Mothering Forum banner

Why cd?

1K views 29 replies 24 participants last post by  lisabc311 
#1 ·
Ok. I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times, but PLEASE tell me why I should CD.

I don't know anyone IRL who cd's, but I am attracted to the idea.
My baby is due in November, so I have to make a decision soon.

I have heard lots of arguments against it. So please convince me, I need to cd.


TIA
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
Well, can't tell you why you should, but I will tell you why I do.

1) Better for baby- there are a lot of good links (I'm an sure someone will post some) about the chemicals in sposies. Plus, who wants to wear paper undies 24/7

2)Better for the environment-cds are made from renewable resources and cds can be used on multiple children wheter siblings or sold/traded/given to others.

3) Better for the wallet (well, if you can curve the addictive buying b/c there are SO MANY great options available
). I really like that once I have a stash (way cheaper than sposies), I can spend as little or as much a I WANT to when I want to. Plus, I can sell or trade what doesn't work or is too small to buy or get more things.

4)More options-I can customize cds to my lifestyle and taste. Wheter it be systems, colors, or prints.

5)Supporting WAHM-I am supporting many fellow moms for the most part by buying hand-made one of a kind products or through WAHM stores.

JMO.

HTH,
M
 
#3 ·
Cloth is cuter, cloth is cheaper, cloth is softer on sensitive skin, cloth doesn't contain chemicals that disposables do, etc etc etc. I could go on forever. But honestly cloth is so easy. You've probably heard the argument that using cloth as an environmentally sound solution is just as bad as disposables because of the amount of water used to launder them. That's a crock. That doesn't factor in the amount of water used to manufacture sposies and the chemicals and the poo in them leaching into our groundwater supply from landfills and the amount of time it takes for a sposie to biodegrade. I wash one load of laundry everyday right now. I have a family of four and I wash one load of diapers and one load of clothing/towels/etc on alternating days. So one day it's diapers, one day it's family laundry. Since beginning with cloth our water bill has gone up less than $2 a month. Our electricity bill has gone up about $15 but I believe truly that this is due to keeping the house more comfortable heat-wise and ac-wise because the baby is sensitive to cold and heat. We line-dry most clothing and diapers. Washing is not hard, especially with a breastfed baby. Toss in the washer with a tiny bit of detergent for a cold wash. Run a hot wash to disinfect and really get clean. Some people run an extra rinse but I don't ever need to. Then pop in the dryer, or hang to dry. Takes 5 minutes to put in, 1 to turn on again, and 5 to transfer to dryer or hang. So basically 10 minutes of maintenance every 2 days ain't bad! You would spend more time than that running to the store to pick up your sposies. Money-wise we save a LOT! You can diaper your baby from birth to potty training on all new stuff with cloth for less than $300. Disposables would cost you $2000-3,000. And I can save more by buying used and reselling. Enough said! Leakage? Cloth has come a long way from flats, pins, and plastic pants. We've had two poo leaks and no pee leaks since birth with my frequent wetter.
Honestly if you are on the fence, try cloth for two weeks. I'm positive you won't go to sposies.

Meg
 
#5 ·
We made the decision (at DH's suggestion!) long before I became pregnant. I agreed, but was much more excited about the idea once I found out that there were no pins and rubber pants involved.


- Better on the environment. No nasty chemical-laden poop bombs going in the landfills, self-explanatory.

- Better for DS - no nasty chemicals on his bum. (As an aside - I tried to use sposies for a trip when he was 2 months old only to find out that the chemicals in them, multiple brands, makes him break out in a bleeding diaper rash.)

- No poop blowouts. Those couple of days when he was in sposies, every time he pooped it blew out of the diaper and shot up his back. Ewwww!
I would be doing just as much laundry even if I didn't CD.

- We wake up with dry sheets in the morning. It's never a good thing to wake up in a puddle of wee, kind of gets the day off to a bad start.

- Easier on the wallet. Even using pocket diapers we are still saving money. DS has been in these same medium Fuzzi Bunz since December. And diapering for the next baby is already "pre-paid".


- No midnight trips out to the store to buy more diapers. Who am I kidding - I've run out of milk, Coke (noooooo!!!!), cat food, cat litter, toilet paper.... I know at some point I would run out of diapers and that's one item that can not wait until the morning. Much easier to just toss a load in the wash.
 
#8 ·
Here's why I made the switch to cd: (I used sposies on my first, my 2nd has been cd'ed from birth.)

1.) better for the environment. I recycle, I use cloth napkins and towels instead of paper, I drive Hondas (very fuel efficient), so I just makes sense that I should use "recyleable" dipes, too.

2.) While not the reason that converted me to cloth, I could never go back because they're so darn cute!

3.) My husband loves not having to deal with diaper garbage. (He has garbage duty in the house.)

4.) They're cheaper. I kept track of how much we spent on sposies during my son's first year, and it was about $800, even when buying them on sale and using coupons religiously.

5.) While I personally have never run into the occasion where I ran out of sposies (I'm a big believer of "stocking up" in what I use a lot of) it's very nice to not have to have a stockpile of diaper packages in the closet, nor to have to worry about checking all the sale circulars and clipping diaper coupons!

6.) My husband LOVES them. He's even gone so far as to question why we didn't do this with our first. (ummm, because when I suggested it, it totally grossed you out because you were still scared of poop then? :LOL)

7.) They're a WHOLE LOT easier to take care of than I ever would have imagined!!! Honestly!!

8.) While it never bothered me when my first was in dipes, now that I'm used to cd's, I now find the smell of sposies disgusting! Both fresh from the package (I never realized how much perfume is on those things!) and used. (Man, they smell like pee fast!)
 
#9 ·
All of the previous replies are excellent. I just wanted to reiterate the garbage issue. Have you seen the piles of garbage that sposies create? DS was diapered in disposibles and we had so much garbage. Now with cloth diapers on DD, and a family of four, we have half the garbage we had with DS in sposies and just a family of three.

DD has never had a single diaper rash.

Leaks are few and far between (I changed DS's clothes and sheets almost everyday from leaks in sposies.)

Cloth diapers are so cute and fun. You can get custom designs to match hobbies or favorite characters.

I love that I am able to buy my diapers from WAHMs and help support a mama staying home with her family.
 
#10 ·
I decided to cd to save money but didn't start using the cds until day 10 when I was sick to death of cleaning up after sposie leaks. Our cloth diapers don't leak. That alone is reason enough. It's so hard not to say anything when ALL of my friends who use sposies complain about having to clean up the carpet, couch, bedding, clothes, etc when their diapers leak. I never have anything to add because we don't have that problem.

I also found that in the 1 1/2 wks we used sposies, chemical gel got on my baby's skin a few times. After reading what's in that stuff, I am not comfortable with this at all. I think it poses health risks.

I continue to cd because it makes me happy. It's so soft next to baby's skin, doesn't stink (believe me, even bf poo stinks like crazy in a sposie), and I actually ENJOY changing ds's diaper because of the cuteness factor of cds. I think it's less work (cleaning up after diaper leaks is no fun). I really don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to cd. The only thing I can come up with is that they just aren't educated about the differences.
 
#11 ·
1. MUCH cheaper. Set a budget and stick to it. Simple prefolds and wraps will run you one-tenth the cost of disposables and it's even cheaper than that if you go with flats and pull-ups or if you can sew.

2. MUCH better for the environment. You'll hear @#$* about laundering being bad, but take a moment to think: What's worse, a couple of extra loads of laundry per week, or three years' worth of human waste wrapped in paper and plastic and buried in the landfill until the end of time? Washing at home, you don't use harsh chemicals and the laundry waste water goes to the same place the toilet water goes.

3. So nice and soft and fluffy for baby's butt! And delightfully chemical-free!

4. You have an easier time telling when they're wet, so it's easier to stay on top of changing.

5. It's lots of fun!


Check out my web site (in my signature) for more information. If you want.
 
#12 ·
You should cloth diaper because it makes what used to be a disgusting chore (i.e. dealing with sposies) FUN.

Also, sposies stink of chemicals. Blech! Cloth is just natural fabric against your baby's skin.


Oh, you should also CD so you can act nonchalantly superior when shocked people ask where you got the incredibly cute stuff.
I have to admit this is my favorite part.
 
#13 ·
Wauw, thanks for all the answers.


I think I will try it out.

Now I have to decide how to start.

This is our fourth (and probably last) baby, so there will be no savings in reusing them for siblings.
I have to figure out whether to use prefolds or (what do you call it) the other kind

Prefolds seem so complicated, but then the child doesn't outgrow them...

I would never have thought that sposies leaked more and got more wet. That has actually been my main concern. The thought of changing my child all the time, and I had actually decided to use sposies during the night because cd would mean a wet bed every morning. Maybe I was wrong
 
#15 ·
buy a small amount of everything and give it all a try would be my sugestion. Every diaper fits every child differently and you have to find something that fits in to your lifestyle and budget. If you are mainly doing this for cost value then Prefolds/Flats will be your way to go. But If you want to venture out and see what all there is to offer I recomend at least trying a few AIO's and fitteds. You may want to get a few pocket diapers a lot of mama's like them for night time. We use fitteds and wool here because I want DS to have something with breathablity on during the night time.

Ok I am going to stop I don't want to overwhelm you right away. If I can help in any way let me know there are a lot of mama's here that are always to lend a hand so don't feel afraid to ask anything.
 
#16 ·
My first baby I used sposies for the first 7 weeks of his life(broken washing machine in the shop). It was a nightmare! Poop explosions up the back and in the hair!!! Oh and having to get you, the new baby, and dh ready to go to Walmart just to buy diapers! I usually ended up in the car because the baby would start to cry! No fun at all!!!

My dd was cloth diapered from birth in the hospital! It's been so fun and we have never had a poop explosion! At the most some poop got on some clothes during changing time.

I've already sold most of her newborn diapers on the TP and went up to smalls with the money I made
You can't do that with sposies!

Which would you rather wear? Cloth or paper and plastic
 
#17 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Europeanmom
I would never have thought that sposies leaked more and got more wet. That has actually been my main concern. The thought of changing my child all the time...
They definatly hold more urine than a cloth diaper. But it's kind of gross to let the sodium polyacrolate (the clear gel beads inside sposies that expand and expand, becoming a massive jello-y mess when the child pees, but is semi-solid so the urine doesn't leak out) do it's job for more than one pee with a disposable diaper.... diapers aren't meant to be porta-potties, storing up your baby's waste until the clock (some people, I understand, change their child's diaper every set number of hours
)says they get another diaper change. It's not healthy for their skin to sit in their own waste, urine or feces, for hours, so a huge boon with cloth diapers is that it's easy to tell when they've peed at all, so you can just take it off and slap a nice, fresh clean cotton diaper on 'em...
luxury compared to having those clear gel beads stuck all over their bottoms and genitals which disposable wipes cannot wipe away, they are so sticky.... (I found Huggies to be the WORST in leaking gel beads all over my son even if the diaper hadn't been peed in... blech)
It probably sounds like a hassle to change the cloth diapers all the time, but when you've got the hang of it, it takes less than 30 seconds, and you end up feeling really good
about taking such excellent care of their bums. I have a friend who just switched from sposies and she is really feeling like she's caring better for her baby this way (and just so darned happy about it), by changing when needed (so easy to tell with cloth, not with pampers) and using natural fibers against her son's privates, rather than chemicals&plastic.
 
#18 ·
Since you said this is your fourth, I'll add one more reason for you to CD. It is way, way more interesting than using disposables. I started cloth full-time with my fourth, I am completely hooked now, it gave me something to look forward to trying with my new baby. By #4, you pretty much have the baby thing figured out, I think you would agree. Using cloth added a new twist for me and gave me a new baby hobby.


I do find that I have to change more often, and I didn't really have a problem with leaks in disposables. But the diapers are so darn cute, it doesn't really matter. I thought I would hate the extra laundry too, but I have so much laundry now and again, the diapers are so cute!
 
#19 ·
I have cloth diapered all five babies and like breastfeeding it is not even something I think about when making decisions for the next baby, it's just a given--however there is one thing I would like to mention that you don't think about when you first make the decision to use cloth. Cloth diapering will lead to making other great choices...I found myself wanting to get all the paper products and throw away stuff out of my life. And we have successfully done so, although this was not an overnight process. LOL
All I can add is this: ALL of the reasons listed above to give cloth a try are all valid, just be sure to treat yourself and your baby to some really special & cute cloth diapers, and enjoy the fun.
 
#20 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by LazureFairie
Cloth diapering will lead to making other great choices...I found myself wanting to get all the paper products and throw away stuff out of my life.
:

I didn't know there were other options out there until I started cloth diapering. Now, I am switching from sposie menstrual pads to cloth ones, I'm using cloth wipes instead of TP, and I'm using cloth more instead of paper towels or napkins.

Ditto all the other reasons everyone has already mentioned, especially the leaking diapers. Sposies leak poo real bad. I was doing more laundry with sposies just from the poo messes (seriously)!
 
#21 ·
I am the only one I know IRL who CDs, people think I'm strange but once I tell them how easy it is, they start to question why people use sposies!

I CD because:

It's so much better for DS's skin. I wouldn't want to wear a paper diap all day with plastic gel beads - he wears these gorgeous little fleece lined soft diaps.

It's easy - I don't have to worry about do I have enough diaps, are they on sale this week, etc. I have what I have, and we're all set! I take a dirty diaper, drop the poop in the toilet if there is some, open the pail, drop the diap in, drop the liner in, close the pail. Then the whole bag, diapers, liners all go in the wash, add some soap, boom.

It is so much better for the environment. Poop goes in the toilet, no trash, a bit more water but not that much.

It's fun - picking colors, styles, trying new diapers. Strangely I get satisfaction out of washing and folding them as well!

CD kids potty train on avg of 6 mo earlier than sposie kids.

Can I say, rarely any diaper rash in the past year and a half?

Cheap! Big investment up front depending on what you use, but no incremental cost.

When DS was newborn, I used Kissaluvs size 0 with Bummi Super Whisper Wraps. When he got older, I tried a few different ones before I settled on FuzziBunz with Joey Bunz hemp liners. That's what we use today
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
Well everyone has pretty much covered all the reasons to CD. The main reason we switched was cause DD had a constant rash in disposables, and I was soooo sick of washing her poopy clothes. It is so much easier to wash a dedicated diaper load rather than dealing the the clothes with poop all over them from disposable leaking. So, one main reason I switched was to cut down on laundry, lol!
 
#24 ·
If you want to minimize expense, I'd go with prefolds, snappis (essential for fastening in the prefold to keep in breastfed poo, in my experience), and pull up pants or wraps. If you want to go with minimal hassle and not have to change frequently, I'd go with fleece-lined all-in-ones, or pocket diapers (like happy heinys & fuzzibunz). Once your baby is not pooping at night, your baby will probably be able to go all night in a pocket diaper stuffed with 2-3 hemp flats (like babykicks duz-it-alls) or joeybunz. I highly recommend checking out: www.diaperpages.com for lots of useful CDing tips.

We CD for the the following reasons:
1 - environmental benefits
2 - keeping chemicals off baby's bum
3 - cloth feels nicer than paper
4 - can't stand 'sposie smell
5 - save money
6 - encourage earlier potty training (because child can tell they're wet)

Happy Cloth Diapering!
 
#25 ·
Reasons to CD:
1) Usually it's cheaper, at least unless you get sucked in to buying the more hard-to-find expensive fluff. We've spent maybe $600 for ds's stash (which is more on the fancy side than bare-bones side) which has been in use for 15-16 months. In ds's first 5 months we spent $500 on disposables/wipes/extra detergent for washing the poop-stained clothes (then we switched to cloth).
2) Healthier for baby. No chemicals, cloth breathes better, usually diaper rash goes away when you switch to cloth.
3) It's more fun to change your baby with cloth. I give ds a choice of 2 diapers at a diaper change and it's really cute watching him decide which one.

4) A properly loaded/stuffed cloth diaper will do better at nighttime than a disposable. IME, cloth grabs poop better than sposies, so it doesn't defy gravity up your baby's back.

5) Since you won't be saving the diapers for subsequent babies, you can just re-sell them here, on ebay, whatever as your babe outgrows them - to help fund the next size up. Depending on the type of diaper, you can typically get 25%-75% of your purchase price back (definitely not something you can do with used sposies).

There's lots more, but I'm not all with it because my allergies are kicking my butt. You *will* be changing a newborn so much it will seem like you're spending a lot of time doing it, but that's just the nature of diapering a newborn. When ds was tiny we went through up to 20 disposables a day - yes that was $5 of diapers a day for a while there. You get used to the changing table or whatever.

Prefolds aren't really that evil. I
them for their one-size-fits-most thing. When I've had to sell some diapers that ds had outgrown, I could always rely on our prefolds to fit him. Also take a look at a snappi - I could never do prefolds if I had to use pins instead of my snappis.


Lanna
 
#26 ·
one more reason I didn't see:
Once you have used cloth, sposies feel like paper plates and plastic spoons. They work when you're camping, but they aren't "real" dishes - they come in ugly old white, they get soggy, they create enormous amounts of trash, and they just plain aren't as NICE as using real Corelle or stoneware and real stainless or silver silverware.
Cloth on the other hand is "real" clothing. It comes in beautiful prints and patterns, doesn't create tons of waste, and just feels NICE.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top