Considering Switching to Cloth Diapers

I use G Diapers, they're great, never had any problems,never had to replace anything in 3 years now.
and they sell a disposable insert

i use a prefold insert, and save the diposable for traveling,

here's the link
http://www.gdiapers.com/

All in One Diapers and pocket diapers are more expensive but the easiest. Fuzzi Buns are great cloth pocket diapers and the poop shakes right out into the toilet.
Good luck!

The daycare probably won't touch them, which is ridiculous! They shouldn't potty train kids if they're terrified of a little poo.

This is a great trial kit...http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/cdcm.html
You get...
Diapers
1 Thirsties Fab Fitted
2 Bleached Chinese Prefolds
1 Fuzzi Bunz
1 bumgenius One-Size Pocket
1 Thirsties Pocket All-In-One
1 bumgenius One-Size All-In-One

Covers
1 Imse Vimse Cover

Accessories
1 Snappi

You keep what you like, send back the rest or ALL and the cost is just $10 plus the cost to ship it back which shouldn't be much since the store is in Ithaca. You'll get to try several types and see what works best for your little one. Cloth diapering is the best! diaperswappers.com is a great resource and place to find CUTE dipes. Good luck!

to clarify, NO the added expense of doing one extra load of laundry every other day with an extra rinse, and one extra dryer cycle of the longest time DOES NOT equal the negative effects disposables have on the environment. the trees cut down(yes trees are used in making diapers), the harmful chemicals used, the fact you are NOT supposed by LAW to dispose of human feces in the garbage(how many people dump the poop in the toilet before throwing a disposable out), the amount of energy the plants use to manufacture, the amount of gas that is used to get these products to the stores. but of course the most important fact is "2500: Early 21st-century disposable diapers will finish biodegrading"
FYI-"2006: American babies wear 3.6 million tons of disposables, constituting 2.1% of municipal waste." this is not good. i dont understand how someone can say oh well at least you arent using that extra water. i have a front loader for goodness sake. the amount of water is nothing and water is renewable. these statements about water usage are usually made by people who didnt do the research and have no idea just how bad disposables are. there was a show that had figures to show how disposables effect the earth negatively, and it was pretty bad, but the really bad part was the show only used numbers for 4 disposable a day. i have never used only 4 disposables in one day, so the numbers were really much worse.
the other benefits are having more natural or at least non chemical materials next to baby. babies are changed more by mom, and babies potty train faster. cloth also helps many babies who have sensitive skin or rash issues, as well as can save lots of money(even with the added water). and the actual internal temperature is less hot in cloth diapers than in disposables.

now that i got that out:) i would suggest getting aio-all in ones for daycare, bring them in and show them. daycares are hesistant. you would bring them a wetbag and all they do is take it off, put it in the bag, and put a new one on just like a disposable. then you just bring them home and wash them. if they had to rinse im sure they would say no way. if they say its against the law, i would look into your states laws about daycare and cloth diapers. there is usually mention of safe practices to be followed.
look on diaperswappers.com and diaperpin.com(they have a review section of some brands). at home, use whatever you like. do cold rinse, hot wash, and extra rinse. experiment with detergents, you will only need a small amount of detergent. just enough to get clean without leaving any buildup(i use a tablespoon of tide). never use fabric softener. put them in the dryer but also line drying can be great. if you get a stain, lay it in the sun and it comes out. invest in a diaper sprayer to make it easy for your transition poop of the 5 month old. it really is so easy, and it makes doing an unpleasant thing(changing a diaper) actually somewhat enjoyable and less guilty.
once you start, you realize its no more work, you never have to worry about having diapers, and you can feel good about leaving less of an imprint on the planet you are leaving your children, hopefully you will raise them to feel the same. good luck, im not an EXPERT, but write me if you have any questions!

I did cloth diapers on and off for 3 kids over the course of 5 years. Personally I used both motherease and fuzzibunz. They are both great. Fuzzibunz actually seemed to be a little slimmer and seemed slightly more user friendly, but the motherease seemed to contain more and when they were pre-mobile, seemed less likely to leak. But not to worry, I would have far fewer 'blow-outs' with cloth than disponsibles. As for washing, I would put soiled diapers in a waterproof bag or closed garbage pail, and every couple of days just throw the whole load into the washer and wash on super hot with All Free detergent. They would than go into the dryer and 'voila'! With bm's, when they are breastfeeding, you don't have to do a thing. Once they are older and the bm's are harder, it is best to put as much in the toilet as possible (but I did not 'swish' them around IN the toilet). What made things easier was to have the rice paper slips of paper to 'line' the diaper - then if there was a bm, you could just throw the whole thing in the toilet. if it was not soiled but just wet, you could throw it in the wash along with the diapers and actually re-use it.

Hope this helps. Feel free to email me directly if I can answer additional questions. As a matter of fact, I have some diapers I am looking to sell, so if you are interested, let me know. You can also consider buying diapers at diaperswap.com, as it makes the initial investment much easier to swallow. But keep in mind, it might feel a little expensive up front, but over the long haul you will save a lot of money and really be helping the environment!

Well I have been using cloth on my son for about 6 mths now. I use prefolds, pins, and Gerber pants. With the prefolds I never have to use bleach. When his diaper is yucky I dump what I can into the toilet and flush it down. All diapers get put into a container and washed together every 2 days. The pants I just wash with the rest of my son's clothes. I dry the diapers in the dryer and the pants I air dry. I also make my own cloth wipes and have a small spray bottle with water and sometimes a little baby bath in it to spray onto the wipes.

I am sure you can find what diapers and such will work best for your family. I would go ahead and ask the daycare what they think about having children there in cloth.

Good Luck!!

Just today I dropped off my 7 month son in daycare for the first time (I'm sad) and I dropped off the clothe diapers with him. They said they would take them, although their preference is disposable. But when I dropped them off today they took them with a smile. We've inherited lots of different types of diapers - old fashioned prefolds to the latest styles. For our own use I like Fuzzibunz and BumGenius, but for the day care I am only sending Bumgenuis because they are the simplest to use, especially with a squirmy one like my son. The kind of Bumgenuis we use is 3.0 and it's a pocket diaper. I stuffed them ahead of time and just showed her that you put them on with velcro, exactly like the disposables. We gave them a bag to put all the used diapers in. I will deal with things like flushing a poopy one myself, when he comes home. I also left plenty of 7th generation disposables (which I really like) so that if they felt they needed to use the disposable, they wouldn't feel stressed. Only other request I made was that if they really felt he needed diaper cream, which is rare with clothe diapers, that they put him in disposable when the use the cream. The cream is not creat for the clothe diapers. Too bad about the law in NY that someone else wrote about. That's pretty ridiculous. Anyways, I really like using the clothe, definitely recommend it.

Dear D.,

That's great for your kid and the earth. If you have trouble with your daycare, you can always just use cloth when your daughter is with you. I hope it works out well.

J.

I'm sorry, my kids aren't in daycare so I can't answer that question for you... but wanted to toss in, KUDOS for making a GREEN decision!!! I've used cloth diapers for the past 3 1/2 years for two little girls, if only people knew how easy it is to do! Slightly more work then just tossing a piece of plastic and whatever into the trash.... healthier for the kids butt, and for the environment, NOT to mention how much money I saved?!? Please, I could probably take a vacation with the money I saved. Or maybe two vacations!!! Go for it, good luck, and I hope someone has the answer for you about the procedure for using cloth diapers at daycare!!! I would think, though, that like everything else, the daycare centers have guidelines as to how they must handle cloth diapers, for sanitary reasons. They may roll their eyes when you ask them... but I'm sure they were taught a procedure to follow, legally speaking, for sanitary reasons. I would imagine they cannot say "no, we don't TAKE children in cloth diapers". That would be an odd sort of discrimination! There's got to be some way... I would imagine it has something to do with ziplock baggies, but that's just my guess!?

Cloth diapers are a great choice if you are concerned about the amount of garbage your household produces. Another concern is the amount of energy you use and apparently properly sterilizing cloth diapers uses a lot (hot water, running the washing machine, dryer, ect.), so it really works out to the same thing enviornmentally speaking. Continue using cloth diapers if that's what works for you, but don't feel to bad about the occassional disposable.

Good luck.

Dear Lesley,

My brother and SIL use "G-diapers." They've got reusable rubber(ish) outsides and flushable liners. So they don't do any more environmental damage than adults cause when they go to the toilet. I think these are actually better environmentally than cloth dipes, since the latter need all that washing, often with chlorine bleach. And if you order them in bulk, you can minimize the carbon miles.

We've been using 7th generation disposables for my little guy, and I don't want to introduce a change when we're so close to potty-training age, but if we ever have another baby, I'm definitely going the G-diaper route.

Good luck! If you do try G-diapers, let me know how it goes.

Best,

Mira

Congratulations! Deciding to switch to cloth is a big step, and I'm sure you'll find it's not nearly as hard as it's made out to be! The only "hard" thing is that you will never see a cloth diaper in a major chain (babies-r-us etc) that's worth buying - you're going to have to shop online for this one. You've gotten some great responses, so I'll see if I can add anything to your questions:
1. daycare. Before my son was born I planned on putting him in daycare and asked at the one facility I was interested in. They were very open to it (no hesitation at all) but mentioned that sometimes the cleaning staff accidentally have thrown out cloth diapers thinking they were disposables. That doesn't make any sense to me, but that's what they said! It also meant they had experience with it, so it wasn't out of the blue. I ended up not using daycare, so I can't speak from experience - only what I was told. For that reason, I might suggest sticking with prefolds, 'cause they're not nearly as expensive as an all-in-one (AIO). That being said, AIOs are SO EASY, any childcare provider should be very willing to use them.
2. Brands. I use non-name-brand chinese prefolds, and bumkins & bummis whisper wrap covers. i tried out the fitted's, love the few AIOs I have, and especially love the wool cover, but my son has outgrown all of them and on a price-per basis, I just stuck with the prefolds. I find the regular bummis run smaller than the bummis whisper wraps.
3. Pointers. I would recommend starting with a great super-sensitive detergent (like some of the ones mentioned in previous posts), and then trying out if your children have any reaction. I slowly tried "regular" brands you can find in any store, and my son has had no reaction to the All Free-and-Clear (which - for me - is easier to find). Some babies have more sensitive skin. Also, I have a high-efficiency front loader, and I find that I need to use almost no detergent. Some (of course!) but about 1/4 as much as I do for regular laundry. Any more and it's just a machine full of foam. That wasn't the case with my top-loader (which broke when my son was ~ 9 mo old). So I'd keep an eye on the amount of soap you use until you get a good feel for what your machine likes. Also, get your 2 1/2 year old on the potty! No, it's not too early. Consider investing in some training pants while you're shopping for diapers. (Don't forget cloth wipes!)
The websites mentioned are a fantastic resource.
Good luck! And say goodbye to diaper rashes!

Hi D.,

I'm planning on using Queen Bee Diaper Service, and the G diaper to supplement any possible issues, such as day care centers that may not want to wrap up my diaper in a ziplock bag for me. Good luck and let us know what the day care says when you bring it up.

I could write a book, but I'll spare you and give you links instead ;)

www.greenmountaindiapers.com is a great place for dipes and research. There is a yahoo group affiliated with them where you can ask other mama's dealing with the same things what they do!

www.diaperswappers.com is a great source to search for used dipes from other mama's at a great price!

Try lots of different things. Read lots before you buy. What are you gonna be washing in, with etc. All cotton is easiest to clean, wool is great for covers.

Feel free to email me if you have questions.

Good luck mama and YAY for cloth!!!

I love fuzzibunz for older babies. You can get the size medium for your 5 month old and they will fit for a long time. My 16 month old is still in that size and I think she will be until we potty train completly (we do elimination communication too)

So you got great advice about brands but I didn't see any about washing.

Do a cold rinse cycle to prevent staining. Wash with soap (1 oz) on hot. I recommend Allen's Naturally soap. It's great for diapers. Do an extra rinse cycle to make sure the soap is all gone. Hang in the sun which bleaches them naturally or dry in the dryer. DON'T use bleach or fabric softener.

I've found cloth to be super easy and convienient. I fail to see how a daycare would have a problem with it. The only difference is that they put the diapers in a bag for you to take home and wash versus putting them in the trash.

Go For It! Cloth Diapers are great. Environmentally friendly, Better For Baby and easier on the walet!
When my husband and I are home we use prefolds with a snappy fastener and a prowrap or wool cover, but if someone new to cloth diapering is watching her ( babysitter or daycare) we put her in an All-in-one ( Kushies Brand) or pocket diaper ( We like Happy heinies). They go on like a disposable so it is easier for whoever is watching her. You might even find that your older child starts potty training because they will feel wet and want to change.

Best of luck!

You're right, things have changed dramatically! They have microfiber now which IMHO is even better than the hemp diapers I used on my last baby. I don't know anything about daycare centers, except that when I used to do daycare in my home I offered parents the option of cloth and I would just put in a bag for them to take home at end of day with baby, unfortunately nobody used cloth but me. I do want to let you know about www.myuseddiapers.com, a new auction site where you can buy gently used diapers to try out different ones and see if you want to go whole hog and buy a bunch of new ones.. better than investing in new first only to find they're not the right fit or you just don't like something about them.

Also check out diaperpin.com for honest reviews on many many diapers.

There is a wonderful website called comfybummy.com where you can start your journey. My favs were the "wraps" you use regular diapers, folded into the waterproof velcroed wraps. Very easy. Also, diaper pails are too small, get yourself a garbage can with a lid, put a stick on deodorizer in the top of the lid and you'll have no problems. Wash in warm water with 20 mule team borax (bleach is too harsh for baby skin) and they come clean. I was a stay at home mom so I can't give you any cloth diaper/daycare advice. Congrats on trying to help the environment.

Val, mom to 2 now almost grown daughters.

Hi D.. I have a 6 week old daughter and I just switched to gdiapers. They are better than cloth b/c you don't have to clean them yourself and diaper services present a huge drain on the environment with the chemicals and electricity they use to clean the diapers. Gdiapers are completely biodegradable (50-150 days). You can flush them, compost them or toss them. Either way they are the best option out there (in my opinion). They have 3 parts to them. The outer cloth cover (diaper), a snap in, breathable core and the absorbent pad (these are a little more expensive but I think it's worth the cost). They are really easy to use. We toss the wet diapers and flush the poopy ones b/c we have a septic system. I know I sound like I have a stake in the company, but I really like them and feel so good about not adding to the massive amounts of diapers that will be around for 500 plus years. Check out their website for all the info. Best of luck.

Many daycares do take cloth diapers, especially the easy ones, like Happy Heinys and bumGenius. They are velcro pocket diapers and really easy to use. Getting a one size diaper would also be a benefit for you because you have 2 children of different ages and sizes. The Happy Heiny one size and the bumGenius are great diapers. They fit most babies from birth to potty training. This means that you don't have to buy different sizes as your baby grows. This is certainly easier on the pocketbook! Good Luck!

C.
Mommy to 3 Wonderful daughters, 9, 7 and 2.5!
www.Timetochangethediapers.com
adorable, affordable cloth diapers and resuable items for babies, kids and Moms!

I know licensed daycares in NY will not allow your child to be in cloth diapers. That made our decision easy (unfortunate though). I have tried g-diapers and liked them okay but with my son they leaked. Working full time with two kids in daycare, it's hard to imagine one could find the extra time for managing cloth diapers. Our family is doing other things to be more green.

hi
i just wanted to recommend checking out mothering magazine for suggestions. they just had a whole article in the last (i think) issue. you can look for them online. good luck!

We used cloth diapers with my son, now 5. I went to 5 daycares in the Danbury area and none of them were even willing to talk about cloth diapers, citing "public health"; they just weren't open to the discussion at all. We used cloth at night and at home, 7th Generation diapers for daycare. I inherited 3 dozen fitted velcro-closure diapers from my SIL and they were amazing. We used wool or Polar Tech diaper covers and had fewer leaks and "accidents" than with any disposable. Biokleen makes an enzyme product that we used to squirt on soiled diapers (after dumping solids into the toilet), then put them into the diaper pail and staining was never an issue.