Cloth diaper help!

Now that the girls are 9 months old and going through less diapers, I am very tempted to make the switch over to cloth. But, wanted to hear from anyone out there with twins who is doing cloth diapers....I need to know if I am just making TONS more work for myself, what the best kind of diapers are, how you clean them, etc. I am new to this and have only just started doing some research on it.

I like the thought of cloth, especially since both of the girls have some kind of rash right now. BUT, I DON'T like the thought of slaving over poopy and smelly diapers all day long. As it is, I am doing about a load of laundry every day between the twins' clothes and my husband and mine.

Is it worth it to make the switch???

HELP!

 

We use cloth and have since they were 3 months old. I love them....love them. We have 30 or so and have to wash every other day but it isn't bad at all, just toss em in and do a rinse, wash and then a rinse again. We have a diaper sprayer on our toilet so we can spray off the poops, simple. We use Bum genius one size dipes so they can use them until they are potty trained. I say go for it.

Dena

 

We have used cloth since the girls were 6 weeks old. I use gdiapers with a cloth insert most of the time. What I love about G's is that you can use cloth at home and the bio-insert on the go. The bio-insert can either be flushed down a toliet or tossed (breaks down in 50-150 days). They are VERY easy to use. I've actually wrote a blog about them since I have tons of family & friends that ask about them. (The link is in my siggy. Click on February and then click gdiaper 101)

 

I switched my twins and baby girl about three months ago. I wish I would have done it sooner. The bulk of our stash is GroBabies. Organic cloth soakers or biodegradable soaker pads. Grobaby has been renamed GroVia, so currently all the Grobabies are discounted. It is a AI2, all in 2 from birth until potty training. We also have some Bottombumpers and prefold organic Bummis. If I'm having a bad day, I revert to disposables (either with the GroBaby or some we still have at home). I have done that about 5 days in the last three months. That is what is so great about having either option at home. I wash about every other day. For the three kids, we probably have about 30 diapers total, that's not covers but snap in soakers.

I'm not sure how to help you to not spend too much when starting out. It's sometimes takes awhile to find what works for you. I think I spent about $400-500. So, it definitely would have been more worthwhile to buy sooner in their diapering life.

 

I also love them. I was worried about the workload too, but I have found that it's way easier than I expected.
We also have a diaper sprayer, and it makes cleaning up poop fairly easy. You can buy a diaper sprayer already made or you can make your own fairly easily. Google homemade diaper sprayer and a lot of stuff should come up.


We usee Fuzzibuns and Kushies. We also Bumgenius used when they were smaller. I am thinking of getting some prefolds with covers next. We used to use disposables at night, but once we got the fuzzibuns I discovered we could use two pads inside the diaper for overnight use, and we never have leaks.

I am a big fan of the one size diapers. They are adjustable, so they will last through potty training. They cost a bit more upfront, but they save a lot in the long run.

]Mothering magazine's most recent magazine has a great article about all the cloth options out there and can help someone new to cloth diapers figure out which ones might work best for you.

Good luck!

 

We just made the switch a little over a month ago at 8 months old. I had wanted to before they were born, but somehow I didn't. So out of no where I decided I was going to switch. We ordered a 24 pack of Bumgenius 3.0s from Kelly's Closet, a diaper sprayer from there, 30 cloth wipes from there, 2 wet bags for inside our 2 diaper champs, another small wet bag for my diaper bag when we are out and about, and detergent. We spent right at about $500. It's super easy in my opinion. I only have to do an extra load of laundry (rinse once on cold, wash once on hot w/ an extra rinse cycle) every other day. We have a diaper champ in their room and one in the bathroom for when we spray out the poopy diapers and don't want to carry it back to their room. It's a lot easier than I imagined. I just wash and when they're done drying I stuff them as I watch tv or something. My husband also made a video for his mom to explain the new cloth diapers there are these days. You can Check it out if you want. We went on a camping trip Mother's Day weekend and we decided to use disposables and I was so annoyed w/ how they don't fit well and they stink, so it made my choice to switch feel even better.

I love them! I wish I had started in the beginning.. well at least once they were big enough since they were 29 weeks and way too small then!

 

We've been using cloth since day 1, and I don't really find it adds to the workload all that much. We're doing approx 3 loads of laundry/week.

 

We've been cloth diapering since they were big enough to fit into them and we love them! We also use the one size diapers so they'll last through potty training. We use Fuzzi Bunz, Bum Genius, Haute Pocket and pre-folds. I will say the Haute Pockets tend to be a little less absorbent than our others. But I am so happy we decided to CD. We have yet to have a poop blowout and we've had some nasty, nasty diapers recently :crazy: . We also have the diaper sprayer which is nice once they're on solids; we just keep a bucket by the toilet and throw the wet ones in there once we've sprayed them. We wash about every other day, so it's really no big deal.

Good luck!

Laura

 

Nice video Joelle!

 

I'll just throw my opinion out there since it differs from the others.

I've tried cloth diapers and some of the diapers and covers are awesome but I'm not a big fan of cloth diapering for two reasons:

1. I HATE, HATE, HATE having that wet cloth against my babies' skin. I just cringed everytime I would open the diaper cover and the diaper would be all wet and their little bottoms would be clammy. And I did not go hours and hours without changing them, maybe 2 hours at the most.

2. I am not a fan of doing the same load of laundry over and over again. One cold rinse, one hot water cycle with soap, and then another rinse just to make sure all of the soap is off. Then usually two cycles through the dryer because mine never seemed to get completely dry the first time. So for me it added up to 3 washes and 2 dries every other day just for one load of diapers.

I really, really wanted to cloth diaper but after I tried it, I just found that it wasn't for me.

 

We love it here too! And paid for our entire stash of diapers within 6 months from what we saved by not using sposies (and that's a newborn through toddler stash!) We cloth diapered the girls after a year and we're using those diapers again as soon as the boys fit into them, so we won't have to buy larger diapers this time around. Right now we don't rinse - jsut throw them into the machine, wash on hot with a squirt of dawn and then rinse twice. I agree that some of them (especially if you have all-in-ones) don't get dry the first time around, so I dry them with towels (I just make sure to do a load of them before or after the diapers), which helps a lot. If it's a nice day I just hang the damp ones outside. We do end up doing a load every day since the boys pee and poop every 2 hours right now, but after a while that will stretch out more. Look for BumGenius one size to start with - they are great diapers, easy to use and fit well under clothing. Then if you like CDing you can branch out into other diapers (we love fitteds and prefolds with wool covers/longies.)

 

I've never used sposies - cloth for all 5. I run them thru one rinse, then I put the washer on the max setting - a presoak, a stain cycle, heavy wash, extra rinse and extra spin. I walk away and come back to put them in for 90min in the dryer - done -ahhhhhh - fresh diapers! I wash every 2nd day. Usually toss them in when I take off the last diaper of the day at bedtime - by the time I go to bed they are ready for the dryer and dry by morning.

I am doing a wet pail now for the first time - we've moved and our water is very hard - makes for some smelly diapers but if I soak them in a water softener they do not smell.

Mine are mostly MotherEase from 8yrs ago - I did buy a batch of mult-style and out of those my faves are Thirsties.

As for the wet clammy bum - the new diapers I got all have the microfleece liners built in and there is NO wetness touching their bottoms. I have microfleece liners for my Mothereast that I put in to make my own version - their bums are as dry as sposies when I change them - even after a nap.

 

yep, this is what we do. I started at about 3 or 4 wks. I should have gotten a sprayer, but now that we're potty training I won't bother. of course if their poopies are nice and solid you don't need anything, just plunk it into the toilet... (I finally cut out yogurt and now the babies poopies are "ploppable!".

as for the insides, yes, ours are microfiber and some random ones we have ar fleece or another material, none of which leave the babies feeling clammy.

good luck. I would recommend about 30 diapers. I started w/22 and that wasn't enough, i was doing a load a day, and that was very taxing! I probably have $400-500 in them, and ours are now about 24 months used... which I figure is a $1800 savings? minus some water & soap, so maybe closer to $1200 or more? I only have 2 sposies in the house right now... have for about 2 months... love my cloth diapers!

 

Ok, so a good suggestion is to not buy 100% cotton diapers like I did. Apparently, other fabrics are better at keeping moisture away from the skin.

Whatever you do, just buy a few diapers and accessories first and try it out before you spend several hundred dollars on the whole shabang just to see how you like it.

 

Cotton is totally okay - but the liner that is next to the skin is what wicks the wetness away INto the cotton.