Anyone using cloth diapers?

Hi, I am thinking about switching from disposable diapers to cloth diapers. I never cloth diapered before, so I don't have any idea how to start; meaning: how many will I need to buy, what brand, what kind (meaning: prefold or pocket or fitted), etc. Also, do you put them in cloth diapes or disposable diapers when out and about? Sorry with all these silly questions. I am just trying to get an idea from other moms who have been through this. One of the reasons why I want to use cloth diapers is because I've heard that it will make potty training easier down the line. Plus it saves us $$. TIA for your suggestions.

 

We started in December (at almost 14 months old) because of some major skin issues with one of mine, and we hoped it would help (it has, to some extent).

We use the FuzziBunz One Size pocket diapers and I find them extremely easy to use and wash. We use the inserts that they come with as well as a few other types for overnights. We went with pockets because they seemed the most straight forward. Right now we have just enough for one day plus a few extra (so, 17), and I do wash every day. It's not hard now that I'm in the habit, and I like that dirty diapers aren't hanging around the house for too long. We don't use any disposables because they really irritate their skin.

There's a ton of ways do do CDing, and a lot of different things to buy/get sucked into buying :rotflmbo: I'm trying to stay as basic as possible.

I would highly recommend checking out http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/ those ladies know everything! Let me know if you have any other questions for me

 

We have been cloth diapering since day 1 (well, as soon as they would fit into them they were so tiny at birth) and we love it! They haven't had a disposable on them in probably 4 months. We have enough that we wash about every other day, so it's not too bad. We use pocket diapers and pre-folds with covers. All of our diapers are one-size diapers, so we don't have to buy anymore as they grow. We have FuzziBunz and Bum Genius pocket diapers and they are very absorbent and we've yet to have a blow out. We also have Haute Pocket pocket diapers, but they don't seem to be as absorbent. Our pre-folds are made by Bum Genius and called EconoBum and they are also one size depending on how you fold them.

We also use the cloth when out and about (we haven't vacationed yet, so we'll see about that). We have a small FuzziBunz zippered bag that we keep in the diaper bag to put wet diapers in.

We also bought the diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet and I highly recommend it! it hooks into your water line and you can spray out your dirty diapers so they won't stain; it was well worth our money to not have old-stained diapers. We even use cloth wipes vs. disposable ones and they are so nice for wiping down the boys bums! Let me know if you have any other questions; as you can tell, we're fully vested in the CD experience!!

Laura

 

yes yes and yes to everything the other two have said. I started out with 22 Bum Genius one-size pocket diapers. mainly because they seemed to be the most economical when I checked into it 2 yrs ago. they are great. mine are a bit worn out now, but still work well. We've been using them full time since they were a month old. I have a few extra ones in my stash... but truly like the quickness of the velcro (though it kinda gives out... and I use a plain piece of extra velcro along the top of the tabs to bandaid it all together... otherwise the diaper will fall off ... oh, and it gives me 2 extra seconds before the kids take them off themselves...

I have one of the sized "medium" pocket diapers from Bum Genius too... what I like about it is that it seems "trimmer"... and that works for us, because our kids aren't getting any bigger fast... so they'll be fitting in this diaper until we're done. if you think your kids have plateaued on their size you could stand to go with a 'sized' diaper... and one that doesn't get bigger ... this one you can still stuff more into it.

mine were wearing out so for night time I have 6 new ones that the elastic is good on, and they seem to work better for me (since the rest of the stash is 20 months old)...

yes, cloth wipes. I made a bunch of these from flannel... very easy, I have a serger machine - but you can just cut and do a zig zag stitch just as easy... I like the ones I made double layered... they soft print on both sides.

I never did do the diaper sprayer, probably should have... but now I'm hoping to potty train sooner than later...

when we go out and about for the day I just bring along a wet bag. very handy. if we go to a theme park or something like that we'll do disposables so we don't have to lug them around. but for playdates, church, friends houses etc we do cloth.

you can't/shouldn't use any creams on the diapers... so I have some liners that are the microfleece ... our kids seem to have food issues and its just easier to keep their bottoms greased up with petroleum jelly/diaper cream sometimes...

if/when the diapers do get stained you can "strip" them... its a method where you start with clean diapers, then you use a small amount of Dawn (blue) dish liquid in the wash and wash HOT 2 or 3 times, then you keep rinsing until you see no suds left ... then you can sun them outside... at one point mine looked so bad - probably because I wasn't using liners and was using creams... and after I did that process they look so much better.

good luck. I also recommend that diaperswappers website. you can purchase from people on there too... what's nice is you can get a feel for a diaper by just buying 1 and seeing if you like it...

I haven't tried the new econobums from BG... am interested that the pp said she liked them! they are intriguing to me, and a good price if I remember.

I've bought from www.cottonbabies.com before, I think there's a code somewhere for saving a few dollars. also sign up with their newsletter and they send you a coupon for a % off a $100 or more purchase... might as well save if you can.

they also have "used" diapers listed on there sometimes.... they are almost perfect. I've bought several of these... the elastic is a bit loose, but I was able to tighten it a little, if you're handy with that its a decent deal. oh wait a minute, no its not.. you don't get inserts and then if you add them its almost the same price. it was good for me b/c I had extra inserts...

sorry for the ramble. welcome to the cloth diaper world! i love it!!! several others have started after a year. I'm sure you will love saving money!

 

I agree with everything everyone else said, too. We've been using the same Bum Genius pockets since they were two months old. I would have started sooner but like PPs they were too darn tiny to fit into them! They're great because they grow with the babies (you keep unsnapping to make them bigger), plus you control how much to stuff them. At night, we use something heavy duty like hemp so they don't get uncomfortable, but during the day I can use one or two inserts depending on what we're doing. The ONLY negative (aside from the laundry!) is that they are fluffier than disposables so I usually have to get bigger sizes in pants, especially anything that's not a stretchy material. You can tell a nice puffy cloth diaper bottom, lol.

I have 36 Bum Genius pockets plus some extra prefolds (hemp and microfiber) because sometimes I double up on inserts and need some extras - prefolds make VERY cheap inserts in a pinch!
Diaperswappers.com is a great resource for getting started, although I wasn't really into buying used ones so once I got my routine down I never really went back. I do laundry every other day pretty much and I keep them in regular diaper pails. I have two of the cheap kind, safety first I think, and I bring the full one to the basement at the end of the day so you don't have smelly diapers sitting around. Wth BGs, you don't soak them or anything, just put them in a dry bucket unless they are poopy. I don't use a diaper sprayer, mostly just flip it over the toilet and it comes off. If it's especially messy, I'll stick the cover in the toilet and flush to get anything else off.

I LOVE cloth diapering and I think it's been great for my babies. They never get diaper rash and when they fall on their bottoms, they have all of that extra cushion! Cloth wipes are great, too - we use Punkin Booty foam with the cloth wipes. Hope that helps!!

 

We have been using cloth diapers since almost day 1 and it works well for us. We have a huge stockpile of hand-me-down prefolds both infant and regular sizes. I think I have 12 regular covers by Bummies, 6 BumGenius one-size pocket diapers and 6 Happy Heinies one-size pockets. My twins are very different sizes - so the BG fit my little guy well and the HH fit the larger one. I use papers while traveling. I also use disposable wipes. One thing I would add is washing and diaper creams matter. Use only mfg recommended detergents (with NO additives) or you will ruin covers and pocket diapers. Use only diaper creams with out fish oils or your diapers will begin to smell like a fish factory. Otherwise - you get a routine and its easy. I wash every 3 days. Not too bad. I use a super stuffed prefold with a terry cloth insert or "doubler" at night. Works every time. Check out Kelly's Closet - these gals are great and know their stuff.
Happy diapering!
Sheri

 

I have started to research this as well too. Great advice ladies! While looking I came across the GroBaby Organic diapers. It looks exactly like what I would want to work. I received my first one in the mail today and will need to do a few prewashes. I'll let you know what I think of them. They have a double soaker and a liner that snaps in. So if the outside shell doesn't get soiled you can use it again in the day and just snap in another liner.

 

I'll be interested in how the pp likes those grobabies... I have a G diaper that someone gave me, and its cumbersome... and my babies are so wiggely, I could never get the whole thing to stay together while I was trying to get the diaper on...

p.s. oh my, can't believe I went on and on and on above! hope it wasn't too much of a ramble!

 

Wow you guys are SO awesome, thanks for all the advice. It's been very helpful. I'll definately go to diaperswapper.com and check it out. Thanks again. Julie

p.s. I may have more questions in the future

 

I don't think you were rambling at all . I really like & appreciate that you took your time to explain everything to me, which is so helpful.

So I think I might try the BumGenius one size pocket first since it seems like everyone here is using that one. Whew..it seems like a lot of work using CD...but I'm sure it will be SO worth it. As far as nighttime, I'm a little nervous using CD incase if it leaks. Both of my LO just finally STTN for the past couple weeks after we did CIO.

Pam, please let me know what do you think of the Grobaby diaper.

Laura, where can I get the diaper sprayer? Does walmart or home depot sell that?

 

You'll probably have to get that online. Lots of the cd websites offer them. I've got a waking baby so I can't search out a link...hopefully someone else can.

Just wanted to add that a few hours in the sunshine is the best stain remover. Set them out for an afternoon (here in MI, it'll be awhile ) and they'll be white as can be.

Eve

 

I went through some time with nighttime leaks... but... like a pp said, I have some extra hemp doublers. there are "big weeds" and "little weeds". I think I use a BumGenius regular insert with a "big weeds" hemp insert folded in thirds on top of it, and it holds all night. that is enough insert without being too much for mine. if its too thick then you'll have elastic gapping and they will really leak! anyway, that's my nighttime formula.

as for the dry pails.. I have 2 diaper champs. they aren't the best, but I do like that they keep the smells inside. I think they've improved their design since I got them 2 years ago. my friend tried a kitchen flip lid trash can and didn't like the smell... I also like that now that the kids are fully mobile the Diaper Champ is pretty much locked to them.

good luck! glad you didn't think I was rambling!

 

My husband found the cheapest price for the sprayer on Amazon. I think it was $40-45, but definitely worth it if you're not close to potty training. Plus I'm rather Type A :laughing: and didn't want to look at stained diapers during the winter when I can't get them outside in the sun! It just hooks into your water line on your toilet, no plumbing or re-piping anything and you just turn it on and off with a valve when you use it.

As far as leaking during the night, just do what the pp have mentioned and double stuff. My guys sleep from 11-6 or 7, so we just use to inserts in their pocket diapers and they don't have any issues.

A pp also asked about the Econobum pre-folds. So far, I really like them. It came in a set with 3 covers that grow like the Bum Genius one sizes do but they snap to close like a Fuzzi Bunz (best of both worlds for me), and 12 pre-folds. The pre-folds are really good quality and nice and thick. They grow with your kiddo depending on how you fold them (i.e. our guys are babies, so I fold them the short way, when they get bigger I'll fold them lengthwise). They are stitched both ways so you just fold on the seams. I think it was $50 for the kit, so pretty reasonable.

Laura

 

Ooops..one more thing . Can you recommend any website to purchase it? Thanks again, Julie.

 

Wow thanks Laura for the info...I might try this one instead. I like the one that snaps better than the velcro. OMG there's so many diff. type and brand out there and I would not know where to start from, thanks to you all. You guys rock. Julie

 

I was so interested to see that so many twin mommas CD! How exciting. I started at the beginning of December. My main reason for CD was because they have sensitive skin and too we were having major blowouts with disposables. It is truely addicting so beware

I wouldn't CD if i didn't have my diaper sprayer. DH actually found a DIY online and put it in just a few hours. It is sooooo nice to have! Def takes some getting used to but WONDERFUL.

We just started with overnights just a few days ago, but in our stash i have 12 Bum Genuius and i have 6 extra that are just for night times. I have them separate from the rest of my diapers. I have a few purchased fitteds, but other then that the majority of my stash is made up of homemade diapers made from the Rita's Rump Pocket pattern free online, that i stuff with bamboo fleece. Those i just use covers thristies or blueberry covers with, or the occasional wool cover.

I do wash every other day which isn't bad. My advice is to make sure to invest in a good cloth diaper detergent, Which will actually help prolong the life of your diapers and not having to strip your diapers often.

Too if you purchase your bum genius diapers from cottonbabies.com, if you keep your receipt they are covered under warranty for a year. So if the velcro wears out some they will send you all new diapers! Which was my main reason for getting them from cotton babies!!

Overnights can be tricky but what works for us right now is a BG with both inserts and a hemp doubler for an additional 4 layers of absorbency and it works wonders for my heavy pee'ers!

HTH!!

 

Can you recommend a good cloth diaper detergent? Thanks.

 

I'm still prepping the Gro Baby. I'll let you know as soon as I use it.

 

Right now i am using Country Save. And it works well, but i am getting ready to switch to Rockin Green Detergent. I have only been using it since i started in december and with my hard water I am already having soap building up on my diapers. I have been teetering on switching and then i watched some compelling videos on their website this past week and it has me sold. http://rockingreensoap.com/ Too it is a detergent made specifically for cloth diapers apposed to a detergent that is ok to use on cloth diapers. They have lots of yummy scents!

 

Re: Detergent, our local CD store recommended Country Save (As do a number of sites), and it seems to be working so far. Plus it's not super pricey and I can get it at the grocery store.

Re: Where to buy, most of the "big name" diaper companies regulate the prices, so you're never going to find a particular diaper for much cheaper somewhere else. However, different places will have different specials like free shipping or they'll throw in something for free. I like that a lot of the stores are run by work at home moms. Very grassroots. Anyway, I've bought from Kelly's Closet and it was fine. Our local one is http://www.cozybabyboutique.com/ , but there are a ton of sites to choose from.

Re: Overnights, we stuff the Fuzzi Bunz One Size with a Knickernappies Super Do (hemp) insert. I have heavy wetters and this works perfectly. Let me also suggest the Flip Organic inserts. I did not like the Flip diaper, but the organic inserts are AMAZING. Super absorbent, and great if you're out in the afternoon or something. One layered with a FB microfiber insert also works over night for us.

Also, you just have to be super careful with any diaper rash creams, many name brand ones are not good for cloth diapers. The California Baby one is fine, but not A&D or Desitin etc.