Cloth Diapers and Twins

[Adaline'sMama]

Pleeeease help me figure this out:

Ok, so I am pretty dedicated to CDing our twins (after they are 8 lbs or above). The nearest store that sells natural disposables is almost an hour away- so it's not a great option. We are expecting to be super busy, so Im trying to make it as easy as possible. I had a great stash to begin with, and I've collected a little more here and there throughout this pregnancy. DD and DS were in diapers at the same time so I already had enough for two. Although, DD was peeing huge amounts and DS could use the same cover all day long because he didnt pee heavy. DD is now potty trained, and as most of you know, DS is no longer with us. 

We use BG 3.0 pocket diapers, only we dont use them as pockets. We pretty much just use them like covers. Basically, I've had a friend sew microfleece onto one side of the insert so that I can lay it directly in the diaper and dont have to stuff the pocket because Im lazy like that. Plus, that way I can use the cover more than once if it's just for pee. So, here is what I have:

22 BG 3.0 "covers" that are pretty new, totally leak proof

4 BG Flip covers that are brand new

7 Babyland covers, brand new, but I've never used so I have no idea how they'll hold up

9 BG 3.0 "covers" that are passed down from DD and the pul is failing :(

So, that totals 42 covers, but 16 of them are iffy. How many do you think I need? Do I need more?

65 inserts with microfleece sewn onto one side so that they can go right next to baby (PLENTY) 

15 cloth wipes ( I know Ill need more of these. I have a crapload of blankets to cut up during my third trimester) 

1 garbage pail wetbag

2 big wet bags

1 medium wet bag

1 small wet bag 

?: Do I need another garbage pail wetbag, or not?

Has anyone used that PUL spray? I was thinking of re-spraying the 9 dipes that were handed down from DD. 

Oh, and Im getting a better clothesline, because the dryer is what killed DD's diapers. 

[seraf]

Forum crashing, that sounds like plenty of covers.  We use our FB the same way, but we also do EC so our boys don't wear covers all the time. We never use more than 3 per day per boy.

If you have made it this long without a second large wetbag, you will be fine.

[sweetestday]

With one baby, 6 covers is about all I need, so I figure I'll double that... if it's twins we've got. ;)

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by sweetestday 

With one baby, 6 covers is about all I need, so I figure I'll double that... if it's twins we've got. ;)

Yeah, but with one baby, there is more time to wash. At least, that's how I have it pictured. 

Seraf- I've never used a large wetbag. I have just used a small container that we dumped in the washer, but the washer is now all the way in the basement and Ill have twice the amount of diapers, so my small container wont work. 

[rinap]

It sounds pretty reasonable to me, (I agree on the wipes. Too many wipes is a really wonderful thing) but pay attention to how things are going. Sometimes a small expenditure  can make your life a whole lot easier (if you find you're constantly using one of your sets of covers and avoiding others). But I would make that decision when you figure out what's working for these particular babies. (we inherited someone's stash and then used that to decide where to branch out)

Make sure you have wet bags in your standard changing places (we have a whole diaper setup upstairs and one downstairs, each with a little bucket) It's useful to have enough diapers that you can always have some in both places. (and it makes it easier for others to do diaper changes)

I will say that Amazon delivers disposables (including the natural ones that we like best). We use disposables when we travel.

[seraf]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

Yeah, but with one baby, there is more time to wash. At least, that's how I have it pictured. 

Seraf- I've never used a large wetbag. I have just used a small container that we dumped in the washer, but the washer is now all the way in the basement and Ill have twice the amount of diapers, so my small container wont work. 

You're right about being busier with two babies.

We use 2 5 gallon buckets for our diaper laundry. One in the bedroom, one in the bathroom.  We change the boys both places. I wash every other day because my machine can hold 10 gallons of diaper laundry.  I have enough diapers to go 3-4 days, while traveling, but I still have to do 2 loads when I get home.

[1SmallAxe]

We have way less--12 gDiapers, 12 inserts,  12 pre-folds (we use to double up at night), 15 Cloth wipes and one wet pail. I do have help though. I do wish I had a sprayer because while our inserts and liners are cleaned well they look pretty skanky. 

[Emelee]

I think you def have plenty of diapers and plenty of storage for them too! I need to buy a sprayer but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I have 40 pockets I use for 3 kids, a toddler and the 2 infants. They go through them all in about 2 days or so. We have a basket and a bucket that we store the dirty ones in but we was them so frequently that the smell doesn't build up. I wish DH would agree to use cloth wipes because that's what we go through constantly! I do use disposable at night for the toddler because her bladder is just too big and was soaking out every night even with double stuffing so that saves a couple cloth. I had worried it would be so hard to continue cloth when the twins came but it's not. It's a relief to always have a diaper handy and not worry about running to the store. Plus it's saving us a TON of money! Good luck!

[rinap]

In the beginning, we used 12 per day per baby. (of the prefolds...fewer covers...3-4 per baby? 6-8 would have been better on the covers) Remember that if you wash every second day there will be several hours before the diapers are dry.

[ziursrm]

Another wet bag would be nice because you will have 2-6 new dirty diapers by the time your load is done. I hve 9m old twins and I've gotten by on 30 pockets from the beginning. I just committed to washing every other day when they were new and now I wash every third day. So you have plenty to wash only twice a week if you want even.

[Red Pajama]

I used motherease with my twins. I had 6 covers in each size, which ended up being plenty.

I used a 5 gallon bucket as a diaper pail.  We washed diapers every day to every other day at first, and later that spaced out a bit.

I had a wet bag for travel, but more often than not I ended up using a store shopping bag. I can't remember how many wipes I had. They mostly all got eaten by the house, because I have very few anymore.

Good luck. People thought we were crazy, but it really wasn't that bad.  We certainly had fewer blow outs when using cloth.

[mylilmonkeys]

Sounds like you have plenty, to me.  I wash whenever I have a full load, which with twins is at least every other day, so needed fewer than I thought I would.  

[13pumpkins]

The girls are rustling and my pump session is nearing an end so I'll quickly post our numbers....

We have been doing cloth exclusively since arriving home.  Two of our three are VERY allergic to diapers and we just prefer it.  Moreover, for any one who thinks you're crazy you can also point out it is economic and you really do not have time to run out for diapers.  We've been CDing as tiny as a 4.5 lb baby!

For the triplets, we have:

8 dozen preemie prefolds.  We have so many because we use them as burp cloths as well.  At first we trifolded them into covers and now we use them as doublers.

6 dozen of the size diaper we are using (we are finally in newborns).  Basically, one rotation is in use, one in the wash.

15 covers

We have to wash every day (every 1.5 days sometimes) as the loads would be unmanagable if we waited longer.

I also did have 48 goodmama newborn fitteds but I am selling those in lieu of more prefolds.  I just need quick and easy to fold (as in, not fold, just stack and done).

[sekenamoon]

hey, can tag in?  I'm looking at that rental site someone posted in the multiple pregnancy thread.

When did your twins hit the 12 pound mark?  The site offers this for about $215 total for the first 4 months, if my math is right:

You will receive 48 preemie diapers which will fit your little one up to 6-7lbs, and then a set of 48 newborn diapers which will fit up until 12 lbs.

so my question is, will I be renting this packet for 3 months or 4 months? is 4 months stretching it?

[colsxjack]

We have tons of prefolds. Probably about 40-50 of them.

We have 14 Motherease. But they are too big for the tiny babies and will come in handy for when they are bigger.

I am buying 15 more motherase and 24 motherease small sandy diapers off craigslist this weekend.

We seem to have enough covers. But may need some large ones later on. Will have to see how well they held up from DD.

I find cloth just as easy as disposable. But a lot less hassle of running to the store. Plus WAY cheaper. Not only does disposible cost a lot...I cannot run into a store without walking out with 5 things I really didnt need.

[sophigirl]

Can I jump in with my question, as well? I am planning on buying 14 GroVia diapers (shells, I guess?) and 24 soaker pads (so 7 and 12 per twin). 

I hope to do laundry every other day - so I figured that if I have 6 soaker pads per kid, per day, that should be enough. With GroVia shells, you don't have to change the shell every time, half the time you can just change the, so I figured that 3.5 per kid per day will do it. Am I completely off? Should I get more? All you mamas that have gone through twin cloth diapering - please let me know! 

P.S. I decided to go disposable until they are done with their tar-poop (since I'll probably get some disposables at showers, anyway).

[Brambleberry]

Originally Posted by sophigirl 

Can I jump in with my question, as well? I am planning on buying 14 GroVia diapers (shells, I guess?) and 24 soaker pads (so 7 and 12 per twin). 

I hope to do laundry every other day - so I figured that if I have 6 soaker pads per kid, per day, that should be enough. With GroVia shells, you don't have to change the shell every time, half the time you can just change the, so I figured that 3.5 per kid per day will do it. Am I completely off? Should I get more? All you mamas that have gone through twin cloth diapering - please let me know! 

P.S. I decided to go disposable until they are done with their tar-poop (since I'll probably get some disposables at showers, anyway).

I think you have enough shells, but 24 inserts is what is usually recommended for singletons.  I don't think you probably need quite twice that amt for twins, but I'd guess at least 40 inserts total.

[rinap]

Early on we were going through 12 diapers per baby per day. That was averaged over the course of the week. (covers depended...when they were little we needed a new cover every 2-3 diaper changes) Some days were more like 14 per baby. And you need time to dry the soakers (if you wait to start laundry until the baby is in the last soaker, you won't be ready by the time you need the next one).

I would say 48  soakers. Or a combination of soakers and infant prefolds (which fold up nicely into the grovia diapers).

I also question whether the grovias will fit newborn twins. But I have no info on that. We didn't get ours until later. If not, I might get some prefolds and covers (much cheaper) in small sizes.

I love our grovias now, though.

[sophigirl]

Brambleberry and rinap - thank you! 40 to 48 is definitely more than I thought I needed, so I am very glad I asked. 

And rinap - I had no clue that infant prefolds can fit into grovia diapers! Now there's a hole new, and cheap, possibility that I didn't know was available. Especially if I'll be using prefolds for the time when they are newborn. Thanks so much! 

[13pumpkins]

Originally Posted by sophigirl 

And rinap - I had no clue that infant prefolds can fit into grovia diapers! Now there's a hole new, and cheap, possibility that I didn't know was available. Especially if I'll be using prefolds for the time when they are newborn. Thanks so much! 

This is what we are doing for our triplets.  They are just getting big enough to start using the gro via inserts but we have been using the covers for a few months now over the prefolds.  Are you looking for prefolds (I have lots LOL).