advice on cloth diapers

[frigga]

So with my third on the way, I think I'm going to do cloth diapers...but there's sooo many out there now!
Does anyone have any advice for me or particular brands that worked well for you?
A diaper service isn't available in my city so that's out of the question.
Are they comfortable for baby, meaning do they breathe well? Is diaper rash a bigger problem?
I'm so curious, any info is welcome! :kooky:

[Rockprincess]

I've been looking into them too. What I ended up with were cotton flanellete squares that you put on the baby, and then a plastic velcro cover over top. By general consensus on my other boards, they work best.

The all-in-ones look convenient, but they're hard to wash and they leak around the legs (or so I'm told).

[Ceres]

Rockprincess has good information, thats was exactly my experience too. Only I didnt think to look on any boards ;) Old fashioned squares with pins (dont worry, it takes a bit of practice, but you get the hang of it) with the velcro diaper covers. TIP: the pins sometimes wont penetrate the fabric, but if you run the end of the pin through your hair (even clean wet hair) and then push it throught he diaper, it slides right in. I also never soaked the diapers before washing them and only bleached them once in a blue moon. Oh, and dont use fabric softener on them, it makes them less absorbent.

[Seren_]

I'm looking into cloth nappies too. Bambino Mio seem to be a well-recommended brand but they're pre-shaped and I hadn't heard about the leakage problems, so I might reconsider. I'm not keen on the more traditional terry-towelling nappy, since anything more complicated means hubby has more of an excuse to avoid certain tasks...

You can get liners for cloth nappies that help keep moisture away from baby's bottom, and will (in theory) make it a bit less messy for changing number twos. You just take the liner out and it should keep most mess away from the cloth nappy itself, which means less soaking. I say in theory because some nappies can be quite atomic until baby goes onto solids (not having had any before, I wouldn't know)...We'll see :D

As far as nappy rash goes, most studies show that there is no more or less a risk of getting it with either kind of nappy (though as with everything baby related I've found conflicting information). At the end of the day, provided, with both types of nappy, you make sure baby's bottom is nice and dry and has a chance to breathe, a rash is easily avoided. Most of the time, anyway.

One thing I have read though is that in the first week or two, most midwives recommend using disposables. If you're going to be in hospital for any length of time they're more convenient, and even if you're not, it means less chores for you to do in those first few days or so while you're recovering.

There are more environmentally friendly nappies available that do biodegrade - my sister works for a shop that sells them, so she's going to sort me out with some. They're more expensive than normal nappies, but if your conscience is pricking then they're worth it for a short while. She did tell me the brand name, but I've forgotten...

[Ceres]

I used disposibles in the first days too - mostly because that black meconium they poop out at first stains and is hard to wash off - its like tar. I also used disposibles if I was going someplace where it would be hard to cart around the used diapers or if a leak would be a real problem. We went through a jumbo pack of disposible diapers about once every three monthes.

[equinox2]

For our first baby we used cloth (with occasional disposables for trips and such), for our second we used natural disposables.

First, I’ll support several things others have said. If you use cloth, then be sure to use liners. Then are better for the baby and greatly reduce the amount of poop that goes into your washing machine. Second, if you use cloth, have some disposables for trips, visits to relatives, the baby’s first few weeks, etc. Third, for those disposables, use the ones that are all natural – no gel. They are called “Tushies”, and can be delivered to your house. Their website is www.tushies.com.

OK – now for the optional part (take it or leave it). We went to all disposable tushies for our second baby for several reasons. 1. – changing the cloth took more work. 2. the cloth sometimes leaked and needed to be changed more often. 3. I didn’t like the fact of all that poop going through the same washmachine we use for our clothes. The liners helped, but still….. The biggest factor was this one: 4. After closer thought, I wasn’t sure I was helping the environment with cloth. This is a little longer, so here goes. With cloth, the extra washing used a lot of water and energy – both bad for the environment, especially with our wasteful American washers (European washers are much better) The extra energy makes global warming worse, especially since our area isn’t nuclearly powered, so fuels must be burned to make that energy, releasing more CO2 into the air. With the tushies disposables, no artifical gels were used, and the bulk of the diaper is cotton batting/wood pulp. This the carbon in this stuff got there because the plant used CO2 to make it – thus taking CO2 out of the air and reducing global warming (perhaps the biggest environmental threat). Taking all these into account, I’m not sure which is a bigger effect, and I wonder if the environmental “benefit” of using cloth isn’t either small or actually negative. :noway:

Cloth was a little cheaper, until we figured in the value of our extra time in additional changes, soaking, washing, drying (more energy), “assembling” and such.

I think I got everything that went into our decision to stop using cloth and use just disposable Tushies.

Anyway – good luck with whatever you decide.

May your child see the wonder of nature-

[11thBliss]

I highly recommend a service - if you can find one. There is little to no extra labor involved. Just plop the dirties in the bucket, and the service picks them up once a week and drops off fresh ones. A service is better for the environment too, since they are washed in industrial machines specifically designed for the task, using less energy.

We use the prowraps found here:
http://www.dy-dee.com/index.html

No pins needed! Just put cloth in wrap and slap on child. I think the site also has an index to help you find a service in your area, and information on the environmental impacts, etc.

We use the Tushies during vacations and long outings. We have never had a problem with diaper rash. Not even once.

[frigga]

Wow! LOTS of great info here, thank you soooo much! I"ve gone the natural disposal route with my current toddler and ouch..my pocket book is still feeling the emptiness!! But I will be sure to look into tushies, I've used 7th generation, mainly because my uncle is in marketing there!
I've also thought about the energy and water used to do all the washing and remembered that it takes twice as much to produce regular diposables, and then your also adding in trees and all the chemical additives. It's hard though, the lesser of two evils I guess! :goodgrief

[Isabella LeCour]

A few other thoughts I wanted to add.

My mother used cloth cotton diapers with my younger sisters. I'm not sure of the brand but she used diaper pins with them. It takes a bit to get used to using them. I know I was always a bit nervous changing their diapers then. I was only eleven at the time.

My mom would change the diaper, clean them up and put new one on. After that she'd rince the diaper in the toilet. So I don't know why poop would end up in the washer if you do this step. Just make sure you don't have any toilet cleansers in the tank. She also kept a diaper pail that was filled with water, bleach and a bit of borax. The diapers would sit in that pail until she was ready to wash. The pail never smelled like poop, just bleach.

As to diaper rashes, my sisters never had one. I think in part because my mom always changed them right after they soiled the diaper. She had always thought it was a bit neglentent to leave a dirty diaper on them. She never had any liners either. But that was in the '80's and I don't think liners were well know then.

When the girls got older and were ready to potty trained, it went very well. They already knew poop goes in the toilet first and they more than willing to place it there themselves!

I'm going to be following this method when I have kids myself.

Hope this helps, Isabella

[noeyjeanne]

I love my fuzzi bunz. they cost more but if you go to nurtured famli they sell them with a free soaker and free shipping after you spend $75. I thought it seemed like a lot of money but you can sell them on ebay when your done and get most of your money back.

They are so soft my kids love them.

[wolf]

A friend of mine's children had nothing but cloth diapers on their butts! They are absolutely much more economical and aren't any more difficult to deal with. Rather than pins my friend used "diaper wraps" to secure them, which worked very, very well.

[~Anamorata~]

Used the Tushies ones myself, and also had the disposables for trips and such...worked very. I plan on doing that this time,also.