Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Cloth diapers

A couple of weeks ago, a lady in town was giving away two large boxes full of very gently used cloth diapers for free on freecycle. I was the lucky person who got them all!!

With the new baby, I was already planning on cloth diapering 100% at least while s/he was still only having breastmilk poops, so for about the first 6 to 8 months. But the initial expense of having to invest in more diapers seemed daunting. Getting them for free was a HUGE blessing.



The diapers I got were:

For a newborn baby:
  • 12 Kissaluvs fitted diapers, size 0
  • 1 Baby BeeHinds fitted diaper, one-size
  • 1 Little Beetle fitted diaper, size newborn
  • 12 other fitted diapers, size newborn, that were sewn from prefolds, with 12 matching newborn-size soaker inserts
  • 12 prefolds
  • 1 wool diaper cover, size small
  • 2 Bummis Super Whisper Wrap diaper covers, size newborn
For older babies/toddlers:

There were about 5 dozen diapers, plus I already had a few that I bought myself in years past. I now have more than enough to diaper a baby, and later a toddler. Not that I am planning on the latter, but maybe once I get in the groove of it I'll have a change of heart? Let's just say all our kids LOVE fruits and veggies, and we eat almost 100% whole grain - can you say FIBER? Yep, they go to the bathroom a lot. And it's never an easy clean-up. That + cloth diapers = gag me with a spoon. (Sorry is this is TMI; this is a mommy blog, after all.)

Any tips/links in this area from veteran moms, as well as how to make cloth diapering work in general, would be greatly appreciated!

27 comments:

  1. Oh wow, that is great! You got everything!

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  2. Are you out of your mind!!!?? J/K, but generic diapers are cheap. It's great that you got them for free, though. I do like using cloth diapers once in a while to put off a trip to the store for diapers. My solution for toddlers going to the bathroom too much or having too loose of stools is feeding them homemade biscuits made with...*gasp*...white flour. :)

    R.S.

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  3. Generic diapers are cheap, but we still end up spending about $40/month on them - that's almost $500/year. With two in diapers, it's about $70/month. I figure that in the last 9 years of non-stop diapering, I must have spent about $8000 on diapers and wipes. Even with extra laundry loads, I think cloth would save a lot of money. Especially because it's warm enough here year round to dry them outside on a line instead of in a dryer (more sanitary, and cheaper), and diapers are easy enough to where I can have the kids hang them out.

    All that aside, I really feel bad about diapering the baby's bottom in the toxic materials and plastic that disposables are made of.

    I do still use a lot of white flour. In fact, I just bought another 50 lb bag yesterday, which will last us about 6 months. In contrast, we go through that much whole grains in 6 weeks. Now I'm hungry for fresh biscuits.

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  4. I have a son who has food allergies to just about everything it seems, and so his diapers are generally less than desireable. lol. But we cloth diaper and I use the liners from green mountain diapers that are flushable. If I didn't have those, there is no way I could cloth diaper.

    Blessings,
    sara

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  5. Abraham eats an almost all fruit diet, but he has a pretty set schedule for dirtying his diaper. I just line the cloth diaper with a Viva paper towel.

    Old wash clothes or fleece make great wipes.

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  6. You have hit the cloth diaper JACKPOT! That's awesome! Check out some of these great links for tips on how to survive cloth diapers - it's more of an addiction than a problem! AND - the toddler poop just rolls right out most of the time - but I'd still invest in a diaper sprayer for the 'sticky' days! Good luck!
    www.theecochic.com
    www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com
    www.dirtydiaperlaundry.com
    And if you are on twitter - every Monday night is a #clothdiapers chat AND every Thursday night is a cloth diaper twitter party with @EcoChicParties

    XOXO! The Eco Chic

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  7. Thats awesome, you have all the cloth you need! We love our cloth diapers, and have been so blessed to be able to switch to 100% cloth. My babies have all had rash issues, except for those that have been in cloth!
    Ps. I might be jealous of all your fluff lol Im a total fluff addict!

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  8. Wow!Great find! We CD my 20 month old and I would have it no other way. I love it! I line his with micro-fleece and the poo just ploops right off. We also have a diaper sprayer that is wonderful.

    I can't wait to cd our new little one due in Jan 11!

    Good Luck!

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  9. Of all the other things people claim to hate you for, I may have to hate you for your excellent freecycle find! What an amazing score! I am CD my 3 month old full time and I LOVE it! The money I am saving, plus no chemical, plus no diapers in the landfill, makes me wish I would have made more of an effort with my last one (I had no idea these things even existed my first). Washing and line drying has been a breeze (and I am the laziest person on earth).

    I found the infant to be so easy, I started putting the 2 y/o in cloth. He is a little confused, but he thinks wearing a "superhero" diaper is kind of cool. Now, if only I can get him to think using the toilet is cool...

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  10. I use cloth nappies part time ie at home we use the cloth and out and about the disposables. It has saved me heaps of money! One thing that you might want to look at (and I assuming you can get this over there) is a little squirt. I don't have one but apparently they are awesome. Basically you connect it into your toilet and you squirt off the poo straight into the toilet. I also use a flushable liner if I am pretty sure that there is going to be a poo. Of course, this is when my child is older and I know when a poo is more likely to arrive. So, with the flushable liner most of the poo just drops straight into the toilet. I managed to find some that are also washable so if my child does a wee I can rinse it out, line dry it and reuse again
    And congratulations on the awesome freecycle win! My husband once scored some amazing weight training equipment and just recently I got three garbage bags of boys' clothes sizes 4 - 6 which will do my son for the next few years!

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  11. Cloth diapers adding two tons to an already full laundry load and homeschooling? Yikes.

    There are cheaper alternatives to getting disposable diapers. It's always good to have cloth for back up. Have you tried bidding for eco friendly diapers in bulk at an auction or wholesale site like alibaba?

    Just concerned about the workload. It seems a bit much.

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  12. I have been using cloth diapers 100% of the time since my second son was born. Contrary to popular belief it is much easier than you think!!! If you are concerned about poops- get a diaper sprayer! WE LOVE OURS!!! Also, I used disposables with my first son and had nothing but rashes, and bad ones, he still has scars from them :( But my second son has never had a rash in his life and he's 6 months old. I only wish I had known more about cloth when I had my first baby!

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  13. I have 5 children and am currently cloth diapering our 10 month old twins. Yes, twins! In the Cloth Diapering world you find there are many families CDing multiples. It saves so much money. I do laundry for 7 people and adding the diapers in was not an issue at all. What is it to throw in another load when you already do so many? Plus I can wash the dipes hang them to dry and throw another load in the washer all while one load is in the dryer finishing. The washer is always done before the dryer.

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  14. Ouch on all the anti cloth, buy cheap generic posts- Have clothed 2 out of 4 here myself and have to say it is so super easy it is sickening lol-Once you start it is hard to stop, the money you save, the ease of it and the perks of no chemicals/no landfill damage/how adorable it is : ) With 2 in dipes I was washing 2 loads a week and with one in I usually only have to do 1, and with 50 million other loads already going in, one more load dosent hurt!! Great score, I hope you love cloth diapering as much as I do!!Your family is beautiful

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  15. Great find...I'm jealous! I'd suggest trying to stick to cloth even after the baby starts solids. If you use flushable liners, or have a sprayer, it won't be a hard clean up at all.

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  16. Oh and line drying is amazing for cloth dipes, will ensure no stains at all-We dont even have to rinse ours before washing(BF exclusive) we soak in the washer on cold, then do 2 hot cycles and line dry, clean sweet smelling beautiful dipes(and if they are too crunchy toss in the dryer 5 min to fluff)

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  17. I would def. mention flushable liners for your diapers for older kids. Especially if you may have more "ick" diapers more often. My son has fairly normal diaper messes, and at this point (2 years) they usually just roll out of the diaper.
    The blogs that another mom posted are all great places to check out. I love them! I started CDing my son at 18 months and soon we will begin diapering a newborn full time for the first time. :)
    I still can't believe you got all those diapers for free on your freecycle. I love that group! If only more people CD-ed in my area....

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  18. Wow, thank you all for the many great tips and encouraging comments! I wish I had time to respond to everyone individually.

    I do feel inspired now to try and cloth diaper our currently youngest child, who is going to be 2 soon and still in diapers. I'm thinking it would help me get this issue figured out by the time the new baby arrives.

    A few times in the past I have felt similarly ambitious, but my zeal always took a cold shower as soon as the first poopy diaper came along, and back in the closet the cloth diapers went. I'm thinking rather than buying the next box of diapers, I need to invest in the liners or the diaper sprayer everyone keeps recommending.

    Just wanted to mention that my youngest brother (who is 16 years younger than me) was 100% cloth diapered because disposables would give him the worst rashes. I changed him a lot, and it never stood out to me as being hard or bothersome. I also love the feel of cloth on baby's skin, rather than the dry, crunchy plastic disposables. If I could just figure out how to make it work, I'm sure I would never switch back again.

    We actually have a whole store in town dedicated to cloth diapers and all the supplies necessary. The lady there is super nice, and I'm sure she could help me get set up. I will run up there this week and update you all on how my cloth diaper efforts pan out.

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  19. That is fantastic!! Poopy diapers are no big thing, seriously!! I'll bet you'll bet addicted like the rest of us, and stick with it! :-D

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  20. I cloth diaper twins and don't find it too much at all maybe 4 loads a week of laundry extra.

    You had a great find! Lucky you.

    For toddler poo (mine are 14 months) a diaper sprayer attached to the toilet makes it easy peasey. Many roll off but for those that don't the spray takes care of it like a mini pressure washer in about 45 seconds.

    You will hear lots of people trying to dissuade you, just close your ears to it and stick to it with the cloth. You will be proud you are doing it and your kids will have such cute fluffy bums.

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  21. Score!! What a great find! Cloth diapering is easy! The extra laundry is a piece of cake. You can hang dry them which saves energy and you don't have to worry about folding like you do clothes. Who cares if you have wrinkly diapers?!?!

    I'd much rather do a little extra laundry then lug a stinky bag of trash out of the house!

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  22. Quick update: I made the switch to cloth, thanks to all the tips and encouragement. Thank you all! More details in a separate post in the next couple of days.

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  23. I'm so glad you switched!! I think you will love it. I would DEFINITELY get the diaper sprayer--it makes a huge difference with toddler diapers, I think. And you might want to think about picking up just a couple more covers in the newborn size in case you have "one of those days", if you know what I mean. However--if you can knit or crochet, there are plenty of simple patterns for wool soakers online that you can make.

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  24. Fantastic! Can't wait to hear about the update in a post coming soon!

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  25. I liked cloth diapering well enough and it's great for anyone who can do it.

    My husband made me a diaper sprayer and I use it for other things too. (Makes washing out the potty a breeze).

    If you use cloth diapers, make sure you also use cloth underwear when you go to potty train. :)

    My youngest son had rash after rash in cloth but is great in disposables. Not sure what went wrong as the other two were fine. He does seem a little more high maintenance though.

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  26. I used cloth nappies with my daughter except for on holiday or when there was too much rain to get them dry but I also did Elimination Communication which meant that they didn't get dirty anywhere near as much as would be typical.

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  27. I have cloth diapered my two since the birth of the first, and I'd never even heard of a diaper sprayer. My mother tried to show me some way of rinsing out/squeezing (by hand!) the dirties in the toilet, which involved excessive flushing and touching the nasty stuff :(((

    So I developed a method whereby I take the dirty diaper out of the liner (I use Bummis with snaps), set it into a designated bucket, carry the bucket over to my kitchen sink, pick up the dirty diaper by one end while holding it over the bucket, and use my kitchen sink sprayer to spray the solids down into the bucket. I then empty the bucket into the toilet while holding the rinsed out diaper above the water, over the bucket. After emptying the bucket, I toss the now rinsed diaper down in the bucket and carry it over to the washing machine. This works better if you have better water pressure. I never used cloth diaper liners, but they sound handy.

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