Cloth Diapers

I am looking into the option of being a SAHM and was trying to save money in differernt areas.....Can I do this with cloth diapers or are they more work than worth messing with....if they are a good investment please give me your pro's and cons.

 

I'm sure there are other post to refer too...

but quickly, I use BumGenius - pocket one-sized diapers. For the most part they are great.
I only bought 22 of them, and probably should have had a few more... I have to wash every day and a few hours...

I liked the pocket one-sized diapers b/c they go from babies at 7 pounds up to toddlers at 35 pounds... you don't have to purchase any other diapers. We also just got a new high efficiency washing machine that spins them almost dry at the end and I only have to put in the dryer on medium temp for 40 min. now, with the other washer I think I was drying for 70 min.

I also made cloth wipes - which you could probably just cut fleece w/o hemming... but I hemmed/serged flannel into 8" squares and put them in a wipes warmer with plain water. I think we have about 40-50 in the rotation and they just get washed right along with the diapers. disposable wipes can go in the washer - though... and come out fine so at least you can use them and throw away if you want after they are clean... or just use them again...

We really like cloth diapers... originally it was my husband's idea... and then all my friends were like "you're crazy"... then I started liking the idea and we both like it. we had to use dispoable a few weeks ago when the washer quit working... and couldn't wait to get back to our cloth!

I hope you find out what you need.

 

I just saw that your babies are 8 mo. old... you may be able to use different diapers that aren't one sized... because a M or L may fit them until they are potty trained? anyway, we started at 1 month so that's why we went with the one-size BumGenius.

 

ok, last reply... another easy way to save money... paper towels! I made similar wipes for their faces... just used a different material and use them to wipe them down after meals and wipe their high chairs etc. instead of paper towels...

 

wow you can wash disposible wipes ???? THey don't tear up..... where do you get the cloth diapers and do you put liners in them or do you just rinse them out ?? I'm totallly clueless.....and do you use rubber pants?

 

I don't know much about cloth diapering but if you decide to do this AND you want to help out a family in need, The Denver Diaper Co. features a family in the Denver area that is in need on a certain day (I think they are trying to do one family every Friday) and 5% of your order goes to the family. I found out about it b/c one of our TS members was the family for the day several weeks ago. Anyway, just another place to check prices at.

 

We switched to pocket diaper when the twins turned one and I've been cloth diapering non-stop for almost 5 years now. I love it and I can't imagine how much money I've saved. For little babies, I like prefolds and covers but, for older babies, I prefer pocket diapers. Pocket diapers are very easy to use. They go on and off just like regular diapers and you can customize the absorption needed for your kids. I've tried many, many different brands and my favorite are Happy Heinys. My 2nd choice would be bumGenius 3.0.

To wash pocket diapers, you just remove the inserts from the pockets, drop everything in the washer, run a cold rinse, hot wash, and extra rinse and then you can either put them in the dryer or air dry. It's simple. For poop, you turn the diaper over the toilet and let it fall off. Some people use something called a diaper sprayer that attaches to the water line on your toilet and allows you to spray off poop and they love it. I've never used one.

Both my boys currently fit in the Happy Heinys one size diaper but the bumGenius one size is still a little big on the baby. I use a hemp insert for the toddler and a hemp insert paired with a microfiber insert for the baby. At night, I add another hemp insert so that there is no leaking over that extended period of time. I also use reusable baby wipes and just throw them in with my dirty diapers. If you have an old fleece blanket, you can cut that into squares and be ready to go. Baby washclothes work good as well.

Cloth diapers require a higher upfront cost than disposables but you make up the money quickly. Not having to shell out the money for more diapers every 2 weeks is a great thing.

 

ok so let me see if I get this....they are preformed just like a regular diaper but with a liner ??? The liner is what keeps them from leaking??? And you wash the liners and the diapers ......where do you get the sprayers for the diapers???? and what other sites are there to buy them what do I need to get started and how many...

 

Upsides.

You don't have to buy disposible diapers.
You are saving on the environment.
After the initial cost, it is 'free.'

Downsides.

bulky (I have to have the baby in a size bigger than normal because of the bulk of the pocket diaper.
laundry
I found that cloth leaks more, or rather you need to change their diaper more frequently to avoid leaks. Some people may dispute this. I have learned to be creative in how i stuff to avoid leaks.

That said, I like cloth diapering Evan. I hate doing laundry though. Pockets you have to stuff. All in Ones take longer to dry.

 

another thought to ponder... its not totally free... b/c you'll be doing another load of laundry, and hot water laundry cost money to heat the water up and a load in the dryer. But it still a whole lot cheaper than disposables.

yes, our pockets are nice b/c you can add add'l inserts. right now, our babies are about 18 pounds and during the day we use (1) large insert and (1) newborn insert in the diaper and its on the middle snap size. Both of these come with the BG 3.0. At night I use (2) large inserts and an extra small contraption I made... basically since both of our babies sleep on their tummies, I add a small insert that's as wide as the pocket and just 2-3" down so that it doesn't go into the crotch area... if I load too much there's a gap when they move around and it leaks at night. But with this we're able to go 12 hours at night w/o leaks.

I was looking at some all-in-ones and the downside I did see was that they would take longer to dry... good point to bring up.

I do tend to change the diapers every 2-3 hours and immediately when I think there's a poop.
I also don't use a sprayer. I did finally take in the extra Diaper Champ into the bathroom, so that I can plop the poop off and roll up the diaper and put into the Diaper Champ and wash my hands all at once. Before, I would pick up the poop w/toilet paper and then truck down the hall to throw in the toilet and wash hands...

I don't know if I'd do a "Diaper Champ" again if I had to do over... I think a regular flip lid container would work just as well since we're doing laundry so often .

 

FWIW, I am a SAHM on a small budget, and we considered doing cloth. But by the time I added up the up-front costs of cloth diapers, the cost of laundry and materials to clean them, the time involved in doing that, and the convenience of disposables... it really wasn't that much of a difference in cost. Maybe $200 per year, from what I figured, and I decided that for us, we'd rather make up that money in other areas - like eating out, or clothes/toys for the babies, or entertainment, etc.

I have 3 month olds, and we go through 10 or 11 diapers a day total. I buy the mega-packs of Pampers at Babies R Us for $40 (sometimes you can find them on sale, or if you buy their store brand it is even cheaper!) and go through one box about every 19 days. Costco diapers are cheaper (but not quite as soft, so I'm waiting on those until the girls are older) I think they are $30 for 220 diapers which would last a long time!

All in all, both ways are great - I'd just recommend really comparing the costs before you invest in cloth.

I hope you can find a way to be a SAHM - you will NEVER regret it!!! It's more than worth the financial sacrifices it takes.

 

FWIW, we spent about $350 for all of the diapers and supplies (except wipes from Costco) that we have used from when the babies were new. We did have to use disposables for the first few weeks because they were too small for the smallest prefolds/covers.

I do diaper laundry every 3rd day, with 36 cloth diapers and 4 covers for their current size. (The babies are breastfed and only poop every few days, even since starting solids). We also have 24 preemie size with 8 preemie covers that are too small now, all included in that initial $350 investment. Our electric bill is probably higher from twin laundry than that extra diaper load twice a week. Definately a money saver IMO!

 

yep, the first time I pulled out a disposable wipe from the wash I was amazed it didn't tear up in there... and actually a paper towel came out ok one time too... though that wasn't meant to be in there!

as for the costs, I would recommend the 36 diapers and having to do laundry only 2-3 times per week instead of me having only 22 diapers... I keep thinking about getting some more so that I can last longer and do laundry less... from the research I'd found it seemed the laundry was about $1/hot load... do if you do it every day, that'd be $365 a year... + the $350 start up is a little over $700 the first year, and less than $400 the 2nd year... 2 years on disposable might be close to $2000-2400... vs $1100... ?? anyway, that's the quick math.

That doesn't include the cost of disposable wipes...

 

For lots of info on cloth.. go to www.diaperswappers.com

I have been cloth diapering since 12 months. I bought 12 bum genius (www.cottonbabies.com) aios. My water bill has not gone up. i DO not use any more laundry soap. I mostly made my own diapers. You can find cheap used diapers on diaperswappers.
I love my cloth diapers. when i first started they were overwhelming and frustrating but with (lots) of testing and figuring out what works i believe they are better than disposables.

 

QUOTE(stacya @ Apr 4 2009, 12:08 PM) [snapback]1258935[/snapback]
I have 3 month olds, and we go through 10 or 11 diapers a day total. I buy the mega-packs of Pampers at Babies R Us for $40 (sometimes you can find them on sale, or if you buy their store brand it is even cheaper!) and go through one box about every 19 days. Costco diapers are cheaper (but not quite as soft, so I'm waiting on those until the girls are older) I think they are $30 for 220 diapers which would last a long time!


Just to compare...I go through about 15-18 diapers a day, so even if you say 15 a day, if you buy the cheapest disposables like pp said at $30 for 220, that would only last me 2 weeks. I figure I can buy a BG3.0 one size pocket diaper per week for the same price. So figure how many diapers you want (we got 32 plus some other cheaper ones as backups) and decide if you'll still be using diapers after that many weeks, KWIM? These paid for themselves after 32 weeks (and honestly I never found disposables as cheap as stacya!!) - I actually think for us they paid for themselves after 4 months.

We've been using BGs since they were 2 months old and I LOVE them. I do laundry every other day or so and it's really not a big deal. I use cloth wipes, too, so we don't pay anything there either. The only extra expense for us was a couple of hemp prefolds to add to the night diapers...it made it so they stopped waking up in the early AM wet...now they can go staright through from 7 until 7 without complaining for a diaper change

Good luck! I hope you can stay home with them!

 

wow well personally I got through 7-8 diapers a piece so that's 14-16 a day of the disposables....but maybe I'm a bit of a finatic but I pay $40 a case either at Toy's R Us or sams and only get 144 now they are getting in the bigger diapers.....so all in all I usually go through 2-3 cases a month so that's $80-120 a month just diapers.....but I am realizing I won't be able to change as often with cloth as I would need tons and tons of cloth diapers but maybe if I go to every 2 hours I'd be ok.....so what is the best site to buy from and what size to I need and all in all what all to I need to get started?? I know diapers but what about liners what kinds? What sizes???

 

[SIZE=10pt]I just wanted to add that I cloth diaper my twins, and I also cloth diapered my youngest daughter (who is now 10) and I really enjoy it and honestly, it can be as easy as disposables...the extra load of laundry diapers add is definitely offset by the fact that you never have to make a "uh oh we're out of diapers" run to the store! Anyway if you have any other questions i too would be happy to help, I use a wide variety of CDs over the course of a baby's time in dipes.[/SIZE]

 

I use the bum genius 3.0 one size and LOVE them. I only have 18 so I am washing them every other day, but my water bill has not gone up and it w as well worth the initial investment, we are saving SO much money by never having to buy diapers. DH was on the fence about using them at first, but now he loves them to - they are so easy to use and to put on the babies. I also have a few fuzzi buns diapers, but I like the BG better, the velcro is a lot easier than the snaps.
I ordered a 12-pack of the new limited edition BG (fleece instead of suedecloth) from cottonbabies.com. They are the U.S. distributor for bum genius.

 

The other way to get the diapers... and to save a little money is to order from www.diapers.com they have a "BCENTER" coupon you can use from www.babycenter.com and you save $10 on your first order... and if you order $49+ you get free shipping... I got friends & family to order sets of 3 for me... the total was about $43 for 3 after the coupon. I ordered 7 sets... so I saved $70...

I have the BG 3.0 with the older suede cloth so I don't know what I'm missing with the new fleece... the only thing I will say is that the velcro now kind of "curls" and makes it very tempting for the babies to just pull them off now... I "fixed" this by cutting a 4" piece of the hard side of velcro and we just put it over the tabs and the middle part of the velcro to kind of "glue it all together"... and we don't leave the babies in just diapers... we have to make sure they have a onesie or shorts on! But its all good... I'm sure they'd figure out how to get disposables off too!

I thought about trying some with the snaps... but now that the pp said they didn't like those... hmmm...

good luck.