New Mom to Be Needs Diaper Advice: Disposable vs Cloth

I certainly would recommend cloth diapering. We did it with my youngest for a couple years. Hubby didn't even mind! My youngest is now 7, so I imagine it's changed a bit, but hopefully for the better.

My only concern though would be you stated you will be going back to work full time. I was lucky and found an in-home licensed day care lady that was willing to do the cloth, however there are some day cares that do NOT allow them. e.g. an NAEYC accredited daycare/school cannot allow them, since they are considered "unsanitary". Just something to think about.

I did old-school cloth - flat diapers, pins, and rubber bloomers over them. My daughter seldom got diaper rash because she got changed every time she peed - something that doesn't always happen with disposables. I know lots of people who allow the baby to pee several times in a disposable before changing it.

I didn't see a big jump in my water or electric bill from washing them - didn't see a change at all. I washed them just like everything else - cold water, regular detergent, no bleach. I didn't do a separate load for diapers - I threw them in with towels and other whites.

As someone who ACTUALLY cloth diapered recently, my bill did not go up. When we stopped (Again, a matter of less then a year ago) our bill went down by cents. I'm talking, less then a dollar per bill.

I feel like a broken record on these cloth diaper posts, but poop does NOT get in the "fibers" of clothing. You do not was poop. Poop goes on the toilet. We put a sprayer attachment on the toilet (cheap, takes 5 minutes to attach) and sprayed the poop into the toilet. Or, you can just dump the poop. Either way, poop does not go in the washer. As far as laundry goes, it added 3 extra loads per week to my routine. The thing you have to understand, is new baby, means extra laundry. I just did the diapers when I did his other laundry, and it didn't take extra time. I wasn't slaving over laundry. I did sun dry them, but we are warm here most of the year.

The great thing about cloth now, is you can by "one size" diapers. (Whatever you do, get snaps not velcro!!) I did that with my son, and we only had to buy one set of diapers from birth to potty training. We did use cloth at night, and never had an issue with it. We did have to use disposables the first month, because he was a skinny little guy. We still registered for diapers, so the ones received at the baby shower, held us through the first month.

If you are going to be working vs. staying at home, cloth will likely not work for you. Most daycare's will only use disposables. If you have any questions about brands, methods, how to wash, travel with cloth, stores to purchase, etc...feel free to private message me.

Oh, and no one in my family has every smelled like feces. That's just complete rubbish, and I hope you don't listen to that nonsense.

I have clothed two, and am planning on using cloth with my third. I am frugal, and I asked for diapers for my baby shower. My mother and SIL bought almost all my diapers, so I only spent a little bit, maybe an extra 100 over the course of two kids. Both my kids potty trained (including night) by 21 months.

Please don't listen to Gamma G. She hates cloth. My clothes do not sink. If you wash your diapers correctly, you should have no issues.

As to time and laundry, we bought front load washers and dryers right before we had our first child. Even with washing diapers every 1.5 days, my laundry costs were LESS.

Yes it takes some time, but if you get yourself on a system, it's no big deal . My system, after putting baby down for the night, you put the diapers in the washer. You then move them to the dryer and go to bed yourself. In the morning, you collect diapers. In fact, I make putting them in the dyer hubby's job, and sometimes he even carries them upstairs when they are done ;-)

The pros of cloth:
1. early potty training
2. you change them more often, so their skin doesn't get irritated. In fact, I get so upset when I see babies sitting in diapers carrying 2-4 pees. To save money, poor babies have to sit in their own filth. With cloth, you just change them with no worries about cost.
3. they don't smell like awful chemicals --have you ever been close to a baby with a dirty disposable diaper, they smell like chemicals!

If you do plan on having more children,. you will save a small fortune by using cloth. I figure I will diaper three kids for less than 500 when all is said and done.

My one major complaint with cloth, however, is night time. Roughly from 9 months till night trained, my kids do wear disposables at night. It's much easier than trying to get a system working at night time. To really contain night pees, you need expensive wool, etc. and I figured it was cheaper to super coupon and use 1 disposable at night.

Also, be careful about using disposables while traveling with a newborn! You don't get blow outs with cloth. In fact, I learned my lesson with my first when she was 4 weeks old and I was on the train: it's easier to just use cloth, because a blow out with a disposable left me and all my clothes and her clothes covered in poop!

My last pro of using cloth is all the waste you won't be producing. In fact, after using cloth diapers, I turned my house into a paperless household. It's amazing how much money we have saved by using cloth napkins, bar towels, etc. It isn't much more work or time, I just throw it all in the wash after dinner and head off to bed. It's not that big of a deal, and I'm saving lots of money and the environment at the same time.

I did what you are planning on doing. I loved the cloth because I felt no guilt changing baby even with the slightest bit of pee. When you use disposable, if there is just a tiny bit you have to tendency to say... "well, it's not really wet". If it's your first child you may no think so but a few kids later and changing becomes less and less often. I don't think of it as being alot of hard work doing the laundry myself but I was studious back in the day. I liked it overall.

Mind you, with the first child you will not save any money buying things to get you set up. The savings come in the following kids when you no longer need to buy new diapers.

I use cloth diapers and love it. I also have plenty of experience with disposibles because I am a daycare provider. Cloth diapers are no more difficult and much less costly. It only produces an extra load of laundry every three days which really doesn't have an impact as I do tons of laundry with three kids. There are so many options for cloth out there, and I have tried most. What I find most convenient are go green diapers. They are relatively inexpensive ($8/ diaper) and work great. No blow outs or leaks at all. Their quality is just as good as bum genius. At night I use prefolds with wool pants because my son is a heavy wetter. He nurses all night long and hates to be changed until morning. My children have never had a diaper rash because you tend to change them more often in cloth and there are no chemicals on their skin. My son potty trained in one day (day and night trained) before he was two. One thing to consider is whether your child care provider will accept cloth. If not, you will still save money if you use cloth at home.

Congrats on becoming a parent! I'm also pregnant with my first (due in April) and we are definitely choosing cloth diapers. For monetary and environmental reasons. The next time you're out shopping go and take a look at the diaper aisle. My husband and I did and we were shocked! The cheapest brand of diaper we saw was about $20 for 80 diapers. That could leave you easily paying $100 or more every month in diapers! Cloth diapers will cost you $400-$500 up front but that investment will take you all the way to potty training. If budget is a concern then cloth diapering is the way to go. And since your due date is a ways off you don't have to buy them all at once. Get three every month, ask for them as gifts, etc. If you are crafty you can even make them yourself!

My husband and I are fairly eco conscious people and we can't even fathom contributing that much waste to landfills. Disposable diapers contribute 7.9 billions tons of garbage every year! And personally I wouldn't feel comfortable wrapping my baby's new, sensitive skin up in gross plastic and chemicals. Here is a link to a website that has some stats on the dangers of disposables. http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/dangers-of-disposable...

Kudos to you for doing the research and Congrats again!

We used cloth diapers from about 3 months on (I had a preemie and my second child was just really short) and had no problems with them.

A lot of daycare providers will not allow cloth diapers. So check into that before you invest in cloth.

You also kind of have to do a trial and error thing with the cloth diapers. Some will fit well, some will not. The all in one diapers and pocket diapers worked well for us but the ones with the plastic covers worked best.

If you are planning on having more children, cloth will definitely save you money.

I was 'country/green', before either was cool. My son was born in the late 80s. Money was tight, but I am also big on nostalgia. I was a stay at home mom from from his birth to 4 months (and hung them --and the rubbers--on the clothes line!). When I went back to work and sent him to home day care, I sent the disposables in his bag, at home we used cloth--but put them in the dryer.

I agree with the poster, AZ from Upland, the baby gets changed more frequently when you use cloth--thus less skin irritation.

I have done both disposable and cloth. I prefer cloth. It is so much easier than I ever imagined. When we were getting ready to have our first, my husband suggested cloth and I shot him down, and now wish I had not. Yes, you do have another load of laundry every couple of days, but it does not cost much more every month. I would suggest going to a cloth diaper store to learn more. Many even do classes to teach about cloth. I don't know if their are any in castle rock, but their are 2 in the springs and some in denver. Dani of Baby Cotton Bottom (colo springs) is an excellent source if knowledge. The all in ones or pocket diapers would be the best for daycare because they are so close to disposables anyone can use them. Good luck. If you want any more info, just let me know.

C.

Just know that you will have to be doing a bunch of prewashing the poopy ones, and a lot of laundry for cloth. Remember a cup of white vinegar in the laundry does wonders on smells, as does alternating it with a cup of baking soda.

Financially, look at adding about four to six extra loads of laundry, and is your water bill going up less expensive than buying diapers.

I would not do cloth if you are going back to work. You do not have to use Pampers or Huggies. Target brand is great. So is fisher Price ( babies R Us) caries them. It is a personal decision. I know I would not have the patience. Congrats.

Look into EC as well.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/b...

You can be as aggressive or as laid-back as you want with it, but it means less diapers overall in the long run. Totally worth looking in to.

Congrats!

Believe it or not, I had the same question 22 years ago! I did try cloth diapers with our son, before the big 'green' movement. I really don't think it saved me much, but I did use a service instead of cleaning my own. I know we switched to disposable when he was probably 3 months old and used disposable with #2 who came along 4 years later.

It depends on who will care for your child when you return to work. I used cloth with my son. He is 4 1/2 now and we used them from about 2 weeks old until he was potty trained at 2 1/2. I don't mean this in a rude way but anyone who tried cloth more than 5 years ago and does not recommend it does not have experience with all of the advancements made with cloth that you will experience today. They really are a lot different than they used to be. There are countless varieties. Cloth diapering today is easy. A few extra loads of wash perhaps but I assure you that none of us smelled as the poster below would have you think lol. I had a sitter for our son in my home until he was a little over 2. Daycare would only take disposables. So when he went there as a 2 year old, I used cloth at home and sent Earths Best diapers to school. For me, cloth was not about saving money (although I did and that was a perk) but the thought of constantly putting those chemical gels that are in disposables next to bare skin made me squeamish. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Edited to Add: I did not notice any difference in my water or electric bills because of the few extra loads of laundry.

My mom made her own - she didn't like folding them and she felt she could do a better job of preventing accidents by fashioning her out of the ones she bought. I have to admit that I did NOT want to clean poop out of the diapers myself like she did, so I didn't go that route.

If you decide not to continue using them, they make great rags (I cut them in half). So you could still use them for something if you choose not to continue using them as diapers.

Dawn

With both of my kids (now 5 and almost 3), we used cloth diapers at home and when they went to daycare around a year, we still did cloth at home and disposables at school. We used a diaper service, which was very convenient, about the same cost as disposables would be and we didn't have to do anything with the diapers. They provided a diaper bin and bags. Each week, we would put out the dirty ones, and get a bag of clean, folded, ready to use. We could also order 1/2 cloth and 1/2 disposable for when they went to school - very convenient!

Let's be straight here. Babies are expensive, cloth or disposable. Oh for your own sanity, health and to maintain your looks GO WITH DISPOSABLE. Take it or leave it that's my advise. They both cost, they are both seriously environmentally going to wind up one day in the garbage (unless you have other plans for them?) and truthfully disposable always appeared to sort of calm the diaper rash better because they absorb easier. Secondly, think of the it-if you do your own laundry, water, gas soap and everything also cost. There said my piece, give baby a hug from me.

I used cloth, for the most part, with both my girls. Neither smelled like urine or poo anymore than any other baby and my husband and I certainly did not smell of urine.

There are many reason cloth was the choice we made. The waste with disposables is astronomical. They take 500 years to biodegrade. Another scary truth is the chemicals used in disposables are toxic. Your baby will sit in these chemical 24 hours a day for years. The little crystals you see on your baby after a long, wet night is a chemical gel. I did not want that on my kids skin 24/7.

Modern cloth diapers are easy, comfortable and inexpensive. Most importantly they are the most healthy for your baby and the world.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/149890-environmental-im...

I tried both when our daughter was born.

Ended up doing disposable.
I worked full time and she was cared for by a lady in her home and she would only allow disposable. It was just too easy.

Our daughter did best with pampers. Never had leakage.

You will find the reason why there are so many types, companies and styles is because every baby is shaped differently. Disposable is perfect for this.

I used coupons and even broke down and purchased them at wal Mart.. Yikes.

I tried both when our daughter was born as well. I ended up using disposables. My daughter peed like a racehorse and I was changing her constantly and neither of us were getting any sleep because she was waking up wet. We even had the diaper wraps (which are expensive) and that didn't help.

I used a service that dropped of the clean diapers and picked up the dirty ones. That part was nice because there was no shopping for them and no rinsing them out. I think cost-wise it was about the same.

Depending on your area, you may not be able to find a provider who will deal with cloth. It's a big pain and I use disposables only in my daycare.

Here's the thing. With cloth diapers you end up spending tons more on laundry. You may end up saving money in the long run but you spend way more time on them.

Have you ever sat next to someone and they just smelled like pooh? Or urine? It seemed like it was coming from their clothes? Well, they probably used cloth diapers. When you wash a load of diapers you have to run the washer empty through sometimes 2 loads with hot water and bleach to get the feces out and the urine too. I have still had it smell after running the washer the 3rd time.

I can almost always tell when someone uses cloth diapers because they always have that urine and pooh smell, it's deep in the fibers of their clothes.

If you do use cloth you might want to think about how much more time and money you'll be spending on the laundry because no matter how many you buy you could be spending double your laundry budget and don't make any plans, you'll be doing laundry.