Part-time cloth? Or not worth it?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

as a SAHM I've only done cloth with my kiddos (sposies only for when sitter/grandma comes or when we travel or go out for several hours). kiddos will start daycare in a couple weeks so i can begin to work FT. is it worth doing cloth on the weekends? anyone done it? DH is reluctant, given that we primarily use prefolds + covers, but when we go out we use the FUzziBunz one-size and DH hates those (they do leak a bit, esp with DD, bc of how the pee comes out when she is sitting). i imagine on weekends we will often be out and about and prefolds woudln't get much use (they are super bulky and most kids clothes won't fit over them,plus they are a b*tch to deal with when the kid poops). Also, since the whole process (rinsing, wash, rinsing) takes about 3 hrs before we have to put it in the dryer, we'd have to get started early Sun evening (can't stay up as late given i have to work the next day), so they'd get to use cloth Sat & Sun morning/afternoon. i am just wondering if it is worth the hassle to just wash 4-6 diapers each time.

i am sort of leaning just doing sposies and forgetting the cloth, esp if DH is not on board. though i can't imagine this being the end of cloth diapering. I have been cloth diapering for almost 3 years.... TWO children for about 20 months.. i am just overwhelmed with the idea of never having to break out the diaper sprayer!!

[twowhat?]

Part of the reason we quit cloth was because of DD2's rash issues (we needed to use too many creams that aren't cloth-compatible). But the other driving force was knowing that daycare wouldn't allow cloth.

I think we would've continued to save money even with using cloth part-time (esp with all the pull-ups we go through for DD2 at night now) but I just decided it wasn't worth the hassle - I didn't want to have to run laundry during the precious weekday hours just to wash the few cloth dipes that we would've used during the evening/nighttime hours at home, and we were already using disposables while out and about on weekends.

That probably doesn't help. But I am certain my DH was 100% secretly satisfied with quitting cloth.

eta: on the plus side I resold most of our cloth diapers and recouped probably 30% of what they cost me. And yes, a part of me died along with cloth diapering

[echoesofspring]

We're doing cloth very half heartedly these days, ever since DS started daycare in Sept. When it's just he and I around the house on the weekends (DH has been gone most weekends), I'll do cloth, but if we're headed out it's sposies. Really the only reason I haven't packed them up is that I'm trying to figure out a way to use them sucessfully at night, we have terrible leaking issues. So I wash 10-12 diapers every week or so. And yeah, I have to agree, I think DH and our old babysitter who occasionally comes over to help are secretly relieved to not be using them. I do wince everytime I order a package of sposies, at the cost and waste, but it seems equally wasteful to be washing small loads, particularly with the water issues we have around her.

[LizLemon]

We did part-time cloth when my daughter was in daycare when she was a younger infant. We would put her in cloth as soon as she got home and on weekends. We would do a couple loads of diapers per week - basically when we ran out of diapers. For us, it was important because we were very bummed that we couldn't find a daycare that allowed CD after we had just invested in all these cloth diapers! (We hadn't expected to need daycare at all until my daughter was around 3 months old and our plans changed.)

She was a younger infant at the time, which might make such an arrangement easier to do (more diapers, no or less solid food).

[lizzywednesday]

I do/did cloth at night only because I didn't have a large enough stash to do it full-time ... and now DD is in daycare full-time.

It's worth it, but there are a few things you'll want to take into consideration, especially as it relates to your wash schedule and pail stink.

I found that washing twice per week was all I could handle, but that meant I had to supplement my diaper loads with old towels. HOWEVER - I've only got one DC and you've got two, so you might have an easier time.

The two lifesaver things I found for pail/fabric stink were (1) Rockin' Green's "Shake It Up" pail freshener (a mama here suggested plain baking soda & essential oil instead; that's brilliant) and (2) Rockin' Green's "Funk Rock" ammonia buster in every few loads of diapers.

Good luck & I hope you find a way to make things work for you!

[wellyes]

I used AIOs in daycare, no problem. They just wrapped each one up and sent it home for washing.

Having said that, I quit cloth after a year. It is such a time suck and so much laundry. It's not like normal laundry, I washed each load multiple times (sounds like you have to as well). It did not feel earth friendly and it certainly was not fun.

[legaleagle]

I have 2 in cloth, in daycare for 3 consecutive days a week with sposies. Daycare just changed their policy a few months ago, they used to allow cloth. It's definitely still worth it for us but we pretty much have to use cloth overnight for DS2 since he's such a heavy wetter. For 5 days a week, I'd likely stop, esp if your DH is not on board and they'll be sitting most of the week getting stinky. My DH definitely prefers cloth and I despise disposables, esp poopy ones, so that's part of what keeps us going.

[chiisai]

It was worth it to us. We did it at home in the evenings and weekends with DS.

I did it that way but only in spurts with DD. She had some yeast issues due to food, and it was harder for me to keep up with the cleaning after the round of yeast. So, I would forget for awhile and do straight sposies, then go back when I saw them in the laundry room, heh.

[AnnieW625]

Just seeing this now. We do. I started cding DD1 at night when she was 3, and we started part time with DD2 when she was 15 months old and did full time for about 6 months last fall to early this year. I have way more diapers than I need for part time now, but I just wasn't ready to part with them when we went back to sposies at daycare.

FWIW, I buy a box of diapers at Costco about once every 3 months for my one kid so for both of your kids I figure you'll be buying them every 6 weeks or so.