Author Topic: Cloth Diapers?  (Read 15515 times)

trammatic

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Cloth Diapers?
« on: May 07, 2012, 07:25:42 PM »
Any suggestions on brand? Where to buy? How to wash?  I have quite a few "natural/organic" friends, and while I'm not opposed to either, it's not worth it to usw to pay double so that my kid won't get some chemical near his skin.  I'm primarily into the cloth diapers for the money savings and the cutdown on waste...

I'd appreciate some insight from some recent users.

Norman Johnson

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2012, 07:54:43 PM »
Can you get some used diapers from your friends to try out on your kiddo? It's hard to know what you like until you try them.

How much effort are you willing to put into cloth diapering? And is your partner on board?

velocistar237

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2012, 07:56:54 PM »
We have tried a few different types, and we like pre-folds with covers. They seem to resist leaks the most, and they dry quicker than the all-in-ones or pocket types. We use cheap pre-folds, which are $1-2 per diaper, and 5-10 covers, mostly Thirsties and Flip. Velcro needs renewing every couple of years, and snaps seem to hold up better. We wash our diapers with All Free & Clear and hang-dry the covers. We haven't done this yet, but you can try a spin dryer to dry more quickly and remove excess detergent. For full disclosure, we don't use cloth at night, because they don't absorb enough. We've resorted to extra-absorbent nighttime disposables plus a diaper cover.

Try Cotton Babies. They occasionally have sales. We've found a few good deals on diapers at a local baby consignment shop, too, as well as garage sales and hand-me-downs.

bogart

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2012, 08:02:46 PM »
I don't know that I count as recent (usage was roughly  2007-2010) but we were happy with fuzzibunz and nurtured family (plus assorted others) cotton inserts.  Ours were gifts/hand-me-downs, so I'm not much help on the "where to buy" issue, though ebay looks like the cheapest spot at the moment (unless you can find local on consignment or via craigslist or whatever).  I never tried the ones with velcro (as opposed to snap) closures but suspect the velcro would have gotten snarled with fuzz over time.

Except on the rare occasions we were dealing with rash issues, we just laid the insert inside the outer (but not stashed inside its 'pocket') -- this worked fine for us, was easier, and generally made it possible to use each outer twice (per inner) before putting it in the wash.  I totally ignored everything about how you are supposed to wash cloth diapers and threw them in with our regular laundry (after washing poop off, obviously), which we just wash with cheap store-bought detergent on cold and then line dry.  This worked fine. 

In our state you're not allowed to use cloth diapers for commercial daycare -- may be worth checking into before you spend a lot on diapers if you'll be using daycare.  We did, but on a limited enough basis (plus -- hand-me downs!) that we just subbed in disposables for those days.  We also used disposables at nighttime, usually -- basically, once DS slept through the night the disposables, but not the cloth, would keep him dry enough to get through the night. 

HTH.

James

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2012, 08:05:01 PM »
Absolutely try to find them used, buying new really kills the savings.  Also want to second the idea of trying it out first, you don't want to spend a bunch of money and then find out it won't work for you. I'm not saying that is likely, it can work for just about anyone, but I don't know you...  :)


We used cloth diapers for all three of our kids.  Usually we used them at night as well, but sometimes we cheated and just used a disposable at night.  A good heavy wool cover is great for night use, and using a liner really makes the poop easier to deal with.  There is a ton of great information online, I can check with my wife to see if she remembers any good places for info.


The main idea is to have a decent plan in place for where to keep the wet diapers.  We kept them in the bathroom by the toilet in a sealed bucket, you don't want them to dry out.  For the stinky ones we just swished them out in the toilet right away so nothing dried and got hard to clean.  Don't worry, you get used to the routine soon enough, just give it some time and it won't seem so bad after a while.  A good washing machine is helpful, but nothing special is needed.

James

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2012, 08:07:51 PM »
Oh, big bonus, kids in cloth diapers usually potty train faster.  The cloth diapers aren't as "dry" when wet, and are much more uncomfortable right after they pee.  Makes a bigger incentive for learning to use the potty chair...  :D

bogart

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2012, 09:14:20 PM »
Oh, big bonus, kids in cloth diapers usually potty train faster.  The cloth diapers aren't as "dry" when wet, and are much more uncomfortable right after they pee.  Makes a bigger incentive for learning to use the potty chair...  :D

Ha ha.  I was told the same, but I think it's just that parents accustomed to cloth diapering are also accustomed to throwing pee-soaked fabrics (i.e. clothes) into the washing machine ...

James

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2012, 06:27:56 AM »
Oh, big bonus, kids in cloth diapers usually potty train faster.  The cloth diapers aren't as "dry" when wet, and are much more uncomfortable right after they pee.  Makes a bigger incentive for learning to use the potty chair...  :D

Ha ha.  I was told the same, but I think it's just that parents accustomed to cloth diapering are also accustomed to throwing pee-soaked fabrics (i.e. clothes) into the washing machine ...


Good point...  :)


There is also issues like trying to fit clothing over bulky cloth diapers, carrying home wet diapers from trips, etc.  The added incentives to potty train do add up.

Norman Johnson

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2012, 07:58:00 AM »
I cloth diaper part time. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. We use the All-in-one, like BumGenius or a pocket, like OhKaty because there is no way my husband wants to deal with folding or fiddly bits. I like snaps over velcro because they last longer, but it's not fun trying to do up snaps on a toddler who is trying to get away from you. ;)

OP, I'd raid your friend's stashes to try some stuff out and see what you like.

twinge

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2012, 08:12:49 AM »
This is from 2009-2011. We got most of our covers used or as gifts and had an assortment--bumgenius, fuzzibuns etc. You can often find the covers used on craigslist or freecycle in our area.  While some inserts came with the diapers we got, we also picked up a plain set of Indian pre-folds as they seemed to fit under all the covers we had.  We just looked on-line for the best deal on them at the time.  We LOVED this little fasteners called snappi's that we picked up from Amazon that fasten cloth diapers easy.  We bought one set of 3 for 4$ and they lasted for the entire time.  If you do the makeshift approach like ours they can make any diaper work under any cover it seemed! For daytime use we were pretty happy with the range we had--some were better at some ages than others, I didn't find one brand stayed "the best" over the 2.25 years she was in diapers.  After about 1 year old there weren't any that worked for the entire time she slept and we gave up and used nighttime disposable diapers. So there might be more ideal systems than ours. But after she was done nursing at 1,  I valued a full night of sleep more than I valued not using disposables! 

For my son (years earlier) we used cloth for the first year but then found that nearly none of his pants (also gifts and handmedowns) fit over the diapers so we switched to disposables after the first year.  Both kids essentially potty-trained themselves (we provided a potty and reminding questions of "do you need to go..." but nothing else)at the same age (a little over 2 years old) in the same amount of time--about a week with accidents and then very rare accidents.  So in our case being in disposables vs. cloth didn't seem to make a difference, but I've heard on average cloth diapers speed things up. 

chrissyo

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2012, 08:21:43 AM »
Because of this post (http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/08/the-much-requested-cloth-diaper-post/), I intend to use cloth diapers when DH and I eventually start reproducing. They recently posted an update that they are still using the same diapers they bought nearly 2 years ago, which still look as good as new and have sized up just fine as their daughter has grown. (http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/04/post-haste-2/)

trammatic

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2012, 10:15:12 AM »
Thanks for all of the tips.  My wife is on board, and we're currently borrowing some bum genius from a friend.  Things are going well, and we want to start buying our own.  Luckily, they have both liners and inserts as well as all-in-ones and we're kind of indifferent between them, so we wanted to see if there are any sources that people know about.

It's just that our friend uses only this natural soap which is really expensive, and we're trying to find cheaper options that don't degrade the diapers.

chrissyo

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2012, 10:24:02 AM »
It's just that our friend uses only this natural soap which is really expensive, and we're trying to find cheaper options that don't degrade the diapers.

I would suggest All Free & Clear, or if you are looking for something more natural Seventh Generation Free & Clear. Both have proven ok with my family's super sensitive skin (my nieces and nephews suffered from eczema and other rashes with other detergents). Seventh Gen has also been recommended by friends with cloth diapers, who have had no issues with degradation.

James

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2012, 10:30:28 AM »
Also try using very small amounts of detergent, we use a lot less detergent than recommended and had no problems.

Mrs MM

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2012, 10:45:17 AM »
As you know, we cloth diapered our kid almost exclusively.  I've been meaning to write a post about it.  The best kind of diapers, in my opinion, are pocket diapers since you can fill up the pocket as much or as little as you want.

I have to run out right now, but will write more when I get back... the key point is: it is VERY easy!!

RoseRed

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2012, 04:30:04 PM »
As with just about all baby stuff, if you ask around, and get your friends to ask around for you, there will almost certainly be someone near you who will be willing to lend/give you nappies for free or sell old ones cheaply because baby stuff is such a pain to store.

twinge

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2012, 05:08:24 AM »
For laundry, we use soap nuts:
http://www.greenvirginproducts.com/Soap-Nuts_c_11.html

A kilo gives you 330 loads for under 30 bucks.  We use it with our front loading washing machine which you're supposed to use less detergent with and they've been great.  We found the diapers got a little dingy looking, but were clean.  We use this for all our laundry.

kolorado

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #17 on: May 12, 2012, 08:44:31 AM »
I have a 9 year old, 7 year old and a 20 month old. All were/are cloth diapered. I hated prefolds and snappis. The kids were always wiggling out of them no matter how well I fastened them. I did not find that cloth diapers hastened training. But that's probably because around the 2.5 mark, no cloth combination I had could handle the volume of pee they could unleash at any one time and I got sick of changing clothes at every diaper change.
For the first two kiddos I went with Motherease once-size terry diapers( http://www.mother-ease.com/cloth-diapers/onesizediapers ) and airflow covers (http://www.mother-ease.com/cloth-diapers/airflowcovers ). I bought some new and most used on Ebay. I was able to diaper both of them in cloth for a combined 5 years for $350 in actual product investment. Laundry costs were about $.70 a load totaling an estimated $400 over the 5 years. I made cloth wipes from cut up flannel squares that I hemmed.
My laundry routine with them was to keep the dirty diapers soaking and pour the whole bucket into the washer and spin out the yuckiness. Then I ran a rinse. Then a full wash on hot with 1 TB of Arm & Hammer clear detergent, then another rinse. I would tumble dry them for 15 minutes and then hang them all out in the sun to further dry, sanitize and whiten. I washed every 2-3 days.
I gave away all the diapers that were in poor-fair condition on Freecycle and saved the good ones.
Here's something I learned with buying used diapers. I paid 60% of original price for premium, used diapers, that "looked" to be in very good condition. I also bought a few new ones from the manufacturer. After a couple years of use, the new ones still looked really good but the used ones were practically in tatters. This led me to conclude that this diaper brand could be used a year or two and sold at half what was paid. 4 year old diapers aren't worth anything at all. So at least for ME diapers, there's no actual savings for buying used as long as you are planning to sell them when you are done diapering.
So with baby #3 I had half a dozen good ME one-size diapers saved and half a dozen covers in good shape. I like to have 24 diapers in my stock for the newborn stage and 18 for older stages. So I bought $100 worth of ME AIO diapers , new, (http://www.mother-ease.com/cloth-diapers/mother-ease-all-in-one-cloth-diapers ) and $50 worth of fabric, notions and used cotton t-shirts to make up the difference I needed to fill my stock. I used a free online tutorial (http://fernandfaerie.com/sewing_fitteds.html )as my starting point and altered the pattern to better fit my baby. These diapers cost an insanely low $.50-.70 each, took less than an hour to make, and really require no special knowledge of sewing or the ability to do it well. You can sew like a crazy person and they still turn out looking and working great. Here some I made on my blog :http://latelyreconstructed.wordpress.com/tag/homemade-diaper/
My washing routine is different for #3. Kid #2 developed all kinds of allergies so drying anything outside is not an option anymore. I also started making homemade laundry detergent using the Dugger's recipe. We also switched to a toilet mounted diaper sprayer instead of the dunking method. I gave up soaking as it's messy and we found that it does not make a difference in odor or staining. So even though I only spent $150 on #3 diapers, laundry costs are about $1.10 a load. I wash twice a week.
I project our total cost to diaper three kids from birth to 2.5 will be less than $1200.
My motivations were equally about saving money, which we did but at only about 25% compared to economy disposables, and not creating tons of waste plastic in landfills. If my motivation were only saving money, I would have made prefolds work no matter how much it annoyed me. Another advantage of "premium" cloth diapers or any fitted cloth is that those with absolutely no cloth experience can figure out how to use them. My hubby was not on board with the idea of cloth with flat diapers but he easily adapted to fitted. Babysitters and grandparents are able to use fitteds without instructions. This is important because the more people around you that support your decision to cloth diaper, the easier it will be to keep it up. There are so many pressures and things to decide that first year and support is a really big deal for anything you are trying to implement.

Mrs MM

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2012, 10:10:30 AM »
We started out with a huge variety of cloth diapers and ended up picking up 12 Medium Sized Fuzzi Bunz diapers when our son was 5 months old.  They lasted until he potty trained at the age of 2, but would have lasted longer.  We had the microfiber inserts that came with the diapers and we later bought about 3 hemp inserts for nighttime.

We also used a dry bag for the diapers, which we hung on the door of the bathroom.

For poops, which is only about once a day, we swished the diaper in the toilet before putting it in the dry bag.  It's not gross at all.  If you're changing diapers anyway, poop is part of the deal anyway.  This eliminated staining and I wasn't a fan of putting a big poopy diaper in the wash anyway.

We washed the diapers every 2 days and we threw in all the other baby clothes that needed washing as well, after the initial rinse cycle to get most of the pee and whatnot off the diapers.  This means we hardly ever did extra laundry loads.  We air dried the laundry, which is one reason we preferred fuzzi bunz as they dried a lot faster than the all-in-one diapers.

We used any kind of free and clear detergent.  I used seventh generation and also All free and clear.

We also had a small wet bag for when we went out.  We used cloth diapers almost all the time.  We probably purchased less than 3-4 packs of disposable diapers.  I brought them on trips, as long as there was a washing machine available.

When we were done, we sold the lot and I explained everything to the new owner and she was off and running.  I sold the diapers for half of what I paid for them and tacked on some extra money for the other stuff like the diaper bags, inserts, etc.

Note that BumGenius had just come out when I started cloth diapering and the one that I tried (which was the first type available) did not work as well for me as the Fuzzi Bunz.  I hear they are a lot better now than they used to be.

My Fuzzi Bunz were $14.95 new (with insert), but I think they were even less because I bought them in a pack of 12.  I think they cost more now, but I'm not sure.

Between the ages of 0 to 5 months, I used Kissaluvs with covers, prefolds with covers, and I had one each of bumgenius, some kind of all in one, fuzzi bunz, and a couple of others I can't remember now.  I sold the whole lot for exactly what I paid for it.

bogart

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2012, 01:58:31 PM »
For poops, which is only about once a day...

This was my (kid's) experience too, but I think this is a real YMMV issue.  I have had friends with (healthy, typical) kids whose experiences seemed to involve some poop in practically every diaper change (or, say, at least 4-6 times per day, maybe not every single one).  I personally suspect that this variation in kids (for heaven's sake -- it's 2012!  When are they going to standardize the darn things?) probably accounts for a lot of the variation in the appeal of cloth diapering, even after controlling for being willing to try it in the first place.  Another argument against spending a lot on cloth diapers before deciding it's an approach that really works for you (and again, this is coming from someone who used mostly, though not exclusively, cloth diapers until we potty-trained.).

KristinP

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2012, 10:20:40 AM »
We have used mostly pocket diapers.  Initially we were pretty happy with prefolds and Thirsties and Bummis covers- they work great and rarely leak.  Now, pocket diapers are just a little faster, which can be a life saver with a squirmy baby.  Currently I am satisfied with Green Bees pocket diapers.  http://www.greenbeesdiapers.com/
They are sold my a lady in town and I am able to pick them up from her but I think her shipping is pretty reasonable.  I haven't had any problems with leaks or quality so far and been using them for about 8 months.  They are cheap enough to invest just a little to make sure you like them.  I love the minky diaper in animal prints- they are adorable!

ferfischer

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #21 on: May 17, 2012, 10:35:56 AM »
Everyone will be different in what works for them.   If you don't know already, then I suggest one of a few different kinds (hopefully you can borrow or buy used) and then when you figure it out - go to diaperswappers.com or ask around and buy them used.

I had three kids in cloth diapers at once (a 21 month old and newborn twins) and I used sized fuzzibunz from birth - even though the twins were only 5 and 6 pounds.   I washed with Costco free and clear and line dried - unlike Mrs. MMM, I was usually washing enough diapers at once to fill up a load, so I didn't wash with other clothes.   I'm pregnant again, and even though I had already sold all my diapers, I was able to buy a whole new stash used from a friend.    I cannot even begin to calculate the savings from using cloth diapers for three kids in diapers all at once.  It was a lot. 

All diapers leak - disposables or cloth - welcome to diapering.  I just got used to it.

Also, a myth about potty training a cloth diapered child, btw - I think it just really depends.

TLV

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #22 on: May 17, 2012, 01:49:38 PM »
Would it be correct to assume that most of you who cloth diapered have a washer (and maybe dryer) in your home, so that the incremental cost of washing is minimal?

I've looked into it several times (mostly out of curiosity, since my wife as the stay-at-home parent gets to make that decision), but it seems like using the coin-op washing machines in our building would be more expensive than using disposables. At $1/load for washing and $.75 for drying, if we did it every other day it would cost over $300 per year extra to wash cloth diapers (more than it would cost to buy disposables). The dryer cost could be reduced by line drying, but in our apartment in the seattle area it takes at least 24 hours and sometimes as long as 72 for most things to line dry, so we'd have to buy at least twice as many diapers to not run out before they dry. Or do cloth diapers dry significantly faster than clothes?

kolorado

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #23 on: May 17, 2012, 03:47:48 PM »
Would it be correct to assume that most of you who cloth diapered have a washer (and maybe dryer) in your home, so that the incremental cost of washing is minimal?

I've looked into it several times (mostly out of curiosity, since my wife as the stay-at-home parent gets to make that decision), but it seems like using the coin-op washing machines in our building would be more expensive than using disposables. At $1/load for washing and $.75 for drying, if we did it every other day it would cost over $300 per year extra to wash cloth diapers (more than it would cost to buy disposables). The dryer cost could be reduced by line drying, but in our apartment in the seattle area it takes at least 24 hours and sometimes as long as 72 for most things to line dry, so we'd have to buy at least twice as many diapers to not run out before they dry. Or do cloth diapers dry significantly faster than clothes?

If your motivation is just to save money, then using coin operated machines will derail your efforts.
My sister is cloth diapering and using a handcrank washer(Wonderwash)to clean the diapers. Her other choice was the laundromat.
I washed diapers in the bathtub with a broomstick when we were without a washer for a month. My old homestate of NJ is quite humid and it would take anywhere from 4-9 hours to air dry diapers. Here in CO I just discovered it takes less than 2 hours.
You could wash the diapers in the tub or a bucket(see Lehman's)and then use your building's dryers to complete the cycle which would bring your cost per week down to $1.50. It really depends on how badly you want to save money.
There's nothing at all stopping you from cloth diapering in the evenings and weekends when you are home. Again, it depends on how badly you want to save money. With proper changing of soaking water, you could probably cloth diaper in the evenings all week and wash just one load on the weekend. It's iffy but Id try it if I were in your shoes.

ferfischer

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #24 on: May 17, 2012, 04:29:56 PM »
Would it be correct to assume that most of you who cloth diapered have a washer (and maybe dryer) in your home, so that the incremental cost of washing is minimal?

I've looked into it several times (mostly out of curiosity, since my wife as the stay-at-home parent gets to make that decision), but it seems like using the coin-op washing machines in our building would be more expensive than using disposables. At $1/load for washing and $.75 for drying, if we did it every other day it would cost over $300 per year extra to wash cloth diapers (more than it would cost to buy disposables). The dryer cost could be reduced by line drying, but in our apartment in the seattle area it takes at least 24 hours and sometimes as long as 72 for most things to line dry, so we'd have to buy at least twice as many diapers to not run out before they dry. Or do cloth diapers dry significantly faster than clothes?

You could buy more diapers and wash in larger loads - like 1x week (maybe 2x).  Remember you can sell the diapers when you are done with them and probably get 50% or more of your money back.  I did laundry every other day for THREE kids in diapers, not one.   Also, there is nothing stopping you from using cloth sometimes and disposables sometimes - you don't have to choose only one.   Not sure what will save you the most money, but there are definitely ways to do it, even without a washer in your unit.

jrwarfield

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #25 on: February 13, 2013, 05:55:46 PM »
I recently found a great review where they show that these Alva Baby diapers are almost identical to Bum Genius and work just as well, and they only cost $4.80 a pair! Anyway, the review can be found at the follow link. http://www.squawkfox.com/2012/07/25/cloth-diaper-stash2/ Also, those inexpensive diapers can be found at the following link, but they come from China so if you are against that then pay more… http://www.alvababy.com/

micah_mae_

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #26 on: February 13, 2013, 06:28:55 PM »
I am about to be on cloth baby #3.
I like green mountain prefolds (2-4 doz) and about 6-8 thirsties covers (snaps, not velcro) with old fashioned pins.
Custom fit every time you fold the diaper, thirsties covers have double leg gussets to hold in leaks and pins are way more sturdy than snappis.
Get a wet bag for changes out and about, wash it with the diapers. Can also be used during potty training when accidents happen in public.
Country save detergent is supposed to be the cheapest cloth friendly detergent. I do a cold wash without soap followed by a hot wash with soap and extra rinse. Vinegar in a downy ball. Line dry the covers at least if not all of them.

:)

ellevendollarbill

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #27 on: February 13, 2013, 07:59:13 PM »
Just to put my two cents in:
We use Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap and Flip covers with basic cotton prefolds.  It's been fine, like not a big deal at all.  We did use disposable for the first week, but I don't think they are any easier, when you get down to it.  One word of caution - our DD was born in December, so we haven't been able to line dry yet and running the dryer every other day REALLY adds up.  Our electric bill sky rocketed from $40ish/mnth to $100ish/mnth.  Granted, this coincided with the start of cold weather round here, but I was not anticipating any significant increase in utilities.  We have yet to receive our latest bill, but $60ish to run the dryer really cuts into any savings.

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #28 on: February 14, 2013, 12:20:54 AM »
The original post is kinda old so not sure how helpful this is, but I used SmartiPants (pocket dipes) because they were very reasonable at the 24 pack price, were made in the US and they have worked well (we still have my 2.5 yo son in them at night with double inserts). I used Costco brand enviro-hippie Free & Clear type soap. I think cloth babies potty train faster because parents have more motivation to get them potty trained. The US is the longest-diapered country in the world and the diaper companies LOVE that and encourage it.

N

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #29 on: February 14, 2013, 12:51:48 AM »
Im chiming in...we did use cloth exclusively for my first, and we tried lots of  brands and styles. The prefolds were great for the first few months and then we had FuzziBunz for the next year. She was out of diapers at home by 14months (she refused to wear them!) and completely done with them at 19 months.

With my second, we did a lot of EC (Elimination Communication) and for the first two years, I hardly ever ever ever had a poopy diaper to deal with. I helped him poop in the potty. We did have some wet diapers every day, but way fewer than without EC. We used prefolds, the FBs we still had, and also gDiapers (flushable insert, cloth covers) At age 2 my son was only "using" one or two diapers a day, so we switched to a disposable (Nature Baby, which we subscribed to an order from amazon) since it was hard to wash only a few diapers a day...

I know EC can sound very woo woo hippie dippy, but I found it pretty easy to incorporate into our life, not a big deal at all. We were relaxed about it, and we saved a lot of dipes and dipe washing. I always encourage parents to look into it and give it a try. like cloth, it doesnt have to be all or nothing, either.

Best,
N

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #30 on: February 14, 2013, 09:22:02 AM »
Just to put my two cents in:
We use Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap and Flip covers with basic cotton prefolds.  It's been fine, like not a big deal at all.  We did use disposable for the first week, but I don't think they are any easier, when you get down to it.  One word of caution - our DD was born in December, so we haven't been able to line dry yet and running the dryer every other day REALLY adds up.  Our electric bill sky rocketed from $40ish/mnth to $100ish/mnth.  Granted, this coincided with the start of cold weather round here, but I was not anticipating any significant increase in utilities.  We have yet to receive our latest bill, but $60ish to run the dryer really cuts into any savings.

I did the math, and setting up my cloth prefolds on a drying rack and pointing my box fan at it for 8 hrs (I just used this as an example, in reality it wouldn't take nearly as long) would result in dry prefolds for less than 1/10 the electricity as throwing in the dryer.

We usually just let them dry on the rack for 24 hrs, unless its urgent (like we're completely down to zero prefolds left).

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #31 on: February 14, 2013, 09:31:38 AM »

I did the math, and setting up my cloth prefolds on a drying rack and pointing my box fan at it for 8 hrs (I just used this as an example, in reality it wouldn't take nearly as long) would result in dry prefolds for less than 1/10 the electricity as throwing in the dryer.
 

This is great information - I think we don't have quite enough prefolds, or DD is just creating too much laundry as she's still sub 3 months old, to wait 8 hours (but maybe we could overnight....)   But spring is around the corner, and she is starting to use the diapers less already. 
I really appreciate that you did the math on this.

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #32 on: February 14, 2013, 09:45:14 AM »

I did the math, and setting up my cloth prefolds on a drying rack and pointing my box fan at it for 8 hrs (I just used this as an example, in reality it wouldn't take nearly as long) would result in dry prefolds for less than 1/10 the electricity as throwing in the dryer.
 

This is great information - I think we don't have quite enough prefolds, or DD is just creating too much laundry as she's still sub 3 months old, to wait 8 hours (but maybe we could overnight....)   But spring is around the corner, and she is starting to use the diapers less already. 
I really appreciate that you did the math on this.

Heh, it wasn't too hard. Just looked at the kWh usage of the fan and dryer :)

We have something like 28 prefolds/inserts, so doing laundry every 2 days (10 diapers per day) leaves us with an ok margin of error.  FWIW.

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #33 on: February 14, 2013, 11:04:13 AM »
I sewed prefold cloth diapers in three sizes from yard sale flannel sheets and towels; probably one of the highest "hourly wage" frugal things that I've ever done.  They've been good for 200 or more uses before wearing out, and I've re-covered some of the worn ones with new used flannel and put them back into service.

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #34 on: February 14, 2013, 11:53:12 AM »
We use cloth diapers.  I have a variety of diapers- lotus bums, bum genius, thirsties, and happy heinys.  My favorite are the happy heinys pocket diaper as they have the best fit.  I also prefer velcro closures to snap closures as they're easier to get a snug fit on a squirming baby.  However, the snap closure ones will likely last longer.

On buying used, I bought some bum genius used and I can't say that I would do it again.  Yes, it's a good way to reduce costs but i found that they were not in good enough condition.  (Loose elastic, needed constant stripping probably from improper/incomplete washing, pilling velcro, etc.)  I have found good deals on cloth diapers ($10/diaper including insert) on zulilly.com.  We also use disposable liners (they look like dryer sheets) to catch poo.  Those liners run about $15 for 200.

For washing, I use Charlie's Soap which is about $14 for a tub that goes 90 loads.  I would caution against more traditional brands like Tide, ALL, etc. because I have heard they can damage the diapers over time.  Charlie's is inexpensive and does a good job.

As for ease of use, I was initially very skeptical about using cloth diapers.  My husband and I both work and we don't have a lot of free time.  Cloth diapering was really no problem AT ALL.  It is probably just as time consuming as disposable diapers because I don't need to make a special trip to buy them or remember to order some online.  My clothes washer really does all the work for me and then I hang them to dry overnight.  Easy peasy!

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Re: Cloth Diapers?
« Reply #35 on: February 18, 2013, 12:39:57 PM »
Hello there,

My husband, a lurker to this community, insisted I reply to everyone here and share my knowledge on "chinese cheapies" cloth diapers.

When I was pregnant with my now 7 month old daughter, a friend introduced me to Facebook co-ops. It's exactly as it sounds, a bunch of ladies that go in together to buy large amounts of things at wholesale prices. It's where I found alva baby diapers from China. Through the co-op, plain solid colored pocket style diapers (suede cloth inners) were as low as $2.50 without an insert. Prints start around $2.95 I believe. You can add either a 3 layer bamboo, 4 layer bamboo microfiber blend, or microfiber insert for $1.20, making the total for one solid colored pocket diaper with insert $3.70. You do have to pay for a "co-op fee" which pays for packaging, ink, tape, and other supplies, paypal fees, and shipping fees. Obviously the more you buy, the better a deal this is. Once the order is placed, it is shipped to the host, who then ships it to you. So if you're in a rush, ordering from their website might get it to you quicker (alvababy.com). I've tried fuzzibunz, bumgenius, grovia, thirsties, you name it. These by far are my favorite diaper and for the price who could complain. I even found a co-op that was doing a custom order with velcro (aplix) closure. I use these for daycare and they absolutely love them (I'm the only one using cloth at our daycare).

Another brand of chinese cheapies are Sunbaby (sunbabydiapers.com) diapers. They're usually around $4.00 for a diaper and 1 microfiber insert on co-ops. They have microfleece inners and come in two sizes. Size 1 is for leaner babies, size 2 for chubbier ones. I tried these, but I wasn't a fan of the inner. I know some babies have suede cloth sensitivities, and those people love these diapers.

For my wash routine, I use plain old tide original. In Georgia we have pretty soft water, so I use 2 tbs per load and I bought a giant box at BJ's that just may well last me forever. I love the way it smells and haven't noticed any stink issues or sensitivity issue with using it. I do dry my inserts in the drier because the bamboo would take forever to dry. I do use dry balls to cut down my drying time. I have a drying rack I put the shells on to air dry.

Feel free to ask me about the co-ops or anything more about the alva diapers!

 

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