Anyone else do cloth diapers for their kids?

**Simple Living Mom** · 06-19-2007, 08:19 PM

We do but sometimes I think I'm the only one out there who does. I've been feeling a little 'different' these days with my simple and natural living ways. I have tried to tell my other friends about them but they think they are too much work but I don't find that at all. I just throw in a load every other day and it's done. Easy peasy lemon squeesy.

**emily_hope** · 06-19-2007, 08:26 PM

My girls are 16 and 18 now, but when they were teeny tiny babies, they wore cloth diapers on their teeny tiny bottoms. I loved it. I did occasionally use the store bought diapers when we were out all day, but I much prefered the cloth diapers. No trouble at all for me.

**kaykwilts** · 06-19-2007, 09:39 PM

I did cloth diapers as much as I could. Whenever the MIL babysat or we took the kids to church I would put on the disposible kind. Also, DH didn't like to handle the cloth ones so he always put a disposible on.

**Katybird** · 06-19-2007, 10:02 PM

I did with my oldest because we were young, just starting out and poor as churchmice but with my younger two, I used Luvs for both of them.

If I had known more about being eco friendly then I would have done cloth again with them.

**Radish4ever** · 06-19-2007, 10:06 PM

For the benefits of the earth, we use cloth diapers as much as possible. Lately I've been bad and have been using sposies more and more because we've been out of the house more and my kids have been in childcare situations where cloth always seems to be a problem (and we're talking all in ones, here! How hard can this be?! lol The workers are clueless and I don't want to stress them out)............. anyway, I love cloth diapering. We prefer pockets and prefolds/cover

**monkeywrangler71** · 06-19-2007, 11:06 PM

I did well when I had one in diapers, then I was bad for a while, then got back in to it, then slipped a bit...

Right now, I'm doing pretty good, cloth most of the time in the day - disposables at night and if we go out for a long time (which doesn't happen often). I'm mostly using all in ones now. I have two in diapers and only two covers for my prefolds so can never find a clean/dry one. Although I don't particularly like the way the all in ones fit (kids are getting big).

I don't really have much contact with other people, so there is no one to make me feel weird. I hang them on the line so the neighbours know I use them, but the people on my right have no kids and the people on my left are in their eighties - so they probably don't give it any thought.

**zakity** · 06-19-2007, 11:35 PM

A ton of people out here use cloth. It is pretty common.

I used cloth when the boys got older (over a year). It just wasn't feasible when they were younger.

**nuisance26** · 06-20-2007, 09:30 AM

~My daughter is still in cloth diapers during the day. I bought a combination of new and used Motherease snap diapers and covers before my son was born. They paid for themselves in 3 months. We've saved THOUSANDS of dollars by using them. I feel incredibly proud to hang my diapers out on the line. I am the only person in my family and circle of aquaintances (my age) that uses them. I think people are really misinformed about how much work is involved in cloth. It's 5 minutes to put the diapers in to wash and to disinfect the pails. Another 5 minutes to hang the clean diapers and 5 minutes to fold the dry ones. I wash twice a week so that's half an hour a week. I doubt that's much more than going to the store to buy disposables, taking them out of the pack, putting dirty diapers in the diaper pail, emptying the pail, changing the pail liners and taking the trash to the curb. One choice isn't less time-consuming or gross than the other IMO. People I know know I use them and I get alot of questions but I haven't had any 'converts' yet. It's still good to put the word out there because many people don't even know that cloth is an option. So be proud!~

**Simple Living Mom** · 06-20-2007, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by nuisance26

I am the only person in my family and circle of aquaintances (my age) that uses them. I think people are really misinformed about how much work is involved in cloth.

I agree. I'm the only person too and I think there is a huge misperception that it's a lot of work when it isn't all that much extra work and it's so much better for the environment. We do use disposables occasionally while traveling but not very often.

**PB&J** · 06-20-2007, 12:38 PM

I used them a bit with my DD and then from the time my youngest was about a month old up until he was about 18 months. It wasn't difficult at all. It is really worth it when they are younger and are going through 7+ diapers a day, especially breastfed babies. When DS got a bit older I was only using 3-4 dipes a day, it would take me a week to fill the diaper pail. Plus big baby poos, ick. lol I just switched to the cheapest disposables.

I used just about every cloth diaper available, Fuzzi Bunz were my favorite, but I also used ProWrap with prefolds and lots of the other covers, Gerber, Dappi, Motherease, Bummis... I LOVE the Snappi diaper fasteners, those are a really smart invention. I used pins with DD and could never get them tight enough.

I even made some of my own with old flannel receiving blankets.

**mommymath** · 06-20-2007, 03:10 PM

We cloth diapered and washed at home when ds was in diapers, and I loved it. Fuzzi Bunz are expensive but kept him driest and most comfortable ... we also used the Fuzzi Bunz training pants. I liked the cute covers for some of the other systems, but DS really preferred the Fuzzi Bunz, LOL! Cloth diapering is quite "hip" here in Boulder!

**lullaby80** · 06-21-2007, 08:11 AM

We do except at nights. And boy was I happy about that when we just had the explosion of the century luckily in a disposable lol. But DS has been in cloth diapers since birth.

**geckoace** · 06-21-2007, 08:35 AM

i used cloth til my son was on solids then we switched to luvs. we had a service which made it so easy you didnt really notice a difference. i just put the full pail on the porch once a week and when i woke up clean diapers and a fresh pail magically appeared!! if i had it to do again i would do it longer. the only thing is with a service there is not so much of a financial reward but i would do it for the eco benefits i think, plus i think it is always healthier to have cloth on your bum as opposed to plastic full of chemical gel. but you find a happy medium and work it out thats what i think

**tammy88** · 06-21-2007, 10:50 AM

i have some questions, im the girl that buys everything disposable and say if its broke buy a new anyways i have a son who will be 3 in december, im home all day now and i have started making him wear toddle undewear during the day, we save the diapers for night and outgoings. now i am pregnant and dont want to loose so much money in diapers, my plans up to date were to by diapers and wipes and bottles up un till the delivery, but im thinking about cloth, how do you clean the poopy ones? do they stain bad? how much do they cost in the stores? i saw some prices on ebay but wasnt sure which was better. how many would you need to buy? how many come in a pack? do you have to use safety pins, or do they have some made with buttons? how are they sized??

i know thats a lot of question but im totally in the dark on this one

thank you

**lullaby80** · 06-22-2007, 06:52 AM

Tammy: you should check diaperpin.com and their forums, full of good advice and info. But to answer some of your questions:

- the poop either gets dumped into the toilet, newborn breastfed poop can just go straight into the washer (some do this, some don't). You can also use liners with the diapers if you're worried about the poo stains.

- only a couple of my diapers have stains, most often the stains wash out

- I wouldn't buy the gerber prefolds from the store but order online instead. There are many wonderful stores to try and the owners will be more than happy to help you out.