Cloth Diapers If Mom Works Full-Time?

I also worked full-time when my kids were in diapers. I just used cloth diapers at home - in the evening and on weekends. That still saves on natural resources and I think it really helped my boys to very easily potty train since they can feel the wet in the cloth diapers. I also used the cloth training pants with my boys as the pullups still feel like diapers (my oldest was fully potty trained at 2 and my youngest by 3, including being dry at nite). I doubt you could find a daycare that would let you use cloth diapers, just from the sanitation perspective, it would not be something I'd want to do. It's manageable at home with a good diaper pail. I also used some liners (very thin) when I anticipated a BM - that made cleanup much easier.

You might also consider other ways you can save on landfill trash - using dish towels/clothes rather than paper towels, recycling everything you can (lots of churches and schools have bins for paper/cardboard), buying reusable shopping bags, minimizing purchases of highly packaged products such as takeout pizza, etc. By doing these things, my family of 3 barely fills our large trash can half full on a weekly basis, along with two recycle bins full of cans and bottles, whereas I see neighbors with 2 trash cans full and no recycle bin.

I don't know about daycare because I stay home with my little one, but I will say the EASIEST diapers to use are cloth diapers called all-in-ones. We use the bumgenius brand http://www.bumgenius.com/. They are all one piece so I just take it off her and put it in my bin if it is wet. If it is dirty I just dump the solid in the toilet. I do a combo of disposable and cloth and wash them every other day. They do take a LONG time to dry but other than that, I have no complaints!

I will say also, however, that I have done a lot of reading that says that the extra energy and water required to do cloth diapering doesn't make them all that much more earth friendly. So don't feel too bad if it doesn't work out for you :-)

I just finished reading an article from the April issue of Parents magazine where they discussed cloth vs. disposable. It gave a few suggestions on cloth diapers you could try. But it also cited research studies that concluded that the cloth diaper cleaning process is no better for the environment than disposables.

I love the other post that offered other things you can do to minimize landfill waste. Since I started recyling years ago, I have been amazed at all that really can be recycled. Plus, my 2 year old is already learning what can and can't be recycled! That's something for a mom who is concerned about what they can do to help the environment to be proud of!

some cloth diapers the magazine mentioned: Good Cloth and gDiaper

I work ft, too, and also do cloth diapers on the weekends and when we're at home--whenever we aren't on the go.

there are also some more "green" diapers although i forget the name, they are of course more pricey but break down easier & faster...i do cloth diaper but only when we're at home

Your daycare might be more open to using gDiapers. If they won't, then the next best choice would be to pick a green brand in hopes that they will break down as promised. I only worked part-time with my daughter so my child care center was willing to use the pocket diapers. (This meant as soon as I got home I had to separate the insert from the cover. I didn't complain because I felt like they were at least working with me.)

Great job on being willing to cloth diaper nights and weekends. I have another one on the way and will cloth diaper him. I think I'll try out the contour diapers this time to eliminate some of the prefold bulk. It costs more, but they seem much trimmer.

Even 6 years ago when my daughter was little, diaper covers had improved from what our parents had to deal with. And no pins... for some reason the naysayers all think you have to use diaper pins.

Give your Mom a hug. How cool of her to watch the grandbaby even temporarily.

Unsolicited opinion: I love how the diaper companies pay for the studies and conclude that disposables aren't any worse for the environment than cloth. Even if you have an inefficient washer and use the dryer every time, you are still not filling the landfill with diapers that take 500+ years to break down.

With my daughter, I got some Fuzzi Bunz (aka pocket diapers). As long as I left them prestuffed, my husband had no gripes about using them. He actually bragged a bit to other dads about how environmentally friendly we were... I think we also like the upfront investment taking care of our diapering costs for several months... until baby needed the next size up.

Experiment and tweak. Several web sites offer sampler packs where you can try different covers, a few pocket diapers, and some all-in-ones. I know several moms love the all in ones, but I had a harder time getting them cleaned. In retrospect, I may have had the wrong detergents for All in Ones.

Hi L.,

I know it's been a while since you posted this, but I just wanted to let you know that there is now a diaper service in Rockwall. With a service, you can use cloth and not have to spend the time washing. If the daycare allows, some of the diapers can be delivered there.

A.
www.greenbabydiaperservice.com