Parent Poll -- Cloth or Sposies?

[KBecks]

What did you use to diaper your children?
(Sposies = disposable diapers)

[o_mom]

DS1 was 90% in cloth through PT-ing, he uses pull-ups at night now because I have not found a good training pant for him.

DS2 was about 80-90% cloth until DS3 came along and then we have slid into sposies.

Ds3 was probably only 40-50% cloth for the first 8 months. Now we are at 100% sposies since we are trying to sell the house and really can't handle it all. Once we get into the groove of keeping the house ready for showing I may pull them out again. I just hate the feeling of tossing all those diapers.

[citymama]

We use disposables, but had wanted to use cloth. We decided against it ultimately for practical and environmental reasons. We don't have a washer/dryer in apt (shared in the building basement, frequently non-functional) so it would have been quite difficult to wash our own. And diaper delivery would have been, paradoxically, at least as un-environmental, if not worse, than sposies. The delivery co. was 40 miles away, so we considered the fuel/emissions issues, and delivery services use large amounts of water and strong chemicals to clean dirty diapers.

So that's how we made our decision. If we live somewhere with a w/d in unit when/if we have another baby, I think we will try cloth.

[ha98ed14]

We made a similar decision. We live in an apartment and share washers and dryers with everyone in the complex, about 50 units. I just could not subject these other people (some of whom are total jerks) to my kid's fecal matter. Sorry, that just seems way, way, way wrong in my book. Even though it probably all washes away, I still feel like it would be wrong. But I know a lady who does. Thankfully she does not live in my complex!

[brittone2]

95% cloth with both I'd say.

I considered it w/ DS but never though I'd actually do it. For his first few weeks of life, he was so, so sensitive to all commercial wipes. Gentle, newborn, unscented, different brands...it didn't matter. So when he was about 3 weeks old we opted to switch to cloth wipes. Once we realized how washing cloth was so not a big deal, we bought a few prefolds and 1-2 fitteds to try. It was easy after that.

DD was in cloth from birth.

I could never go back to disposable wipes after cloth wipes LOL. For those who don't think they would like cloth, I think they would reconsider if they realized how grippy and effective cloth is vs. a disposable wipe. IMO, they just work soooo much better!

[kijip]

Once we went cloth washed at home, we never went back. We started with a service...that last 4 months. Then we did disposibles till about 11 months and then nearly all cloth till pt at 2 and 1/2 ish. If we ever have another baby, it will be all cloth all the time for diapering. We even took cloth on our vacations once we were washing our own. It is the best option for us.

[o_mom]

For those who don't think they would like cloth, I think they would reconsider if they realized how grippy and effective cloth is vs. a disposable wipe. IMO, they just work soooo much better!

:yeahthat:

Even though we are mainly using sposies right now, even DH reaches for the cloth wipes!

[ha98ed14]

Once we went cloth washed at home, we never went back. We started with a service...that last 4 months. Then we did disposibles till about 11 months and then nearly all cloth till pt at 2 and 1/2 ish. If we ever have another baby, it will be all cloth all the time for diapering. We even took cloth on our vacations once we were washing our own. It is the best option for us.

Why did you quit the service? I would think that using cloth would be best used under 1 y.o and then going to disposibles after 1 when their poops get extra nasty because they are eating more solid food. (BF & Formula only poo seems less foul to me.) What made cloth the best option for 1 to 2 years old?

[BeachBum]

We did cloth until DS started solids. Then I was so grossed out I couldn't do it any more.
Once we were past the transitional stage of solid feeding and his poops became more solid I think I could have switched back but didn't.

I'm sort of ambivalent on the whole experience.

[bubbaray]

I can barely gag my way through changing a poopy disposable (which I wrap up as quickly as possible and don't put the poop in the toilet), I can't imagine having deal with cloth. Even a service wasn't on my radar (we have quite a few where I live).

Gag.

I figure my non-green diapering ways are compensated for by my other green choices.

[lisams]

I'm a CD drop out. I CD DD for about 3 months. For DS we use Seventh Generation sposies.

[MartiesMom2B]

I am a cloth drop out too. Although I do go back when I'm too busy to run out and buy disposables. Our area is going through a drought so I don't feel too guilty about dropping out. I'm saving our drinking water.

BTW, shouldn't this topic belong in the diaper forum?

[daisymommy]

With Joshua I started out with sposies, then switched to cloth when he was a year old. I strictly used cloth.

With Hannah, I started out with cloth, but now use cloth about 75% of the time, and sposies at bedtime and when we go out of the house, so about 25% of the time.

[jd11365]

DD was all 'sposie.

DS has been in cloth since 3 months. I waited until he could fit in Mediums so it would be more economical since he'll be in those for a long time, well into 2 years old, I'd assume.
We use 'sposies at night, if we're out more than 3 hours, or if he goes to a sitter.

[katydid1971]

We have used cloth since we brought DS home from the hospital 2 1/2 years ago almost 100% of the time. The only time I ever use 'sposies is on a few trips we have taken where we didn't have access to washers (we take cloth to grandma's etc). I haven't ever had a problem with DS 's poop but I gag when I change other kids diapers so I guess I'm just use to the smell of his BMs. I'll admit that if I didn't have my own washer dryer I won't CD. Way to much work, hauling the diapers around etc.

[wellyes]

I'd only CD if there were a diaper service in my area, but sadly there isn't one.

[cheme]

We've done different things for each dc so far! DD1 was cd from ~16months until she PT'd at 25months. DS was cd from birth until we moved at ~12months, then we switched to sposies and never went back. DD2 was born 1 month ago and we have used cd ever since using up one bag of newborn dipes (I didn't want to deal with meconium)

[maestramommy]

With Dora we used mostly sposies, but we did use cloth for about 5 months when she was having poop blowouts up the back and nothing in the sposie line could contain it. Once her poops got solid we went back to sposies. With Arwyn it's been only sposies.

If we had our own place with our own laundry machines, AND didn't live in SoCal we might've gone cloth. But given our circumstances sposies were the best choice for us.

[niccig]

Cloth until 2 years and then sposies until DS potty trained. He's a heavy wetter and I was running out of ideas to keep him from getting soaked - hemp fitted and 2 hemp diaper doublers didn't cut it around here.

A friend totally pooed pooed the idea of cloth, but she just called me to ask about using cloth for baby no.2. Some finances have changed for them and she's trying to cut back where she can. I don't know if it'll work for her though, she hates doing laundry. I'm giving her a few to trial so she can she if she's up for it before she buys a stash. It personally was easier for me to cloth, but I didn't mind the extra laundry.

[KBecks]

BTW, shouldn't this topic belong in the diaper forum?

No, I think the diaper forum has a somewhat different readership than the lounge. This is a general population question.

[KrisM]

Nearly 100% cloth. DS is PT'd now, but wears pullups to bed. He generally gets up to use the bathroom and he can better do the pullup by himself than the cloth we had.

DD is in cloth except when I'm behind on diaper laundry.

I hope to be able to have #3 in cloth, too. I'd hate to have to spend the money on sposies at this point.

[anamika]

:yeahthat:
I can barely gag my way through changing a poopy disposable (which I wrap up as quickly as possible and don't put the poop in the toilet), I can't imagine having deal with cloth. Even a service wasn't on my radar (we have quite a few where I live).

Gag.

I figure my non-green diapering ways are compensated for by my other green choices.

:yeahthat: Since the pregnancy I have a dog nose - it's a curse (and a blessing:rolleye0014:) DD is PTed and even then I have been known to gag when cleaning her up. If DH is around he always deals with the poop.

[lizajane]

i did use sposies for preschool, so i could have voted combination. but i voted cloth because i used cloth every time it was possible, including travelling with cloth. even the childcare at my YMCA would let me use cloth! i did use sposies with dylan when he was about 24-28 months because he was only using about 3 diapers a day and it was too hard to keep 3 dipes/day in a pail to make up a wash load. both my kids potty trained at just over 2, and i give some credit to my cloth dipes for the early potty use.

[lizajane]

:yeahthat:

:yeahthat: Since the pregnancy I have a dog nose - it's a curse (and a blessing:rolleye0014:) DD is PTed and even then I have been known to gag when cleaning her up. If DH is around he always deals with the poop.

i think sposies smell WAY worse than cloth. every time a friend's kid has a pee dipe i wanna gag!

[tylersmama]

I'd say we're probably about 95% cloth. It would be more than that, but STBX uses sposies when he has DS. I also use sposies when we're on vacation, but that's about it.

I never ever thought I would CD. It was never even on my radar until my mom got me a gift certificate for 6 months of service for my shower. I thought the service was a great way to work into CDing. I don't think I would want to CD a newborn without a service...too many diapers, and they change sizes so quickly. I was really surprised by how much I liked CDing though, and I absolutely cringe at how much waste is created every time we're travelling and using sposies. I can't stand it!

It really isn't hard at all for me to CD. My friends are all astounded and say they could never do it...too much work. I do one, maybe two extra loads of laundry a week. That's it! I never have to run to the store because I realized at the last minute that I was out of diapers, either!

Also, as for the poop issue. It's really a non-issue. Newborn, bf poops are so liquidy that you don't need to do anything special with them, just dump them in the diaper pail with everything else. Solid food poops are not difficult at all, either. I use disposable rice paper liners, so I just take the dipe to the toilet and dump the liner+poop in the toilet. Super easy! And much less smelly than leaving the poop in the sposie in your trash! ;)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Diaper service w/ #1. Loved it. Couldn't make the investment in cloth (no service) this time around yet. Plan to do cloth as soon as I get my act together. It was hard to spend so much $ on cloth when I didn't have anyone to hand them down to.

Beth

[julieakc]

I voted combination, but the combo was really more in timeframe....

DS was in the NICU until he was just shy of a month, when he came home the CDs from the service were too small so he was in sposies for about another week until I got the replacement preemie size.

From about 6 weeks through 28 months, he was in 85-90% of the time. I always kept a spare sposie in the car in case I ran out of cloth...had to use that a couple times. Mostly when we traveled we took the CDs but there were a couple of times when it wasn't practical. At night we switched him to a disposable probably around a year; just couldn't get a good fit and proper absorbancy with cloth for nighttime.

I kept the service up until DS was about 28 months at which time I started doing CD on my own. DS did also go through a phase for a couple months when he absolutely refused to wear cloth, so he was in sposie all the time for a short time then back in cloth trainers for several more months then when he started preschool at 3 he had to be in a sposie, and by that time we were down to maybe only 3-4 diapers a day so I began to do sposies all the time because it was taking way too long to get a load of cloth trainers ready. At 3.5 he was PT'd so now we're just in the sposie at night (and often it is dry and reused).

[squimp]

i think sposies smell WAY worse than cloth. every time a friend's kid has a pee dipe i wanna gag!

What she said! Something about the combination makes me ill.

[Melanie]

Sadly had to vote #3 since getting my overpriced piece of junk front-loader uses-no-water-leaves-my-diapers stinky. I used to be so dedicated to cloth, I took it on TRIPS with us. I should take it now so I can use someone's nice top-loader and at least get them clean enough to sell. :(

[Happy 2B mommy]

We do a combination and started cloth when DD was about 9 months. When we are out we use sposies and always use Huggies overnights at night. Weekends when DH does more diaper changes are almost all sposies (although he does flush poop from a sposie). During the week when we are home we do cloth. So I'd say 60-70% of the time we use cloth. I'd like to use more cloth if we have DC 2.

Kerri

[m448]

I'm with Beth on the cloth wipes. There's just no comparison.

I've been CDing since my oldest (now 4 1/2) was 6 months old - he PTed at 3 1/2. My second son was CDed from birth (he's two now) and we'll be CDing #3 when the baby is born in September. We saved a ton of money when we had both in diapers. I started out with prefolds then had a sewing friend convert them into prefitteds. After I while I learned to sew and started making my own. I use all AIOs that I make with the mama bird pattern but modified. I remember being about 9 months pregnant and hastily cutting out diapers because my procrastination counted on the fact that I wouldn't be early or even on time (I was right both kids were 10 days late).

Even before I was sewing my own I had a weird obsession with uniformity so no hyena diapers for me.

[elephantmeg]

I did cloth with DS from a couple weeks old til I got pregnant. Then I couldn't handle it. And am still gaggy so still haven't-and he's down to 4-5 diapers a day so not really enough to wash before they get stinky. So I've got the diapers out again for DD and hope to get back on the bandwagon! But I will not be having DH do them while I'm at work and will not be sending kids in cloth to the babysitters (they used disposables but would take off the cloth). I am done with finding leftover poopy diapers the next day!