Cloth Diapers.............how effective?

In my experience, we had a lot LESS leaks in cloth diapers than in disposables, and therefore the laundry balanced out...less clothes with poop all over them.

There can be challenges as, but it's fun (to me) to experiment and really find what's best for my child.

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As someone who was sure I wouldn't like CDing and would think it was waaayyy too much work...

And therefore used sposies for 3 years...

And now loves CDing and has been doing it for almost a year...

I would say that they are not really that much work. It is hard at first to decide what to buy, what will work best for you, where to get it, how many you need, how much to spend, etc. Even if it is a bit of trial and error to find what works for your child, the good side is that if you buy something that doesn't work for you you can resell it and you didn't just throw all your money away. It is worth trying it for yourself with an open mind!

We only started CDing when my son was 15m. I find we have less leaks. As for the care, your talking an extra couple loads of laundry a week. Minimal in my book. The big thing that sold it for me is that on the rare occasion (sicknes or traveling) that we do use a sposie, my son pulls at it and is itching constantly. It was suddenly obvious that even he preferd the CD.

I cloth diapers. I'm glad they're better for the environment. I'm glad they're better for my kids. I'm glad it's cheaper. But really, I do it because I KNOW they won't leak. It's easier. I never run out.

I'm lazy. Sad but true. Cloth diapers are easier for me (and SO much more fun... :LOL )

-Angela

I'm what you could call the "Great Cloth Diaper Convert" - lol!

I have four kids and started cd'ing with my fourth. That's right, I used Pampers with my first three. Luuuuuuuuuved my Pampers, swore by them.

So I had my fourth. And at a playgroup, saw someone with cloth diapers. And I thought "Hey, those are cute."

What can I say, I'm a sucker for cute

Meanwhile, I'm watching my garbage can fill up with disposibles. It began to seem like every where I turned in my house, there was a garbage can full of dirty stinky diapers. Could be because my dh doesn't realize that the can should be emptied BEFORE it overflows onto the floor.

So that got me thinking about cloth diapers. And I started researching them on line. And researching. And comparing and pricing.

Then one late night, I bought some Fuzzi Bunz off Ebay to try. I got six of them, thinking that that would be a good trial number - enough to wash and use during the day to get a good feel.

After about a week, I knew I wanted more. And I bought some cute pink ones, some cute lavender ones, the yummy butter yellow ones. Dh thought I was slightly nuts, my mother thought I was insane. I even wondered if this would work. People told me "Oh, you'll have SOOO much more laundry to do." Not really, just one extra load. And when you have six people to wash for, what's one more load? What I'd do is wash the diapers first, throw them in the dryer while throwing another load of wash in the washer, then if the inserts weren't dry, I'd just throw the other load in and dry them all together. Oddly enough, I've keep up with laundry BETTER since CD'ing!

As for leaking...none. Well, almost none. No leaks with the Fuzzi Bunz (except when my dd outgrew them and I was trying to push the limits while waiting for the new ones to come.) I got very ultra-trim all in ones and did have some leaking issues with those, but they just weren't the right fit for my dd. All the others I've tried have been just fine. And I've NEVER had a poop blow-out with these things, even the ultra-trim ones. And let me tell you, we have had some NASTY diapers!

My advice to you - get a half dozen of the "easy-to-use" ones. Pockets are very easy to use. Or fitteds and covers. Try them out for a few days and see what you think. My thought with buying Fuzzi Bunz was that if I didn't like them, I could resell them on Ebay and get almost all my money back so I didn't really lose out on anything.

Good luck with all this!

I cloth diapered my first one from birth and my toddler, too. I took a brief break with my toddler because of health-related issues. I did not find disposables that much easier. There was that moment of panic when it was 10 PM and I realized we only had 2 left. There were the gel beads that got onto her privates (and I hope, not into her privates). I noticed that they had an odor to them right after she wet them. I think I got used to it after awhile but my cloth-using friends asked what that smell was, so they noticed it, too. I hated the fact that we were throwing so much away daily. They leaked a lot. Poop leaked out badly sometimes. Pee was okay though.

I continued to use disposables at night with her for awhile longer. Just as I was about to order some nice wool covers for nighttime she started staying dry at night. Must have been reading my mind. :LOL

Like I said I cloth diapered my babies from birth and honestly I have had a lot less leaks with cloth than with disposables. If you get a good cover, it will hold it all in 99% of the time, even with antibiotic poop or breastmilk poop. You can resell most of them for about half of what you paid new. You are wrapping your baby in soft pure fluff, no chemicals, no waste. If you find that you are getting low you just have to start a wash load which you can do even at 10 PM in your underwear. :LOL

If you want convenience, order some all in ones or pocket diapers. They are the most like disposables. They are also the most expensive in most cases. I just convinced an on-line friend to use cloth on her toddler and she started out with 6 Fuzzibunz. She then ordered 6 more after a week and now she says she's hooked. It's that easy.

You can order some other kinds of diapers after you get used to all in ones or pockets. I have a mix of pockets and prefolds (with pins!) right now. I like them both the same for different reasons.

Best of luck in your decision.

nak

started out with sposies. had a bf baby poo blowout up the back virtually every time he went. bought 12 FB. no more blowouts! haven't looked back.

give it a go!!! if you don't like them u can sell them on ebay.

there is a sticky at the top of this forum with info for people new to CD about the various options
http://69.20.14.30/discussions/showthread.php?t=270287

deciding what to get can be overwhelming. don't let this freak you out. pick something (or a few things) and give it a try.

it feels so good to not to be buying box after box of sposies.

good luck!

I didn't start using cloth on my DD until she was 7 months old. Prior to that, the misconceptions I had about cloth were horrible. But I've found them to not only be minimal extra work, but lots of fun and cute, too!

As long as you're getting a good quality diaper that fits properly, you shouldn't have any leaks. And we use our washing machine as our diaper pail, so it's really no big deal to just turn the dial and throw in some detergent. And lots of mamas find that diaper laundry is their favorite laundry to do. Nothing like playing w/ piles of soft, cute fluff to warm your heart!

Order a handful of diapers that interest you (like one each of several kinds) to look at and touch. A ton of the stuff available on the web is *so* much better than Gerber prefolds from your local retail store.

I will admit, when I have soap buildup in the diapers washing (and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing) them seems like a lot of work, but regular washing isn't much of a big hdeal.

But what kinda keeps me going is that ds's butt looks like skin! It's not a shade of red/pink that is was when ds was in disposables - even when we used diaper rash cream. We haven't had many major leaks since switching to cloth (we switched when he was 5mo), even with explosive runny bf poo.

Also, if you use prefolds (which cost about $1.50/each) you pretty much break even after you use them a minimum of 6-8 times (disposable diapers typically average $.25/each).

I am guilty of going full-steam ahead with something once I decide to do it, and it was the same with cloth diapers. No way was I going to fail, so I kept tweaking what we use and have ended up with a diaper stash that works for us and 20mo ds.

Lanna

I'm probably going to echo what everyone else has said, but I'll do it anyway :LOL I love cloth diapers! I used paper diapers for my first daughter and I hated them. I couldn't wait for her to start using the potty so I could get past this part of child-rearing. They leaked all the time, smelled the whole house up, and I just hated the way they looked. I had no idea what I was missing.

When you haven't ever used cloth diapers you tend to think about the care of the diapers without thinking about all the pleasant things that come along with them. When my daughter pees in a cloth diaper it smells of only fresh urine (not ammonia, and not that synthetic perfume/chemical/urine smell of sposies). When she poops I change her the same way I would with a sposie only I have to dump what I can in the toilet. I do not expose myself to poop anymore than anybody who uses sposies. I have never (really!) had a diaper leak poop. With dd#1 (in sposies) I remember cleaning poop frequently that came out of her diaper and smeared down her leg...one time dripping into her shoes and socks...ick. Talk about having to clean poop! I have never (yes, I mean NEVER) had a cloth diaper leak urine either. Sometimes I let my daughter run around without a cover, and once in a while she urinates so heavily that it comes out of the diaper. I have never had that happen when using a cover.

I love washing diapers...I look forward to it. Its just as soothing as folding a big stack of fresh warm towels. I would gladly trade washing dirty diapers for not having to go to Walmart to buy a big ol' box of sposies, lugging dirty diaper trash outside, and worrying about running out. I am not looking forward to dd#2 using the potty. I am in no hurry to move past this phase. That's reason enough for me to use cloth.