Cloth Diapers - Anyone with Experience with Them?

We use the Bum Genius All in one cloth diapers. They have snaps on them that make them fit well for newborn all the way up to 35 pounds. I bought 3 to start with and to make sure I liked them. They have a guarantee that is hard to beat. But, I love them and they are really more cost effective. Start out small and use them at night...slowly add 3 more diapers each time...until you have enough to stop buying disposables all together.

I did some searching for the diapers on Ebay and I have to caution you to really watch the prices. Sometimes the shipping charges make the diapers not worth getting used. Some of the new diapers will be more expensive than buying at an approved retailer. Make sure you really do your research and price-shop them.

Good luck!

Hi there -- just wanted to throw out one more option. We use cloth, but have a diaper service. We love the idea of reducing waste and having something natural on our son's bottom, but don't have the time or desire to do more laundry. It's super convenient -- they pick up/drop off every week and there's no dumping or rinsing involved. Also, we can change to larger diapers as our son grows without buying all new. Maybe you could sign up for a service for a few weeks to see if you like using cloth before buying all the diapers?

For what it's worth, we also convinced our daycare center to let us bring cloth in for our son. Even though the caregivers were a little anxious beforehand (worried it would be too hard), once I showed them what was involved and let them try it out, they think it's a breeze.

Unfortunately, I could only find one diaper service in the entire Chicago area (Bottums Up Diaper Service, http://www.bottomsupdiapers.com/index.htm) but we've been pleased with them.

Good luck!

I just wanted to jump in and agree with the previous 2 suggestions. I did cloth with my first and I am doing it now with my 2nd.

I have a friend who made cloth diaps with the snaps and all and we have all of those and I have purchased covers. We also use kushis. I think we spent about $200 in January 2004 and maybe have spent no more than another $100 additional diaps/covers/doublers since then. So, we spent no more than $300 on diapers for 2 kids. We wash the diapers 2 days a week and use Shaklee laundry detergent to keep costs low and it does an excellent job at cleaning them.

With my first I said that I would do it until it got so gross that I couldn't do it. That never happened.

My husband had no problems with it.

Also, my first son was potty trained about 2 months before he turned 2. It was so easy to potty train because he knew that he didn't like to be wet. It was a dream! I am hoping we have the same success with my 2nd little guy (he turns 1 next month, so I know it will still be a while).

It was such an easy decision for us. I am so glad that we have chosen this route.

Good Luck with your decision!
B.

Good afternoon-

Cloth diapering is something I never thought I would do, but now I can't imagine using disposables. My husband and I did so much research before we chose which ones to use. Additionally, we tried a few different brands before we settled on the two versions we now use. For ease and time management issues we chose the pocket diapers. We use bum genius 2.0 and happy heinys for nighttime (easier to stuff with multiple inserts).
We found www.diaperbeagle.com to be very helpful in our search for information about the whole process and we really like www.jilliansdrawers.com and www.nurturedfamily.com to purchase our supply.
Finally, we don't use disposables when we go out, and when we go home for Christmas we will be taking her diapers with us. The sites we purchase from have wet bags and even ways to carry cloth wipes when you are on the go. They also have sprayers you can attach to your toilet so that you never have to "dunk!"

Hope this helps!

H.

Good for you N.!
I'm using cloth diapers, and it is not at all gross of difficult.
With a newborn, especially if you plan on breastfeeding, using a cotton prefold inside a cover is probably easiest. They are super easy to wash and need really no special care. Also cotton is pretty hypoallergenic. The prefolds and covers are the most economical for a newborn. You can buy a few covers and a few dozen prefolds for really cheap. Super easy covers that contain mess well and have Velcro closures and all that awesome easy stuff are Thirsties Covers.
My DD is almost a year now and we use a combination of a few different types. Mostlly All-In-One diapers which work exactly like a disposable..only you wash them, and "Pocket Diapers" which have a liner you can pull out before you wash so they dry a bit faster...but also go on just like a disposable.
I use mostly Bumgenius One-Size diapers. They fit from 8-35 pounds, so they are pretty economical as well. They work great and are really easy to clean. I use a flushable liner around "poop time" so there is virtually no mess.
Other brands I like are Blueberry Diapers, Fuzzibunz, MumsBums with Bamboo Velour, Swaddlebees. These all fit my daughter well and have never leaked, and are really easy to put on Every kid will do best in a different brand though. Babies come in all sizes, so asking about the best brand is kind of like asking all the Mamasource moms what brand of jeans fits the best LOL
Yes, you really will save money! Disposables are really expensive and you will go through way more than you could ever imagine.
I do an extra load of laundry twice a week.
I could ramble on forever. If you have any other specific questions feel free to e-mail me.
Congrats on the soon to be baby number 2

PS. Hubby thinks the cloth diapers are "cute". He has no problem using cloth.
When you say traveling do you mean like cross country or just to the mall?
Cross country, depends on where you're going....my parents are ex-hippies (I was cloth diapered) so they are fine with using them and letting me wash them.
To the mall or lunch is no biggie at all. I just got a waterproof bag I pop wet diapers in and then toss in the basket under my stroller to take home and toss in the diaper hamper.

You are NOT crazy. Marketing geniuses have been throwing this down our throat. My DH and I cloth. We will save $5500 on wipes and dipes alone. We are saving the money for our second honeymoon back to Italy.

I am also a tutor and can "teach" you how to get started. You will need about 200.00, access to a washing machine, a strong nose, and the will to do it...

I've been CDing successfully for 6 months. Email me offlist if you'd like to know how I did it! I could write a book...I get a LOT of flack from pampers mommies... the don't realize that it's easy and i have more money to spend on other things...

You should start with pocket dipes. 2 wet bags. A sprayer. Charlie's soap. Ah, the DS is up...Gotta go. Email me. I'm also CD consulting for a few moms in my hood who are too broke to keep on sposies...

HI N.!
Cloth diapers are a lot easier now than they were! You should check out Fuzzi Bunz, bumkins, and tons of other really great easy diapers! We machine wash and dry them....
HTH,
R.

I used cloth diapers on both my girls. I did cheat when we went on vacation and used Huggies. I would stored them in a diaper pail that was filled with water and borax until it was time to wash them. I also would put them to soak in the washer at night and the next morning I would start the washer and they would come perfectly clean with no stains.I know this is strange, but I would not use the diapers if they were stained.
I once read that if you are going to use a diaper surface you might as well use disaposable diapers, because the cleaning process is just as bad for the environment. I don't know how true this is though.
Cheryl

Here is a great review place for cloth diapers:
http://diaperpin.com/home.asp

And where I learned everything about cloth diapering:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=221

This will be my 2nd child as well and my first in cloth diapers. It's very exciting- I ordered a lot of mine on eBay and from SAHMs. They are soooo cute lined up underneath my little changing table- and SOOOOO soft. I love that I'm not putting chemicals against my little baby's bottom too.

M.

Hi. We've been doing cloth diapers for the past 10 months (ever since our daughter was 3 weeks old). We really like it, especially when she poops immediately after the diaper change we don't feel bad about the money wasted in a 'sposie. We do the simpliest method and cheapest by using Chinese Prefolds (CPF) w/o pinning or snappies just laying them in a MotherEase Airflow cover (www.motherease.com) and snapping her up. Now that she doesn't pee so much, we will even go out with a cloth diaper for up to 4 hrs (before we'd use a 'sposie). Most weeks we do not even use one 'sposie. Washing them is no big deal and we got the diaper pails by Safety 1st and use them dry for her wet diapers and wash out the poopy ones and leave them in a bucket of water in the basement until wash day. There's a great cloth diapering message board on yahoo called Cloth Diapering is Natural. It's been invaluable. You can get used diapers at diaperswappers.com. Ebay deletes most of the used diapers, although you can still get new ones. That's where I got my CPFs. My husband has no problem with the cloth and changes our daughters diaper regularly (even the poopy ones). Congrats on you upcoming baby.