Where are we on cloth diapers? - Page 2

[alegna]

We used all cloth with dd. She was in disposables TWICE (one pull up each...) and HATED them and would not wear them... there went my idea of using disposables for travel....

So all cloth with this one too.

-Angela

[NatureMama3]

I actually don't mind cloth when traveling. but then I'm a big CDactivist. constantly showing off my fancy dipes to people to woo them to CDing.

With Noah I had all kinds of fun prints (peppers, trains, etc) and people were so amazed with how neat the "new" kind of cloth diapers were.

We even took CDs camping (granted in a town area, church camp meeting) and washed in sink/dried on line for the wet-only ones.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by NatureMama3

I actually don't mind cloth when traveling. but then I'm a big CDactivist. constantly showing off my fancy dipes to people to woo them to CDing.

With Noah I had all kinds of fun prints (peppers, trains, etc) and people were so amazed with how neat the "new" kind of cloth diapers were.

We even took CDs camping (granted in a town area, church camp meeting) and washed in sink/dried on line for the wet-only ones.

Wow. THAT is hardcore.

[mommy2naomi]

DD was cloth diapered for about 4-5 months but then she outgrew the small size. At that point I got lazy and didn't want to spend the money.
She's been in underwear since 22 months and the two months before that she was in pull-ups.

For this little one, I ordered BumGenius 3.0 One-Size diapers. But baby will go to daycare around October/November so we'll be using 7th generation sposies.

[Breeder]

We did not "find" cding until DS was out of dipes. Now that we have freed the house from all chemical and non-natural smells I can't stand the smell of sposies... even dry ones.

So this babe is going to be cd'ed most of the time w/ prefolds and wraps. We're using BumGenius one size with a doubler for nights on the suggestion of a friend who used them with her babe and said they were practically leak proof. We're going to use G diapers on long trips, because I find their smell less offensive than regular sposies and they are cute.

Everything else in our house is going the way of cloth, why not the baby's butt?

[tschecter]

cloth only here, except for long trips and plane trips. and then, it will be only chlorine free diapers for the new little one. baby will be in cloth in the hospital even, and I am still deciding for me,... I may wear sposie pads for the first day or 2...

[lovingmommyhood]

Cloth half the time and sposies half the time. It doesn't really depend on where we are or what we're doing. Depends more on when I last did the laundry.

[MarchWillow]

Cloth boobie pads, cloth diapers, cloth wipes...which I need to replace I dun like the ones I have, they are doubled and so one layer sticks to bum and other slides around grrr. I am planning on buying some mama pads too after postpartum bleed goes down a little bit. Never used those before.

I got a sposie in the mail the other day, I think from web surfing babies r us they somehow got me on a baby junk mail list...anyway, I opened it and holy crap that thing stank so bad!!!! It was a luvs, size one. I couldn't believe the stench. How did I never notice that?!

So I posted a thread about my vacation with the new born and am really considering sposies from birth for cord care and meconium and just staying with them until after vacation. I forgot about that smell though. I may be hand washing, line drying like someone else said they did...although at 6 weeks that may be a lil hardcore.

I tell ya what though, I am never looking back. I love cloth. I love it even more that I found fuzzibunz...I have him totally set til about 9 months old. Maybe longer depending on how fast he grows. I wish I was a better seamstress and could make my own cute lil covers and such like some gals do, because startup for cloth can be a lil bit pricey. I know it pays off in the end 10 fold, but I wish I could custom my own.

I'm so stoked about all the CDers on here by the way!!! That is so awesome!!! Can you imagine just between us girls how much space we are saving in landfills? That feels so darn good! Go us!

[*Aimee*]

I'm going to order prefolds and covers for this baby. I have all of DS's old fuzzibuns in medium for when he hits those too. My problem is a DH thats very against cloth. We figured with the cost of the diapers I like its about the same as sposies, BUT what I keep telling him is that they're better for the environment, better for his bum, and new baby can use them when he hits larges. But he just hates them.

We had a hard time and I spent a lot of money trying to find something that fit DS right. He can't do prefolds and snappy's because he is just too wiggly and active. They fall right off and a snappi got stuck on his penis He also got stuck to the couch. And he likes to take his clothes off and pull them off. So I have to use fitteds AIO's or pockets. I spent a ton of money and discovered that ANY type of velcro causes horrible rashes for him. Its like they don't move with his body as well as snaps. so when he'd turn the diaper would stay and rub his belly raw. I tried 10 billion different types. So I decided to go back to fb and the new ones fell apart on the first initial 3 washes to prep them. Out of 18 dipes half of them fell apart. And with DS weighing 33lbs already we're having a hard time finding ones that are big enough, and snap. So DH is just fed up. But I'm working on him!!

[NatureMama3]

marchwillow, for cloth TP we've found 2 combos work VERY well. first is an OLD towel (old as you have or can find in resale) one one side and diaper flannel on the other. We've been using on those for 4 years now and they're still going strong! Second is sherpa and jersey. I'm particularly fond of those for myself so I hog them. They absorb pee better. neither of those have a problem with slipping apart, though some I tried with other fabrics (like corduroy) can at times.

Aimee, I don't see how CDs could ever be as pricey as sposies! We calculated it out and we'd spent over $7,000 on sposies/wipes between the twins and Noah (to 10 months when we switched him) and only spent less than $200 on CDs and covers. I just can't see $2-300 for 2-3+ years for sposies. Have you looked into used CDs? For some kinds (especially fitted/prefold) those are quite economical!

[*Aimee*]

Well I spent about 600 dollars on DS's medium stash which I still have but did sell the ones that caused him issues. The diapers I like are 25 bucks a piece and so thats about 500 dollars and then DH calculated the cost of washing which *I* think doesnt really count. Then he calculated my time into it, which also shouldn't count. THEN I wanted to add up gas costs of going to buy more diapers but he wouldnt because he says that counts into regular grocery shopping.

Get this. THIS is how crazy my DH is. He says that the environment part doesnt count because they've come up with a way to burn 500 tons of trash into 5 lbs of ash to use for fertilizer and then it creates a gas that the machine runs on. Yes. This is what I'm dealing with. He just hates cloth with a passion. He think they're stinky (we did have a lot of stink issues) and he thinks I'll be too busy to deal with washing (which doesn't take time to ME) but seriously after 5 months of bitter fighting about it I just can't anymore. DS is nowhere NEAR potty learning ready. And in the morning I cry when I see those nasty ass chemical beads on his penis.

[Galatea]

Aimee, I say do what you want to do and don't engage dh in a debate about it.

We use cloth for everything except tp. I'm okay with that, though! Somehow toddler poop is less gross than adult poop.

I have 25 small FBs for dd, but now am also getting 12 Kissaluv 0s and 4 extra small FBs to add to my 18 infant PFs (which I am serging shorter tomorrow) b/c my boys were too small for small FBs at first. But of course, now that I am buying the newborn size dipes, I am sure she will come out 10 lbs and never wear them and I will cry. I also have a few cute covers coming - a chenille Blue Penguin among them.

[*Melissa*]

Well this is a good spot for more info for me.

DS1 is totally in sposies and though I've considered cloth for #2, it's really difficult for me to figure out how to do it. We have no laundry facilities in our building, and the nearest laundromat is... not so near. So figure I'll get to a laundromat once every two weeks. Am I going to need a *ton* of cloth diapers to make this work? Is it going to be stinky all those diapers piling up? Plus, we are broke right now, definitely can't afford a huge upfront investment... what do you all think?

[chirp]

we use cloth everything except for toilet paper too...

i'm in the process of making a billion kagillion prefolds right NOW. We didn't get any diapering supplies for our shower, and although we can afford to buy all the supplies I decided to see if I could make them using goodwill finds, etc. Now I Have enough cut up and layered cloth for 30 dipes, 20 doublers and countless wipes. I just have to get thread and start sewing it all together.

total spent so far: $56.

so i'm assuming after all this work we will actually use the dipes i'm making. i never thought about not using them at night.

do a lot of people find that necessary?

[NatureMama3]

Aimee, I say do what you want to do and don't engage dh in a debate about it.

amen!

have you stripped the dipes that are smelling? what kind are they? what fabric? and what kind of washer do you have? what detergent do you use? I'm plenty happy to help you trouble-shoot diaper issues!! nearly all have a solution.

Melissa, I never found cloth dipes waiting to be washed stinky, of course we breastfed and that makes a big difference. To go for 2 weeks though, that would definitely require a bigger stash. Do you have a friend or family nearby who could let you wash at their house more often? or maybe consider diaper service which would pick up and drop off the dipes so you can avoid the laundromat for them altogether.

[NatureMama3]

re: cloth tp, if you can get over the mental block your bum will thank you! it's the only thing that keeps me from painful hemorrhoid surgery!

chirp, if you use doublers effectively and use 2 prefolds for night you could get away with only those. diaper flannel (2 layers in and out) and kitchen grade terry (as the inside layer) make great doublers and are very simple to do on a serger.

[chirp]

Originally Posted by *Melissa*

Well this is a good spot for more info for me.

DS1 is totally in sposies and though I've considered cloth for #2, it's really difficult for me to figure out how to do it. We have no laundry facilities in our building, and the nearest laundromat is... not so near. So figure I'll get to a laundromat once every two weeks. Am I going to need a *ton* of cloth diapers to make this work? Is it going to be stinky all those diapers piling up? Plus, we are broke right now, definitely can't afford a huge upfront investment... what do you all think?

because i love making my life difficult...

we don't have laundry (non-coin-op) facilities either and we are going to try out doing laundry by hand. i'm just gonna give you what I found from a few different sources...i just cut and paste it into 1 document for quick reference...

The bucket and plunger
This is a commonly used method for clothes washing and is probably the most effective hand washing method after the pressure washer. Place dirty clothes, water and detergent in a bucket and use a plunger to agitate. If you choose this method you’ll want to spend $10 on a “special” plunger made just for hand washing. Available from Lehman’s Non –Electric catalog (see above) this plunger has internal baffles to help get water and soap into the clothes. Soaking helps get any load of laundry cleaner, so don’t be afraid to let clothes soak.

I’ve read one suggestion that has some merit to it, although I admit I’ve never tried it. A lady whom I hold in rather high regard made a sort of washer out of a 5-gallon bucket with lid, a plumber’s plunger and a ring washer similar to that used for protecting the wiring that goes through the firewall of a car. She bored a hole in the lid, fitted the washer through, and put the plunger inside. It looks like a butter churn would if they were made of plastic. As I said, I haven’t tried this, but there seems no reason why it shouldn’t work.

I made an agitator for the rinse "cycle". I bought a new toilet plunger ($1.50) and cut 4 holes in it. The children will take turns rinsing the clothing with it. The holes let the water circulate and agitate the clothing, thoroughly rinsing. The clothes are put through the wringer a second time. Once I have my second rinse tub, we will rinse a second time.

to make this possible i got two new 5 gallon paint buckets and a drying rack. we still have to go out and get the plungers. i figure i'll presoak in my diaper pail, wash in one pail and rinse in the other. all of this taking place in the bathtub and probably 3-4 times per week.

i'm still researching the best stuff to kill bacteria, but i'm thinking a few drops of grapefruit seed extract in the wash bucket will do the trick.

once again, i like to make my life difficult though...

[chirp]

Originally Posted by NatureMama3

re: cloth tp, if you can get over the mental block your bum will thank you! it's the only thing that keeps me from painful hemorrhoid surgery!

chirp, if you use doublers effectively and use 2 prefolds for night you could get away with only those. diaper flannel (2 layers in and out) and kitchen grade terry (as the inside layer) make great doublers and are very simple to do on a serger.

see i got everything from goodwill...is diaper flannel at all like flannel sheets? lol...i'm praying to ___________ (our great mother?) that this works and I didn't just waste 60 bucks and lots of good flannel sheets! (i used terry towels layered with flannel for the doublers and 4 layers of flannel for the prefolds.)

[NatureMama3]

re: cloth tp, if you can get over the mental block your bum will thank you! it's the only thing that keeps me from painful hemorrhoid surgery!

chirp, if you use doublers effectively and use 2 prefolds for night you could get away with only those. diaper flannel (2 layers in and out) and kitchen grade terry (as the inside layer) make great doublers and are very simple to do on a serger.

[heidirk]

We did Cloth when DS was about 8 wks old. I got a diaperwraps combo kit for 250$. It included 5 Doz prefolds(4/8/4) and 20 wraps, 5 each of sm, med, lg. and a roll of 100 liners. I love them, the wraps are light and flexible, and the velcro doesn't get anywhere near his skin. Then, we got a few XL wraps and 3 Bumkins(which I hate) when he was about 15 mos old. the bumkins have this velcro that is so stiff, it has actually cut his leg! I took a scissprs to it, and it helped some, but for how much they cost I was really mad. Generally, he's only in a sposie at night, and for church. All other times out we usually use cloth unless I think I'll have to change him. At 22 mos, I don't have to change him very often, though. I also switched to mama cloth when AF resumed, and I'm THRILLED!!!! So much more comfortable.
For DC #2 I have a garbage bag full of carousel aio's (which are more like a lined cover) that my mom found at her thrift store and gave to me because she didn't think they'd sell. they should be the right size for NB and I plan to purchase Kissaluvs doublers and diapers to go inside. I definately want to try all cloth for this one. Well, except maybe for extended travel.

And, if DS's diapers sit for more than 1 week, the stench is unbearable, his pee is that potent.