Cloth Vs. Disposable... Tell Me, Ladies...

I used cloth and just kept it simple and cheap. I bought plain flat cloth diapers, diaper pins, and the waterproof pants to go over them.
I rinsed them in the toilet before putting them in the diaper pail, and washed diapers in cold water right along with all my other laundry. No special diapers-only loads, no hot water, no special detergent, no bleach.

I use disposable diapers for both my kids. I have heard cloth is better. But I really couldnt think about cleaning them. Diaper service is an addl expense and I really didnt want the dirty diapers waiting to be picked. But it just me.. You should go with whatever works for you :)

I tried cloth with my oldest trying to save money. It was horrid. The problem with cloth is that they're NOT made to draw urine away from the bottom, but keeps it clinging to it, no matter what liners they have out there. Rashes are harder to keep away and changes have to be more often. And besides the disgusting mesh, whether you clean your own or use a service, I mean EWWW. Cloth needs to be disinfected in order to be used over and over again. Blah. I know disposable may not be great for the environment but they are better than they used to be in breaking down. And the convenience, cleanliness and less mess is well worth it over all for me when we have a busy mom's life! My poor son had so many rashes from cloth and his bottom was like rawhide and could normally withstand anything that came out of it, lol. Cloth caused him way too many problems and I refused to put my other children through the same problems to save a buck or two.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

I would go with disposable....

yes, they are sitting in land fills - but the water and electricity you use to clean the cloth ones are just as bad.....if not worse and people are getting smart with land fills - they have actually built hotels on top of them and use the methane gas to heat and cool the place!! SWWEETT!!!

But it's NOT ME...this is YOUR choice....what will work best for you and your household...if you chose a diaper service - find out when they pick up - what they will supply in way of a hamper in between pick ups - the smell can get REALLY BAD!!!

I love the diaper genie for disposables!!

GOOD LUCK!!!

I used both at different times. My son was a preemie, so it was preemie disposables... no choice here. Then I started using regular disposables, but he was getting terrible diaper rashes to the point where the pediatrician's nurse was giving me nasty looks. He actually had chemical burns! What turned out to be the situation here was that there was some sort of allergic reaction due to a chemical reaction between his urine and the scent they put in the diapers. Why do diapers need to be perfurmed? Even when I found some that weren't perfumed, he always had more rashes with disposables than cloth. I think that's because they don't breathe. Of course, economy size bottles of A-D ointment can help avoid the rashes too.

So, it was on to cloth diapers. This is a real art. If you don't get the folds, pins (well, velcro now I guess) and waterproof pants on just right, then you may as well just leave 'em off altogether.

Another point I want to bring up is laundry. Get a service. There's not a lot that's less pleasant than dealing with a load of dirty diapers that have been sitting for a couple of days. Remember tho that even with the services, you have to take the dirty ones into the bathroom to deposit the load. Even with a service, make sure you have a couple dozen or more of your own, just in case and for other uses.

A big plus. Every child I know of that had cloth diapers was toilet trained months to years earlier than their paper diaper pals. Let's face it, in cloth, you feel it. It's wet, it feels cold pretty quickly and that's just the wet half of things. So, yeah, they've got a little more incentive to put those things behind them. If nothing else, when toilet training time rolls around get some old fashioned training pants and give 'em back a little bit of that incentive.

A big minus. A lot of childcare providers (if you use one) won't deal with cloth. Sometimes this even includes family who doesn't want wet spots on their couch or carpet.

They both have their advantages and disadvantages. You need to weigh them out for yourself... your schedule, money, convenience, hygiene, odor, diaper rashes, toilet training, etc. There's no reason that you can't use both also.... use the cloth when you're staying home and disposables when you're going out. Think about it and come up with what's likely to work for you, it's not like you can't change your mind or as I mentioned use both as the situation calls for it.

Good luck and congrats!

i tried cloth diapers. it was expensive and time consuming. i was overwhelmed with extra work.
with disposable it was expensive and guilt inducing. i was racked with guilt about all the waste, but had 2 little ones breastfeeding and in diapers and just really anything to make things easier and get some sleep was worth it.

I used disposables with my son too. With my second, I started off in them- but quickly learned about cloth diapering. We made the switch a while ago. Actually last week we had to have her in disposables because of a bad diaper rash and I had to treat all of her cloth diapers to get rid of the bacteria. Let me tell you- I felt like the worst Mother ever!

The first diapers I bought were 4 used FuzziBunz One Size and 8 Coolababy (both pocket style diapers) off of Craigslist. I have only bought a few diapers brand new. I have gotten 7 BG 4.0's used too. We have 8- I bought one new. There are SO many brands out there. I have only tried a handful. Maybe when we get pregnant with our 3rd I will branch out more since we will be using cloth from day 1. My daughter can not stand prefolds, fitteds, or flats. She hates feeling the wetness on her. With the exception of GroVia Shells and snap in liners. Those are by far my favorite diapers. When she was younger it was Rumparooz- but they aren't made for toddlers. She just turned 2 on Wednesday and the Rumparooz stopped being a good fit on her about 3 months ago. But they are amazing for younger babies.

I have tried FuzziBunz (both sized and OS), Coolababy, Go Green (Regular and The Champ), Rumparooz, Thirsties, GroVia (AIO and Shells), bumGenius (4.0 only), and some fitteds and prefolds and covers.

The only brands that really stick out to me that I have tried are GroVia, and Rumparooz. The quality is amazing on these diapers. Coolababy I think is an E-Bay diaper and they are cheap (money wise). I actually use them the same amount of time I use our FuzziBunz- they work just as well if not better. I can't remember ever having a leak with the Coolababy. I have had leaks with bumGenius though- more than once. Just pee leaks. I have never had a poop blow out ever with any cloth diaper.

I can't give you any advice about using cloth on a newborn because I didn't do it. But I do know if you make the jump you will not be disappointed. You will never look back! We also use cloth wipes and our own wipe solution.

Fitteds are diapers that are just cloth without a waterproof lining. They need a cover to go over them. Prefolds are the kind you use pins on or snappis they also need a cover. Pockets are ones that you stuff with inserts they are waterproof so you just use the diaper and stuff it. All in ones (AIO's) are also waterproof that don't need stuffing like a pocket they are the most like disposables and the most expensive usually.

If you feel like digging through my questions I asked ALOT of them about switching to cloth I got a TON of information.

I use a combo of both. My 3yo is having trouble potty learning so we use both on him, mainly because I don't want to buy another size of cloth in case he is out of them soon. Anyway, I have been using them since he was 3 months old and since my youngest was born and I would never go back other then to maybe use cloth with my oldest when he was born!

There are MANY different brands and styles of cloth and your best bet is to start reading up on any CD info you can find online and through friends. I found many moms in my La Leche League use cloth and helped but any other mom groups you belong to. Then buy a few of each different kind, try them out and buy more of whichever one you prefer.

I used to LOVE pockets but now I use prefolds and covers the most. I also went through a phase of using fitteds and AIO but I'm very picky with which of those I will use.

It is alot of work but so much fun and addicting! I belong to a few cloth diapering groups on cafemom that are great for finding info and seeing whats out there.

My personal faves are Fuzzi Bunz (pockets), gDiapers (hybrids), Flips (hybrids), Happy Heinys (pockets) and WAHMs (work at home mom made and usually sold online) I also have tons of others but those are my favs with prefolds used as the inserts in all of them.

Once you've read a bit about the different styles and everything feel free to send me a message if you have specific questions! Also don't forget to read up on washing them-most regular detergents are not good for cloth.

I hope that helped you a bit!

We switched to cloth when DS #1 was 10mo. At that time we bought prefolds with covers (cheapest route) and bought snappi's to secure the prefold. We also used flushable liners to catch the poopie ones. When it came to pocket diapers (which we switched to) we started with some used FuzziBunz, they were ok, but I didn't like the snaps, I just felt like you couldn't adjust them appropriately sometimes. We got a few used BumGenius 3.0's and liked them so much that became the majority of our stash. We now have a 4mo old baby boy and have been using BumGenius 3.0's and 4.0's (I had to buy new ones to build a "baby" stash) since he was about 2mo old. They are onesize which is great. I wash them every 3rd day and then hang them outside to dry and get rid of stains. I'm exclusively breastfeeding right now so I don't have to use the liners yet and can just wash the diapers without rinsing. You can only use certain detergents with cloth - check out www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com for more info on that. No fabric softeners to wash or dry or it decreases the absorbancy and then you have to "strip" them. I use a wetbag for the dirty diapers when we are out, but just use a plain old rubbermaid container to put them in at home until wash day. Also, you can only use certain butt creams/ointments on them. We use one that is specific to cloth diapers, but also sometimes use plain old baby powder on his bum.
We do still use disposables at night and will use them for long car trips like we did before. But I really do LOVE cloth diapers and prefer them to disposables - it's definitely cheaper as long as you don't go overboard on what you actually need! The downside is that cloth makes the baby's bottom larger, so they may outgrow clothes just due to that. My older son had trouble keeping pants/shorts up when he potty trained cause he no longer had the big fluff butt - thank goodness for adjustable waistbands and belts! LOL.
Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have anymore questions!

I prefer cloth, but I'm pretty relaxed about brands. I do prefer fitteds and prefolds for the first 9 months or so, while they change sizes so fast, and when they level off I like pocket diapers. I'm cheap by nature, so they certainly appeal to that side of me! I like the way they feel, and I like not contributing to the landfills.

Just for reference, I've spent about $700 on cloth diapers. That diapered my first about 70% of the time, my second 100% of the time (nope, he never wore a sposie) and I have plenty to diaper my third 100% of the time. Not a bad cost/benefit ratio! I've run the numbers on comparing our water and electric bills with and without diapers, and if there's an added expense, it's so tiny that it gets lost in the seasonal fluctuations.

Hmm, I think a lot of people who replied negatively used cloth diapers 30yrs ago. :)
I used cloth for all three of our kids and loved it! The easiest to use, clean and take care of are pocket diapers. The outer layer is PUL and it is the cover, keeping the wetness in. The inner layer is usually fleece, which wicks the moisture away from the baby keeping the baby dry. And there is a pocket in the back for stuffing. WE used bamboo or microfiber inserts. we never had leaks, never had odor, never had a problem washing.

With new style cloth diapers, there is no dunking in the toilet, no scrubbing , no rubber pants, nothing like that. Its so simple, and cost effective. I bought 18 diapers when my oldest was a baby, and used them for three kids. So diapering my three kids cost me under $200. Plus I sold them whe nwe were done with them for over $100. So in the end around $100 for diapering three kids. Not bad if you ask me. And I washed diapers twice a week, small loads with a biodegradable laundry soap.... the impact on the environment was nothing close two what a disposable diaper would be.

www.diaperpin.com
www.greenmountaindiapers.com
www.cottonbabies.com
www.diaperswappers.com

Hi L., I used a cloth diaper service with all three of my kids. It was awesome. The diaper guy came once a week, picked up the nasty used diaper, pal and all, and left a fresh new pale full of clean diapers. It was way less than disposable and I used them around the house as well. I actually struck up a friendship with my diaper guy over the years and it was sad when my youngest was potty trained!

:)

I started cloth diapering with my second baby, who is three monyhs old. We are using GroVia hybrid diapers and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. If I had had any idea that cloth diapering could be this easy I would have done it with my first baby as well. I did a lot of research before we picked these diapers, I looked at Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, Kissaluvs, g-Diapers, Flips, Happy Heinies, and a few others, but I choose GroVia because they have the option of being semi-disposable, and because these diapers have two separate parts, a waterproof cover and an absorbent soaker pad that snaps into the cover. When you change a diaper, you can simply remove the soaker pad and reuse the cover, as long as the cover wasn't soiled. They also have a disposable, biodegradable insert that you can stick into the cover instead of the cloth soaker. I have 8 covers and about 20 soakers, and I do a load of diapers every other day. I drop them into a dry pail when I take them off baby, then wash on warm with an extra rinse cycle. To dry, I hang the covers, and either hang the soakers on the clothesline or tumble dry on high, depending on the weather.
They are really easy to use and wash up really well, and they are a one-size adjustable diaper that fits babies from about 10-35 pounds.
If you are interested in hearing more about them then feel free to PM me and I would be happy to give you more info and answer any questions you have. Costco sells them online in a package that is the best deal for these diapers.
Oh, and we used disposables for the first few weeks. One size diapers won't really fit until baby is a bit bigger, and since we didn't want to buy any tiny newborn cloths, we just did Huggies for the first 4 weeks or so. Since switching to cloth we haven't had a single blowout, so yes, they work as well as disposables, better in my experience. I also use disposables overnight. My son sleeps six to eight hours at night and needs more absorbancy. You can buy boosters to put in the diapers to make them more absorbent, but we find it easier to use one disposable each night.
Good luck!

There's a WAHM in the South Hills that gives 'seminars' on cloth diapering and sells everything you need: http://local.yahoo.com/info-32820116-green-earth-baby-pit....

This is the go-to site for all things cloth diapering: http://www.diaperware.com/.

We were all set to go cloth with our son, but he was premie with so many issues (including projectiling 10-12x/day, while having to wear 5 layers of clothes because he was under-fat and underweight). I was already doing 5-6loads of laundry per day and just couldn't imagine doing more. So we went with the chlorine free diapers until size 5. Nature Babycare were our #1 faves. After that, we went with Huggies because they're petrolatum free.

GOOD LUCK!!!

There is a good and very helpful book "Diaper Changes' that covers all the info you could want! We used cloth with our first son when he was in the 0-3 months size and I liked them (but we used disposable when we were away from the house for convenience). My husband didn't like them even though he didn't have to clean them. For our second son, he is too small still at 20 weeks to fit well into the cloth we already have (he was 10 weeks premature) and we would lose the cost benefit if we bought smaller sized cloth. I plan eventually to utilize both. Cloth isn't more environmentally correct but is more cost efficient especially if used for more than one child.
Some of the environmentally correct disposable, like Gdiapers from Australia, aren't very environmentally correct when one factors in the shipping distance (naturebabycare from Sweden, Earth's Best from Mexico, etc)
Good luck and get our borrow that book from someone-you can probably get it used on Amazon.

I am a cloth mom. Ours was not a decision because of the environment sorry but it just wasn’t. We just felt they were better, softer and more natural for my kids but its choice for sure! My husband actually suggested them and at first I thought he was a total nut then I read more about them and I said as long as he can help out with the washing I was all for it! Two children later I would do it all over again. We went with a web site… www.cottonbabies.com they have a program called growing up in pockets which is a buy back program. We did this because with my son we used a diaper called FuzziBunz and I have to say I LOVED them, they at the time had sizes so as he grew we traded in for new sizes and it worked perfectly. When we adopted our daughter we went with the Bum Genius 3.0 and I love them also. Cloth isn’t like it used to be, there are no wet pails and all that BS. If you follow the directions they stay clean and white don’t smell and I have to tell you… neither of my children ever had diaper rash! As for the whole they don’t wick the urine away like the disposables this is true. Now I don’t mean as soon as they wet you have to change them my kids went all night and sometimes their diapers were full in the am and no leaks… But honestly when you see those commercials with the balloons filled with water and how one brand can hold all the water and the other one doesn’t.. Does this impress you? I think its sort of sick that someone would want to buy something that kept all that water, change their diapers.
We traveled a lot and still do and I will admit on some of our vacations we used disposable diapers just because we did not have access to a laundry but even when we went on our Disney cruises we used cloth. In the end it is up to you… there are a lot of great sights to tell you what you need to know and usually cloth moms are more than willing to help out! Great luck in whatever you choose!

I used disposables. I never considered cloth. My mother called disposable diapers "the best invention on earth". We all had diaper rashes when we were little. My daughter never had one. I had enough laundry to do the way it was. I had enough trouble keeping the house from smelling like poop. And I refused to feel guilted by the myth that diapers are the largest use of land fills, because the truth is that only 5% of our population wear diapers, so "diapers account for only two percent of the nation's municipal solid waste".

L., hi! Congrats on thinking about cloth. Best thing for ur babies bum. I was like you when I started with cloth. I am using cloth for my 10 month old. Are you close to Pittsburgh? If yes the best peice of advice I can give you is talk to Adam and Lilli the owners of Happy Baby Company ( website happybabycompany.com). They have a cloth diaper store and do orientations at their store. They are an amazing wealth of information.
It was great seeing things in person instead of just reading about it online. I cannot be happier that I use cloth. And just like you I used disposables for my first who is out of diapers now
Goodluck.

Hi L., We used motherease cloth diapers: http://www.mother-ease.com/ We used the ones that are adjustable for all sizes. We used the airflow covers. They work very well. We never had blow outs or leaks. We used a trash can with liner to put in wet diapers. We used a 5 gallon bucket with lid and soapy water to store poopy diapers. We have a sanitize cycle on our washer which helped keep them clean and stain free. The diapers held up for 3 years for our daughter and are still good for the next one due in jan. When we went on vacation, we used "earth friendly disposables". When we went out for a day, we used G diapers: http://www.gdiapers.com/shop-diapers?gclid=CNO4xca20akCFY... They are nice b/c the covers are washable ,and the inserts are flushable or biodegradable. Good luck!

Do some research online...check into some of the websites that sell the cloth diapers. Be prepared for sticker shock...they are EXPENSIVE!!! But after the initial investment then you aren't going to have to purchase the disposable diapers....so cloth diapers are really a better deal financially.
My daughters both use cloth diapers...I used cloth diapers on them but that was 27 - 33 years ago and it is light years in difference since I used the wonderful pre-folds on them. I would be happy to give you a way to get in touch with them if you would like some real up to date information on the different types they prefer, how many you need at each stage of growth etc...just message me and I will be happy to give you my oldest daughters website.

Well I used both. I used disposables the first few months after my daughter was born and discovered cloth. I tried every single brand out there at the time, this was 5 years ago. I settled on Snap EZ cloth AIO(all in ones), these were most like disposable in that they go on and off just like a disposable, there are no inserts to put in and pull out. It has an absorbant inner and a waterproof out just like a disposble it is all one piece. A pocket diaper is also put on like a disposable but it has an absorbent insert that goes inside the pocket. You need to remove the dirty insert before washing both the diaper and insert. With an AIO you just throw the entire diaper in the wash. The drawback is they typically have a longer drying time due to the absorbant part being within the diaper, but I found snap EZ to dry just as quick as any pocket and insert. Then there are prefolds and covers. Prefolds are basically what many people use as a burp cloth nowadays. They are folded and laid inside the cover and then put on the baby. Only the prefold is washed unless the cover gets dirty. A fitted is like a prefold in that it goes inside a cover but it is shaped and goes on like a diaper but it is not waterproof and so requires a cover. Again you only wash the fitted unless the cover gets dirty. I found fitteds and prefolds with covers to be the bulkiest of the cloth and next pockets, and AIO's to be the trimmest, though any cloth diaper is going to be bulky in comparison to disposables. So that is a basic lesson on what they are. I started using the cloth on my daughter when she was few months old and used them until she was potty trained. I loved them in comparison to disposables. With my son, I started with cloth, but as he entered the toddler years he hated the bulkiness of the cloth and so I switched to using some disposables. My daughter always loved the cloth and loved picking out which diaper or pull up she would wear as she got older. My son didn't get to like that part until he was in pullups and potty training. My daughter was so much easier to potty train, and I wonder if had to with using cloth. I also found the only disposable diaper that didn't give my kids a rash was the huggies supreme the most expensive ones. And using cloth saved a lot of money despite a huge initial investment. Though you can buy used diapers on places like diaperswappers. I hope you can find a cloth diaper you like and I would recommend trying to find a store or someone who has some you can actually look at. I didn't have that option and ended up buying one of every single brand and then sold what I didn't like and bought all Snap EZ. Hope this helped some.

We are out of diapers now but I did use cloth almost always (I kept disposables on hand if I was a little behind in the wash etc). I am one of 3 kids and my mom used cloth on me (not by her choice) but apparently I was allergic to every disposable she tried. Both of my brothers were not cloth diapered. She could not believe I was going down this path. In her experience, cloth meant pins and annoying plastic covers. All I can say to that is they have come a long way in recent years and they are probably a whole lot easier to use than most people would guess. I did not notice any change in my water or electric bills due to the extra wash cycles after having my son/washing cloth diapers. I've read that the washing of cloth diapers is equal to a few extra toilet flushes a day...just like when that baby grows and eventually potty trains. My son had two diaper rashes ever. Both times were following stomach flu and both times they were gone the same day after I applied A&D ointment. Yes I did use disposables during these couple of days of the rare stomach bug...I did not want that much to wash :-) (Earth's Best are chlorine free). There is a LOT of stylish, sophisticated cloth diapers on the market today. All in One (AIO) resemble disposables for example. Pocket diapers are covers with an open side that you use to slide in a cloth insert. I actually used the cheapest/least sophisticated option...a prefold diaper with snappy covers (Bummis). I heard of these and ordered them before fully researching all the other types. They worked well for us so I never ventured into the other styles. I bought a few dozen prefolds in several sizes as he grew and several covers. When he was an infant I believe I had about 6 covers and two dozen prefolds (you can reuse covers until they are dirty – any used were washed with my every other day wash cycle). Wet diapers went straight into the washer. I rinsed dirty diapers in the toilet before throwing in the wash. Some folks are really grossed out by this but I always said it is like a few extra seconds of dealing with the dirty diaper all moms deal with. I always did a pre-rinse before wash and an extra spin before removing from the washer to help them dry faster. Use a detergent recommended for cloth (I used Charlies Soap but there are others) and less soap/more water works well in getting them clean. Oh and yes, since they are not filled with chemical gels to suck up urine, you do have to change them more often than a disposable. I usually changed him about once per hour (and whenever dirty of course) during his waking hours. At night, I doubled up and used a hemp liner (hemp is even more absorbent than the cotton). Good luck with whatever you decide.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED our cloth! We used them since the start & washed them ourselves. Saved a TON of $$$ and natural resources.
We used a combo of prefolds & covers, AIOs & Pockets (started out w/ PFs & covers & then by 4 mos or so we started to slowly transition into AIOs & pockets).
I used O-Nature-L detergent (www.ONatureL.com) & only did wash about every 5 days or so.
VERY easy!