Cloth or Disposable Diapers ??

[CleanFreak]

I know the obvious reasons for and against each. I'm looking for actual tips from moms who used both or one of the two

[SnuggleBuggles]

I cheated and used a cloth diaper service with my first. With my second, I mostly used Seventh Generation, Earths Best or Whole Foods brand. Disposables are obviously easier.


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[abh5e8]

We use both. Pocket cloth diapers. disposables sometimes at night and usually when traveling.

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[jamiechic]

We did both with our kids. Disposable for overnight and travel; cloth the rest of the time. I really didn't have an issue with cloth. Washing is simple enough and not that time consuming.

I buy disposable with coupons and not certain cloth is any cheaper.

Edited to add: we use best bottom. They have an insert that snaps in and dry faster than all in ones.
http://www.bestbottomdiapers.com/

[pastrygirl]

I switched to cloth when my youngest was 5 months old because I couldn't find a disposable that he didn't explode out of. I was tired of cleaning poop off everything; at least with a cloth diaper, it was only poop on ONE thing! They never, ever leaked.

I used pocket diapers and all-in-ones. I think in the end I preferred a newer one (at the time) that had a pad that lay inside the shell, but wasn't in a pocket. I can't remember what it was called, but I think it was from BumGenius.

[keckert]

I did disposable with my first 2 and then switched to cloth with my 3rd (because I was a SAHM then). Both have positives and negatives, both affect the environment in different ways. I did love how cute the cloth were. I found that when I went back to work though I couldn't find a daycare willing to do the cloth...so I was using them only on nights/weekends and then he PT'd and we were done.

[twowhat?]

I did cloth exclusively for the first 6 months (prefolds/covers only - easy peasy) and then started using disposables when going out and for overnight since they started being able to sleep longer. By about 18 months I had stopped using cloth for various reasons - we don't plan on any more kids, so cloth was NOT cost-effective for twins hahaha. Also, none of the daycares around here will use cloth so that limits your child care options to a nanny or more flexible in-home care if you plan on going back to work. We also had issues with yeast infections and had to use antifungal creams and during that time it was just easier to use disposables and not worry about how I was going to strip the cream off of my precious prefolds.

I did LOVE using cloth and prefolds/covers are the cheapest options and they are easy once you get the hang of it. All you need are prefolds, snappis, covers, cloth wipes, and a wet bag. I used a bulb syringe with fresh water and baby shampoo diluted in a foam pump for rinsing off poopy bums - just fold the prefold under so bum is on the clean outside part of the diaper, rinse, use soap if you want, dab dry with cloth wipe - all the liquid is conveniently caught by the used prefold under the bum. For pee I didn't wipe at all, just swapped to a clean prefold. I loved being able to just wash them and not worry about running out to buy diapers. I always did a quick prewash, then a long hot wash with detergent, and then an extra rinse (I have a front-loader). I tossed all the wipes/prefolds in the dryer and laid covers/wetbag on top to dry. Cloth is bulky, for sure, and I remember reading some stuff suggesting that they may actually slightly delay some gross motor skills (like sitting up). I could see that - my twins were full term but were "lazy" babies and I could prop them up into a sitting position because the cloth diapers were bulky so they may have been less inclined to use their own muscles You can get around this by just making sure you allow for some naked butt time.

Detergent - I used Country Save but you could drive yourself crazy reading about all the "good" and "bad" cloth diaper detergents. I think now there's a whole movement to "just use Tide" - it works, it works well, it's cheap. I think the bottom line for detergents is to find one that works with your water (chances are - it's whatever you are already using for your clothes!), use enough to get the diapers CLEAN (ignore the advice to use only a tiny bit!), and then rinse and rinse again if you need to.

I do have twins, which might have colored things, because I felt pretty house-bound for a long time both due to a tough c-section recovery and just lacking the confidence/energy to prep and make it out of the house so not worrying about running out of diapers was great. And they double as burp clothes, etc so it was nice to just grab from the stack whenever I needed one! I ordered everything from Green Mountain Diapers and they were all superb quality. I also did sell them all for a little less than half of what I paid, so in that sense yes, I got my money back and then some.

Anyway, there are pros and cons. Cost savings are greatest with prefolds and covers and the intent to re-use them with subsequent children

If you go with diapers, we like Kirklands (Costco) the best. No scent, comfy, cute, cheap.

[legaleagle]

I used cloth on my first 3 - the oldest 2 from beginning to pull-ups stage, including overnight. By my 3rd, daycare stopped using cloth so we did disposables there, cloth the rest of the time. For years of that I had 2 in cloth and it was fine. We used pockets since that's all DH was willing to use, reused with all 3 though I did get a few girly ones for DD since the prints are so cute. No issues with gross motor. I washed with Tide & did extra rinses as needed. with DS3 (10 months) we've used disposables from the start - he started daycare at 2.5 months and I just couldn't deal with any more laundry. I loved cloth though and would have used it again if not overwhelmed by WOH + 4 kids!

[elephantmeg]

I think you have to think about your lifestyle. Are you going to stay home or work outside the home? If you are working outside the home are you doing daycare or a nanny or family? Will your SO be doing a lot of the diaper changes? Do you have a washing machine? Do you have a line or will you be using a dryer.

I did a mixture but I worked part time as a nurse so they were in daycare from 2-6 pm a couple days a week and then DH had them a few hours solo. He did not do cloth. Daycare did not do cloth. The gym childcare did not do cloth. Cloth is hard to do when out and about. I did bumgenious at the beginning but the stuffing and unstuffing got old. I used prefolds and snappies and then ended up with an etsy person who made me prefold fitteds which were my favorite. DH didn't mind those. Unless there was poop. He did not like taking the stuffing out of the pocket of the bumgenious. I'm sure there are new options now-my baby is 8! Otherwise we used costco disposable diapers.

I kept a cost analysis on a marker board and even with being home a lot of the time and using a lot of cloth diapers it took me 6-9 months to break even on the cloth diapers. Which is fine if you are planning to keep it up 2-3 years and/or have several children. I did find with DD it was easier to find myself doing disposibles. I was already doing so much laundry with 2 kids 25 months apart and there just wasn't enough hours in a day! If I had kept with the prefolds and not done some of the cuter items it would have been less

I hope that helps!

[corrie23]

I used cloth with all 3 of mine. My motivation was for health reasons (avoiding chemicals close to delicate baby genital skin and temp issues for my little guy). The only time we used disposables was in the hospital when they were born and when we traveled. Eventually, the grandparents preferred using disposables when they watched them (once they had other grandbabies who used disposables), and it wasn't worth pushing since they didn't watch the kids often.

I was able to get daycare on board. I provided they with velcro pocket dipes that went on and off just like disposables as well as a dedicated diaper pail with a wet bag liner. I also gave them a squirt bottle with a "wipe" solution they could use with her cloth wipes. I would pick up the dirties at the end of the day when I got my daughter and brought clean supplies back the next day. They did throw out a diaper or two by accident, but it was rare.

We had kids in diapers for 10 years straight, and while it wasn't a favorite task, DH and I both washed them and maintained them without any significant problems. They've been out for diapers for 3+ years and I don't regret the decision to use cloth only a bit.