Reusing Cloth Diapers « Back to Group Discussions

[cadybh]

Random question, ladies. We have DS' 2 dozen or so bumgenius diapers, plus replacemnt velcro and elastic. I have heard it's possible to contract that work out when one's as helpless a seamstress as myself (hehe) - but where?? Would any tailor be able to do this? I'm a tad wary of shipping my entire stash to a stranger on diaper swappers or wherever... but after 2.5 years of hard use, the definitely need sprucing up! Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[Lynann]

Wish I knew, but I would just do it myself. Maybe see if you can find a video of how to do it on YouTube before deciding not to do it yourself. Honestly replacing elastic and velcro is easy. Do you have a friend or family member that could help you with a few to show you what to do if YouTube doesn't help.

[timesway]

im tempted with cloth nappies (sorry im english lol)  but i dont entirely get how they work yet.. do they stay dry? are they comfy for the baby? what temp do u wash them on? which is best.. the all in ones or the ones with seperate layers.. and are they complex to put on?

[BeagleMommy]

Do you have any friends who sew? It's really not that hard, more time consuming than anything.

Cloth diapering can be a bit overwhelming, but is totally worth it. I have never put a disposable on either of my kiddos.

[Lynann]

timesway we use a combination of prefolds with covers AND pockets.

The pockets look a lot like throw away nappies/diapers and can come with either snaps or velcro. I personally prefer the snaps as my little one can't unfasten the snaps, but he can get the velcro ones off if we don't put something else over them. I like the pockets better than the AIOs, as the inserts come out to dry faster, and you can add extra inserts if they are heavy wetters. The lining of the pockets/AIOs will help keep the skin a bit drier than a prefold will, but all cloth nappies/diapers should get changed as quickly as possible after wetting, which is no big deal since it doesn't cost you more money like throw aways do.

For laundry I wash mine in a cold rinse, hot wash with detergent and another cold rinse. Since our HOA won't allow us to line dry clothes I use the dryer for the prefolds and inserts and air dry the covers and pockets on a rack indoors. Drying in the sun will help cut down on staining, so I try to sneak them out to the back patio occasionally to get the benefit of the sun bleaching them.

We use the pockets mostly for overnight, especially as my boys will both sleep 10-12 hours a night. I then use the prefolds and covers for during the day. We have way too many prefolds and really only use 24 of them between both boys, and we use the same 6 pockets between 2 of them too (although we have 12 pockets we took half of them out of circulation) DS1 is starting to potty train (its been on hold during my all day nausea) and spends most of his awake time without a nappy/diaper. He just gets one to sleep or if we are going out somewhere, so that is beginning to cut down some of the load for me.

I love cloth and I don't know how families can afford to use throw away nappies/diapers. Not only is it a whole lot less expensive, but some of the cloth ones are really cute, and we often just have the boys in a nappy/diaper and a t-shirt because I don't want to cover up their cute nappy/diaper.

Hope that helps a bit. If you have more questions about nappies just ask. I'm sure you'll get a lot of different experiences from the different mamas here, but most of the ones I know that use cloth would never go back to throw away.

[timesway]

thankyou so much.. i feel  a bit lost.. i have no relationship with my mum, which makes it harder learning all this.

I worked with toddlers and little ones before i ended up in a wheelchair and loved it, but when i worked or helped friends out with babys it was allways shop bought disposables or they were potty trained before they were allowed to start when i was in the nursery but like u say they are SO expensive and i found a site with the cloth ones and they were SO cute.. i wanted to know more.. i always wondered about cloth even in the old days of safety pins ha.. i always thought it would be better.. i expect if my babys anything like me it will have a stretchy bladder which will mean heavy wetting so thats interesting to knowaswell..

That was what i was wondering alot aswell, the staining..

So just to clarify.. the inserts and the wraps.. are they all washable too? what are they made of? i would be line/radiator drying any here.. im probably going to try with cloths and rely on disposables if i cant get my washing done in time or im struggling due to the extra strain of my health.. but ideally id like to go fully cloth i think..

Thanks for ttaking the time to explain how it works.. it just seems to have come on so much over the years!
 

[dayiscoming2006]

Here's some info https://www.jilliansdrawers.com/newtocloth

I've used them off and on with all my kids. I try to use them most of the time. They are easy. I can be lazy sometimes and I am usually still able to keep up with the cloth. Get a diaper sprayer too - you will not regret it. HTH

[Lynann]

Originally Posted by timesway 

thankyou so much.. i feel  a bit lost.. i have no relationship with my mum, which makes it harder learning all this.

I worked with toddlers and little ones before i ended up in a wheelchair and loved it, but when i worked or helped friends out with babys it was allways shop bought disposables or they were potty trained before they were allowed to start when i was in the nursery but like u say they are SO expensive and i found a site with the cloth ones and they were SO cute.. i wanted to know more.. i always wondered about cloth even in the old days of safety pins ha.. i always thought it would be better.. i expect if my babys anything like me it will have a stretchy bladder which will mean heavy wetting so thats interesting to knowaswell..

That was what i was wondering alot aswell, the staining..

So just to clarify.. the inserts and the wraps.. are they all washable too? what are they made of? i would be line/radiator drying any here.. im probably going to try with cloths and rely on disposables if i cant get my washing done in time or im struggling due to the extra strain of my health.. but ideally id like to go fully cloth i think..

Thanks for ttaking the time to explain how it works.. it just seems to have come on so much over the years!
 

 Every part is washable. Really its very easy to go cloth. If my DH can do it with prefolds then anyone can. There are so many options out there now that there will be a system to suit you. My mum was very impressed when she saw the modern ones because she had all of us in terry squares with nappy pins, and rubber pants over the top.

If you are line/radiator drying I would recommend using prefolds and covers. The covers don't need to be washed every time, just when they get soiled with poop, or start to smell a little. I just swap the covers over at each change and let them air between uses. I do use a fastener called a "Snappi" with prefolds until they are walking as it holds them on better under the cover. Prefolds (and flats) do have a little bit of a learning curve, but there are lots of videos on YouTube on how to to use them. Prefolds (and flats) are also the cheapest option if your budget is tight. We started with DS1 with 3 dozen prefolds and 3 covers, and then slowly added to the supplies as we needed and could afford to. I also use the one size covers and pockets, so that we didn't have to keep buying different sizes as the baby grew. Then when we had DS2 I made some fitted nappies/diapers from a free online pattern in newborn size and knitted a few woolen "soakers" in newborn size to use instead of covers. DS2 was such a chunk when he was born he ended up outgrowing the NB sized stash in just 3 weeks, so we just moved him up to the regular sized stuff at that point. I may make some more fitteds the next size up for this little one, so they can use them a big longer. (For making the fitteds I just used old t-shirts, some elastic and some velcro, so they cost me next to nothing.)