Disposable Vs. Clothe Diapers

Hi L.,

A REALLY great resource is zannadu.com. Joanne Sarkar runs it and can answer all of your questions. PLUS she does 'diaper' parties. While you cannot purchase the diapers at these parties, she will show you everything that's out there. It's very informational and can be a bit overwhelming as I'm sure you can tell from searching online. She's a great resource.

E. P.

L.,
Check out zannadu.com. The woman that owns the company gives workshops on cloth diapering once a month in Framingham. I went and learned so much! I ended up buying these super awesome ones called Bumgenius that adjust to grow with your baby. I also learned about the Snappi which is this cool fastener for using the traditional gauze cloth diapers. Unfortunately we have yet to get ourselves a washer and dryer so I haven't tried them out yet but I am really looking forward to using them. (My baby's only a month old so I have pleanty of time to use them) I highly suggest you attend a workshop since there are so many options it can be overwhelming trying to figure out for yourself. Also, don't let anyone try to talk you out of using cloth. Its one of the easiest way to do something good for the environment, especially since in the US alone 50 million disposable diapers go into landfills every day. Good luck!

We've been using cloth diapers for my daughter since birth (now 19 months) and have loved it... we don't use a diaper service mostly because we have a washer/dryer in our kitchen, and not a lot of service options here in gloucester. also, I don't know what the services use to clean the diapers and rather have control over it myself. Washing the diapers is deceptively easy... I'm more than happy to share my method(s) if you're interested. During the newborn months we used your basic "prefolds" with homemade wool covers. When my dd started solids (around 7 months) we switched to using "fitted" diapers with imse vimse covers (we like kissaluvs and bumgenius bamboo fitted). FYI, we also tried bummis covers but we found that they start to have the pee stink much quicker than the imse vimse covers. We also have a stash of "pocket" diapers that my husband uses on the weekends (they're a bit pricier but easier to put on / take off bc they work like a disposable). We like fuzzi bunz and bumgenius, and have some "double-stuffed" with an extra hemp stuffer for more absorbancy. ALSO for days out, vacation, and day care, we use gdiapers - just go to gdiapers.com and you'll see what they're about. It means we don't come home with a diaper bag full of dirty cloth diapers and its the most environmentally friendly option.

I will confess that when dd was about 10 months we switched to using a disposable at night - we couldn't find a cloth alternative that kept her dry enough all night, but we didn't explore EVERY cloth option either. We were so desparate to sleep! Its been good to have a stash of disposables in the house (and a few in the car) for those unplanned changes.

When we were preggo, we went to one of the zannadu diaper workshops and it was AWESOME and i've ordered some of our supplies from her website. I strongly reccomend attending the workshop, because its free and NOT a sales pitch and SO informative. One thing her website offered (at least a year ago) is to order prewashed prefolds (it cost about $.25 extra per diaper). VERY worth it.

Biggest piece of advice that the diaper websites don't often mention - if you're going to go with cloth, and you can order the diapers while you're still preggo, do it. Order at least what you'll need for the first 3-6 months and be prepared to do diaper washing for a solid weekend to prep the diapers. The diapers all need pre-washing before you use them for the first time and, depending on the fabric, some of them need a half dozen cycles to get all the natural oils out so they're truly absorbant.

Anyways, i'm more than happy to answer any other questions you may have, and here are some of my favourite diaper sites:
cottonbabies.com cottontailbaby.com zannadu.com katieskisses.com jilliansdrawers.com wildflowerdiapers.com gdiapers.com

Good luck!

i have alwasys used cloth diapers always

I have been using cloth diapers for my son since he was born and they are sooo much easier than everyone assumes.
One very easy option is to find a diaper service. before the birth someone will come to your house, show you how to use them and leave you with a huge stack of clean diapers! Notify them when to start coming to pick them up. They will start picking them up every week on a certain day, you just leave a bag outside your front door usually. They supply you with a bin, similar to a trash can. it only costs about 15 dollars a week but you have to sign up for a month to start. When they pick up the bag they leave a fresh bag. You can always call to change how many you get delivered (which lowers the price too, eventually you'll need less). Using a diaper service makes cloth-diapering as easy as disposables, but still cheaper!
THe kind of diaper the service will provide you with are called pre-folds. they have an extra layer in the middle. there are different ways to fold them (they will demonstrate for you) if you are using this kind of diaper you should use a diaper cover the most popular brands are bummis and imse vimse.
there is another kind of "all-in-one" cloth diaper which is basically a diaper cover with a lot of lining. I dont know that any diaper service uses those but some people think it's easier to just throw the whole diaper in the wash.
if you're using diaper covers, sometimes they get poop on them and you can just wash them off with a little water and soap and hang them to dry (they dry pretty quickly) usually having 4 or 5 is enough.
if you're nursing the poop will actually be pretty odorless and as they get older and you start feeding them other foods there are liners you can buy that you can toss in the toilet and flush.
if you decide to wash them yourself get a similar flip-top bin and wash them once a week. first do a cold wash with baking soda and some kind of oxygen bleach, like biokleen or oxobrite (wholefoods) and normal detergent. then do a second wash with hot water and the same three. always dry them for about 15-20 minutes past the time they're actually dry because it helps sanitize them. the sun is even better if you have somewhere to leave them outside in the summer.
i used a diaper service the first few months and it really makes your life easier. i would definitly recommend it for the first month when all you'll want to do is be with your baby. i was reluctant to try doing it myself and then found it was so easy. the diaper service won't let you keep their diapers.
an EXCELLENT place for supplies and more information on doing cloth diapers is Hatched in Jamaica Plain. visit hatchedboston.com for their hours and address. I highly recommend the diaper service I had which is called changing habits (changinghabits.com i think)
most people choose disposable because they think they're easier but they usually havent tried cloth first.
one last thing: bummis makes great bags for wet diapers which you'll need if you decide to use them when you're out.
hope that helps!

Hi L.,
I recommend Hatched Boston store in Jamaica Plain. www.hatchedboston.com. They have all organic baby clothing as well as large selection of cloth diaper items. Staff if very helpful and knowledgeable. I use Imse Vimse and Bummies cloth diaper covers and any kind of cloth diapers inside, even the gerber ones from Target. You can order Imse Vimse and Bummies online as well. Good luck!
J.