Cloth Diapering Advice?!

[msp_teen]

Hi ladies, I am heavily contemplating switching to cloth diapering as I will have two young children in diapers and I think it would extremely economical for my household. For those of you that have experience with this can you give me a little insight on, the pros and cons, and where I could possibly find some reasonably priced. This is a very huge decision for me because it could ultimately save me a lot of money in the long run!

 

[LisaL79]

If you're doing it for the money... you have to take in to account the increased amount of washing you'll have to do. (every 2-3days). That probably won't add up to much though but it is something to consider.

There are a lot of inexpensive cloth diapers out there. I personally use mostly kawaii brand diapers. They're fairly inexpensive and they're great quality and are holding up great. There are more expensive brands like bumgenius and they are really good quality diapers, but they're SO expensive that I just can't recommend them unless you have that kind of money to spend. I know some people wait for them to be on sale before buying any. Not sure how much they go on sale for but it could be something you can keep an eye on.
You could also buy used diapers from cloth diapering groups. Lots of women sell their used diapers for cheap.

Also... while baby was still small and immobile, I found velcro to fit best (in one size pocket diapers), but snaps will last you MUCH MUCH longer. They won't have that same snug fit usually, but snaps will last far longer than velcro. Velcro just wears out over time and it's a PITA to replace/fix.

There's a natural parenting section on these forums you can get more information from from more cloth diapering mommas

 

[emmi26]

Head over to natural parenting hun lovely ladies on there know loads

 

[RaspberryK]

I'd get searching the preloved forums and groups on Facebook xx

 

[Rachie004]

Aside from the initial outlay, I don't think there are any downsides to using cloth nappies. I do far less washing now LO is in cloth. We had LO in disposables for the first couple of weeks until his umbilicus healed and they were useless at containing anything so I found myself doing 4 loads of washing each day comprising of his clothes, crib linen, his clothes, our clothes which then all had to be ironed because I'm neurotic like that. Plus there was the cleaning of anything it had seeped onto such as the sofa etc. I feel like I missed out on the first few weeks of my LO's life because I was battling with all the washing that was caused by rubbish disposables!

My only regret is that I wish I had gone for all size 2 nappies/birth to potty which can be adjusted to be bigger/smaller as they grow. He was a big baby and at 9 weeks the size 1 nappies aren't fitting as nicely as the size 2's on the smallest setting.

I use a two part system of a shaped nappy and a waterproof outer wrap, I find these super absorbant and it's what works best for us. They're quite slow to dry so if drying space is an issue for you then you may want to consider a pocket nappy system.

Good luck!

 

[messica]

With my first two 10 years ago I didn't have much access to the internet. I wanted to cloth diaper, but didn't know how and no one I knew did it. I didn't have the money to try to find my own way through loads of mistakes, so I bit the bullet and just stuck with disposables.

Fast forward, I've bought my entire stash for the twins off ebay (HUGE stash!) for less than $200 total (that's including shipping) and I've learned so much from others that I now I feel completely able to handle the task. I think it'll not only save loads of money but I like the idea that it's going to keep thousands upon thousands of disposable diapers out of landfills.


There are co-op and b/s/t groups on facebook, and every once in awhile I'll find a few good steals on craigslist or garage sales.

My only advice would be not to go super cheap. Someone was unloading some really cheap China made ones ($5 for 10 of them!) and they didn't even survive prepping. That, and don't be afraid to use bleach/Tide if you go the used route. I thought for a long time that you could only use super natural detergents on them and was struggling to get the stains and stink out of many I bought. Some online groups set me straight - IT'S POOP!!!! - and when I finally relented and washed them properly they came out literally looking and smelling brand new. I'm all for sensitive/natural detergents but when it comes to feces, bacteria, yeast etc. don't be afraid to do what you need to do to get them CLEAN.


(eta - my stash contains a hodge podge of brands and styles....I have no idea what I'm going to like and I figure what can it hurt as long as they're cheap? I can always just sell whatever I don't end up using to get more of what I do find I really like I have lots of Bumkins and GMD prefolds with Thirsties covers, loads of microfiber, bamboo and charcoal soakers/inserts, and a combo of Kawaii, Blueberry, Sunbaby, BG and Grovia AIO's, pockets and hybrids. You can find absolutely KILLER deals if you are willing to get up in the middle of the night and wade through ending auctions at like 3am lol)

 

[Radkat]

I would say go with prefolds during the newborn/infant stages. They are cheaper than fitteds or AIOs and when they are that young, they aren't moving much. Once they start moving around on the changing table (maybe 6mo?), I switched to fitteds with a cover. Still cheaper than AIOs, but the prefolds just weren't working out anymore. I second going over to the Natural Parenting site. They have load of info and got me started.

And yes, you will save money as long as you don't go crazy with getting all the styles, etc. Which is easy to do.

 

[Menelly]

I used almost exclusively Sunbaby diapers on my daughter till she started potty training. (I had a few Kawaii Good Night Heavy Wetters but only like 6 of them.)

I loved it. The first thing to remember is microfiber inserts suck. They're prone to compression leaks, and that means you get pee on your leg if you sit the baby on it long enough. Nope nope nope. I switched to bamboo inserts pretty quickly! Bamboo absorbs a LOT more, and is much thinner too. (And doesn't compression leak everywhere.)

I did laundry every 2-3 days, so not bad. I was using pocket diapers, so they do require stuffing. That takes about 15-20 min, and I usually was watching TV or Netflix while doing it. Wasn't bad at all. The savings were incredible. I paid $160 for my stash of Sunbabys. (www.sunbabydiapers.com) I got 2.25 years worth of diapering out of them. When my daughter started potty training, I sold them on for $80. So, overall, I spent about $80 in diapers for 2.25 years.

Granted, there's still laundry costs to consider, but when most people will tell you they spend $80-100 every two months on diapers... there's no chance you're spending more than that on laundry!

Not only that? But they're ADORABLE. Disposables are... not cute. Not at all. I don't care that Huggies puts Mickey on their diapers, they're still ugly. Cloth diapers come in so many prints and you can get so many different styles, and they're ADORABLE. Nothing like seeing a cute little fluffy butt!

Someone else mentions wishing they'd gone for the one size from the start. That depends on how big your kids tend to be. My daughter was itty bitty (5lb 15oz) and it took 3 months or so for one size to fit her, so I've already ordered newborn size for this baby. If you have big babies with chunky thighs, you might be able to go straight to one size though.

Good luck! I'm very pro-cloth. I loved it. I was almost sad that my daughter potty trained cause no more cute bums! LOL

Edit to add: Oh, and bonus! A lot of cloth diapered kids *do* potty train earlier. (Not all, but some.) That could be helpful with two in cloth.

 

[msp_teen]

Thank you guys so much, you all have been a tremendous help and I definitely think I am going to make the switch now because of you all. I really don't see the laundry costs being an issue as it can't possibly cost me more than I'm spending in diapers each month. I will definitely be going over to the natural parenting section to get more helpful info! Thank you all again!!

 

[LisaL79]

Oh I had to mention.... someone else mentioned bleach and tide. Do not bleach the diapers. I found that it didn't do anything and made the diapers smell worse (was trying to get rid of a smell that was clinging to them).
Tide... definitely use. You do not need any kind of special detergent. Just make sure it's JUST the detergent and nothing special in it like bleach.

And I 2nd not buying the cheap Chinese diapers. I bought a bunch off of ebay and while they come in some very cute prints... every single one of the ones I bought started leaking like crazy. Keep in mind that I didn't even start using them b/c they were too big (even on the smallest snaps on one size diapers) for my daughter until she was around 6m. So they did not last very long at all. I guess the PUL layer just wore off on the fabric or something.

 

[Menelly]

If you get diapers second hand, you DEFINITELY want to bleach them. Just sayin. You have no clue what the last kid had, or if their parents had a good wash routine. Bleach, bleach, bleach. PUL is colorfast and it won't do anything to it. Except clean it very well. Just make sure it's properly diluted and you're fine with bleach, AND it'll kill any bugs in it. (Yeast is one that's ONLY killed properly with bleach.)

 

[msp_teen]

Thanks ladies I'm going to do some internet shopping for them and I doubt I get them second hand!

 

[msp_teen]

Menelly what size do you get at sunbabies? My last baby was fairly small at birth, only 6lbs and 10ozs and I am pretty sure this one is going to be small like that as well. I was overweight with my first child thats why I think he weighed so much, I'm almost 150 pounds lighter than I was with him so I'm pretty sure my babies are going to stay small now. What size do you think for a newborn?

 

[Menelly]

Honestly, neither will fit a newborn. Size 1 will fit a lot sooner. Sunbaby really started fitting at closer to 3 months. As others have said, if you want to cloth a newborn, you really want prefolds and covers that are newborn sized. (You can then turn around and use the prefolds as inserts in your pockets later, so you're not wasting them at all.)

Otherwise, there really are a lot of people who sposie through the newborn stage and then switch as soon as one size fits. Partly because it's hard to find diapers that fit so little, and partly because you're changing 12 or so diapers a day when they're newborn and that can be a LOT of washing when you haven't slept in a week.

If you're looking for newborn diapers for cheap, I believe Alva sells them. (BnB won't let me link to Alva, but if you google search Alva diapers you'll find their website.) They're China cheapie diapers, but you're looking for something to last 2-3 months not very long at all.

As for Sunbaby sizes, I prefer size 2. They last longer in the toddler years, which is more important than the small sizes to me. They're small for a VERY short period of time, and they're big much longer. Sucks to have to get new diapers at age 2 instead of doing something else cheap for 2 months, if that makes sense?