The Cloth Diaper Thread

[Crisco Salad]

Post your questions or resources here.

[akraus2015]

Curious if anyone is using a diaper service in the beginning? I just bought 24 NB diapers but I've heard that using a diaper service in the beginning can be a huge help. I don't want to spoil myself though.

[Crisco Salad]

We have been cloth diapering for 2.5 years. We started when J was a newborn and have a newborn and one size stash.

We use a combination of all in ones, all in twos, and fitteds for overnight.

For daycare, we use pocket diapers stuffed with flats.

We wash on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

A good wash routine is like this:

Pre-wash or rinse and spin with warm water, no detergent

Heavy duty wash in hot water with usually around line one of powdered detergent (you may need more or less depending on your water hardness and washer)

Rinse and spin or light wash with cold water.

[Crisco Salad]

We didn't use a diaper service to begin with @akrause2015, we washed ourselves.

I would recommend at least 36 diaper changes for newborns.

[xxjen015]

Crisco Salad do you have a preference between them? While it'll be cheaper no matter what, H is worried about the up front cost. From what research I've done today, it seems like the AI2 is maybe the cheapest since you can just change the liners?

I read to him where I saw you might want to start with 2-3 dozen and he started freaking out because the ones we saw today were $25 a pop. Any suggestions on going cheaper? I really like the idea of doing cloth diapering for lots of reasons, and I don't want up front cost to be the reason he says no! Especially because we both agree that it's cheaper in the long run.

[babywisher]

We have used cloth for our last 2. We love them. We use a variety of different types. We start out with prefolds and fitteds,them move to pockets, aio, and fitteds for night time. Washing is nbd. Before solids you just wash the poop. After solids you plop or rinse the poop before you put it in the dirty diaper bag.
Right now with everything smelling so strong I decided to use disposables because all I could smell was pee after I took the diaper off ds. Then I bought the disposables and gaged at the smell of them.

[Crisco Salad]

For the newborn phase and to reduce cost, we use prefolds and covers. Or, we also like flats a lot with covers it stuffed in pockets.

Also, to save on cost buy used. You can buy a whole stash at a fraction of the cost.

[Crisco Salad]

There is a weekly swap thread in the cloth diaper board here where you can usually find some great deals. Craigslist is also a good resource.

[MissSally]

I had some with DS, and I think I have them still. They were the OS from Bum Genius I believe. She didn't fit into them until she was a few months old because she was so tiny. I will admit I didn't love cloth diapering though. I want to look into the ones with disposable liners I think. I'm kind of undecided still for this little one.

[xxjen015]

Okay, so I've done a lot of reading, including detailing the different kinds, and I'm still a little confused! Can someone show me a picture of the prefolds and covers?

[Crisco Salad]

Dec 12, 2016 8:14:40 GMT -5 xxjen015 said:

Okay, so I've done a lot of reading, including detailing the different kinds, and I'm still a little confused! Can someone show me a picture of the prefolds and covers?

These are prefolds 




How it looks on baby



You put a PUL cover overtop of that, it looks like this

[xxjen015]

Thank you! I haven't had the chance to watch the video yet, but I will

[juliayadda]

I have a stash of about 15 fitted and 9 or so one size all in one types. I suspect I will do a mix. I am an environmentalist but I hate doing laundry so so much. It's in the basement and so far and cold and dark And horrible. But I am In Canada and will be on such a reduced income for most of my leave saving money makes sense.

I will see how my stash grows in the coming months. I am waiting until 12 weeks before joining the local swap group.

[ldubhawksfan]

Ooh fun!! I cloth diaper with DD. We have a newborn stash from a friend and used those, as well as a well established stash of prefolds/bamboo inserts/covers, pocket, and AIO diapers. I loved prefolds for newborn poo, but refuse the extra step with a squirmy toddler so we only use pockets and AIOs.

I wash 3x a week.

We don't CD at night though. She was a great sleeper and never wanted to mess with the system. I don't think it has to be all or nothing. We still have a significant savings and green impact by using all but 1 diaper a day as Cloth.

[ldubhawksfan]

Dec 11, 2016 18:20:39 GMT -5 xxjen015 said:

Crisco Salad do you have a preference between them? While it'll be cheaper no matter what, H is worried about the up front cost. From what research I've done today, it seems like the AI2 is maybe the cheapest since you can just change the liners?

I read to him where I saw you might want to start with 2-3 dozen and he started freaking out because the ones we saw today were $25 a pop. Any suggestions on going cheaper? I really like the idea of doing cloth diapering for lots of reasons, and I don't want up front cost to be the reason he says no! Especially because we both agree that it's cheaper in the long run.

You can buy second hand or find cheaper brands. I've had great success with Nickis diapers which run closer to $15, a Nora's Nursery brand from Amazon (I got 7 on prime day for about $7 each), and Lurk in the CD forum because they are great about posting when some of the more expensive brands have clearance for minor defects (never functional problems, but like the pattern is off) that are half price.

ETA: Also I personally don't think you should build your whole stash before the baby comes. You won't know what you like. Luckily my newborn stash from a friend had all Velcro which I realized I HATED washing, so my stash is all snaps. Some brands for different babies better. I think get a few of a couple different types and continue to invest later. You will probably get a ton of disposables as gifts to help until you get CD completely figured out.

[ldubhawksfan]

Dec 11, 2016 20:37:36 GMT -5 @katerli said:

Dec 11, 2016 19:00:30 GMT -5 Crisco Salad said:

For the newborn phase and to reduce cost, we use prefolds and covers. Or, we also like flats a lot with covers it stuffed in pockets.

Also, to save on cost buy used. You can buy a whole stash at a fraction of the cost.

I 100% agree on prefolds and covers for the newborn stage (and even past that!). I feel like people are nervous to use them, but for a newborn you get the best fit.

I completely agree. Probably until 6+ months (when the rolling over during changes battle really started to rage) it's my preference.

[hham10]

We have been cloth diapering for 2.5 years and will def be with this one. Not sure how I'll manage 3 in diapers. That's a lot of crap to wash.

I guess we better start potty training

[coconuthead]

I did not CD with DS but I am considering it this time. However we do not have a washer/drier and do our clothes at the laundromat. If we did CD this time I would probably clean the diapers by hand. Anyone do this? I am a little worried about the commitment of hand cleaning diapers every other day but I really like the idea of cloth diapering and how money saving/environmentally friendly it is.

[Crisco Salad]

Dec 14, 2016 12:57:22 GMT -5 coconuthead said:

I did not CD with DS but I am considering it this time. However we do not have a washer/drier and do our clothes at the laundromat. If we did CD this time I would probably clean the diapers by hand. Anyone do this? I am a little worried about the commitment of hand cleaning diapers every other day but I really like the idea of cloth diapering and how money saving/environmentally friendly it is.

I found an article on dirty diaper laundry about handwashing diapers. It can be done. 


dirtydiaperlaundry.com/you-what-handwashing-cloth-diapers-full-time-the-whys-and-hows/ 

[coconuthead]

Thanks @willy! Very informative article.

[akraus2015]

Question, since there are a lot of cloth diaper mommas on this group. We were pretty committed to using cloth. I've even bought almost my whole newborn stash already.

Today we visited an in-home daycare that I'm absolutely in love with. Everything is perfect, except she's never had a baby with CD and didn't seem super keen on the idea.

Anybody here have a daycare that wasn't on board with cloth? What did you do?

ETA: I got some great advice on the CD mob group on FB. I didn't even think about disposable liners after he starts solids. Then she can just throw the diapers in a wet bag and be done with it. 😊

[Crisco Salad]

Our previous daycare wasn't at all thrilled about doing cloth diapers but were legally obligated to do so. They made our lives very difficult for using them. It's one of the many reasons we chose to move to another center. Just make sure you send all in ones or pockets and TRAIN them on how to properly fit the diapers and you should be fine.

[akraus2015]

Am I good with 32 newborn diapers? Is that enough?

[Crisco Salad]

Jan 11, 2017 17:37:29 GMT -5 akraus2015 said:

Am I good with 32 newborn diapers? Is that enough?

I like to have 36, but you might be ok with 32.

[akraus2015]

Jan 11, 2017 18:15:08 GMT -5 Crisco Salad said:

Jan 11, 2017 17:37:29 GMT -5 akraus2015 said:

Am I good with 32 newborn diapers? Is that enough?

I like to have 36, but you might be ok with 32.

36 because you plan for a dozen a day and washing every 2 days?