Cloth Diapers?? - West Palm Beach,FL

I don't what gamma g is talking about, clearly she has never actually tried to cloth diaper. I used them with my 3 year old son and now with my infant daughter and I wouldn't do it any other way. We used a combination of pre-folds with thirsties covers and bumgenius one size. Prefolds are the cheapest way to do it, but also require the most skill to put on (though they aren't that hard). Bumgenius diapers are more expensive, but easy, they go on just like disposables and they fit from about 10 lbs to potty training. I line dry all of my diapers and the sun takes care of stains and also cuts down on energy bills. You don't even have to have a line, I've also used a cheap drying rack that you can get at walmart. My advice is to go to a cloth diaper store and take a look at the options. You'll have a much better feel for what you want to use. If you want more info you can PM me and I'd be happy to help. After seeing how easy it is I've converted several of my friends to cloth and I know people that have used pretty much every brand out there.

I used BumGenius 3.0 all in ones. The biggest issue for us was that daycare didn't take them. And that the babies need bigger pants. But if you plan ahead and take a wet bag with you and do the laundry regularly, they can be very straightforward to use. Friend used them on both her sons and is going to use them again on #3. Another friend used them up to potty training.

You can also buy used diapers. The other thing to consider is price per use - I can still put a BG on my DD if I really needed to (like if I ran out of pull ups for nighttime). I've used them since she was newborn. I did use a lot of disposables as a newborn because she went through so many, but once we got past the 3 diapers per change phase, we used the cloth often on weekends and at night. You can also put the diapers on your registry so people know you want cloth vs disposables.

So what I'm saying is a good cloth diaper will last for the entire time you need diapers, easily. Vs $40 per big box every couple of weeks. And you can use them for more than one child. You can even use the same ones on more than one child if they are both in diapers - just use the right size insert and adjust the snaps. No carrying 2 sizes of diapers while you are out.

And I have never noticed my friends' kids smelling other than normal kid smells. Just wash per instructions. There are a lot of tips out there. I ran all the diapers in one load and rather than bleach, vinegar gets out a lot in the wash. I use it all the time on other things like DH's nasty workout clothes.

Cloth diaper are great, don't listen to Gamma G. I CD two kids, and my kid's clothes didn't smell.

Do a trial pack at Jillian's Drawers or another website.

The least expensive option is get prefolds (ProRaps has them; I think they are $1 or $2 per diaper) and covers (ProRaps has good quality seconds for $6 or so per cover; their phone is 800-397-8594). If you don't know what size your baby is wearing, just tell the lady at ProRaps and she'll be able to let you know what size you need.

I also made and had a friend sew some fitted diapers--that was about $4 per diaper (not including the sewer's time), since I bought flannel on sale at JoAnn's and Walmart, and ordered velcro.

I also recommend buying through the online source DiaperSwappers.com or myuseddiapers.com. You can get decent used diapers & covers there if you shop around/aren't in a rush. If you are having family or friends watch the baby or sending the baby to an eco-friendly daycare, it helps to have some AIOs or some pocket diapers ready to go, for the caregiver's use since those kinds of diapers are easy to use.

Post something on Freecycle, too--I got a bunch of newborn AIOs for free from a lady who tried it but decided not to continue w/ diapers, as well as 10 newborn prefolds and 2 covers.

If you know who can sew, have them make some fitted diapers and then buy covers. There are lots of free patterns or almost free out there; here are some:
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/make-your-own-cloth-diape...
or just google "free cloth diaper pattern"
I used the MamaBird pattern (it was free then; now she's charging $2 for the pattern I think). I've heard good things about Rita's Rump Pocket, and there are online tutorials at Youtube for it. Believe me--I'm a sewing newbie, and I managed to make a bunch of them and even the ones that weren't perfect still worked fine! :)

I used diaper service prefolds with LiteWrap covers. Not super cute or fancy, but did the trick!

Pre-folds and covers are certainly the cheapest way to go (and you can buy diaper service quality diapers and wash them at home to save more).

If you're more interested in all in ones or something like that... lots of online stores will let you do a "trial" where you pay for the diapers PLUS like $10-15... but can return the ones you don't like for a refund (less the $10-15).

I have 55 prefolds (2 different sizes). Plus 8 covers (different sizes as well). Plus I have 2 wet/dry bags, inserts for nighttime, cloth washclothes to use as wipes, and plain cloth diapers (the thinnest/biggest that you have to fold yourself) for burp rags. Spent around $300 for all of it, and I've diapered 2 kids. And I'm set through potty training. As for the negative comments below, it's simply not true. Breastmilk poop can be washed in the washer. Solids can be flushed in the toilet. If the washer smells just run an empty wash cycle with soap. I haven't bought a single diaper in a year. Just wash a load of diapers every other day. Would you rather pay a little bit extra for water/soap or buy a pack if diapers every week? For some it's a good choice. But it's not for everyone. I've CDed for almost 2 years. It was definitely a great choice for our family.

I used a diaper service. Do you have these near you? It's absolutely comparable in cost to disposables and so good, clean and easy for your baby. The only thing I needed to invest in/wash were the covers. It's been several years but I think at any given time I had about five or six good quality covers, and they ran me 4 or 5 dollars each.

I have mostly the one-size diapers...bumGenius & fuzzibunz, which I like because you buy them once & they fit through potty training. They are also the most like disposables in how they are put on, so a good first cloth diaper for anyone. There are two stores locally that sell them...Once Upon a Child in Ocoee sells fuzzibunz, and Buy Buy Baby in Altamonte sells bumGenius. It's nice to be able to go to an actual store and see/feel what you're buying first! They run about $17 apiece.

You do realize you laundry costs will go up? You will most likely double your detergent cost, your water and electric bill will go up, if your dryer is natural gas that will go up too.

Plus people who use cloth diapers must just get used to the smell of pooh because you can always tell who they are. When you sit next to them you can smell their clothes and they stink. I don't know how one would get the stuff out of the washer but when my grandson has an accident I always swish out as much as possible in the toilet then put the garment in the washer by itself. Then I use detergent and a bit of bleach, even if it's a dark color. I usually have to wash that garment at least twice to get it to stop smelling like pooh then I have to sanitize the washer with hot water and a cup of bleach. That is often more than the cost of the garment he soiled.

So for me, cloth diapers would never be an option. I don't want to pay more per month through the utility bills and laundry supplies than it cost to buy a box of diapers.

I have several different kinds of diapers including bum genius, bum genius organic, thirsties aio, kawaii, go green, baby beehinds, urban fluff, starbunz, flats, and prefolds. There are some things I like about all of them but go green diapers are my favorites. Gogreendiapers were $8 each. They are a pocket diaper and work great. I have had no leaks during the day. They are my thinnest diaper and fit well under clothes. The bum genius were $25 each. I much prefer the gogreen diapers over their one size pocket diaper. My bum genius organic diapers are great though. They are aio one size and are the easiest as there are no pockets to stuff. They are also pretty thin. Thirsties aio are really great too, but my 3 month old already grew out of the mediums which feels like a huge waste of money. I like the flat diapers folded in the origami fold, snappied, under a wrap. It sounds complicated but is actually very fast and easy. The only problem is it is bulkier so I don't use them under certain clothes. I don't remember where I bought mine online, but they were under a dollar per diaper. At night I use urban fluff with a hemp doubler or my hemp babybeehinds fitted diaper. I put wool shorties or longies on over it as pajama bottoms just to ensure there are no leaks as my son is a heavy wetter. I find using cloth diapers extremely easy. I love the cost savings, they seem very comfortable, and neither of my boys ever had a rash when using them. I also think they are the reason my son potty trained at less than 2 years old in one day. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

I spent about $150-200 on my diaper stash. (And, I actually got way too many!) I used prefolds and diaper covers during the day. I also had some Grovia covers and inserts, but they can get pricey. For overnight diapers, I used BumGenius pocket diapers. They are expensive, but I only had a few. The prefolds I used were simple Chinese prefolds. (They are the best ones, in my opinion.) There are many covers you can use, they all work similarly, so you can just get what you can afford. I get all my diapers from here http://www.kellyscloset.com/ One brand that I used very late in his diaper was a Kawaii diaper I won in a contest. I LOVED that diaper. They are pretty affordable, for pocket diapers. They sell those at the store I mentioned. You can also find them on their website. http://www.theluvyourbaby.com/

On thing to note, detergent is VERY important. You can just use anything you buy at the grocery store. Personally, I use Country Save. They are cloth diaper friendly. We use that on all our laundry. A box costs around $14, but it's lasts us months. http://www.countrysave.com/

If you have any questions about how to wash or take care of cloth diapers, feel free to message me!

ETA: Oh good lord. I expected Gamma to get on here and bash cloth diapers. She does every single time. I'm willing to bet the last time SHE tried cloth (IF she did) was decades ago. I will tell you this. My son have NEVER smelled like anything, but a child. My utilities have gone up, but it's laughable. I'm talking cents, NOT dollars. And I've said this every stinking time...I DO NOT WASH POOP. For the love of god, no poop goes into the washer!! She gets on these cloth diaper questions and bashes them, as if she's an expert. Seriously, she hasn't got a clue. She just has some weird hatred, and it's stupid.

I used Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius the most, and loved them. You can buy one of those brands on Amazon (I'm sorry, I can't remember which one!) and there are tons of cloth diapering websites that sell them both. You should also do a search for an all-natural or green store in your area, as they often sell them as well and then you could see them in person.

They are very expensive if you buy them all at once, so I understand why you are daunted, although the overall savings do add up, and if you plan to use these same diapers for another child, the savings can be really high! What I ended up doing was buying a size at a time, so that I didn't put that much money into it all at once. If you want to PM me, I cloth diapered my son from 8 months until he potty trained, and my daughter from birth until six months ago. I know several blogs and websites with good CDing info that I would be happy to share.

Good luck.