Needing Some Cloth Diaper Help.

Hi again... I haven't diapered in a while, since my baby is 8yr., but it did save us a bundle. Some advice on care of diapers: Rinse the soiled diaper in the toilet (don't get hyper about this, with all the other stuff we handle as moms, just "do it" and wash your hands afterwards!)and put in a closed bucket of water with borax in it. When the bucket is full, Pour off the excess water in the toilet and then pour the whole lot into the washer and spin it out. Then wash in warm/hot water with detergent and borax. If you spin it out at night, you can soak the load overnight and then wash first thing the next morning. Weather permitting, hang them outside to dry, the sun will help to whiten and disinfect them. I used different types of covers and found that the plastic pants worked about as well as any of the fancier types. If you keep the pins stuck into a dry bar of soap, they will glide into the diaper. We did continue to use disposables for church and other outings. Hope all is well with your family.

Dear A.,
Always go ahead and scrape poop off into toilet. Go ahead and rinse out and wring . Have a basket set aside only for clothe diapers and at the end of the day wash and dry and they're ready for tomorrow. Keep all pins in a plastic container so you can just grab pins grab diaper and change. Hope this helps some. Also make sure you have the little plastic pants that go over the clothe diaper this helps with the mess.

This is not about the diapers, it is about the child with Down's Syndrome......make sure that he receives plenty of folic acid because it helps with the mental conditioning and they can attain more and retain it better with the folic acid....they used to make some gummy bear vitamins with that in it that my daughter took, they had alot of phyto-nutrients in them....about the diapers, be sure you wash them in a baby detergent [such as dreft], so it won't irritate his tender skin, but they are alot better than the disposables, I think.

babycenter.com has two boards dedicated to this. The cloth diapering and cloth diaper swap boards. Plus most of the diapering your baby board is cloth as well. I would buy a couple BumGenius at Target for outings and over night, and i'd try nikkisdiapers.com (or something like that) for some velcro or snap covers for your regular cloth diapers. I do know that the gerber ones you buy for burp cloths, are by far not the most absorbant.

M.

Hey, good for you!!

You can get a steal on Ebay. Seriously. Just be careful, there are some terrible brands out there, like Yucky Duck. Here's what you might find on Ebay that you can depend on:

BumGenius 3.0 is amazing for overnight/errand diapers.

AIO (All In Ones) are great, esp. Bumkins. There are some great deals on those on Ebay from a co. in Tennessee, usually. Comes to $10 per diaper, and even if that sounds like a lot, it pays for itself in no time flat.

Swaddlebees are great, and so are Motherease. We really like Sandies with Thirsties covers.

DOn't bother with wool. You WILL end up accidentally putting it in with the other diapers and that will ruin their absorbency.

Read all instructions carefully7. Once you know waht you're doing, you're good. But you can't just wash them in any old detergent, and give up the fabric softener/sheets now!!

L.

PS you don't have to scrape poop into the toilet if you do a "wet pail" or if you're breastfeeding.

PPS you can also find really cheap cloth diapers on For Sale or Trade boards, like diaperpin.com is great, diaperswappers.com is huge but stressful to me, prefer diaperpin.

Other than "duh" ...I tried all of that, spent a couple hundred bucks, got embarassed about the smell in my diaper bag, exhausted by the tub-o-diapers soaking in my home, then switched to disposable, I can't help you. I really hate the waste, but it is just not practical in this asthetic society we live in.

I think diaper services are a great concept, but with all the disease these days, who wants diapers that other people's babies have excreted bodily fluids into and disgruntled or careless employees have washed?

I'm really not a negative person, can ya tell?? LOL
Good luck, and if you're successful, you're exceeding me!!

Hope this helps, K.
P.S. There's a product called "diaper duck" that lets you flush the toilet with the diaper in it and holds it so the toilet is actually doing the initial cleaning...great product!

A.,

I personally did not use all-in-ones because of the cost and the fact that it takes forever to dry them in the winter. I bought five dozen prefolds from familiescatalog.com and then used Nikky covers as well as all the samples I got when I couldn't decide what I liked best. They are rectangular and get SO soft with repeated washings. If you don't like the thought of diaper pins the website I mentioned above sells this blue rubber thing that pulls the two corners toward the center then there's a gripper part in the middle. In my opinion the way that our ancestors did diapering is still just as good now.

K.

We bought coolababy diapers off of ebay. We paid $65 for 12 and I use them for a 2 year old and a 6 month old. We keep the soiled diapers in a bucket of water filled with 2 drops of dr. bronners magic soap (health food store). Then we dump the water in the toilet, rinse the diapers once in the washer, wash cycle with natural detergent, then rinse cycle with vinegar. Drying outside is always the best option because the sun will help bleach and the air can really get rid of the bad smell.

I don't use cloth diapers, but I remember "Baby Bargains" by Denise Fields does a comparison of various types based on parent reviews. It's a great resource for anything baby-gear. You can find it at Amazon.com (read the excerpt to get an idea of their philosophy, which is pretty fun), or at Babies R Us, and other places.

You have already gotten some good advice, but I thought I'd share my experience. I used cloth diapers with 2 of my boys. I got most of my diapers on ebay. I actually have some to sell now! My favorite were Kissaluvs contours. They come in beautiful colors and are hourglass shaped with wrap around tabs. I never used pins. I always used waterproof covers with velcro or snaps. I wrapped the diaper around the bum and velcroed the cover over it. I never needed pins or the Snappee thing. They also make flushable liners from rice paper (also bought on ebay) that you pull out, along with most of the poo and flush. I didn't use the wet bucket. I kept mine in their own closed hamper and washed every night with vinegar and a free and clear detergent. Don't forget, no fabric softener. It reduces the absorbency of your diapers.
Good Luck!

You can use old towels or cut up shirts as diapers to cloth diaper cheap! Check the thrift store or Big Lots for covers. I found gerber wraps for $1.50 each...

Hi, I cloth diaper and make and sell them :) The cheapest way is the prefolds, I havn't used bumkins so I'm not sure about that. I would recommend trying a snappi for fastening a pf, it sure helps keep the mess in and is quick and easy. I make a variety of diapers and covers and would be happy to show you them, or just answer and questions you have. I love to help out! M. ____@____.com

i don't know about bumkins. we used snap-eze but i have heard that bumgenius are absolutely the best. check out diaperpin.com for ratings and a list of all the available brands. you can also join diaperswappers.com and get some great deals on used ones. seriously, i wish we had clothe diapers both of ours, instead of just one, and that only partially, we sould have saved some serious money!!!

We also made the switch. At first the cost freaked me out but when I thought about us spending $75/month on diapers alone for my two babies-it was easy to justify. We bought 2 Baby Kangas from Natural Lulabies in Tulsa. They were great! Then we bought 8 Fuzzi Bunzi on ebay. I think we ended up paying 122. That is shipping included.
I don't do the wet pail. I rinse the waste, and wash with baking soda and small amout of detergent, and rinse with vinegar. It is definately an adjustment but well worth it. I have two in diapers and we use 8 cloth. I just do laundry each night. Good Luck!