Can a working mother CD?

[AnnL]

I am planning to work at home at 6 weeks and then transition into working three days at home and 2 days at the office at 3 months. I would really like to CD and have even registered for the Natural Babies Newborn sampler. Am I kidding myself? Are there any moms who work outside the home, use day care, and CD?

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I work at home 2 days and in the office 3 days week. She is in disposables at the babysitter those three days, and cloth the rest of the time.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[em_jon98]

We do! DH and I both work full time, and until recently DD was in day care three days a week. She is now in five days a week, due to DH's job change, but we still CD at home on the days she is home with us. I would never go back to full time disposable diapering. I love putting nice, soft cloth on her bottom. It really only adds up to about three or four extra loads of laundry per week. And diapers are VERY easy laundry--wash, dry, fold. For me, I find it takes MUCH less stress to deal with the cloth laundry than to go and fork over $30 to BRU for a case of Pampers every two to three weeks.

Some day care centers will accept cloth, usually AIO's or pre-stuffed pocket dipes. Ours will not, but now that DD is a toddler, she only uses about 4 diapers a day at day care (an infant, esp. a BF infant, will probably go through 5-6, or more, per day). Be sure to ask the center if they will CD if you provide all of the supplies and a wet bag. Most centers will not deal with poop, though, so be prepared for them to just throw the dirty dipe in the bag for you to take care of at home.

HTH

[Zansu]

I WOH, use DC and CD, so yes, it can be done.

We use cpfs and a mix of covers. Another child in DS's class uses FBs.

As long as you don't mind doing a load of laundry every night when you get home from work, you'll be fine.

[dinamom]

I started cd'ing my first when I worked 3 days a week in the office. My sister (our dc provider) agreed to try cloth all-in-ones and it's worked out great.

For staffing reasons, I came back to work full-time after my second maternity leave was up and we have continued to use cloth even with me full-time and with 2 in diapers! I wash every other day and leave AIOs for my sister and use prefolds and covers at home. My husband often is the one to start the diapers in the wash.

It definitely can be done!

Good luck.

[Dcclerk]

DH and I both work full-time outside of the home 5-6 days a week, and we do it. We are fortunate in that DS is watched by my MIL, so we didn't have the problem of trying to convince the daycare to allow it. That being said, my MIL is always amazed at how easy it is for her, and what great diapers are available now, so if DS was in daycare, I would still probably try to convince them.

We have prefolds (both hemp and cotton), Fuzzi Bunz, and Happy Heinys. We have one all-in-one and none of us reach for it. For whatever reason, we all feel like it is more of a hassle and it gives DS too much of a bubble butt:). I really love the Mom And Me Creations Samuel's prefolds and always reach for those (with a cover, of course) if we are going to have to go a little longer between changes. DH and MIL ALWAYS go for the Fuzzi Bunz because they are so easy and are super comfortable for DS.

I think the key is finding ones that your childcare provider will find to be easy. All-in-ones might do it. For us, Fuzzi Bunz are super easy, and if you pre-stuffed them for the provider, it would be an all-in-one for the purposes of your daycare.

Washing wise, I'm amazed at how it is not a big deal at all, and I am not a big fan of laundry. Diaper laundry is so different, with little to no folding, that it doesn't seem the same at all. I just get home from work, drop the contents of the wet bag and then the bag itself into washer and put it on a cold soak with some detergent. After I play with DS and before I put him to bed, I switch it to prewash just to drain the soaking (it's usually about 2 hours later). After I put DS to bed, I put it on a hot wash with cold rinse (I usually use a little bit more detergent here, but it seems like a lot of other people don't.). Before I go to bed, I stick all the dryable stuff in the dryer (e.g. prefolds, joey bunz, wet bag, etc.) and lay out the Fuzzi Bunz to air dry.

Then in the morning, DH grabs some diapers for MIL and off they go to start the routine in the morning. I end up washing diapers every day, just because it is part of my routine. We have enough diapers to go 3-4 days without washing, so it is totally unnecessary. I just do it because, honestly, it is absolutely no big deal and is easier to me than taking out the trash would be every day (like I would if there was a poopy disposable).

HTH!