Cloth or disposable diapers?

[geojen]

Who has used cloth diapers and has advice on where to start with these things? I am pregnant for the very first time, and am really considering using cloth because they are cheaper and more environmentally friendly. However, I am finding that it is really difficult to find clear, concise advice on how, where, and what to purchase, as well as how to care for cloth diapers. Advice?

[PrincessPerky]

err, don't?

not really. We went with cloth for a time on the last kid....I was swamped with so many different brands and styles I basically threw a dart and picked one. It was too thick. nothing fit on my kid over the giant folded cloth, and the covers were too small so everything leaked.

Then there was the washing, at first it wasn't too bad, then he started solids, and that whole idea of rinsing them in the toilet before washing is A gross, and B not that easy. I finally gave up and shipped the diapers out of the house.

This time I am considering a service..I can sign up for a month and they can wash, and if the size is wrong I imagine an upgrade is not all that expensive, since you are basically renting them.

[cashqueen]

I use a combination of cloth and sposies. I cloth diaper on the weekends and use disposable during the week when he's at daycare (they won't deal with cloth). He doesn't really eat solids yet (at 7 months) and BF poop is not smelly, so we'll see what I do when his diapers get super nasty. I have a feeling I will stop using them at that point. I use fuzzibunz cloth diapers which I love and I got passed down to me for free.

[MonkeyMama]

If you google for any moms' group there is always a diaper crazy bunch (who are willing to give you lots of good advice).

The all-in-one diapers they make these days are awesome.

We personally used a service. I just could not bring myself to throw all those diapers in the landfill. A diaper service is all the convenience of disposables with using cloth diapers. So, just what I know.

Of course, my eldest was cloth diapered pretty much 24/7 until he potty trained. The younger one refused to ever sleep in a cloth diaper, so we have filled our share of the landfill with him. He was pretty 50/50. (Just an FYI as you never know how your kid will react so I wouldn't invest too much in any one diaper system before they are born).

I just had to add a service is usually a bit more expensive than disposables (or about the same) BUT if you have 2 kids in diapers (or more), it's really economical.

Every service is different. For ours, we rented the cloth diapers from the service. You just change up the amount and sizes, as needed.

You can go old school and simply buy pins. Some services may offer different diaper types.

Ours were really just square cloths, and they recommended buying diaper covers. We bought a few, we really didn't need many since we did not need to change the cover every time, and we washed them every other day or so anyway. They were real easy to put on - with velcro tabs.

My husband was REALLY Skeptical since he was the one who stayed home, but I insisted we at least TRY and we just loved it - very easy.

I have said much they were more convenient than disposables, because they just were delivered to our front door every week (how easy is that). You just toss the dirty diapers like trash - no rinsing or anything (which everyone assumes your kid is in cloth diapers, you must slave. I don't know how many people I tried to explain the service to, who to this day marveled that we did cloth. So I REALLY try to educate people about their options).

Some services are more environmentally friendly than others. If they just use harsh chemicals, you have to wonder if it is even worth it.

But if you prefer to wash yourself to keep costs down, there are lots of diapering discussing boards around.

[FrugalFish]

First off, congratulations.

Don't make the mistake that I did and spend a bundle on cloth diapers that you never even use This is a great regret of mine. I was very ill after my DD was born, so laundry was the last thing I needed to deal with for several months. Then I had so many problems with the cloth diaps I had (and spent a fortune on)- they were just not good. They were fitted,and suppose to fit a kid through many sizes. In reality they would only fit her for a very short time and were not all that user friendly.

If I had it to do over again, I would buy single diapers of a few different styles and try them out after the baby is born. If you find yourself liking a particular brand/style, then invest more into those. One size does not fit all- in more ways than one. What works great for one mom, may not work so well for another. JM.02.

[tripods68]

Disposable all the way! You pay for it but a lot a more convenience.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

If you do daycare at all they won't take cloth! That's the biggest problem so then you end up buying disposable anyway and might get used to the convience.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

It's been two decades now, but we used cloth and a diaper service. I remember it became a point of pride to be able to pin the diaper very neatly and snugly! At the time diaper service came out just less than disposables. It got cheaper as baby got older, because they use fewer diapers and the service would let us pay less for fewer. It was not a popular time for cloth diapering, even with a paid service. There was only one company in our 3 million population metro area. Thus no competition to work on prices or extra services.

When traveling, we used disposables.

Yeah, I would say visit a forum specifically on diapering or parenting infants. There are so many, eh, innovations when it comes to diapering. Things you never would have thought of until you actually had to diaper a baby.

Yall parents wanna be real impressed? Many years ago, in an emergency, I took care of a ten month old for a week with just 6 cloth diapers. I had no money for more diapers of any sort. As soon as one was dirtied I immediately washed it by hand using bath soap, wrung it out as hard as I could, then laid it over the radiator (winter) to dry. I actually kept up. Did not get caught once having to put a damp diaper on her. I always think of this when someone asks, "How many diapers will we need?"

[sounderella]

It always seemed to me that cloth would be too much of a hassle that I didn't even try it. I would think if you bought disposables from Sams in bulk it would end up being cheaper. Of course I do agree it's not environmentally friendly.

[boefixepa]

I purchased all of mine from Green Mountain Diapers: Cloth diapers and diaper covers for baby The site has a ton of information and a great yahoo support site. I am a little over a month into the cloth diapering and so far it has been sooooo easy it amazes me. I do one load every other day and it's maybe a half load. They have great little starter kits allready put together if you don't want to just jump in. I jumped in, and I spent about 1k on all the stuff I would need from start to finish and it will last through more then one kid. They say the average is over2k for disposable over the diapering life of the kid, so it's a nice savings. I highly recoomened the sprayer attachement for the toliet. It's made rinising them very easy and it took me five minutes to install. Since I am breastfeeding, the diapers don't even smell. I am so going to dislike it when that changes.

Just take it easy and try not to get overwhelmed by all the choices. I've decided there are some people who get so 'into' the cloth thing that they end up spengding more then if they just did disposables. Just start with the simple and build from there. They have great info on the website I mentioned, just spend some time reading there.

[geojen]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

I purchased all of mine from Green Mountain Diapers: Cloth diapers and diaper covers for baby The site has a ton of information and a great yahoo support site. I am a little over a month into the cloth diapering and so far it has been sooooo easy it amazes me. I do one load every other day and it's maybe a half load. They have great little starter kits allready put together if you don't want to just jump in. I jumped in, and I spent about 1k on all the stuff I would need from start to finish and it will last through more then one kid. They say the average is over2k for disposable over the diapering life of the kid, so it's a nice savings. I highly recoomened the sprayer attachement for the toliet. It's made rinising them very easy and it took me five minutes to install. Since I am breastfeeding, the diapers don't even smell. I am so going to dislike it when that changes.

Just take it easy and try not to get overwhelmed by all the choices. I've decided there are some people who get so 'into' the cloth thing that they end up spengding more then if they just did disposables. Just start with the simple and build from there. They have great info on the website I mentioned, just spend some time reading there.

Thanks! This is great advice and some nice encouragement from a first-timer! I'll definitely check out this site.