***Cloth Diapering Mamas*** - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by aHikaru 

so, i have a little dilemma, prior to moving into the home we are in now, I thought the water was hard based on how dry my skin gets when I wash my hands. But after using the water test strips, the water is actually between normal and a little hard. I won a bag of hard rock in green prior to knowing that my water wasn't hard, how much "hard rock" do you think I should use for normal water?

I think I'd just use the hard rock and then switch to another product.  Rock N' Green would be a good one (or maybe buy some Rock N' Green and mix it 50/50 with Hard Rock?)

I used home made detergent with good results.  You need to just to expirement with the ratios that are right for your water.  I used 1/3 grated sunlight laundry soap, 1/3 Borax, and 1/3 washing soda.  I use this for all of my laundry, and I don't use any fabric softener or anything else (I have those Nellies dryer balls though).  If you don't want to pay for commercial laundry detergent (which can be expensive for the good stuff) I suggest you give it a try.

[jr'smom]

Great thread! 

We cloth diapered our last 2 and will CD this baby too. (We would have used cloth with the first 2 also had we known how easy it is!) We use chemical free disposables (like Seventh Generation) until the meconium goes away and the cord falls off then use the CDs.

We use pocket diapers for the ease of use and washing. (Dh is the primary diaper changer and also does the laundry! He's a SAHD.)

We have mostly Bum Genius 3.0.  These are one size and adjust quite nicely from newborn to 2 years old.  My newborns usually exceed 10 pounds though for the record.  We have a few Fuzzy Bunz (but I prefer velcro to snaps) and a few Happy Heinys (they have the cutest prints but are the bulkiest.)

The velcro is wearing (kind of rolling up) after 4 years of continuous use on the BGs, but otherwise they are in good shape.  I want to see about replacing the velcro.  Does anyone know where I can get replacement material (It's not really velcro...something else.)  Hopefully my sister who has a sewing machine and an idea how to use it, will do this for me.  I wonder though is there such a service?  My 19 month old is extremely into using the potty so we could get her out of diapers in the next 2 months and have time to replace the closures and get them ready for the next baby.

One more question...  I would really like to get these diapers as clean and smelling as fresh as possible for the next baby too. They aren't stinky or looking terrible, ubt I want to perceive that they are deep cleaned and ready for the new baby!  Any suggestions on how to do this?  I've heard a lot of different things, but need something relatively easy!

Thanks!

[pastormama]

Originally Posted by nstewart 

I used home made detergent with good results.  You need to just to expirement with the ratios that are right for your water.  I used 1/3 grated sunlight laundry soap, 1/3 Borax, and 1/3 washing soda.

This is great!  I want to try it.  Do you live in an area of the country known for hard water, or soft?

[nstewart]

We live at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  The city website says that the annual average is 167mg/L, but it would be less during spring and more during winter.  "Hard" is 150-300mg/L.  So I guess it's fair to say it's "Hard" but not "very hard" (which is higher than 300mg/L and medium hard is 75-150mg/L).

And I should say my measuring technique is not very precise.  I use a 1L mason jar and just eyeball my measurements, so it probably varies a bit from batch to batch but 1:1:1 is a good general measure for what I use.  I grate the soap on a cheese grater, so obviously it's "fluffy" when it goes in the jar and it's 1:1:1 volume, not weight. HTH.

ETA: I use about 2 heaping TBSP per load, so not very much at all.  We have a front load, HE washing machine.

(I keep realizing I've left out info, so if anyone has questions let me know!)

Edited by nstewart - 1/1/13 at 8:20am

[aHikaru]

Originally Posted by Quinalla 

I was going to try cloth with DD (I had a small stash of different things so I could try it and see what worked best), but I was so overwhelmed with carrying for her I just never started using cloth and since she didn't have problems with disposables, I just never tried to switch as I was busy enough. I do use the prefolds we bought as excellent burp cloths, changing pads, etc. (I got extra for this anyway) and I still use the cloth wipes as nose wipers and general wipe up liquid messes. I also lent out my stash to my SIL and brother to try with their baby, but they didn't use them and since they live in an apartment with no washer/dryer in their space, I don't blame them as that is hard. I had considered trying again this time, but with twins I'm already sort of throwing in the towel. I will keep them in mind if we have rash problems though and I will definitely use the prefolds and cloth wipes again for various things. Seriously, everyone should get 6-12 prefolds and some cloth wipes, they are so awesome for so many things!

with twins I'd be more inclined to try cloth...a basic stash is only $200, which is the cost of disposables in 2 months, so as long as you try for two months it pays for itself....

[aHikaru]

Originally Posted by nstewart 

I think I'd just use the hard rock and then switch to another product.  Rock N' Green would be a good one (or maybe buy some Rock N' Green and mix it 50/50 with Hard Rock?)

I used home made detergent with good results.  You need to just to expirement with the ratios that are right for your water.  I used 1/3 grated sunlight laundry soap, 1/3 Borax, and 1/3 washing soda.  I use this for all of my laundry, and I don't use any fabric softener or anything else (I have those Nellies dryer balls though).  If you don't want to pay for commercial laundry detergent (which can be expensive for the good stuff) I suggest you give it a try.

thanks for the info :) given the numbers above, our water would be considered hard, but not very hard. I have read all these horror stories of smells that wont go away, so if Rock In Green doesn't work, i'll try making my own. 

[lisedea]

Ok, I am lost in this hard and soft water conversation. Why does it matter? We have hard water (our own well)....should I do something different than if I had soft water?

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by lisedea 

Ok, I am lost in this hard and soft water conversation. Why does it matter? We have hard water (our own well)....should I do something different than if I had soft water?

I don't know a ton about it myself.  I do know that hard water will reduce the effectiveness of detergents and that it can lead to mineral build up on clothing, appliances, etc.

If you had soft water, you would want less soap.  With hard water, you want something that softens the water a bit, and more soap than if you had soft water.  So washing soda, for example, will soften the water and make the soap more effective in hard water.  My recipe probably wouldn't be good if you had soft water. 

Edited by nstewart - 1/1/13 at 8:15am

[PhilsBabyMama]

We used cloth diapers with our son and I loved it for several reasons.

I had small and medium Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers to start out with. (12 of each.) Maddox didn't start fitting into th smalls until he was a couple months old, though. I hated disposables. We had so many blow outs with them, but hardly any once we switched to cloth.

The chemicals were a big factor for me, too. We never had any diaper rash issues in cloth diapers.

Also, it saved us a ton of money, even with buying the pricier cloth options. We used baby wash cloths with warm water as wipes, too, (I had a few fancy velour wipes that came as samples with diaper purchases but found they just smeared around poo.) and just washed them with the diapers. The average parent spends $3,500 to disposable diaper a kid from birth to potty training and $500 on disposable wipes. O.o I added to my stash while Maddox was still little and now have a ton of diapers that are still in great condition for this baby to use. I loved our Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers and also Goodmama fitted diapers. Fitted diapers need covers and are a bit bulkier, but very breathable, especially if you use wool covers. I loved using them under knit wool pants or shorts. I ended up teaching myself to knit them, because they worked so well. Since I've already made the initial investment in bigger diapers, I've been buying newborn sized diapers and am planning on skipping disposables altogether. So far, I've gotten 8 Lil Joeys, 3 Swaddlebees and one that's called a mini Blueberry something or other. Diaperjunction.com has great deals and you get rewards points good for gift certificates with each purchase. I've ended up with a 2 free diapers, a free wet bag and a $35 gift certificate and not actually bought that much. I'm also planning on getting some prefolds, a snappi or two and a few covers. I also had a diaper sprayer. It was great after Maddox started solids. Exclusively breastfed baby poop can go right in the wash though as it's water soluble. No need to rinse. Two big wet bags and a small wet bag were musts for me. The wet bags were great, because they were waterproof, had a zipper to keep smells in and then got tossed in the washer with the dirty diapers to get clean.

My son potty trained easily before he was 2 without us pressuring him and I think that was partially due to cloth diapering. Disposables are so absorbant that kids can't feel a difference after they pee in them and it's harder for them to make the connection between the "I gotta go" feeling, the "I'm going" feeling and the "I went and it's not very comfortable" feeling. In general, I've read that cloth diapered kids potty train earlier and that was certainly our experience.

Also, disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose. That is really gross to me and I don't want to add to the landfills when I don't have to.

It has to be more comfortable than being wrapped in paper and plastic all day long!

And my last reason, which is totally lame: Cloth diapers are so stinkin cute!

We never had a big problem with ammonia build up. We'd just strip the diapers occasionally. I found that boiling the pocket diaper inserts immediately got rid of the stink, so we didn't have to spend a lot of time doing repeat strips on them. I've read that a lot of rashes caused by cloth diapers really aren't the diapers, but the ammonia built up on them. It's easy to tell when it's time to strip though, because the diapers will stink to high heaven the second they get peed on.
Edited by PhilsBabyMama - 1/1/13 at 9:15am

[alaskanmomma]

Originally Posted by aHikaru 

thanks for all the helpful replies... DD was long and skinny and this one is already following suit in the body type department... so when it come to buying clothes for cloth diapered bottoms, should I buy a size up?

Unless I double stuffed, I've never had an issue with the kids clothes fitting true to their size, GRANTED, I never did this with a newborn lol

[Quinalla]

Originally Posted by aHikaru 

Originally Posted by Quinalla 

I was going to try cloth with DD (I had a small stash of different things so I could try it and see what worked best), but I was so overwhelmed with carrying for her I just never started using cloth and since she didn't have problems with disposables, I just never tried to switch as I was busy enough. I do use the prefolds we bought as excellent burp cloths, changing pads, etc. (I got extra for this anyway) and I still use the cloth wipes as nose wipers and general wipe up liquid messes. I also lent out my stash to my SIL and brother to try with their baby, but they didn't use them and since they live in an apartment with no washer/dryer in their space, I don't blame them as that is hard. I had considered trying again this time, but with twins I'm already sort of throwing in the towel. I will keep them in mind if we have rash problems though and I will definitely use the prefolds and cloth wipes again for various things. Seriously, everyone should get 6-12 prefolds and some cloth wipes, they are so awesome for so many things!

with twins I'd be more inclined to try cloth...a basic stash is only $200, which is the cost of disposables in 2 months, so as long as you try for two months it pays for itself....

Sure, it would save a lot of money, but I know last time the time saved was more important. I still plan to have the diapers in mind and maybe try, but I dunno, we'll see!

[TwilightJoy]

First time mama here, so would also love some feedback on my plan!

Newborn stage:
Thirsties covers (Newborn and Size 1)
GMD workhorse fitteds and Kissa fitteds

14 weeks on (once baby is in daycare):
Bumgenius AIOs

Any idea how many covers, fitteds, and AIOs I need to order?

TIA!

[nstewart]

I don't know about AIOs.  Are you doing sposies at night in the first 14 weeks, or are you doing the fitteds over night too?  I'd say at least 24 fitteds, and 4 covers for the newborn stage.  You could do 24 fitteds and some prefolds for back up if 24 won't be enough...I had 24 and it was enough but we didn't use the prefolds over night.

[FarmerMomma]

My biggest recomendation for cloth diapering is to get those puppies into the sunshine as much as possible. No problem for me at home in the country but I've had friends in apartments hang them in a sunny window. That's what I did for a deep cleaning with some hand me downs and as much as possible along the way. If the wash didn't get all the stink out the sun finished the job where the dryer set in that smell.

[Lynann]

I love cloth diapering. With DS1 we used throw aways for about the first 5-6 weeks until he was big enough for the one size prefolds we had. We used prefolds with snappis and one size covers for his whole first year. Once we had a bit more money we got a few one size pockets for overnight use.

With DS2 I made 24 new born fitteds and knitted wool soakers to go over, so he was in cloth from the beginning.

My boys both had huge thighs and I found Kawaii Baby pockets fitted better than the FuzziBunz we had.

My one issue with the pockets though was how quickly DS2 can unload his bladder. The microfiber just couldn't soak it in quickly enough so he would leak out the legs. (Only a problem once he started using a sippy cup.) So now I use those pockets as covers for the prefolds, and we don't use the snappis anymore either.

This time I've knitted some bigger wool soakers and I am contemplating making bigger fitteds too so i can use that system longer.

We started out on a really tight budget with DS1 and couldn't imagine paying for throw away diapers this whole time, but I also love that cloth is kinder to their skin and looks really cute. Living in a hot climate the boys mostly just wear t-shirts and diapers around the house.

[eepeepee]

Hey, so I don't think anyone's touched on this yet (sorry if they have): does anyone have any thoughts on how difficult it would be to do cloth diapering without a washer/dryer in their home?  Our landlords have been saying for two years now that we're going to get laundry in the basement, but at this point we're still laundromat-ing it.  I really want to do cloth diapers, but I can't imagine toting a ton of dirty diapers to the laundromat without making more than a few enemies there.  Thoughts?

[PhilsBabyMama]

I've usually had a washer and dryer, but being a military family we've had times when we've been in the middle of a move and in between houses. I've washed diapers in laundromats and in shared hotel washing machines. No one has ever said anything about it. I don't think most people really pay close attention to what you're washing and in reality, it's no grosser than washing kids' clothes since they often have accidents anyway, ya know?

[Trisha Kalous]

Has anyone used flats?

We used prefolds for my DD after she was 1yo but that lasted for about 6 mos because we couldn't get rid of the stink and it gave her horrible rashes. (Come to find out that the agitator didn't work in our washer and there was only cold water- apartment building washer. GAH!)

I'm thinking flats this time because

-I'm assuming that it will be much easier to keep clean one layer of fabric vs layers that are sewn together, and

-we're still in an apartment and it costs $1 for each wash in the washer (we'll need at least 2) and

-$.75 for a dry- but we're going to put a clothes line on our porch and hopefully line-dry, where flats would be the quickest drying option there too (except in the winter)

-and with flats, there's no need to buy different sizes, just fold them different

- We'd have different size covers of course, though we're thinking of getting Thirsties Duo- then we'd only need to buy two different sizes

I did like the prefolds because they're real easy to do one-handed, but am worried about stink and rash problems again. We're starting from scratch this time around because I've gotten rid of almost all of our baby stuff because our last apt was so small that we just didn't have the room to keep anything non-essential. I really wish we could get a house and our own washer and dryer, but it's not going to happen this year. I'm thinking of using mainly flats, but keeping 6-12 or so of each size prefold for when baby is with a sitter.

What do you guys think?

[Trisha Kalous]

I have been pricing out our diaper stash (a little obsessively ) and this is what I've come up with- if we decide to go with mainly flats. This is a www.greenmountaindiapers.com We might make our own wipes again- last time I bought terry cloth and flannel from the fabric store and my SIL serged them to make our own two-sided wipes. This stash will take us through til potty training, and includes back-up prefolds through about the first year, if this one is as chunky as my first!

Quantity / Item /  Price / Subtotal

1x Snappi Fastener size one - triple pack - dayglo yellow orange green  ($ 7.55) $ 7.55

5x  Cloth-eez 12 Two-Sided Baby Wipes  ($ 10.95) $ 54.75

2x Kissas Antibacterial Pail Liner  ($ 14.95) $ 29.90

1x Empty 4 oz spray bottle - blue  ($ 0.95) $ 0.95

1x Bummis Fabulous Wet Bag - small - green  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

1x Duo Wrap - ocean blue - size one - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

1x Duo Wrap - meadow green - size one - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

1x Duo Wrap - honeydew yellow - size one - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

1x Duo Wrap - mango orange - size one - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

6x 6 Birdseye Flat Diapers - large - unbleached  ($ 13.50) $ 81.00

1x Free pair Plastic Head Pins - yellow  ($ 0.00) $ 0.00

4x GMD slide-lock diaper pin - white  ($ 0.50) $ 2.00

2x Duo Wrap - mango orange - size two - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 24.50

2x  Duo Wrap - honeydew yellow - size two - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 24.50

1x Duo Wrap - mud - size one - Aplix  ($ 12.25) $ 12.25

1x  Duo Wrap - hoot - size two - Aplix  ($ 13.25) $ 13.25

1x  Duo Wrap - blackbird - size two - Aplix  ($ 13.25) $ 13.25

6x  Cloth-eez Prefold - Newborn Orange - Individual - Organic  ($ 2.34) $ 14.04

6x  Cloth-eez Prefold - Small Yellow - Individual - Organic  ($ 2.75) $ 16.50

6x  Cloth-eez Prefold - Medium Red - Individual - Organic  ($ 3.00) $ 18.00

January 2, 2013 - 6:48 p.m.         >>>>>>TOTAL:$ 373.69

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by eepeepee 

Hey, so I don't think anyone's touched on this yet (sorry if they have): does anyone have any thoughts on how difficult it would be to do cloth diapering without a washer/dryer in their home?  Our landlords have been saying for two years now that we're going to get laundry in the basement, but at this point we're still laundromat-ing it.  I really want to do cloth diapers, but I can't imagine toting a ton of dirty diapers to the laundromat without making more than a few enemies there.  Thoughts?

Would you consider buying your own W/D?  I don't know if that's an option for you or not.  The top loaders are actually better for diapers than an HE anyway (more water, more agitation) and you can get them cheap on Craig's List or Kijiji (you could get a pair for $150 easily) and then re-sell when you move.  If it's either that or sposies, you'd save the $$ you spend on the W/D in no time (and would re-coup part of that 'cause you can re-sell the used W/D.  If you find a good deal you could even make a few bucks when you're done!)  Even if you just get the washer, you could air dry if you had to.