If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed an ongoing discussion we’ve had about cloth diapering.
I’ve got a post in the works about this (sometimes) heated topic among parents, along with some reviews from those of you who cloth diaper your little ones. So here’s today’s question:
Do you use cloth or disposable diapers? Why? I’d love to hear your reasons for either side of the equation.
There will be no judgement here – I’m going to monitor the discussion, so if anyone is reamed for any decision they’ve made, I’ll delete the ad hominem asap. But I truly want to hear the logic behind your decision, so please share!
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I have 5 children and have only ever used disposables. For the past 7 years, I’ve had at least one, usually 2 children in diapers. The thought of washing all of those diapers overwhelms me! I already do so much laundry just to keep up with the regular clothes of 7 people, I have NO desire to add more laundry or tasks to my to-do list. Also, because I get them free or nearly free by shopping at CVS and Walgreens, disposables rarely cost me anything. I try to be environmentally conscious, and I think it’s great how many people use cloth – but for me it was a matter of cost and sanity, and I gained in both areas by using disposables!
I use Nature Babycare disposables, which are almost 100% biodegradable and chlorine-free. The insides are not made of that chemical absorbant junk, but they are equally absorbant. Yes they cost about 3 cents more per diaper than regular diapers, but when daycare won’t use cloth and my MIL won’t use cloth, I don’t see the financial benefit in cloth diapering her on Saturdays and Sundays.
Hayley´s last blog post…Eco-Friendly Coloring Products
We use cloth for my daughter. For us, it came solely down to cost. For about $500 we bought all of the diapers my daughter will ever need. And when you think that you spend a minimum of $50 per month on disposables, we broke even by 10 months. And, the savings is even greater if we have more children. We use all in ones and one sized pocket diapers for the ease of use. And daycare has not had any problems using them.
Washing has not been such a big deal. I barely notice that I have 2-3 extra loads a week to do. We have a front loading washing machine, so the cost to run cycle of diapers is minimal.
Also, our diaper pail does not smell!! Because we do not have poop sitting in it as you would with disposables. We flush the poop down the toilet, and then there is no smell. Dealing with poop is kind of gross, but it is whether you use cloth of disposables.
And of course, we feel it’s better for the environment. Yes, washing takes a toll on the environment as well, but it feels good not to be contributing to the massive piles in the landfill.
Who knew this topic would evoke such passionate arguments? I went with disposable on my three kids 10, 8, & 2. I was a single working mother with my oldest and couldn’t get over the yuck factor of cloth diapers. I freely admit I was young and very intimidated by everything when I became a mother. I wasn’t sure how to get cloth diapers clean and sanitary plus the daycare center the kids attended only used disposables. The hospital gives you disposable diapers and practically forces your to breast feed (but that’s a discussion for another day) when they’re born. The rest of my family & friends used disposable diapers on their kids. I didn’t know anyone who used cloth diapers & didn’t know much about them. At mentioning the cloth diaper option, I always got strange looks & comments like ‘why would you want to go w/cloth when disposables make it so much easier to diaper your kids’ & ‘they’re not sanitary’ or ‘it costs so much for a diaper service your cheaper with disposables’. I’m now a SAHM & knowing what I now know… I might make a different choice today. We’re working on potty training & soon (cross your fingers) it won’t be an issue for this SAHM. Great topic!
Jennifer @ Frugal Front Porch´s last blog post…Granny’s Biscuit Recipe
Wow, I can’t believe all the comments. If you get to mine let me vote for cloth. We use Mother-Ease one size for less cost and reduced waste. Some people debate it uses just as much energy with all the washing and drying – we try and dry outside as much as possible. We definitely don’t feel like we have any more blowouts than our disposable using friends. We haven’t been able to wear fitted pants, but we love leggings and dresses.
um, how about both?
I have a whole stash of cloth diapers. I used to be a passionate pro-cloth advocate until my second came along. Then I just got distracted by, you know, life. My oldest was in cloth from 8 months nearly until potty learning, which was about 2.5 for her. My youngest has been in cloth and ‘sposies on and off – depending on what I have going on in life. I don’t cloth diaper very well in the winter – can never find clothes that go over those cute little cloth bums. In the summer, i love to have my little ones in t-shirts or dresses and just a diaper.
I love cloth diapers – they can be so cute and SO much fun. However, it is sometimes not realistic for me to have one more thing to keep up with.
So for me . . . both. Either. Whatever.
Megan@SortaCrunchy´s last blog post…It’s a small favor that we ask
Megan, using both totally fits your “sorta crunchy” image!
I use cloth at home and disposable when away from home. I chose cloth because I knew it would ultimately be cheaper. I’ll be able to use these diapers for our second child (whenever that happens!) with no cost! I’ve also had far fewer leaks with cloth than with any disposable (and I’ve tried several brands). When I decided to do cloth, I knew I wouldn’t want to carry around dirty diapers when we were out, but I did try it. I found it to be a pain! And, cloth diapers take up much more room in the diaper bag. I think it’s been a good choice for us.
Heather´s last blog post…Population: 1
I am amazed at how many moms cloth diaper… Where are y’all? Y’all obviously don’t live in my town!!!
I am a mother of 2 boys, pregnant with no 3. Seriously considering cloth diapering no 2 – 13 mos and cloth diapering no 3 all the way. I have reservations and have tried the prefolds. I wasn’t a huge fan of hte prefolds, but need a few other things before I give it a fair shot.
I pray that cloth diapering is cheaper, since I’ve never had 2 in diapers at the same time! We’ll see!
We used cloth on both of our children. Good old fashioned diapers with pins and rubber pants over. Worked out great for us. I generally had to wash one load of diapers per day to keep up. My children are 14 months apart and were in diapers at the same time. It really was no big deal for us. On vacations we did opt for disposable, but other than that we loved the cloth.
HobbyMommy´s last blog post…Finding the Simple
I use disposable diapers, and have done so with all three kids. With the first, I was so overwhelmed I didn’t really even consider cloth diapering. But I work full time, and soon learned that daycares will not take kids who wear cloth diapers. The kids must all wear disposable diapers to go to daycare, so that really made my choice for me.
Although I have been intrigued by the cloth diapering ideas and love to read articles about how to do it, I don’t see the point for myself in switching back and forth since the kids must wear disposables for a good part of weekdays anyway.
Daycares also try to get your children into pull-ups sooner than I think they should, but that is a whole other topic!
Either way, I am looking forward to the day that I don’t change diapers (although I am sure I will nostaligically remember it thereafter). But I have been changing them without any breaks for 7 years now! Only two or so left to go (that is unless we have another one
Taylor at Household Management 101´s last blog post…Feb 3, 7 Laundry Stain Removal Tips For Families With Children
I used cloth diapers on all 3 of my kids (now ages 14, 11, and 7). I had no problems with them. I used them to save money and to avoid putting so much plastic into the dump. I had these diaper covers that were not plastic; they were some sort of special fabric and were water-resistant. They wrapped around like a disposable diaper and velcroed in the front. The diaper was a rectangle folded into thirds and laid in the bottom of the cover. I purchased my first batch of diapers, but made the subsequent ones. I just serged or zig-zagged the edges of a piece of flannel laid over a piece of terrycloth. I used up all my leftover spools of thread.
Some extra benefits I noticed were : not much trouble with diaper rash — I think this was because you can’t leave the kid sitting in a wet diaper or it will leak. Also, they all stopped “going” during the night at a really young age.
Someone mentioned not being able to imagine scraping poop off the diaper. When my first one got past the mostly runny, easy to deal with, newborn bowel movements, I looked at that pile of poop and thought,” I cannot stick my hands in that toilet and scrub this off.” Then I did some quick math based on the knowledge of how often I changed diapers and decided that I could wash my hands!
Cloth–simple prefolds, snappis, and prowrap diaper covers.
1. Cheap!
2. Better for the environment!
3. Better for baby bottoms!
4. Nothing’s cuter!
Rachel´s last blog post…BurdaStyle Corinne Yoga Pants
Ditto to everything that you just said. Us Rachels think alike, huh?
Another Rachel´s last blog post…An Update on the CPSIA…
I am so curious to hear what you say. Just before I clicked onto my Reader I was trying to research cloth diapering. I’ve heard different opinions, and honestly there is just too much information to sort through- and they’re quite expensive so I don’t want to make a purchase until I’m really committed. Thanks for writing on this topic.
We use ‘sposies. When we first had the girls I thought that I would do cloth. I received a gift certificate for a cloth diaper service as a baby shower gift, so I did end up doing cloth for about 4 months. That was pretty much all I could handle, and I had to keep reminding myself through the process that our diapers at that point were essentially free in order to keep going with it.
Keep in mind, I have twins. So I had twice as many diapers to change, and any additional steps (as trivial as they may be!) had to be done 2 times per change. Those extra steps added up to me feeling like a crazy woman. Life was hard enough for me at that point without extra steps. So we went back to ‘sposies and haven’t looked back.
I think if I had just had a singleton I would have stuck with it. I really like the benefits of cloth, and how ecofriendly it is.
MommyAmy´s last blog post…Introducing Mystery Spice Monday!
With my first two children, I used disposables – because cloth diapers were not as available (unless you used the old-standard variety or a cloth diaper service which was pricey). With my son now, I use cloth. At first, I did it for purely Environmental reasons. But, now that I am using cloth I love them – I don’t have any “blow-outs”, less leaks, AND they seem to be nicer to his skin then disposables. Also – in the long run, the cloth are cheaper. You pay a little more up front, but then you dont’ have to buy any more.
I use disposable. Why? Well I “reasoned” while pregnant with my first that California has more water issues than landfill issues. (I didn’t say it was sound reasoning.)
Then when daughter number two was about 6 months old I tried cloth diapers for a couple weeks. I just used prefolds and a diaper cover. I had a really hard time with the washing. I couldn’t get them soft at all. It seemed like there was so much to know and figure out. Not to mention the start up cost, which I had a hard time justifying since we may only have two children.
I wish that I would have made the commitment to cloth with our first daughter. It would have been easier to buy all the supplies and figure it out in the early days.
It’s one thing I wish I would have done differently.
Cloth! We did cloth for our first 2 & plan to do it for #3 we are expecting this summer. The first time around it was primarily b/c of cost…and now after 2 kids & actually MAKING $$$ on diapers, buy scouting around for diapers on sale & then reselling them after we outgrow that size, it is remarkable the resale value! We love fuzzi bunz best! No diaper rash, the kids knew when they were wet at a really young age & potty training was pretty easy! Environment and scary articles on disposables & infertility helped sway me as well
We have been using cloth… two kids, 3 yrs, with ‘sposies when we go out. The biggest reason is economical. We save SO MUCH money this way.
Amberlynn´s last blog post…Week Recap
I use cloth, and although the biggest deterrent is washing them, I haven’t found that to be an issue! I love having the cotton on their soft bottoms. Also, the thought of putting all that human waste into the landfills is kind of disgusting. It belongs in the sewer. That’s one of my reasons! I love it.
I live in Austria and am expecting my first baby any day now! We’re planning to use cloth as much as we can. I like the idea of cloth because I stay home and have time to wash, also because it creates less trash. I’ve also read a lot about elimination communication and potty training and understand it might be easier when you use cloth.
Almost five years ago with my first we attempted cloth and gave up almost instantly. He leaked ALL the time. we even double up and he still leaked. We switched to disposable. With number two due in March we are planning on continuing to use disposable. Yes they are more expensive and bad for the enviroment but I can’t take on the extra laundry. We both work full time and I will not be taking as much time off whith #2 as I did with #1. I did read all the posts and those of you who use cloth have great points and I would almost consider them again. However I am very strongly trying to breastfeed this child as I could not the last and really want to concentrate on one thing and not two. Thanks for the great input!
Tanya Peila´s last blog post…Ten on Tuesday
I started out cloth diapering my oldest, but as many others have noted it was a lot of work and kind of – well – nasty. Interesting enough I was watching my favorite tv channel “planet green” and there is a show on it called “Stuff Happens”. Its the science guy telling us what effect our actions have on the environment. Anyway, basically scientifically speaking it turns out that both cloth and disposable have huge negative effects on the environment.
For instance to cloth diaper tons of water is used to grow the cotton to make the diapers and then of course tons of water is then used to clean them.
On the other hand, plastic is used to make disposable using up many of our fossil fuels and they don’t really decompose in the land fills. From his discussion on this show there seemed to be no real environmental advantage to either. He did note to try and use Chlorine free disposables.
Anyhow, seems like its really more a personal choice, and I use disposables now, but like the lady in India said, I get them potty trained sooner than later. My oldest was potty trained when he was two and my daughter is 21 months and learning.
We’re expecting our first in April, and plan to cloth diaper with newborn Mutts until her cord falls off, then Fuzzi Bunz and maybe some Bumgenius from there! (Cloth wipes too most of the time.)
Disposable. I tried cloth with my youngest (borrowed them from a friend) and was really hopeful that we could go that route. After only a few days she had a horrible rash and we ended up at the doctor with a prescription and a week to clear it up. I am sure it had to do more with getting used to the diapers (and maybe operator error!) than it did the actual diapers. My husband and I were already sort of on the fence about which to use, however, and it was enough to make us lean back toward disposable.
I managed 9 months of cloth diapers with my first. Six months with my second. I made it about a week on cloth diapers with my third. I was already behind on my laundry at that point and washing the diapers completely overwhelmed me and made me one cranky mama! For the sake of my poor children, I donated my stash of diapers and wraps to my friend who was expecting her first. I believe she is still using them successfully!
Jenni at My Web of Life´s last blog post…Peanut Recalls- Government sites for U.S. and Canada
When we have kids it will definatly be disposable!
Sabrae Carter´s last blog post…So much in one post!
We’ve used both for our daughter. First, I am not willing to do the cleaning of the cloth diapers so when we moved to Seattle the first thing I did was look to see if there was a cloth diaper service and there is. we decided to use cloth at home and disposables when we are out of the house and at daycare. The problem I ran into was that we are constantly on the go so we weren’t using as many cloth diapers as we were being charged for. I was constantly updating our delivery amount. After a while the cost between the 2 was the same. I know the cloth ones are better for the environment, and I do plenty in terms of recycling, composting, use cloth grocery bags, etc… but I decided to go with the disposables. Definitely easier, they are affordable these days and work great for us.
I have two DD’s. I cloth diaper the baby. I had wanted to CD my older child but knew no one who was doing it and was quickly discouraged by older family members (who CD’ed my husband & myself because that was all they HAD) that thought I was out of my MIND for choosing the “harder” option. I am so glad we CD my baby. In the past year I have saved HUNDREDS of dollars on not buying disposable diapers & wipes. We use disposables only when she is in the care of others who can’t handle the thought of changing a CD. And yes, I am “in it” to save money! That was our primary motivation.
I have used cloth on my son since birth; he is now almost five months old.
My reasons are many. Disposables contain toxins like dioxin and absorbent gel. They don’t break down in landfills. They cost a lot of money. We have a very high efficiency washer. I truly don’t mind doing an extra load of laundry every 1-2 days.
Lauren at Northwest Cheapsleeps´s last blog post…Port Townsend Sleeps
My 4th baby is in cloth. She’s my first in cloth. She used to have terrible diaper rash ALL the time, until we switched. The chemicals in the disposables would react with her poo and eat away at her poor sensitive skin. I looked into using cloth when I was pregnant with my first but I must of fallen on a study by a disposable manufacturer because they said that disposables were no worse for the environment, but something that stays around for 500 years can’t be good
Anyway, it is a lot of work and sometimes I’ll stick her in a disposable for a break, but I’m glad I switched and I wish I could go back in time and put the other 3 in them too.
We are using a combination of cloth and disposable diapers on our 8-month-old. We didn’t start using cloth until she was about 6 months, because she is our first child and we didn’t want the added work when we were just learning about parenting. However, if I had known how easy it is, I might have switched sooner. We use a combination of brand new Fuzzi Bunz and some hand-me-down Kushies and Sears brand diapers, with flushable liners to help deal with the poop. But our daughter is such a heavy wetter that we use disposables at night. We also use disposables when we travel. I love the cloth, and wish we could make the switch entirely, but sometimes the convenience of disposables is needed!
I am bummed that all the moms on here who use disposable diapers, including myself, sound so defensive. I use disposables because I hate doing laundry. Sound selfish? That’s because it is! But I will not apologize for that. It’s one of the choices I make to keep myself from getting overwhelmed as a mother.
Katy´s last blog post…pizza is my middle name
We used a mix, mostly disposeables with some cloth – maybe a 70-30 split.
We were in the middle of drought here when DS1 was born. It seemed locally irresponsible to create more washing. Once he was about 15 months old I started adding cloth diapers. I used disposeables with DS2 until he grew into the cloth ones I had from DS1. But I never had enough to make it an exclusive thing.
stacey´s last blog post…ACHOO!
Gdiapers, Seventh Generation user
My daughter is 19-months old. I initially planned to used a combination of cloth and disposable diapers. Unexpected complications after the delivery left me with many months of recovery, and she was over two weeks old before I even changed her diaper for the first time (and it was the first diaper change I’d ever done). I was too overwhelmed by recovery and new motherhood to add in something else to learn. So, I sold my bumGenius diapers super cheap when she was six months old. Having them around made me feel like a failure.
We began using Seventh Generation disposables when she was 7 months old. And shortly before her first birthday added gDiapers. We get cases of the gDiaper refills and the disposables sent to us from Amazon.com every couple of months. With the Subscribe & Save discount and the free shipping for orders over $25, this is an effortless way for us to manage our diaper supply and the cost works out to be only 1 to 2 cents more per diaper than if we were buying a major brand.
We only use the Seventh Generation at night (though my husband puts them on a little more often than that) or if all of our little g pants are dirty. I’m very protective of our sleep, so I prefer the security of a more absorbent diaper at night. gDiapers require you to be more vigilant and aware of your timing than regular disposable diapers do. The site specifies 3 to 4 hours max on the wearing. I have had the liners break down during a long nap, after being worn for 6 hours.
I don’t make a regular habit of having my daughter in a diaper that long, but since she sleeps twelve hours at night, the four-hour time limit of the gDiaper is too limiting. This is changing as she gets older, and as we introduce training pants during the day time. It’s very likely we will completely abandon the Seventh Generation diapers over the next month and double up on the gDiaper inserts at night.
If I were able to have another child, I would probably use a combination of cloth and gDiapers. gDiapers are fine for urine, but can be super messy for poop, which makes them compatible to cloth diapers and inferior to disposables in that regard.. And Yes, the inserts are flushable, but they have to be ripped open before you flush them. Not an easy thing to accomplish without getting your hands, um, dirty. The liners are easily stained, but after 10 months of use, all snaps and velcro are functioning great. The colors are still vibrant. I have no problems with odor or pilling. And because my daughter is tall and thin, we have only had to buy one size gPant (we have 4 gPants and only wash them once a week).
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We use disposable. I have twins that were born at 27 wks. and I was in survival mode at the beginning. I cannot imagine dealing with cloth diapers on top of everything else. I know that many parents of multiples use cloth but I am not that MoM. I also read that environmentally it takes a lot of hot water, etc., to get them clean which can counteract your efforts. I am not sure if this is true but while we try to re-use, recycle other things this is not the area we choose. I am glad we made the decision we did. I am a bit of a germ freak (probably due to having preemies) and the thought of putting in the amount of effort to properly clean fecal matter from cloth doesn’t appeal to me.
Becky´s last blog post…Beloved Story Time
I used disposables for my first child and now am using cloth for my 2 month old. I love them! The laundering is surprisingly no big deal. I have a “wet bag” that I put inside a regular lidded trash can (one of those where you step on a pedal to open and close the lid). Diapers go in the pail, and every couple of days I take the wet bag, dump it into the washer, and then toss the wet bag into it, too. I use a combination of Happy Heiny and Bum Genius pocket diapers. If I’m not in a hurry, I line dry everything (I love this rack – http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80119043). If I’m in more of a hurry, I still line dry the diapers (which dry quickly) and toss the liners in the dryer.
I don’t flush anything down the toilet because the breastfed poops are pretty soft and runny. Once they’re more solid, I’ll flush before dropping the diapers in the pail. I’ve had no problem with staining at all. I know this grosses most people out, but think about it, if your kid has a poopy blowout, do you throw the clothes? Most people don’t and just toss it in the washer.
I still use a disposables if we’re out and about and overnight. I really don’t have any leak issues, but with cloth, you have to be more diligent about changing the diapers every 2-3 hours. I wish I had gone with cloth for my first daughter because I would have save a ton of $ using the same diapers for two kids.
I have an 18 month little girl, and for the first 15 – 16 months we used primarily cloth. Our church nursery doesn’t allow cloth, so we did also use disposables, and when she was a newborn we used disposables till the nasty tar poops passed. We also always kept a few in the diaper bag in the car (the back up bag) just in case we ran out while we were doing errands or something. However, after about a year when she started weaning herself and her poop got to be mainly solids only style we started having some nasty problems and our little girl had a constant case of diaper rash. I ended up having to strip them at least once a month and finally decided that what the problem was, wasn’t anything we were or weren’t doing or using, just that our washer couldn’t get them clean enough (I really don’t like our washer, it’s total crap). So we switched to disposables only and have been doing that since about November.
After doing some more research, and talking with my mom (who used cloth for my brother) and other friends who do or have used cloth past or present. I’ve been thinking of digging everything back out, and trying the wet pail option to see if keeping the diapers soaking before washing lets them get cleaner in the wash. I’m planning on spending the week prepping everything, and then switching back next week.
Courtney´s last blog post…Monthly check in
I have used cloth diapers on my (now) 6 month old daughter since birth. I had a little bit of comparative experience using disposables when we visited my mother over Christmas.
My opinion based on experience is that adjustable, pocket-style cloth diapers are the best value for your money. They grow with your child, you can adjust the absorbency, and they are easy to thoroughly clean and dry compared to All-in-one cloth diapers. When I compared the price per use with local prices for disposables (in South Carolina), even taking all the detergent, energy, water, diapers and special treatment (mineral strippers), the cloth diapers were (slightly) cheaper even if we only use them on 1 child, and we bought them brand new. But they are also sellable once we decide we won’t need them anymore.
I am a WAHM and spend about 40-50 min every other day in their washing, hanging to dry and assembling. If I have one regret about cloth diapering, it’s that I didn’t buy them gently used. I could have saved a lot more money.
Leakage is not a reason to not use cloth. Leakage means that there is a problem with how you are washing or using the cloth diapers and is fixable if you do a little research to figure out what’s wrong. They are either too small, too big, not absorbent enough, have a damaged waterproof layer or need to be residue and/or mineral stripped. There are various fixes for each one of these problems.
But forget arguments of cost and the environment, leaking and diaper rash for a moment. You could go back and forth forever on those issues. From a completely practical standpoint, I believe that cloth diapers still have the advantage overall.
Disposable Advantages:
1. Convenience (use and toss).
2. not having the stink of 1 or 2-day-old dirty diapers sitting in a bucket. However, the smell is no stronger or more pervasive than a well-maintained catbox if you use this method, and of course there are more airtight containers you can purchase to eliminate the odor if you want, just like for disposables.
Disposable Disadvantges:
1. Buying disposables repeatedly is not convenient.
2. Growth spurts limit the bulk quantities you can buy at one time of a certain size diaper.
Cloth Advantages:
1. You can buy diapers that can be adjusted to grow with your child, so you don’t have to worry about “using up” all the Size X diapers before your child grows out of them.
2. The amount of absorbent material in “pocket” cloth diapers can be adjusted to suit your child. I had never experienced a “poop blowout” until we used disposables.
Cloth Disadvantage:
1. washing and drying diapers, and assembling diapers if you use pocket diapers. Personally, I do 1 medium load of laundry every other day just for cloth diaper washing, but it may be less or more depending on how many diapers you buy. If you want to do fewer weekly loads, simply buy a few extra diapers and wash a bigger load. Assembling 15 or so diapers (my average load size) takes less than 10 minutes.
2. cloth maintenance. You may have to periodically strip detergent buildup out of your diapers if you do not use a (more expensive) high quality detergent. Stripping means extra rinsing and therefore more water usage (and your time). If you live in a hard-water area like me, you may also have to do a mineral stripping periodically to prevent cloth leakage. This means extra risnsing and buying a mineral dissolving product (I use RLR Laundry treatment once a month with costs less than 3 dollars a treatment for all my diapers).
Incidentally, I try to dryline my diapers as much as possible, but it rains twice a week all year long in SC!
Oh, to answer the “why?” question – in addition to the cost savings, I liked the environmental benefits. While it can be argued that cloth and disposables leave a comparable carbon footprint due to the additional laundering required for cloth, I like the fact that I’m minimizing the chemical use/exposure and that a few less diapers are going into landfills.
my 20 month old is out of his cloth diapers and into training pants thanks to some part-time EC (aka infant potty learning) we did when he was 10-14 months when it was warm outside. cloth is works very well w/ early potty training.
we will be using cloth w/ #2 in the spring and also holding her over the potty- Elimination Communication (even part-time) is the way to go… you don’t have to throw out a diaper or wash one- so hygenic and they are more aware of their bodily functions and get to potty independance quicker and in a more gradual, natural way.
we use a mix of bum genius aio for ease, disposibles for nursery and nightime, and prefolds sewn into fitteds w/ wool covers.
jane´s last blog post…linen ring sing
One more note: solid food does change the consistency of poop which affects washing. There are several manufacturers of diaper liners which catch the poop and allow for trash or flush disposal. These also help keep diaper rash cream off cloth diapers.
The diaper pail smell and ability of the washing machine to clean the diapers actually improves once poops firm up if you use the liners, too.
I use cloth and did with DD#1 and now with DD#2. I always wanted to use cloth because my mom always talked about using cloth with us. My husband and I are fairly green in other aspects of life too so it made sense. We mainly use prefolds, but one size pockets after the 1st year. My oldest is daytime potty trained (2) and I’m looking into nighttime trainers for her as she is starting to outgrow our biggest cloth diapers. I love not having to run out to the store for diapers (although sometimes I am scrambling to get a wash in if I forget!). I have linked to a blog post I wrote about using cloth diapers.
Steph L´s last blog post…Fix, Don’t Pitch
We’re expecting our fourth this summer and our oldest is 5. I’ve only used disposables and actually have never met anyone who used cloth (although I’ve read a lot about it online) other than my mom who had no other options. I’m not convinced that in the long run, cloth saves that much money (and my mom who had 4 in cloth diapers says no way it saves money). I mean if I got to the end of my “diapering years” and realized I’d saved $500 over 6+ years of washing out poop I think I’d say – why didn’t I just spend the $500. That said, I never pay full price for diapers and through CVS get lots for free or almost free. Also, my oldest two were fully potty trained by 2 and I’m planning on doing the same with #3 this summer when she turns two. Great discussion!
Clara S.´s last blog post…Winter flowers
I use both. I bought a “sampler pack” of cloth diapers so I have 10 of various styles of AIO’s, at less than $100. My son usually poops in the a.m. so he wears disposable until then, then cloth in late morning and afternoons unless I’m running errands. Evening are usually disposable because dh prefers them.
This way my $100 investment allows me to use close to half the number disposables I would otherwise use, but I’m not tied down to having to use cloth all the time.
I’ve never understood why people get so defensive about their choices in this matter. There are obvious adv and disadv to both, so either choice (or using both, in my case) makes sense.
We have 4 kids, and I used cloth for all of ‘em, except on days when I was travelling or otherwise wouldn’t be at home. I used the old-fashioned pin-on kind, with waterproof pants. It’s not NEARLY as hard as the makers of paper diapers try to make it sound, and it saved me hundreds of dollars.
We use cloth diapers when staying in and disposables when going out, although with my next baby I am thinking about getting a “wetbag” and using cloth all the time… at least until the poops get gross. That is my main beef with cloth diapers, no pun intended – dealing with solid poops in cloth diapers is not for the faint of heart. The second and only other drawback to cloth diapering, that I see, is the added time needed for laundering. It’s certainly not hard work, just time consuming (maybe 3 hours per week total). It’s worth the saved money (and other benefits) to me as a SAHM on a tight budget.
Julie´s last blog post…We’re Getting New Presents Today!
We love cloth diapering! There are many reasons why we like it so much, but here are the highlights:
Not having to spend anymore money on diapers– We bought one size bum genius, and we should be pretty much set unless he potty trains really late and/or gets really tall or chunky before potty training. If we have another, we may buy a few more (because it is addictive to buy them!) , but we’re really pretty much set.
Not worrying about the chemicals, etc. in diapers. Also, he very rarely has diaper rash.
Day care is totally fine with the cloth diapers. And dealing with the poo isn’t that bad really (I sort of see that as another part of having a kid–dealing with products of another person’s body).
Not so good parts: laundry is a pain. If we had coin op-machines in our building (rather than regular non-coin machines), or if we needed to take laundry out to the laundromat, we might not have done this.
This is, indeed, an interesting topic and one that brings out a lot of different ideas! I have used both cloth and disposables, mostly disposables merely because of the convenience, I’m afraid to say…as missionaries, we travel often and dealing with the cloth diapers is difficult with our chosen lifestyle. I used cloth diapers for a time when we were more stable and I figured out a system that worked well for me. I did use liners and that made it easier to deal with the #2-just washed and reused if they were only wet. I did find out that sometimes there are diaper services available stateside, however, that would be a great option for people. You pay a monthly fee and they do all the work (well, except changing the baby!). That would definitely be an option for me if it were available…pricewise, it wasn’t that much more than disposables and they make sure the diapers are santized properly.
Wish I could find time read all these comments! We are expecting baby #5 in July. Our eldest is 6 years old. We have always used disposables. Although I have “romantic” visions of cloth diapering, I know too often my sanity hangs in the balance, and this is one area I can simply choose to stay more sane. lol. Convenience. Convenience is definitely the deciding factor for us. I’m sure if my children had sensitive skin and problems with disposables, I’d give cloth a whirl. But I’m happy where we stand right now.
I am loving hearing all of these responses! My husband and I are expecting our 1st in September, but we have already decided to use cloth (as much a possible) b/c of the cost. We will probably do the old school cloth diapers with pins/covers for the 1st 3 months, unless we find out that I can stay home with the baby after 3 months. My husband wasn’t super excited about it, but knowing how much we will save is a big motivator for him! If we have to do daycare, then I’m sure we’ll have disposables for that, but try to do cloth at home.
One comment on this discussion. It seems that a lot of the moms that have used disposable diapers feel that the comments against them are an indictment of how they raised their kids. I don’t feel that any comments have been out of line or rude towards those that don’t choose to use cloth. I think that everyone’s situation is different and you have to make the best choice for your kid whether it is diapers or work or whatever. I don’t think using one type of diaper over another means that anyone has made a better choice the those that choose the other side, just a choice that was right for them at that time. Just a comment.
I used disposable diapers with both of my girls, but we also used gdiapers sometimes. The gdiapers were so cute! They worked very well, and I had no problems at all with them. The reason we started using gdiapers was because my second daughter was breaking out in a rash all over her bottom and that stopped when we switched to the gdiapers. With our next child, I plan to use cloth and then gdiapers for when we are out and about or traveling. It makes sense do do this for several reasons, but for us the biggest one is that we try to limit our children’s exposure to chemicals and it only makes sense to extend this to diapers. We already don’t use conventional cleaners, bleach, plastic cups, etc… I think the cost works out better also (I saw a VERY detailed breakdown somewhere but can not locate it at this second) but our main reason is for health concerns.
We started using both for our son at about six months (strictly disposable before that). I don’t find cloth very difficult to manage or clean (yes, it can be a little gross from time to time). We tend to use disposables more often if we’re out of the house for long periods of time, but it’s cloth all the way at home.
I am a working, single mom and I use cloth. I started out thinking, save money, but now I just love them! I found a lot of info out on diaperswappers.com, and you can also buy gently used there. I have AIOs for nanny/grandma to use, and for me I use fitteds with a Thirsties cover. My daughter is still breast-feeding so the diaper goes into the wash, poop and all, and comes out clean. I do have my own washer/dryer but I normally put the wet diapers on a rack overnight to save drying time. I think this is a lot like the breastfeeding debate-it’s really whatever works for you, but I don’t find that the time spent doing a load of laundry every 2 or 3 days is that exhausting!
Cloth! It’s cheaper and better for the environment.
Tammi´s last blog post…Crafty
We use cloth most of the time. We use disposables when we’re away from the house. I have a 3 year old that we started cloth diapering when he was about 10 months old, and a 3 month old that we started cloth diapering at 1 month (when he finally fit into the diapers!). For me, I had always been interested in cloth, but didn’t take the plunge when my first was born. But we had 3 mornings in a row where his pampers exploded during the night – each morning I found him covered in the gel beads that are inside the diapers, literally from his head to his knees. It freaked me out to think that he could have swallowed them, so we went to cloth.
For my 2nd, the biggest motivation was to save money on diapers. We went simple for him – prefolds and covers, with a few fitteds thrown in. The whole system, which will last him until he’s at least 6 months old, cost less than $120. Disposables for 6 months would have cost somewhere around $200, so it’s quite a savings.
Some people point out the extra water usage on the water bill. I don’t know how it is in other areas, but for us, cloth diapering has only added about $5 to our bill, which we receive every 3 months. So about $1.67 a month extra for water.
I used cloth for my daughter, now 5, nearly exclusively – we maybe used a pack total of disposables in her nappy days to go on holiday. I even made and sold some pretty posh nappies with a friend for awhile. I prefer them aesthetically, and don’t like how disposables smell and feel, and have not had any trouble keeping up with laundry (my vice instead is take away!). I find laundry is less of a PITA than having to run out for nappies like I surely would be. I can’t say the environment and cost were ongoing motivators compared to the others, though they were the reasons I did plan on cloth from the start.
I have a 3mo little boy now, and of course he has a lovely diverse cloth nappy stash, except he is getting terrible skin from them, it almost looks like a friction rash, and the heat here isn’t helping. We went away for 5 days and used disposables and his skin healed and was pristine, until we came home and used cloth again. Got him looking good again in disposables, popped cloth back on, and it all went pear shaped again.
I have hated throwing bags of dirty nappies into the bin but I hate more seeing his skin go red, scaly and then peel! I now also have the expense of a nice stash plus buying disposables.
I also don’t feel “like myself” dressing him in them LOL I have always enjoyed the little rituals of cloth, crazy as that sounds, choosing which one to wear, the folding/primping of putting them away, and so on. It’s like I’ve swapped a cherished wardrobe for a bland uniform. I really hope once it’s cooler we can use cloth again.
I used cloth diapers on my son, who is now 3, and I loved them – most of the time. We had several different types, but I have to admit I like the ones that came with the cover already sewn on and velcro…. loved the velcro… I also made my own cloth wipes. Both of these things were a little more inconvienent that conventional diapers, but worth it to me. Unfortunately, I received no support from my babysitters (parents and in-laws) on this front. They do not always share my enthusiasm for such things.
I used disposables with my first because I didn’t know the cloth options. Now I use a mix with my 9 month old. Started to save money and I hate the idea of all the trash. At first I worried about the water usage, but I read somewhere that is only equals flushing the toilet 5 times. I ALWAYS run a rinse cycle first then hot wash.
Happy to say we have not has a bit of rash yet and have only purchased 4 or 5 packs of disposables to use when we were out, too sick to keep up with laundry, or traveling to family (they are NOT fans of us using cloth!)
Angel´s last blog post…Thank a Plugin Developer Day
I have two kids, 4 & 1, and I’ve used mostly disposable. I did try cloth for a little while with my second, but I was too embarrassed to ask for advice, and didn’t think to look online, so I just bought basic Walmart diapers, and guessed at how to wash them. Since I buy the super cheap disposables, and he was still nursing, I was spending about 2-3 hours per batch rinsing, washing, hanging, and folding, not to even mention the extra effort at each diaper change, just to save about $4. Not worth it.
I have, however, been glad to have the cloth diapers, because I live almost half an hour outside of town, and it’s nice that I don’t have to make an emergency trip to town for diapers if we are low. I’m also glad to know I could do cloth if I had to.
Recently I’ve realized there are better cloth diapers that look almost as easy to use as disposable, and I’ve learned a bit about how to wash them better, so I’m considering trying again. I can’t afford to buy expensive pre-made ones, so first I’ll need to find a pattern for relatively easy to sew, one size, fitted diapers, that don’t have to be pinned. Any suggestions, anyone?
I would suggest you try chinese or indian prefolds (they run about $1-2 each), snappis (in place of pins) and look try a few different kinds of covers. There are a ton of websites that sell them … just google “cloth diapers” and go from there. If you want to get fancier down the line, you can always expand on what you have. Good luck!
Thank you for such a timely debate, my husband an I are just looking into this now. For us, though we are leaning towards cloth, we are finding our daycare probably wont allow it.
Time will tell!
We’re planning to use cloth when our little one arrives in May. its our first and I’ve always known I would use cloth.
I think the most important factor is what you feel is best for your baby. I don’t really care if its better for the environment (although I do believe it is, for many reasons). I just happen to believe that cloth is best for my baby.
If something – anything – is going to make it harder for you to be the best mom you can in the areas that matter the most to you, then it isn’t going to be the best for your baby anymore. If it means sacrificing something that’s more important to you, then maybe it isn’t working out. But that’s the case for everything.
Best of luck in making this decision. I think the best way to go about it is by looking at how it will affect your child in the long run.
I used both. I’m a single mom, so in the first weeks when I wasn’t allowed to do stairs, and had half to world coming to help, I used paper, and those were to samples the midwife gave me, and the packs my mom brought to my shower. Then I used prefolds with diaper covers, washed hot, rinsed with vinegar, hung out to dry (I love, love, love hanging out clothes). I got paper diapers for the daycare when I went back to work and used cloth at home, unless there was a disaster like when the hot water went out or the girl was on Nystatin for thrush and had horrible diarrhea. The girl was reliably using the potty at 20 months at home but wore diapers at daycare and preschool until about 26 months. If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t work and use cloth all the time, but I didn’t have any choice in the matter so there you go.
Green Guilt got to me when my first was 20 months (now 2.5 yrs), and we switched to partial cloth use (disposables on outings, at night, and when poop is anticipated). It’s become very natural with my second (age 3.5 mo’s); it’s something I actually enjoy, much to my surprise. I started with all-in-one’s and pockets (bum genius, etc), which I still like, but have come to like prefolds even better (clotheez from green mt. diapers, snappi & thirsties covers). For us, prefolds prevent breastmilkpoopcreep better than pockets or disposables. Plus, they’re so economical! Another plus – no mystery chemicals!
Only complaints: looots of laundry. Can’t imagine laundering cloth if I didn’t have a washer & dryer at home or if I weren’t a SAHM. As we’re likely looking at water rationing this summer, I’m concerned that diaper laundry may end up on the chopping block.
Aaand I can’t say I enjoy those poopy toddler diapers. Liners help a bit… but there’s still a lot of ick left to deal with.
I did try the Gdiaper starter pack when I first started experimenting with cloth. It’s a cool concept (compostable!), but in the end, I decided that the inserts were way too expensive – more than disposables. Plus, as someone else mentioned, poop ends up on the cover (and those covers ARE cute!), so you have to launder them frequently…yet you don’t have a full load of diaper laundry. Never figured that one out… moved on to cloth instead.
I used cloth with my daughter and I loved it. But with my son, we were at an apartment and laundry was not as accessible so I did some cloth but mostly disposable. However I just potty trained him at 21 months and we are out of all of them!!!! Yes, people you can potty train without those silly pull-ups, I think they are a waste of money, but that is just me
Great question!
Keilah´s last blog post…30 Days of Nothing Revisited
With our first we used disposables…he’s 3 and we’ve just started potty training! When we found out we were expecting, we checked our budget to see what we could afford to do, since we were also buying a house at the time. We discovered that for the same amount of money that we spend on disposables in one year, we could buy an entire stash of bumGenius one-size-fits-all pocket diapers which can be reused for however many years (for our newborn and any subsequent kiddos) until they fall apart (which seems to be a long time from my research).
Our motivation was initially cost, but I was also motivated by my concern over the amount of diapers going into landfills every year.
I resonate with the moms and dads who’ve posted saying they didn’t have access to a washer and dryer of their own when initially disposable diapering. Neither did we with our first, and I do think it would be a lot of work to cloth diaper without your own washer and dryer!
I started my first son on cloth around 6 mths & within 2 mths he in cloth exclusively. My plan was to keep him in cloth until he was potty-trained, but the theory of “they potty train sooner” did not work for my son. By age 2 he still could have cared less if he was in a wet diaper – cloth or disposable, & I was disgusted with the poo issue & cloth. (Infant poo & toddler poo are 2 totally different worlds when you’re dealing with CD’s.) Soon after he turned 2, I went to disposables. My 2nd son is due May 1st & I plan to start him in cloth around 3 mths & follow the same game plan, only work more diligently at the potty training at an earlier age. I am thankful I really don’t have much else to purchase once this 2nd child is in cloth, which will be a nice financial break!
As for economics, I disagree that cloth is always cheaper. It CAN be cheaper, but only if you choose to use prefolds (the kind that look like burp cloths), & only if you have an efficient washer & dryer. I slowly built up my “stash” of CD’s over a 4-5 mth period & I would estimate I spent close to $350, $400, staying mostly on the cheap end. It’s a trial time, figuring out which diapers fit your kid the best, absorbancy issues, etc. So there will definitely be $$ wasted in the process.
I am a firm believer that there’s a place for both cloth & disposables, at least in the American culture. I never expected a babysitter or Sunday school teacher to deal with my kid in cloth, for example, so I have always had disposables alongside the CD’s.
Vicki´s last blog post…Slow & Steady
I use cloth, and have for my 2 kids now. I think it’s JUST every bit as easy as disposable, you just have to be willing to get your hands a little dirty. I use BumGenius and FuzzyBunz and love them both. The thing I love most about the BumGenius though is that it’s one diaper that grows from newborn through potty training! Now that REALLY saves you money!!! You don’t have to soak, pin, or anything like that. You just take the insert out of the diaper cover and wash. It’s important not to use fabric softener or dryer sheets because it can cause them to leak. You also have to hang dry the covers, but honestly, they dry in about an hour (here in Colorado anyway). I would recommend them 100 times over. Please let me know if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help!
Rebekah Giannatala´s last blog post…I’m a Dreamer…
I am a disposables girl. I have three boys and used them on all of them. I chose disposables mostly for convenience and the fact that I didn’t want to clean cloth diapers.
We decided to go cloth for a few reasons : to not leave behind a large pile of poo for future generations, to have a gentler surface against baby’s bum, and because I don’t get any maternity benefits, so there is no extra money to buy diapers every month. We started with a box of hand-me-down cloth, and just recently bought a dozen bumgenius diapers with some christmas money. For outings around town I have a small waterproof sack that I stuff the used (cloth) diapers and wipes in. We only use disposables for travelling out of town. The laundry hasn’t been terrible. We have a small dry pail, and I wash/dry one load a day. Cloth diapers are definitely more bulky in the bum area – our daughter has been fitting 6 month onesies since she was just under 3 months, and at 5 months old is currently wearing 6-12 month pants if they are stiff like baby blue jeans (that is a whole other debate!). We will likely do cloth with our future kids as well.
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We used cloth diapers on our first – our reasons were both environmental and economical. She wore them all the way up until she was potty trained, shortly after she turned 2. Our son was born just 2 months before our daughter’s 2nd birthday, and we gave the cloth diapers a really good try. But he turns out to be prone to angry, bleeding diaper rashes, and the wetness on his skin with the cloth diapers was making it worse. We switched to g-diapers for a while (just put the inserts inside the cloth diaper covers we already had – it worked great!) but now we’re using Seventh Generation’s chlorine-free disposables, and we’ll probably stick with that. We still have all our cloth diapers and supplies in the garage, though, in case of baby #3 or maybe to use when we begin potty training our son.
Rachel´s last blog post…From Our Library: "How Groundhog’s Garden Grew" by Lynne Cherry
Wow, lots of discussion about this topic!
I’m the oldest in the fam, and my mom used cloth on all her babies, and I feel very lucky for that. I haven’t completely decided, but I would definitely use cloth without fear, because I already know the system, so to speak. The soaking and washing and drying doesn’t sound like a big deal, because I have changed and soaked and washed and hung on the line, and folded, and put away, tons of diapers before I was 13 years old! The fear of the process, it’s just like anything else. We’re all a little afraid of something new until we get used to it.
I only say I haven’t decided because I don’t know if I’ll get to be a SAHM. I’m a teacher, so if I have to work I’ll definitely use cloth in the summers. My hesitation is…will day-care do cloth? So maybe I’ll have to do disposable and day-care and cloth at home. I would still plan on disposable for extended time away from home, overnights, etc., just because it would be more of a pain to bring wet diapers home with you!
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We used disposibles for our first son aged 4. We now use cloth on our 5 month old son. We use fleece liners for that stay dry effect, deal with poo straight away (into the toilet where it belongs), dry pail and line dry. I wash nappies with clothes and do a load of washing everyday (otherwise I wont put it away- a load a day keeps the chaos away!). I have found it really simple and cheap. We use a mix of MCN and terries (most i got off freecycle) with baby beehinds covers (lanolised wool for night, PUL for daytime). My son has heaps of nappy free time on a blanket everyday and we have never had rashes (my other son always used to get them!). All up we spent 335 Aust. dollars. People made out like it was going to be really hard and ineffective so I was very nervous to begin with but I will never go back to disposibles! Oh and we made cloth wipes out of an old towel but DH likes to use disposible wipes while out.
We used cloth with all three children, with the odd single use nappy at times. Cloth is far the option here for a range of reasons, cost topping the list (we have terry flats that started as second hand with our eldest and are still usable for another baby now – 7 years on). Environmental and easy of use coming close next – I find single use nappies a pain to put on (It takes me longer than a cloth to put them on). Modern cloth nappies are so cute – the younger two would wear just nappy and single during the height of summer.
As I said we have used a few single use nappies however by choice we use recyclable/chlorine-free/not gel filled single use nappies when we do use them. There are times (limited) which when single use nappies are useful. Those times depend on so many things that it isn’t worth listing them
.
My plan was to use disposable newborn diapers, then switch to cloth. I got a set of Fuzzi Bunz and was very excited about it. Even with fancy cloth diapers, I knew it would be cheaper in the long run.
Plans don’t always work out. From the get go (even in the newborn disposables), my daughter’s had blow outs a lot. Didn’t matter the brand, She was just tiny and has skinny legs. Eventually, the blow outs became more rare, and she (finally) outgrew the disposables and I started using cloth. However, she leaked all the time. Yes, I washed them correctly and with very minimal detergent. I got so tired of it becoming normal for her to leak (or have a blow out) and soil her clothes.
I went on a trip with her and was going to use disposables while I was gone. It was so lovely…they just worked. Imagine that! I got home, and switched back to cloth. More leaking.
I finally admitted that while I loved the idea of cloth, I was hating using them. So, we use disposables now, and I love it. I’ve got friends who use Fuzzi Bunz with no problems and love it. I think it was just us!
So… I’ve got a full set of Fuzzi Bunz (the new style, size small) and hemp wipes to sell if anyone wants them. I’ll wash them in as many loads of detergent-free, hot water as you like.
kellie´s last blog post…joy = creative optimism
I have used disposable diapers for both my boys. I am a nurse and would love to do some research on this topic. It intrigues me that there are parents who go above and way beyond by using cloth diapers vs disposables. It can be done for sure. Personally as many diapers as I go through I cannot fathom how I would manage cloth. My youngest just had that awful stomach bug. Hats off to those using cloth diapers on a child who has a stomach bug. I would have been washing and changing diapers 24/7 for over a week straight. I don’t know who would have taken care of my 3 year old. I do believe that the environment will no doubt force us someday to ban disposables.
Of course, in the ‘olden’ days, we used cloth, as was everybody. As far as the poo washing concerns mentioned in a comment above, we rinsed dirty diapers in the (clean of course) potty water before dropping in to soak, then washing, drying (sometimes on the line), and folding. It was rather therapeutic, I must say.
I have a daughter who just had her 3rd baby, and she’s strictly cloth with him (after using disposable for the first two) and loves it. She’s deeply involved in environmental protection.
She also said she’s read about disposable diapers being connected/related to cancer ~ but I don’t know about that.
bfs ~ Mimi´s last blog post…Happy Birthday Cole Boy ~ Favorite Baby Pictures ~ 4 Years Old
I have a 7 month old and I use cloth. I love, love using cloth. It is WAY cheaper and great for the environment. I love seeing them hanging out to dry on the clothes line. It’s just simple living at it’s best. Love it.
getting used to motherhood was harder for me than I thought it was going to be with my oldest, and so we did use disposibles. Then with the second we thought about using cloth diapers but because I get the disposibles at about 20 cents a piece the savings would only add up if we were planning on another child, and that is if we didn’t have to replace spoiled or stained diapers…. we can’t get the blow outs out of the clothes sometimes, much less the cloth diapers…..
Meagan´s last blog post…January 23
I love cloth diapers!!
My son is 14 months old. We use prefolds with snappies & thirsties covers. The only time we use disposables is when he is teething & has 5 icky diapers a day.
My reason for choosing cloth, is that I am a SAHM. I knew they would be better for my son and wanted to do it.
I love seeing all these cloth diaper kids! We have 4 kids. The 2 oldest (now 11 and
were in cloth all the time, but one at a time. I loved everything about cloth diapers! Our youngest two are almost 3. They were adopted and the first home was in cloth initially but my husband was with him during the mornings and he really hated the cloth diapers. Then our second got home and he had horrible never-ending (at first) diarrhea so we made the switch to disposibles and never went back. The extra washing from the diapers themselves was no problem for me but the leaking and wet clothes was a drag. Mostly it was the cleaning off the poop that got us to go to disposibles. And I hated to think about how dirty the toilet was with poop splashes everywhere. I know that’s crazy! If we find ourselves with another little one again it will be a hard decision, but one that I feel comfortable with either way.
Hmmm, the smiley face above is supposed to say ‘eight’.
My son is now almost 4 yrs old. Although as an environmentalist, I wanted to use cloth diapers, it was not possible for us because we lived in an apt complex with shared washers & dryers and we did not have access to a diaper washing service. So we decided to go with disposables. But my son broke out in a rash when we put him in Huggies (he was fine with Pampers and later in Sam’s Club diapers) and we had to switch to cloth for a few weeks while his rash cleared up. It was tough hand-washing those diapers…..
Cloth in our house both for money savings and the environment! I knew all along I wanted to use cloth and was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were. Yes, there is extra laundry…but I don’t mind laundry and I hate garbage (which there is less of – convenient, eh?). We did however have to start using disposables at night because our little guy is such a heavy wetter and the overnights were causing horrible diaper rash. It still bothers me to know that even that one diaper a day will still be in a landfill 500 years from now, but I am at peace with it, because my baby is happier. Plus – cloth diapers are so darn cute! My Happy Heiney’s Cow Prints are my personal favs
Jen´s last blog post…Fix, Freeze, Feast and Toddler Firsts
With our first child, we tried gdiapers. I tried them for the first six months with the combination of disposable diapers. I wasn’t a big fan of having to flush the lining of the gdiapers and one time had a problem of it clogging our toilet. They also leaked at times and were not the easiest to put together. We then switched to cloth. We use cloth on both of our boys (now 23 months and 4 months) and love them! We use bum genius 3.0. We really like this brand since you buy one set that grows with them. This seems to be much more cost effective. I have only had leak problems when I have let them stay on past 4 hours. I do use a disposable at night so that I do not have to deal with leaks. The washing is simple and they are easy to put together. I HIGHLY recommend this brand and have convinced two other moms to use them. They also come in very cute colors.
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I started out using cloth with both my kids, but only made it about a month with the first and maybe two months with the second. I really wanted it to work, but with my first born I was just so overwhelmed with life with baby that cloth just added too much stress to it. And with only 16 months difference between my two, cloth diapering my seconf was just a lot of work. And so I gave up and sold the diapers. I would have liked to invest in the All in one’s. but just didn’t have the money.
I commend those women who stick with it. That being said, I have started using these Dri Days training underwear from One Step Ahead for my 3 and 4 year olds instead of dispoable Pull-ups. I was just ired of the trash. The Dri Days are good because they are not completely leak proof, but they are helping my 4 year old to take care of business better because he doesn’t want to leak. I also gave up using wipes and am using cloth rags now. again, I was just tired of all the trash, the smell, the cost.
robyn´s last blog post…Hey You Guys!!!!!! or one of the reasons I love PBS Part 1…
Wow! This discussion was so helpful – I had no idea there were so many easy and cute (cute! Cute! CUTE!) diaper options out there! Thankyou Simple Mom! I am expecting our first in April, and I have been wanting to go the cloth diaper route myself for most of the reasons listed above – cheaper, better for the environment, less wasteful, nicer for baby, less rashes, etc. etc. etc. The benefits seemed endless.
However…. I teach high school students, and a lot of older moms, sort of, well, mocked me for wanting to do the cloth diaper thing. Like it was something every new mom went through and got over. I didn’t realize JUST HOW FAR cloth diapers have come since they had babies.
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I experienced the same thing, moms from my parents generation scoffing at my decision. Back then if they used cloth, it was not by choice. Disposables were a luxury, I guess.
Breastfeeding brings up similar feelings, but I won’t get into that!
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We use disposable. The jury is still out on the environmental benefits of using cloth as it creates more waste water and uses more energy with washing (from what friends say, its easily an extra load per day… at least in the first few months). As far as expense is concerned, potty training your child early helps in that department no matter which type of diaper you’re using! We potty trained as soon as my daughter turned two.
I tried several months ago to go all cloth, but being a working Mom (who’s hubby works a different shift) that made me nearly CRAZY! I use a mix of both – I’m happy knowing I’m trying, and I don’t go nuts toting dirty diapers around when we’re gone all day!
I love the Bum Genius 3.0s, but they’re pretty darned pricey!
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I used disposables with my first 2 children, then switched to cloth when my 3rd. was 1 1/2 and my 4th. was 4 months old. I have since started putting info. on how and why I cloth diaper on my blog.
I’ve found that cloth diapering has saved us money, which was very short at the time that I made the switch. I love that while my other friends are out buying diapers, mine are paid for. It’s so much easier than I had realized- if you can velcro a disposable than you do cloth w/ velcro covers!
I consider disposables to be a luxery- no different from why some people (including me) like to buy clorox wipes and frozen pizzas- it’s not that I couldn’t make those things on my own, but it saves time for other things by paying a little extra for those items. Same thing with disposables- they’re more expensive, but some people consider the cost to be worth not having to touch things that have been urinated on.
Know that cloth diapering is SOOOOO easy. Really, it is. And it’s pretty inexpensive.
Morgan´s last blog post…Potty Training a 14 Month Old?
We use disposable on my son. I explored cloth and I liked the gDiapers idea with flushable or compostable liners, but we have septic and my hubby said no way, no how to cloth. I couldn’t deal with the gross factor of cloth, although I agree the diaper covers are adorable! I only made it through the first 70 posts or so, but does anyone use flushable liners with septic? We are now looking at baby #2, and I would like to reconsider.
We just had our first baby in December. We initially chose to go with cloth for the cost difference. The environmental saving was a nice side benefit but to be honest, not my primary concern. We have some prefolds but mostly I use Mother-Ease. I LOVE the Mother-Ease diapers. I have (to date) never had a blow-out with them. We did use disposables when we flew to my family’s home for Christmas when she was 5 weeks old–I had tons of blow-outs and tried two different brands. I was thrilled to get home to my cloth diapers! Not a huge fan of the prefolds, though. Also, I LOVE my diaper sprayer that we attached to the toilet–even my husband will rinse out diapers without complaint with that. It is easier for us as my husband works from home and I only work part-time now. I can see it being harder on two full-time work outside the home parents.
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We have 3 amazing kids. The first, Cadence we were diligent with cloth…not the super easy velcro or snap ones either, I wished for those but it just wasn’t in our budget. So pins and prefolds were the way we went. It was great! Cadence was potty trained through the night by 18 months. Our second we used cloth on and off but disposables were the go to. Adah is also potty trained completely, she will be 3 in a few weeks. With our son who just turned one we have alternated between cloth and disposable, I LOVED using cloth and take much pleasure in it. It feels really good to not be contributing to the needless waste in our land, it is more economical, environmental, natural. The rinsing of the diaper is not the most pleasurable part, but I can deal
We used cloth diapers with our oldest (now 5) for 7 months. We had a diaper service that picked up soiled diapers and dropped of clean ones once a week. After 7 months we moved and re-evaluated our expenses and realized that disposables were actually cheaper with her using fewer a day. Since moving to disposables, I haven’t been able to get my husband back on the cloth bandwagon. About half of our garbage is diapers (right now we have a 2 year old and a 4 month old in diapers) and I hate that I am contributing so much to the landfills. It is my husband’s “job” to take out the diapers when the pail is full… if I could get him to go back to cloth I would switch, using a diaper service.
I used disposables with my first and cloth with my second (and have since switched my first over to cloth, too!). I absolutely love cloth diapering. It’s really not that much more work for me and it saves money and I love all the different kinds! We use pocket diapers (bumGenius and Haute Pockets mainly, but we also have Happy Heiny’s Fuzzi Bunz and Dry Bees) at night and when we go out. We use prefolds and Wonder Wraps at home. I also made my own microfleece liners to put in the prefolds so the kids wouldn’t feel the wetness and also to prevent rashes (neither child has had one in cloth). I would wholeheartedly recommend cloth to anyone and everyone!
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I planned on using cloth – bought them, liners,the whole bit (we have no diaper service here, so I was on my own). At first my daughter was too small for the diapers I bought so for the first couple of weeks I used disposable. I ended up using the cloth diapers for about 3 days – I realized what hard work it was. Lazy, I guess but in the end disposable just worked better for us. If I had more children I would certainly try cloth again.
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My main problem is that I’m really terrible at keeping up with the laundry. While I know that cloth is cheaper and greener, I can’t get myself to commit to the laundry part of it. I live in a place that doesn’t have affordable diaper services, either. I think if there were an affordable diaper service, I’d go for cloth to save on diapers.. who knows. Maybe with the next baby, or in the future…
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I’m all for cloth, but I know myself well enough to know it just isn’t for me. Both my kids were in disposables and even though I felt briefly guilty about it, not TOO much… it just worked better for us. Plus, I’m not a SAHM so it just seems like some things, like cloth diapers, were just beyond me. I’m happy with my choice, but I also respect other people’s choices… whatever works for you!
Heather´s last blog post…Knock Knock Monkeys
I’m a father of twins and we use disposables. The short answer is that I lost the debate with my wife:
me: “Hey we should try cloth!”
her: “And who will be doing the laundry?”
me: (pulls up cost savings calculations) “Look at the money we’d save”
her: “You get to do laundry then”
me: “Um, disposables it is”
Ok, that wasn’t very short. With the quantity of food our kids eat, the, um, output is pretty substantial, which for us would equate to a lot of loads of laundry. So for us it was a trade off of time vs money, and with twins, getting more time usually wins out.
Thanks for making me laugh.
I would love to use cloth, but we live in a small second floor apartment and don’t have our own washer and drier. I did the math and even if I was considering putting poopy diapers in a communal washing machine, the washing alone would cost more than disposable. I feel kinda guilty every time I take out the diaper trash, but right now we have no other option. I know there’s brilliant ideas like gDiapers, but they’re so dang expensive. Hopefully they’ll have some competition soon and it’ll drive down the price making it more affordable.
Crystal´s last blog post…Grey is introduced to his feet and he smiles.
I’ve been using cloth for almost 2.5 years now. As a SAHM, I was looking for ways to cut costs to compesate for my lack of income. So using cloth diapers just came along with cooking from scratch, making my own baby food, breastfeeding and all those other money savers.
I do think that cloth actually preforms better on newborns. Far fewer blow-outs. And I feel good about the lesser environmental impact. It is a little more work, but to be honest my washing machine does most of the work and you just get used to it. We have used disposable diapers here or there. While traveling for example. And we switched to using them for overnights when my toddler turned 2yo.
So we are satisfied with our decision and will continue to use them on future children thus saving even more money.
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I’m a cloth diaper lover. I started because my oldest has skin issues and the chemicals in the disposable ones caused huge blisters across his tush. After that they’re cheaper than having to buy a pack every week, and there’s no landfill waste or chemicals being drained off into ground water from a company.
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