What is the BEST thing you've discovered about cloth diapering

[adzuki]

I'll start!

I am SHOCKED at how much money we save. I use regular diapers at night and buy one package of diapers every 2 months. CRAZY!

Oh, and I love the feeling of patting her soft and squishy bum!


A

 

[mommyof3co]

How easy it really is!

How comfy he is!

And of course how super cute they are

 

[kirsten1985]

How she has never had nappy rash but a lot of my friends babies have.

How small they are under her clothes, I always thought they would be massive!

How simple it is to use them.

 

[Mary Jo]

How much I actually enjoy using them. After all the effort I put in to finding and acquiring my pre-loved stash, especially, it would have sucked to have hated nappy time. As it is, I get a kick out of picking one out and putting it on, seeing how adorable and comfortable Adam looks. I especially enjoy putting on flats, for some reason, there's a strange satisfaction in doing it the old-fashioned way.

 

[kirsten1985]

Also, I am adding the excitement of trying out different kinds of nappy, there are so many different types - you don't get that with sposies!!

 

[Rachel_C]

I love that it makes changing nappies fun (well as much as cleaning up poo can be!) cos I get to choose what nappy to put on next!

 

[codegirl]

I love how easy they are
How I never have to run to the store cause I've run out
How cute his bum looks
Love the different colors/patterns

 

[Kaites]

- I love the variety of colours, etc- makes diaper changing fun, deciding what matches her outfit
- I love that her diaper rash has gone away since going exclusively cloth
- No worries about running out of diapers or wasting $$ by having piles of a smaller size left of disposables when she outgrows a size (so far we've just got one-size cloth)
- I love shopping- shopping for diapers has replaced my shoe shopping fetish, making my hubby happy that we haven't had to find room in the closet for more shoes since the baby arrived

 

[bellachic]

I actually look forward to changing DD's nappy! Using sposie's so boring and I get more leaks compared to my cloth nappies

 

[Vici]

Def how much money I've saved (even with some of the posh nappies i've bought!!)

How easy it is. I thought i was going to syruggle with washing etc and i don't even notice it!!

How people are actually quite supportive. Think the cutemess of the ittis is a help and they always say how lovely it is i'm using them, how cute they are and how they wish they had the guts to do it!! (I do try and explain its not hard!!0

 

[Mary Jo]

and how they wish they had the guts to do it!!

YES! Nobody's said that to me IRL yet, but I see people on forums saying that and I don't quite understand. Maybe because I decided I wanted to use cloth nappies a long time before Adam was even conceived, and I was committed to the principle of it, but I never considered that courage would be a requirement! I mean, whichever type of nappy you use, you need to deal with poo, in wiping it off, etc. I might be squeamish about another baby's poo, and not want to be rinsing it off, but my own baby's - it's fine.

I don't really notice the extra laundry either. One load every 3 days, no big deal.

 

[Blob]

I love how cute they are and that you can buy lots of different kinds...also i love that they dont have that sickly sweet smell that disposable ones do

 

[kirsten1985]

Ew yeah I hate the smell of disposables now, I think they smell like wee.

I swear I can smell other babies sposie nappies when I shouldn't really be able to!

 

[dippy dee]

defo not running out of nappies, i've never used sposies on any of mine but so many people i know run out and have to do a mad dash to the shops.
Also no amonia smell that sposies get.

 

[Vici]

I love how cute they are and that you can buy lots of different kinds...also i love that they dont have that sickly sweet smell that disposable ones do

I'd never noticed that before until my friend came over and changed her litteun!! It really does make a difference

 

[Minstermind]

How many do you need to last a 3 day period? I remember when my son was a baby, it seemed like I was changing his diaper like every hour and a half or so, 24 hours a day. So I'm figuring that means I'd need to have at least 36 or so on hand at any given time (which does add up to a lot of money initially since they seem to run what, 10 to 20 bucks each?) I'm not sure yet which way I'm going to go as I'm weighing all the pros and cons of both, and trying to figure out the reality of what I see myself doing. It's nice to see a thread with all the positive experiences of cloth nappies.

 

[bjl1981]

I was shocked when we went to stay with relatives and used disposables how quickly they mount up and fill the bin!
I also thought they stunk and was thinking I needed to change him all the time because of the smell, when actually he was fine! bizarre!

 

[Mary Jo]

I wash every 3 days and my usual load is about 13 nappies (but we're still using disposables overnight, to appease my OH, but that's soon to change). Of those 13, about 1/2 are bamboo, which takes longer than a day to dry. So by the time all my load is dry and back in the drawer, there's probably at least another 7 dirty nappies in the bucket.

We started with cloth when Adam was 1 month old, and fortunately for us he's never been a frequent pooer (1 a day), so he's never needed to be changed more than 6 times a day. A newborn would go through more, hence why many first-time cloth mums don't start till the first few weeks are past. (As a first-time mum per se, I needed to feel I had a grip on everything else involved before complicating it with more washing!)

I have 31 nappies. Of those, 2 I have stopped using because they always leaked (microfibre), 4 I've put in my emergency bag but don't use often because they're a bit too small, and 3 I haven't prepped and used yet because I don't need them yet (I have enough in size 1 so these extra, which are all in ones ,I am saving till we need them). So that's 22 in my working stash and I have never run out. It's only the bamboo that doesn't dry quickly, so as long as you have a few quick driers (I find my BumGenius V3s are great) you're fine. I reckon you could get away with 20 to wash every 3 days, maybe with a couple extra for emergencies.

 

[Mary Jo]

I also thought they stunk and was thinking I needed to change him all the time because of the smell, when actually he was fine! bizarre!

yes, that was my experience, exactly. my brother was holding Adam at one pojt and was like "ew, he's pooed" so my OH took him to be changed but it was just wee. they really do smell bad when you're not used to it.

 

[kirsten1985]

How many do you need to last a 3 day period? I remember when my son was a baby, it seemed like I was changing his diaper like every hour and a half or so, 24 hours a day. So I'm figuring that means I'd need to have at least 36 or so on hand at any given time (which does add up to a lot of money initially since they seem to run what, 10 to 20 bucks each?) I'm not sure yet which way I'm going to go as I'm weighing all the pros and cons of both, and trying to figure out the reality of what I see myself doing. It's nice to see a thread with all the positive experiences of cloth nappies.

I didn't use cloth for the first 3 weeks, then after that I had 20 bamboo fitteds to use. I didn't use all 20 though, but I did wash every day. I would say you would quite a lot if you were only washing every 3 days. I wash every other day now and have 15 nappies, including night time ones.

When I have another baby I will be cloth nappying from the very start, and I plan on keeping the nappies I have and buying a load of cheap ones to make up the extra bulk in the first 2 months or so. Seeing as they get changed so very often early on I am not going to spend ages picking on absorbancy/colour etc, in fact I have pretty much decided to get Disana Tie Ons (£18 for 10) to last for that first bit. Softer for a newborn and very cheap.