OT: Cloth or Disposables?

[JoyRenee]

With new babies on the way have you given any thought to diapering?

When I was pregnant with my second daughter I bought almost $400 worth of cloth diapers online through a reputable (or so I thought) seller but I paid with check and she ran with my money (as well as a few other peoples' money I found out later while filing reports against her). My sister-in-law had bought from her with success up until the month she ran with my money; she tried running with my SIL's last payment but my SIL paid with a credit card so she got her money back. It was like the seller built a reputation and in one fell swoop decided to steal a ton of money from multiple people.

So I don't say any of that to scare anyone into NOT purchasing if they're thinking about ordering online. I just say that to say I had once thought about it but with such a huge blow to my finances (I did not get my money back since it was via check - pay with a card or PayPal for buyer protection!) we never looked into again.

Until now.

I don't know - I'm thinking about doing cloth! The diapers are so darn cute and we'd save about $2000 (maybe more since our economy is so bad and prices on everything are going up). I found a really good brand with great reviews (and they've been selling for several years and I DO plan to use PayPal this time for protection! Lesson totally learned).

Do you cloth or use disposables? Or a mix of both? Leave me a comment to tell me your thoughts on cloth or disposables after you vote! Any tips for cloth diapering (like how many to have, detergent you use, brand(s) you like, etc.) might help in my indecisiveness. My husband is still feeling the sting of being conned almost 5 years ago but I'm ready to move on and hopefully save us some money.

[JoyRenee]

Oh and someone mentioned something about the water - I haven't looked into that either. That has been my excuse for not looking into cloth again and it wasn't even a good excuse because I really and truly don't know about filling landfills versus higher water consumption. I need to dig deeper on that.

I do know that a local family filled their enormous swimming pool one month and it only cost $10-15 extra on their water bill. I don't think I'd be using enough to fill a swimming pool so I can't expect it to be too much higher but who knows? The economy is definitely different right now.

[Linzola1]

I am going to use disposiable but thats only because I have never even looked into cloth... hmmm now you have me thinking joy!!!

[ketona31479]

both, we use cloth for home and disposable for going out

[therese101]

Joy we use itti bittis! They are brilliant, never had a leak in them, so easy to wash as well and not very bulky at all.

[chantal21]

Joy, I completely agree with the poo thing!! haha I've been peed on and pooped on countless times by my own kids, and I can totally deal with that, but like you said, someone else's kid is just gross to me!! My kids can drool on me, get their boogers on me, it's all good, but when someone else's kid tries to do that...it's just not right. hahaha ;)

OH and I wanted to add, when my mom used the cloth diapers (I think she used FuzziBunz), She had a tall pale, that had this plastic insert so you could put water in it or whatever.  She would fill it up with water and put a tad bit of bleach in it (for the white inserts) and would soak them until she was ready to wash them. It kept the stains away, which is a good thing!  If you don't mind extra laundry, go for it!! I know lots of people who use cloth, just personally, I'm not ready to tackle that job. If we had a diaper service in my area (they are few and far between now), I may change my mind! ;)

[JoyRenee]

Great responses and so many I'm shocked, ha ha! I don't think I can respond to each and every comment individually.

I think I may give cloth a try. I can get 24 diapers with 48 inserts for under $150 shipped. If it doesn't work out there's always a mom out there willing to use used diapers that I could pass them along to. If you want to know the brand it is Sunbaby and all the reviews I've read on the new 4.0 version are fantastic; most everyone says they love them better than BumGenius, FuzziBunz and other name brands.

I already bought a few packs of disposables to use so I at least have those.

I just read an article about the chemicals used in disposables which is what kind of freaked me out. Cloth diapers today aren't like the ones used in the past; they have velcro (most people say avoid those I'm finding) and others use snaps (which is what the ones I want have). They're also made from different material than the fold-and-pin diapers of days old.

Chantal - I think it'd be gross to change someone else's child's cloth diaper but I think with my own I'd be totally fine. I've accidentally gotten their poo on my hands more times than I care to admit and it never once made me gag or feel grossed out. But if I got a little family member's poo on my hand? Or a friend's kid's poo on my hand? I think I'd throw up! LOL! Weird how that works.

As far as washing goes - I'm a stay-at-home-mom. Some of you said you wouldn't want to do cloth because you work. I cannot imagine working AND keeping up with a house. Since I'm already here all day and most of the time bored out of my mind it wouldn't be too much extra work for me (I think and hope, ha ha!). And because cloth is what we'd have on hand it would be a matter of having to wash and dry, which I would most likely do right after putting the kids to bed. Throw a load in (I'd probably soak diapers in a wet pail so I could wash them quicker), do something else while they're washing and then hang them up to dry (recommendation is to not put the outer part of the diapers in the dryer to avoid damaging snaps; just put inserts in dryer).

Ahhh... so much to learn and so much to figure out! I'm so indecisive sometimes. My husband just messaged me on FB, "Do you REALLY want more laundry?" LOL! I think y'all are on the same wavelength. I think it'd be one load every other day so to me that's no big deal since I do laundry every other day as it is.

[NicoleW09]

I wanted to cloth diaper. However, my mom and mil turned me off to it. My Mom cloth diapered my brother back in the mid 80's and his poor bottom was allergic to some chemical in the cloth. IDK the whole details, but it sounded awful. My Mil used them for a little while on DH's brother and she hated them bc they were messy. Plus when we moved into our apt, it doesn't have w/d hookups, so we have to use the laundry facility in our complex and I can't imagine how outrageous that would be to cloth diaper  with those machines. Since it's 2.50 per load.

[AMINOHIO]

This is my third baby and I'm going to try cloth diapers for the first time. We only intend to use them at home though. I don't want to tote dirty diapers with me when we're out, so I'll use disposables then. The kind I got was the All-in-One Bumgenius 3.0. I went with the fitted size instead of the one size fits all. I purchased 20 size Sm to start with. I got them on clearance for $10 each through Cotton Babies. I can't say how well they work, as I've not used them yet. I'm hoping this will allow us to save some money without being too much extra work.

[angela418]

There are definitely pros and cons to consider with cloth and disposable.

I love the environmental aspect of cloth diapers and totally commend people who do use them, but I use disposable for convenience - I just don't want something else to wash.  I feel like I do my part with recycling and what not to help the planet, so I don't feel as guilty having to use disposable.  

I have also heard that the cost of keeping the cloth diapers clean (water bill) doesn't make them as cost-effective or as environmentally friendly (using more water) as would be initially thought.  But, I haven't really done much research on my own to say for sure what the savings would actually be either way.  I am sure overall, cloth does come out cheaper - but if you factor in the time you spend cleaning them, that also adds to the cost in my opinion.

I started with pampers swaddlers and then switched to Luvs - they are cheaper than Pampers and Huggies and work great!  My son can fill that thing up to the max and it doesn't leak - LOL - not that we wait all day to change him, but if he's asleep at night or something like that, it's amazing how well they absorb.  He has also had the least amount of diaper rash using them.

Honestly, the best route to go, is the one that makes you the happiest and that works for your baby (what doesn't cause diaper rash or cause leakage - and those two things are different for every baby and every brand of diaper that you try)! :-)

I do love topics like this, though, that people can share experiences of both sides - it does make me stop to really think about my decision and what would work best for me.

[LosingMyMindInGA]

I voted for disposables but that's only cuz that's all I've ever used. Frankly the thought of cloth diapers and all the work that goes into them scares me LOL.  I just don't have the drive for that kind of thing.  

I would say thought that if you are really willing to put forth that extra effort necessary for cloth diapers...GO FOR IT!!! But personally I would plan to have some disposables to use when out and about just for the sake of convenience.

[jschoch8]

the size is on one of the flaps :)

[mami2karina]

Yeah that would be bad if they get all sweaty.

[Ashelen]

I thought of that but it gets so hot and sweaty here in FL that their diapers usually get a little damp from sweat and I didn't want it to bleed through...but in winter I think it would work lol thanks

[mami2karina]

Ashelen - try opening up the packages and take 2 different colored markers and mark down the middle of each package with one color. I have heard of several people doing that that to tell the difference easier. Like one blue and one red kinda thing and it's just a small line that would never touch baby
Now to answer the OP question! I have only used disposables. I start out with Pampers Swaddlers because they are softer than the Huggies Newborns. Once they get bigger I use Huggies because they absorb better than the Pampers without leaking through and they hold more IMO.

[Ashelen]

haha I agree 7th generation is by far my favorite brand, hands down. however...I found the one problem with them to be that because they DON'T use bleach (which is wonderful), when you have 2 kids in the same house both wearing diapers of a different size...it can get confusing when you put them both in the diaper bag. there's no way to tell the size apart unless you eyeball them and that gets kinda tricky...but I thought it was pretty amusing; I had to put them in separate bags inside of the diaper bag.

[jschoch8]

well i did look into the g diapers as well. they have disposable inserts, which the price is comparable to disposable diapers anyway. then i thought about my mom and mother in law who each watch her during the day one day a week and realized they probably wouldnt be thrilled with the idea.

i really love the 7th generation diapers and you can get 30% off through amazon. The dont use bleach and are very soft.

[Ashelen]

we use disposables...always have and probably always will. our washing machine situation was a pain in the butt when Kahlan was born (i.e. we didn't have one and had to use family machines) so it was never an option..and to be honest, as much as I'm an environmentalist and really hate trashing the planet, disposables work a lot better for me. I do prefer to use the more cloth-like ones like huggies lil' movers, 7th generation, the huggies naturals, etc...I don't like the more plasticy ones like pampers, although the pampers swaddlers (i think that's what they're called? the ones for newborns?) are AWESOME.l

[jenkaye21]

I am planinng to use a cloth/hybrid diaper if (when) I have another baby.  The kind with a cloth cover and a disposable liner, like the gDiaper maybe. Never have and want to try it. :0)

[wannabeamommy0124]

i am going to say its probably due to my age and convenience but i will probably never use clpth... i just havent had experience with them and i would most likely have a hard time with them... plus the ongoing laundry just wouldnt work.. i already have a hard time getting everything at home done, much less washing diapers... its a great idea though it def saves money if you are willing to put the time into it...

[marisol_jose]

Myy husband and I never put thought into cloth ones . Mainly bc we won't have time to wash them due to being at work and what not

[dtravis87]

when we have our little girl we are going to be using disposable for several reaons....easier when they are being watched by a grandparent,aunt,friend,daycare etc since we dont have a diaper service anymore like they used to when my mom was a kid theres no worry about trying to wash them and putting all of that extra detergent and what not into the water AND never having to worry about what would happen if all the clean ones are gone and not having to worry about what im going to do with a poopy diaper when we are out somewhere and on another note when i worked in daycare we had a child whose parents used cloth diapers and as cute as the outside was the inside always looked kinda gross (stained etc) and since we couldnt wash them by the end of the day there would be a bag of the diapers the didnt smell the best.

[chantal21]

I use disposables for convenience. My mom used cloth diapers with my little brother and as a young teenager I had the lovely job of cleaning the poopy ones off and soaking them. lol
I was kinda turned off by it at that age, BUT if I ever had to use them, I would. My one son for a little while was getting diaper rashes really bad and I thought of switching to cloth if it didn't stop. I'm not against them, just personally I find it hard enough to find enough time in the day to get regular laundry done and keep up the house and kids, I just don't want to add to my already crazy schedule.  Maybe one day I will try them!! :)

[tryingfor1sttime815]

You might want to look into G diapers.  They are refillable cloth diapers (kind of like using a maxi pad) they are better on the environment and you have the ease of disposable.  Never compared prices so not sure how expensive they are.