Thinking about CDing

[kgrfcharlton]

OK, I have thought about Cding for a long time. I have some questions for experienced mamas.

Has anyone started out w/disposables & then changed to CD? How was the transition? Do clothe leak all the time or does CD now days keep up w/the leaks? What about the laundry - do you have to do it all the time? I just have to make sure that if I invest in CDs I use them.

Any insight?

[mariposita]

rachel-

i don't have much insight because we did diaper service with ds1 and do ec with ds2, but hopefully someone here can answer your questions. if not the women over in the diapering forum are amazing and i know they'll be able to answer questions!

good luck!

[aisraeltax]

i used sposies last week and they leaked way more than my cloth ever do.
i mainly use fuzzbunz, which are pockets.
my laundry is every 3 days. i wash once on cold with baking soda (about 1/2 c.) and some vinegar in a Downy ball. then i was on hot with about 2 tbsp. of Tide (regular tide, not the kind with anything special). i dry everything together except the covers i hang to dry on a hanging thing in the kids bathroom that has a large window.
any stains get put on the hanging thing too and they sun out really well.
i dont use anything else.
once you get used to doing cd's every 3 days, all your other laundry is caught up b/c you dont want a back load! my laundry is super efficient now.
i HATE sposies compared to cd's....really i do.
if you get them...you will use them if you dont have sposies around.
most of my cd's i got from the TP. most were in like new condition.
i have already saved money. i spent about $400-500 on cd's and spent about $60 on sposies in the week and a half we used them (we had septic problems).
i would love to answer more q's. it really is EASY!
oh, and you dont need covers for fb's. i have other cd's b/c i love wool covers, but the fb's are what i recommend to someone just starting out.

[allnaturalmama]

Hi Rachel,

You can do it!

I used disposable for my first two, and switched DD to cloth halfway through. DS has been exclusively CDed. Switching DD was fun and a lot easier than I expected.

With cloth, there is absolutely no reason anyone should have to deal with leaking. Leaks are rare, but if you were to have them, you just fine tune your diapers to customize to your child and resolve the issue. There's tons of advice on the diapering board. I've not had any problems with leaks, ever.

You don't have to do laundry all the time. I do mine every night just because I like to have a daily routine that's consistent. Wash the dipes before going to bed, hang them on the line first thing in the morning. I would say you could probably stretch your laundry out to twice a week, but likely would not want to go much longer than that.

Like Rach said, you will find that CDs help you to be better about all the laundry in the house. It's impossible to discover a load of mildewed, forgotton towels in your washer (am I the only one who's ever done that? ) when you've got diapers that you routinely wash.

I have strong feelings about CDing from an environmental, sustainable point of view, but even if sposies weren't harmful, I still much prefer CDs to them.

I did write a couple of ebay guides - one on sustainable diapering, and one on wool covers, which you are welcome to read if you've got some time. Links in my siggy.

[judybean]

I used disposables with dd1, but started dd2 in cloth from the beginning and it was So Much Easier than I had ever thought it could be!

And, just like Rachel, I had *way* more leaks with sposies than with cloth EVER! And, like Jen, I have many reasons for liking cloth... I'll never go back for sure!!

When I first got into cloth, the time spent on laundry TERRIFIED me. I'm not really good at keeping up on the laundry anyway, so the thought of having to do it seemingly all the time was daunting..... but, since it's pretty much a have-to situation, I find that washing diapers is about the only thing I actually keep up on : (plus, it's fun.... really)

what else would you like to know? I could go on for days and days about the joys of cloth. I've tried about everything out there and now I just make my own!

[Minoh]

Definitely go with cloth if you're ready - it's a little extra work but there are so many benefits (not just environmental, but so much cheaper in the long run). We used 'sposies for the first month then switched and didn't have any problems.

I do find that some cloth diapers leak, but it's usually those with a built-in cover (like FBs). For us, the most leak-proof system, even more so that 'sposies, is using a cloth diaper with a separate cover.

I have to admit that we use a 'sposie at night, but we don't change ds unless he has a bowel movement at night. I love the 7th generation diapers because they really work wonderfully and keep him dry all night long.

We do diaper laundry every 3-4 days. The most annoying part of cd-ing is remembering to change the water in the diaper pail. If we forget, it stinks, and I'm sure it'll be worse in the heat of summer.

I don't know how things will change when we're feeding solids, but I'm sure cleaning up poopy diapers won't be quite as easy as now. Neverthess, I say go for it!

[aisraeltax]

oh, and im sure many are going to cringe when i say this, but i dont use a pail at all. all i have done so far is put the cd's in a waterproof bag (i put baking soda in the bottom to reduce odor but with bf poo there really isnt that much odor).
when im ready to wash, i just take the bag to the washing machine (i have several bags from when ds1 was at summer camp, so i wash the bag with the cd's and use the otehr one i have in the meantime).
im sure this is what others refer to as a "wetbag" but i just used a laundry bag that has a plastic outer.

[Minnow_]

We do a load of diapers about every third day. We have a washer with a sanitary cycle, so we just run them through once on that cycle, then put the diapers in the dryer and hang the covers. For me, washing the diapers really doesn't feel like much work.

We use prefolds and bummis covers, and also fuzzibunz. We've had one fuzzibunz pee leak (in almost 6 months!) when we didn't have the leg snap tight enough, and one bummis poop leak, again when we didn't have the cover on securely. When we used sposies for 5 days on a trip, we had several leaks, so for us cloth has definitely been more leak-proof.

Another thing I noticed was that when we used the sposies, they seemed really smelly, I guess because of the absorbing gel in them. To me, the cloth diapers never smell bad (except the really soaking wet overnight diaper).

[monkeys4mama]

Go for it!

I am a total convert and wished we had made the sswithc sooner b/c they are so much better and they actually leak less than sposies. I knwo that's hard to beleive b/c I never beleived it either until we tried them.

I had two in disposables and switched for my ds who is now almost four. I bought all our diapers for him but now I'm sewing diapers for Addy. I can't beleive I didn't do that sooner too, since diapers are so easy to sew!

When I switched I went a little bonkers on Ebay and bought about everythign I could find to try. lol! my dh was convinced that cloth would cost us five times as much. And it prolly would have if i didn't resell the diapers we didn't use! Ebay is good though for getting an assortment of styles and brands to test out before you commit to spending a bunch of money on any one thing. I discovered I didn't like some things and liked others, and that everyone has their own favorites so you can't just count on liking what your friends use. I suggest buying some used diapers on Ebay (unless buying used grosses you out, it didn't bother me but I washed them real good and it was the only time I used bleach on my diaeprs, just one time when I got them new so they would be disinfected). Then you can try a lot and not spend too much. And resell what you don't like.

Cloth works really good, much better than I ever imagined. They do need to be changed a little more than you have to change sposies. But sposies prolly ought to be changed more than most people do anyhow. Cloth keeps poops in a whole lot better tho. YOu almost never have to change the whole baby outfit like you do with sposie diapers. We had daily blowouts for my sposie diaper kids. Not my cloth diaper kids.

You can do this! And you will love it. Really.

[kgrfcharlton]

Thank you all! This has been great - I'm going to do it!

I had read that you don't have to soak bf pooh diapers before. How many do that? And those who soak, do you soak both pee-pee & pooh in different pails?

I'm excited!

[judybean]

I don't soak anything. Not. One. Thing.

Two reasons:

-- bf poo TOTALLY doesn't need soaked! if you are a stain HATER then the sun will be your friend. bf poo stains like crazy. i don't mind that. ... wait, i started out saying only bf poo doesn't need soaked. i don't soak *any* of my diapers! not even from my two-year-old. ... which leads me to my second point...

-- i'm lazy. i will freely and happily admit that. wet pails are dangerous (really... any bucket of water laying around can be a drowning hazard). i don't want diapers hanging around my toilet. so... any poo that falls off (this being for my toddler's diapers) ... well, it falls off and doesn't get washed!

this added just for fun... *if* i were to soak (and i've done this about twice or so in all of my diapering years) an especially icky peanut-butter-toddler-poo diaper.... then i put enough cold water in the washer's tub to cover the diaper. i'll throw in some baking soda as well for good measure. usually it will sit overnight because i forget about it. the next day i'll spin it off, and do the normal load of diaper laundry.

...

for wash routines, you'll get as many answers as there are people that use cloth diapers. it's crazy like that! but, there are quite a few factors that go into it such as materials in your diapers (fleece tends to hold stink and can repel with certain detergents), whether you have hard/soft water and then of course detergent sensitivities.

i really have to add this link about detergent choices because it's awesome.

[Ayala Eilon]

I started with disposable and moved to CD all in one. I found the CDs much more convenient and just as effective. The toddler couldn't care less.