Allright, darn it, I'm going to CD

[Smithie]

Without anybody trying to talk me into it, I have been talked into it. Those of you who CD seem so happy with your choice, and while I'm not usually a tree-hugger, all those years of disposable diapers just seem like a heinous thing to do to the world. So I am going to try to CD.

I realize that there's a lot of great info in the Diapering archives, but they're kind of vast and scary and you ladies know me a little bit and can maybe take some guesses at what I am willing to do on the diapering front. Here's my basic info:

1. I plan to start CD after the crazy newborn period, basically as soon as James is ready to wear the "next size up" from newborn in whatever dipes I pick.

2. I have my own washer and dryer and doing laundry doesn't really bother me - a load of dipes every other day would be fine. I will not, however, do some fancy-schmanchy prerinse deal.

3. I would really prefer to use dipes where the outside/cover part can go in the dryer. I am happy to take out inserts and such. I plan NOT to use a diaper service, as saving $$ is part of my goal.

4. I am very excited about these sheets of rice paper that you can put in the dipe to catch solids, but which look like they might actually rot sometime in this millenium. Anybody have experience with those?

5. I know that the brand of dipe I choose will depend a lot on the shape of my baby's butt, but I'd like advice on 4 or so to buy and try.


Anybody else who has CD questions, please feel free to hijack this thread. Thanks!

[seedling]

The absolute cheapest way to go is chinese prefolds and proraps. You can pick up both off the trading post used for a small cost. I used the prefolds and wraps with my DD thought it was very simple and very cheap. No fancy prewash required. Just throw in the washer every other day...diapers and wraps together. Regular detergent. Just don't use fabric softner (interferes with their absorbancy over time). Also, I've been told to not use bleach...if they start getting stained, hang them on the line on a sunny day. I never did any special soak or anything in the diaper pail. I just chunked them in there. To get poop off you just swish in the toilet. Before solids, you really just kind of swish them around in the toilet. After solids, you knock the chunks off. Your wraps will last longer if you don't dry them in the dryer and proraps dry very quickly. But I did dry my wraps sometimes.

Now the one drawback to the prefolds and proraps...I never had any luck with them at night. DD would soak thru them. With her we did sposies at night. So I've been told that fuzzibuns stuffed with two joeybunz are the way to go for night. I've also been told that kissaluvs are great for the newbornish period b/c they really collect all that runny poop (no blowouts) but that once your child gets older they don't work as well. What I've done is really check out the diaper sites linked to from the cloth diapering forum and educate myself on the costs of new diapers and what they generally go for used. Then I stalked the TP for a couple months and have collected a pretty big variety of different types of diapers for the first six months or so. I haven't spent tons of money b/c I've gotten everything used. And most of it I should be able to resale as long as I treat it right. By having a variety, I can see what works best for baby before I make a big investment in one particular type of diape.

One more drawback to the prefolds/wraps that just occured to me. They didn't really work for us once DD was old enough to undress herself (right around 2 years). She constantly took the diapers off b/c the wraps were velcro and easy to get out of. Now this wasn't an issue for too long b/c she started showing an interest in potty learning around that time too. But I will be looking for a different style of diaper/training pant for this baby when they approach that age/stage.

There are some really informative threads under Diapering Archives that explain laundering techniques, the different types of cd's, etc. Even after CD'ing with my first, I was REALLY overwhelmed when I started thinking about collecting a stash for this baby. I found the threads in the archives very helpful.

One last thought and then I have to get off to motivate my family to DO something with the day. I really felt very good about cd'ing with my DD. I found it to be no big deal at all to wash a couple extra loads of laundry per week. And it was really a source of pride for me that I was taking this step to be responsible about the waste my family produced, save money for the family, etc., etc. So I'm definitely encouraging you to do it. I thought it was totally worth it.

[Smithie]

Yeah, I feel proud just contemplating it.

$$ are not a huge issue for my family, so I was thinking about doing Fuzzibunz - they seem really convenient. Being able to toss the outer layer in the dryer is really important to me - it's the only way I'll get any help from dh. He'll switch loads, but will not hang things, period.

I thought I would start when James fits Fuzzibunz mediums. But I'm basing this entirely on the pretty pictures on the web pages, so I'm hoping somebody will chime in who's used Fuzzibuns and/or is loyal to another, superior pocket brand.

I'm alson willing to hear from those who worship at the altar of AIOs.

[ksjhwkr]

Oh I LOVE cloth diapering!!!! We did the cheapest way possible with Emma, prefolds and covers. My favorite covers are from Wee Bees www.weebees.com. They have a side snap cover that is fabulous! I bought some newborn covers, they work from 6-12 lbs, and I already have the mediums that are 12-22 lbs. For night time, I really like Stacinators wool cover www.stacinator.com.
I have never swished a breastmilk poo in the toilet. It is so runny that it just would come out in the wash.
Fuzzi Bunz...well this will be my first experience with them. I have some friends that chipped in and bought us 16 of them!! One of my good friends swears by them. She absolutely loves hers. Because they are fleece, the solid poop just falls off into the toilet. The only problem is that you can't put them in the dryer. They do dry relatively quickly though...like overnight. I think with any AIO, you shouldn't put them in the dryer, I think it would just break down the PUL outer a lot faster. Just my two cents though.
Yipee!!! Cloth diapering is fun! And boy howdy will it make for a nicer bum for the baby!

[Greaseball]

I love fuzzi bunz! I only used them a few times with dd, and have just recently started again. The Bumkins AIOs are good on her too, but they might be a little bulky under clothes. I also like Kissaluvs fitteds, but they aren't waterproof enough to wear without a cover unless you are just at home.

I probably have the most frivolous reason for cding - I want something that's cute! Disposables are ugly! But, I will probably use sposies for most outings when there is no convenient place to change dipes, and for nights too.

I don't dunk in the toilet - if it's just urine, I throw it in the hamper and wash within a day, or put it in this small diaper bag I got. It has a fleece swatch sewn inside where you can dot some essential oil on, and can hold 4 or 5 dipes. For poop, I use the detachable showerhead and spray it off into the toilet.

[shelbean91]

If you're planning on Fuzzibunz, I would definitely get one or 2 to try first. I couldn't get a good fit for my dd or ds1- they were either too tight, too loose, or when I stuffed them for night, they gaped at the legs and leaked. I did have a couple of Happy Heiny's that fit well, I liked them better as far as a pocket dipe went, but I didn't care to stuff, unstuff, even though it's really not a big deal.

I didn't care for fitteds/covers, seemed like too much work for me. I used prefolds/covers for a while and it was ok, but didn't work for nighttime and pretty bulky.

This time, I've got Little Lambs AIOs for my nb, but haven't started using them yet as I'm not supposed to be doing laundry, etc., yet b/c of my c-section. As soon as I'm well enough for housework, I'm going to start using them. (I only have about 15 or so, and will need to wash every day.)

After trying bits and pieces here and there, I really think I prefer the AIOs, but I don't think they will hold up as well as some of the others.

I only CD part time, at best, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Good luck!!

[Greaseball]

When I buy new stuff I like www.naturalbabies.com

You can buy a sampler package for $50, or a newborn sampler for about $40. It comes with a pocket dipe, AIO, a few different prefold sizes, fitteds, and one or two covers. You specify the size and/or colors (colors cost extra).

Lots of the diaper stores you see on the banner ads have sampler packs, too.

[Smithie]

I made my first bid on TP Diapers - for some wipes. So it begins...

My dh and his mother are both really into serging these days, so I thought I could save some major $$ by assigning them the task of sewing inserts. Has anybody tried this? What kind of material should I buy? Do they sell patterns for these things?

[Greaseball]

Well, dh took dd out of the house in a fuzzibunz today, and when he came back I asked if he put the diaper in the laundry. He said no, because it wasn't wet. I checked it, and the insert (Joey bunz) was wet, but the fleece inside the diaper was dry! So maybe these would work for naps/outings as well!

I bought 2 more today... I've been spending all my spare cash on them lately. I've gotta stop this soon!

[Modesto Doula]

I LOVE my CDs!!
I have tried lots of cheaper stuff. I started out with prefolds and proraps. Cheap, durable, and the wraps dry just a couple hours after being hung. Proraps can be dryer-dried too, but they wont last as long.
Prefolds are still my fave, especially after I found snappis!! I hated the though of a prorap right on my baby's skin, and switched to pull on covers (nylon and wool) over a snappi'd prefold. Wool is for overnight and around the house. Bummi whisper pants are my fave for around the house and going out cause its nice and trim. I think if we had a lot of blowouts or leaky poop, I probably would not be a big fan of pull on covers, but with the snappi, they were rare.
I have tried a few fitteds, but for the most part am not a fan. Kissluvs in 0s and 1s are darling and are great for catching BF poo, but the 2s take a long time to dry (like 2 hrs in the dryer) and really arent absorbant enough.
Ive tried the MotherEase systems, but didnt find the one-size to be absorbant enough for a 6 mo old, although the side snapping cover is a good one. I do like Sandys, but only have a few for DS, he really likes that he can put them on and take them off by himself like a pull up.
I love pocket dipes for convenience. Dads, grammas, me... overnight and out of the house... They are my second fave. I have a half dozen happy heinys for DS and almost a dozen HH and assorted for the new baby. I usually just stuff them while Im folding dipes, and unstuff them as I throw them in the pail. I hang them to dry most of the time, but occasionally dryer them as well. I have a couple apron strings for the new baby and I really like the small size, but they are way bulkier and cause a diaper snake every time they've been washed. The velcro on Apron strings dipes doesnt hold like Aplix does.
I love pockets, but I dont love fuzzibunz. The rise was just not tall enough to keep in BF poo on my babes, it would shoot up the back just like in a sposie. And with the snaps I found I never got a really good fit, even though theres all those snaps. Dh never got the hang of them, they were too tough for him to figure out.

I do a prewash, but not anything special. I just throw in the dipes and set the machine to a cold rinse. That rinses out any little spots of solid poo that still stuck, or BF poo (which I dont swish- if it doesnt fall off, it goes). Then I come out a few hours later and put in a bit of detergent (just a bit) and wash on HOT. I love to line dry, but I dont like crunchy dipes and I cant imagine ow that would be comfy, so into the dryer they go.

There are TONS of Yahoo lists for sewing dipes. You can make pockets very easily, fitteds are a bit tougher, AIOs the toughest. Serging wipes is EASY as pie. I know, I made some the other day, my first time ever on a serger. I am a serious novice with my sewing machine (not good at straight lines yet-kinda novice!) so anyone can really do it. They werent pretty, but who cares? They got better with practice. Inserts would be just as easy. I wouldnt go for anything less than Hemp fleece for making inserts. Its absorbant, durable and inserts for small dipes will be great doublers for larger ones. For a shape, just find a pocket dipe that fits your baby and trace an insert that is an inch or so shorter and a half or so narrower, then layer them up (3-4 layers for hemp fleece) and serge away!

good luck!

[Greaseball]

What is aplix?

[Smithie]

How do the Kissaluvs 0 and 1s rate in the bulk department? I'm starting to think that if I'm going to do this, I'd better be ready to start as soon as the baby poos less than 5x/day or so. I don't want to buy tons of disposables and just totally waste that money.

[Modesto Doula]

greaseball- Aplix is hook and loop tape, like Velcro. Aplix happens to be more durable, softer, and stronger than velcro though. Most WAHMs use Aplix, although a few use velcro (one advantage is that velcro can be found in any sewing shop) and some use touchtape (shorter hooks, and softer to the touch, but comes open in the wash frequently).
If I see a description that includes Velcro or touchtape, I always ask before I buy if it it really is either of those, or if its aplix. Some people think use those as catchall words, or dont know the difference.

Smithie- Size 0s and 1 kissaluvs dont seem to be bulky on most babies. Of course if your baby is near the bottom of the weight range, they are going to look bulky.

No offense meant, but I dont see the point in waiting until the baby poos less than 5x a day... BF poo rinses right out of the dipes without soaking, doesnt stink, and usually doesnt stain (unless you are drinking grape soda or some other combination of serious artificial colors).
If anything, I would wait until you feel up to doing laundry, or wait until the baby was securely in smalls before taking up cloth, so you dont end up buying newborns and size 0s that only fit a few weeks.
Im not waiting for either, though

[Smithie]

Well, if baby comes remotely on schedule, he could start getting CDed as soon as I have built up a suitable stash. I'm scrounging around on Ebay and the TP right now for cheap NB/small dipes. Mostly, I want to get by with a fairly minimum amount of small dipes, and a poo with every bf session will not lend itself to that. I wish I could bargain with God for one of those babies who only poos every other day.

I think I might be in labor right now, so obviously I'm going to have to use a couple boxes of disposables while I figure out what to buy in cloth. But it may be a false alarm, in which case I'd have time to get my stash together.

[eilonwy]

I love cloth diapering, and Mike is also a big fan. We've saved *loads* of money. Mike worked an extra shift and we bought 48 new prefolds for EliBean, and then I asked on the trading post for any covers that people could send me for cheap so we've got quite an ecclectic collection. Mike absolutely loves saving money, and he grins every time we go to the grocery store that we're not spending more money on something that is going to be trash before you can blink. He's the one doing the laundry now, and he rinses the poopy diapers out in the sink so that we don't have to wash every day. When I was doing all of the laundry (before I got hugely pregnant) I would wash as soon as I had 3 poopy diapers so I didn't ever bother to rinse them. Mike would rather get the poop off and wait an extra day. :LOL

The best fits on Eli (a long, skinny boy with absolutely nothing in the way of hips) are Proraps Colors (size medium), FuzziBunz (medium or petite), and Happy Hieney's (medium). I'm fairly certain that Eli will train out of a medium cover, he's got loads of grow-room in them. However, I have a friend who's got a soon-to-be one year old son who is comfortably wearing an XL or Toddler size diaper cover, and literally couldn't get one leg into Eli's; it can really vary by the baby's build.

We have a few fitted diapers, and a few AIO's, but none of them ever fit Eli right. His legs are too skinny and there would always be these gaping holes. Some of them, I couldn't get small enough around his waist at first (when we started CD'ing him, he was about 14 pounds, so everything was medium sized fromt he beginning) because only the smallest sizes tend to have overlapping velcro/snaps. In other words, I should have gotten smalls for him. He'd have worn them for several months, easily. At any rate, I found that Sandy's were not nearly absorbent enough, and too big for Eli no matter how I worked it. Eli's a total super soaker! The only Bumkins AIO I have claims to be a size small, but it fit EliBean in December; It didn't absorb enough peepees. I find we do better with our prefolds in terms of absorbancy.

If I had loads of money, what would I buy right now? Proraps colors in sizes NB to medium; we've only got two but I totally love them!! Oh, and some JoeyBunz. We only use the Fuzzi Bunz and Happy Heiney's at night because we don't have many of them, and we stuff them with prefolds. I have two JoeyBunz and I'm totally enthralled with them, I'd love to be able to get enough to get through laundry and some for both kids. Three JoeyBunz would be perfect for Eli at night... like I said, he's a super soaker! Fuzzi Bunz are ideal for nighttime use because the fleece pulls the wetness away from the buns, so they stay soft and dry. They're more effective than sposies at this! As a plus. if your baby has a rash nothing (aside from naked buns in the sun) will clear it faster than a night with Desitin in Fuzzi Bunz.

We don't generally put our covers in the dryer, because we want them to last as long as possible, but we do often dry our diapers. Mike doesn't like the way the dipes feel when they come off the line, it bothers him that they're so crispy, so he often puts them into the dryer on air fluff for a bit afterwards. He also has no problem separating the covers out and bringing them upstairs/outside to dry (we air dry them even in the winter-- most of them dry very quickly). If you're looking for something which can tolerate the dryer and do very well, I'd recommend Litewraps (very cheap but meant for FAT babies; Eli is still wearing the small quite comfortably even though it claims to be for 10-15 pounds) or Proraps colors, which are sturdier than regular Proraps classics, and which fit Eli very well (I've never seen *anything* contain poop like Proraps colors; We have *never* had a blowout in them).

T I don't hang out in diapering much unless I have a specific question; those women have lots more money than I do! :LOL I look at the cute diapers sometimes and coo like everyone else, but mostly I think "Who on Earth can afford this?!"

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by Smithie

I wish I could bargain with God for one of those babies who only poos every other day.

When Eli was new, he pooped 3 times every time he nursed (before, during and after!) but around 3 months he slowed down and by 4 months he was a once-a-week pooper. Every 7-10 days, he'd have the biggest poop! Mike and I have some precious memories. :LOL :

[Smithie]

When I got home from the birth center, I had emails informing me that I was now the prooud owner of 5 Kushies off Amazon and two small Kissaluvs off the TP. So it looks like we'll be starting up with the CD when James finishes his box of NB disposables.

Proraps colors, eh? I'll get a couple of those. I'm also going to get some Kissaluvs. Hopefully I'll have a distinct brand preference by the time we move up the next size in a month or so.

The people in the Diapering forum spend WAY more than I'm comfortable spending for something that is going to be shat in. I really hope that Kushies work out for us; the disposable paper sheets you can put in them would make me a very happy camper.

[LizD]

I used diaperaps ten years ago with my daughter and just got my order for this one. There is a set of their covers that is in the neighborhood and is on its fifth or sixth kid but I am not pregnant at the right time to make use of this arrangement.

Usually the breastfeeding shit just comes right out in the wash. I usually just threw them in the diaper pail. Once they eat solid food, there's a nice regular turd that falls off into the toilet. If your machine has a prewash or soak setting you can just use that whole cycle. Mine does soak/prewash/reg wash/second rinse. So instead of dunking or rinsing every time they all get rinsed out in a wash cycle. I put detergent in the reg wash cycle and bleached the diapers every once in a great while.

I would never wash as frequently as a lot of folks do. I buy six dozen prefolds, one dozen each size cover and wash once a week.

I did wash the covers separately and they did fine on a low dryer setting. They can go in with the regular laundry, really, and you let them air if there's no shit on them and use them again.

If you can afford it the AIOs do seem more convenient for laundry. Babies R Us has cheap Gerber diaper doublers, like just a pad for the middle, if the baby wets a lot at night. I never used disposables - once or twice, like one or two borrowed diapers, in some minor emergency. I could never figure out why anyone would use them; they don't work nearly as well as cloth. The diaperaps covers were the most waterproof, in my experience.

A cup of crude oil in the manufacture of every disposable diaper should make everyone stop short, especially these days!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by LizD

I would never wash as frequently as a lot of folks do. I buy six dozen prefolds, one dozen each size cover and wash once a week.

Wow! Not only could our budget not handle that, but our washing machine is tiny and if we only washed once a week, we'd have to do four or five loads of diapers on that day. :LOL

[curlygrrl]

Like seedling, we're all for the prefolds and prowraps! We solved the nighttime problem by taking a flat fold diaper and folding it up inside the prefold.

Tamara