Disposable v. Cloth

[Nosrac]

Have a 6 1/2 moth old and have exclusively used disposables since birth. Infant is a prolific pooper which results in blowouts about 50% of the time. Any diapering suggestions? I don't have a lot of time to devote to doing more laundry than I already do. Would it be beneficial to continue with disposables or go to a cloth/hybrid approach? There just seem to be so many options these days.

[carolinamama]

We just switched to cloth last week because of similar issues. I was SO tired of poop blowouts everyday and washing DS2's clothes with poop on them atleast once daily. I love them so far, but I have also been tossing around the idea of cloth since DS1 and had done tons of research. Still playing around with washing but I've been doing it every evening. It is more work, plain and simple. You don't just toss the diaper in the trash and never think about it again.

FWIW, we are using BumGenious at this point.

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

We're all about the disposables in this house. And we loves us some huggies :heartbeat::heartbeat:. Here's the thing-make sure you've got the right size on and are putting them on snug enough. I've seen a lot of people with pooping problems who just needed to changes sizes or who had been putting them on too loose.

Good luck in your search. We tried ONE cloth diaper one time and we knew instantly that it wasn't for us.

[Joolsplus2]

I had so much laundry to do that the couple extra loads of wash a week weren't a big deal for me. And I loved Fuzzi Bunz, Snap-EZ, and Bumgenius... drop them in a 13 gallon trashcan lined with a washable cloth/PUL bag and dump that whole thing in the wash every couple of days.

But yeah, try the bigger sposies...and what might help is just using a cloth diaper 'cover' over a disposable diaper. Or a pocket diaper with no stuffing... I used to always put a Fuzzi Bunz over a Huggies on long trips to make sure everything stayed contained.

[hlphillips2]

I use cloth, but I'm already doing a load of laundry a day and am PTing a preschooler. So the extra laundry plus being exposed to pee & poop daily isn't a big deal to me mentally.

If the extra laundry would be stressful don't do it. If you have a prolific pooper cloth will just make it more gross IMO. My DD poops a lot, but it's EBF poo which washes out easily. Solids will be horrible.

You may want to try a size up in a disposable, or even try a different brand. A friend once told me that if you have more than one blow out in Pampers within a few days, it's time to go up a size even if your LO still fits within the weight range.

[tallylassie]

Since you're uncertain about whether cloth is for you the trial program at Jillian's Drawers would probably be a great fit. I wish I had done that rather than experiment between styles and then brands. It was more expensive my way.

If you're looking for the ease of disposables I'd recommend bumGenius 3.0 one-size. It is a type of pocket diaper and part of the trial. They fasten with velcro and have three size settings. For $17.95 each, including the insert, you're definitely getting your money's worth. I started with one and worked my way up to twelve once DH and I decided that it was our favorite. I find them very easy to clean. They're ridiculously absorbent... never had a leak and DS wears one every night all night.

[natness]

I have a 6 month old. We started with a hybrid approach using disposables at night and when out and cloth the rest of the time. We had way more blowouts in disposables, and now use cloth 100%. I totally agree with the PP about checking out a trial package. There are a ton of choices out there.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We seriously considered cloth, but DH was adamant that we couldn't keep up and that the drought we were in meant that we wouldn't really be doing any good using extra water. We would have been highly fined for washing any more loads than we already were. I hate that we're tossing disposables, but family harmony is important. He helps a LOT with diapering.

[AnnieW625]

My brother, sister, and I were all cloth diapered babies and although I don't remember being in diapers at all (I was trained before my 3rd birthday) I remember changing my sisters diapers and cloth just seems so natural and easier to deal with; even when I had to use pins.

I had all good intentions of getting a diaper service when DD was born, but I never got it set up. I can only blame myself, but then I had litterally two weekdays off before I had her so calling and setting up the service was the last thing on my mind those two days. By the time I was finally cool and collected to actually hold a business like phone conversation I swear DD was two months old and she was going to daycare in another month or so I just stuck with disposables.

Now for this child I definitely want diaper service and will hopefully be more motivated to get it started. If the diaper service goes well and my daycare provider doesn't have issues with holding a bag of wet diapers for me all day then I'll continue with the FuzziBuns or BumGenius diapers once it goes to daycare too. After having a 2 yr. 10 mos. old who has no interest in potty training it's kind of convinced me that cloth may be the way to go with #2.

[lorinick]

My brother, sister, and I were all cloth diapered babies and although I don't remember being in diapers at all (I was trained before my 3rd birthday) I remember changing my sisters diapers and cloth just seems so natural and easier to deal with; even when I had to use pins.

I had all good intentions of getting a diaper service when DD was born, but I never got it set up. I can only blame myself, but then I had litterally two weekdays off before I had her so calling and setting up the service was the last thing on my mind those two days. By the time I was finally cool and collected to actually hold a business like phone conversation I swear DD was two months old and she was going to daycare in another month or so I just stuck with disposables.

Now for this child I definitely want diaper service and will hopefully be more motivated to get it started. If the diaper service goes well and my daycare provider doesn't have issues with holding a bag of wet diapers for me all day then I'll continue with the FuzziBuns or BumGenius diapers once it goes to daycare too. After having a 2 yr. 10 mos. old who has no interest in potty training it's kind of convinced me that cloth may be the way to go with #2.

I think it's the child not the diaper choice you made. Ds 1 disposables only potty trained at 2 years and six months even through the nights. He never looked back. Your child may start to show interest and still be done at the 3year mark you were talking about. But you can't blame the diapers. My friends dd potty trained at 22mts using disposables.

[AnnieW625]

I think it's the child not the diaper choice you made. Ds 1 disposables only potty trained at 2 years and six months even through the nights. He never looked back. Your child may start to show interest and still be done at the 3year mark you were talking about. But you can't blame the diapers. My friends dd potty trained at 22mts using disposables.

Yeah you are probably right, but it's always nice to have other options and see if there is any difference between the two.

[alirebco]

We started out using disposables and always had blowouts - no matter the brand or size. It was awful and I was constantly soaking stuff in Oxyclean. We finally switched to cloth diapers at 5 months and have not looked back! No more blowouts or leak and the laundry is super easy. Plus, DS has not had any more diaper rash since he's been in cloth.

We used disposables when we travelled and had blowouts and couldn't wait to get back into cloth again! My husband calls them the real diapers - lol.

[hellokitty]

We too noticed that blowouts were more common (esp up the back) in disposables than with cloth. I'm also feeling like I'm saving a lot of $, b/c this will be my third baby in cloth, using CDs I bought for my oldest. :)

[AnnieW625]

We started out using disposables and always had blowouts - no matter the brand or size. It was awful and I was constantly soaking stuff in Oxyclean. We finally switched to cloth diapers at 5 months and have not looked back! No more blowouts or leak and the laundry is super easy. Plus, DS has not had any more diaper rash since he's been in cloth.

We used disposables when we travelled and had blowouts and couldn't wait to get back into cloth again! My husband calls them the real diapers - lol.

That's really good to know if we have a boy. DD has been exclusively disposable diapered and the only issues we've ever had with blow outs was when she was super tiny and I bought diapers that were too big.

[niccig]

We used cloth at home, disposable out and at night. When I first raised the idea, DH was very resistant. But we tried and he now tells everyone to use cloth. We had no poopy attacks, we found it better for DS's skin, and DH LOVED the cloth wipes. Seriously, disposable wipes are pathetic for cleaning up a poopy butt. DH made me buy more cloth wipes, as if they were in the wash, he would refuse to use a disposable wipe. One cloth wipe cleans up the whole mess, where it would take 3-4 disposables.

Washing I found easy. An extra load every 3 days. I read all the posts here, and figured out best washing routine. I would fold and stuff pockets when watched TV. I prefer to do this, than to drag DS to Target to buy more diapers. But your mileage may vary.

If you do go cloth route, buy the sprayer for the toilet.

We used cloth until 2 yo. DS potty trained around 2 years 9 months.