diaper if I am running around all day with no time to change and they still don't feel wet (unless they really do overflow lol).

SO anyhow you can probably start out with about 20 prefolds and 5 covers and a snappy(holds the dipe together) in a NB or small weight (depending on your babies size) and two pail size wet bags and get it all for about $50. Oh and a bag of diaper safe detergent. Then you can buy one more set in a larger size that will take them through toddlerhood for another $50. Seriously! But you might become an addict and end up with a whole dresser full of all kinds of diapers- but you will be happy knowing you can actually resell them for a great price when you are done with them and still have spent less in the first place than buying disposables!

I do a load of diapers about every other day to every 3 days, so that's all it adds to the wash. Just a load of diapers, with nothing else lol.

I also admit that I am currently collecting a giant stash of preloved NB and small sized diaper so if I choose to avoid using prefolds this time at all, I can. And my daughter was 9lb at birth so if this one is like that, s/he will only be in NB sizes till they are about 2 months or small sizes till about 4 months lol. I can resell the diapers for pretty much what I paid though at that point!!
 

[bostonmummy]

This is really helpful, Puppies. Thanks for this! How do you advise getting involved in buying groups? I've heard other women talk about this, but I haven't figured out how you actually go about doing it. Any suggestions? Thanks . . .

[is it puppies?]

The groups I am active in are all on Facebook, look up local and regional BST (buy sell trade) and diaper co-ops (also great source of other items such as car seats, swaddle wraps, nursing bras, etc etc). Once you find one or two groups you will be able to find recommendations for other groups. Also diaper "chat" groups on FB (actually how I do most of my pre-loved buys are from a local chat group, I am not trusting enough to order nation wide except for items that are co-op). There are also groups on the diaperswappers website and here but I prefer the way FB runs as far as the local groups.

[bostonmummy]

Thanks, Puppies! I'm on the case!

[is it puppies?]

no prob, hope you find some!