Cloth Diapering - Portland,OR

We cloth diapered our youngest (now 2.5yrs old). Contrary to the other response you've gotten -- my primary reason for doing it was to reduce the amounts of chemicals my daughter was exposed to. But can say we invested in a HE washer with all natural soaps and line dried our diapers most of the time, which I believe helped reduce our consumption of natural resources.

That being said, I found that I really liked pockets and regular old school pre-folds for the most part. My favorite pocket was the "Pocket Change" simply for the ease of stuffing the pocket and there is also no need to un-stuff it before putting it in the pail. I never really found the love of fitted and covers, either.

A great site to ask questions on is www.diaperswappers.com

E.

Most of this has been said but just coming from another mom's experience: I started out using Tidee Didee and the prefolds with covers. Then at 5 months I decided to go with pocket diapers and got 1/2 Bum Genius and 1/2 Fuzzi Bunz. Later on a bought some Bum Genius AIO's (by mistake). If I had to do it all over again I would have just used the Bum Genius pocket diapers from the start (and saved some money). The main difference between the AIO's and the pocket diapers is that the Bum Genius pockets are one size fits all so you just have to buy them once while if you went with AIO's you'd be buying different sizes. Having to pull the pocket out and reinsert after washing is a pain and more time consuming but I do agree that they are easier to dry (take less time in the dryer) that way. My boy grew out of the Fuzzi Bunz way ealier than the weight specifications indicated he would. Not sure why so I guess it depends on the baby. Pockets are great for night because you can stuff two inserts in and not have to change it all night and get no leaks! The Bum Genius' while a big investment initally, come out to be quite cheap if you start early enough and use for two kids.

I use Bummi's and then a prefold with them. The cover is reusable until it is soiled (which happens about once a day). I also do elimination communication. It is pretty obvious with my kids when they are pooping so I really try to get them on their potty for bowel movements.

With the Bummi's I use two prefolds and change them about every 2 hours depending on how much liquid they are drinking. I like the fact that once the cover is wet I can hang it to dry and reuse it later in the day. For my 2 kids I have 10 covers. This lasts me 2 days. I also have 6 dozen prefolds which lasts me about 3 days so there is always extra prefolds if we are having a bad day in the dipes.

I hope that helps. There is a good website: www.punkinbutt.com that sells several different types of cloth diaper systems but also has a number of good articles to ready about cloth diapering.

Good Luck.

S.

I don't know if AIOs are actually better. They usually come in different sizes so you have to replace them as your child grows. We use G's and BumGenius 3.0 pockets. G's are great if you will be out and about because they easily flush down most public toilets. We have 10 Bums and we wash them about every 2-3 days. Now that I've got the washing routine down that works for our machine it's pretty simple and I don't feel like I'm wasting too much water. Good luck in your search for the perfect sustainable diapering for your family:) Thanks for keeping those plastic diapers out of our landfills!

I haven't used the g-diapers but it surprises me that you don't have to wash covers during big poop excursions. One good thing about the bum genius or pocket style diapers is that you can stuff them with as much absorber material as you need. Compared to the AIO's which you can only use once as well, they dry much faster. You do have to put out the insert prior to washing but then you know that you will get everything clean. AIO's can be a little more difficult to clean as well. Prior to using just pockets - we used Tidee Didee service. This was good because all the dirty diapers went into a bag that then went to Tidee to wash. Problem with this and my big pooper is that I had to wash covers alot of the time.

Good luck.

Hi A.,

First I want to respond to Michelle S.'s statement. While it is true that diaper for diaper, the resources used are the same, that is where the similarities differ. A child in disposable diapers will use enough diapers to fill an entire 3,000 square foot house. A child in cloth diapers will reuse his diapers hundreds of times and many times those diapers are passed down to the next child. And when they can no longer be used as diapers, they are still great as rags. In terms of washing, the first year many mothers wash their baby's clothes and diapers all together therefore they nearly negate the washing issue since babies create a lot of laundry anyway. And the majority of cloth diaper parents will use a HE washer and dryer and earth friendly detergents reducing contaminates and waste as well. Another factor to be considered is the fact that most cloth diapered children potty train on average a year earlier than disposable diaper children. And last, cloth diapers are filled with chemicals which can burn or create diaper rashes and in the case of boys, studies are linking an increase in infertility in boys who wore disposable diapers as children. So while it is true that making a cloth diaper and making a disposable diaper have similar impacts on the environment, that is where the similarities stop.

In regards to types of diapers. A good point was made about pockets vs AIO's. A pocket can be separated and washed and dried quickly. You can even air dry them even in Oregon's cold wet environment. An AIO must be dried in the dryer unless it's a nice sunny day, then you can air dry it. And over time, I have found that some AIO's particularly ones made with hemp start to develop a smell issue and they need a serious cleaning to remove the odor which could be from detergent buildup or bacteria buildup, both of which could cause diaper rash so they need to be cured.

Many moms love the gDiapers, but some sources have said the inserts have been found in the river systems and have not broken down during the sewage treatment stage, so many parents are concerned about that. But if you like the convenience of the cover and the insert, you can always use a hemp insert which many of my customers have reported works a lot better and is trimmer in the fit. Or you can switch to a number of other types of covers and diapers. I have some wonderful article on my website that go over all of the different diapers and covers that you might find useful. I have used them all and would be happy to go over the pros and cons of each type that I discovered.

A.
www.punkinbutt.com

"A four-year study by the British Environmental Agency (BEA) on the impact of cloth and disposal diapers, released in 2004, generated much debate when it concluded that the environmental impact of both types of diapers was nearly the same when you factored in the washing and drying of cloth. The results were an embarrassment to the British government, which was in the midst of a multimillion-dollar campaign to promote cloth nappies.

The BEA's results were in line with a 1992 study, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, the makers of Pampers. Procter & Gamble, along with Kimberly-Clark (another leading disposable-diaper manufacturer), touted the BEA's study as proof that disposable diapers are not as harmful to the environment as once thought."