July 7, 2010 8:27 AM
Diapers - cloth or disposable?
Barbara,I know you are terribly busy. Do you have any advice on how to save money on baby things? Specifically, newborn baby things? We are expecting our 5th. I have never used cloth diapers. Do you know if they wash well in a front loader? I am pretty clueless about cloth diapers. I have always thought that the process sounded kind of icky. Have you ever tried them?
Lisa
March 6
Hi Lisa -I used cloth diapers for my first 6 or 7 kids, because I was an environmentalist and wanted to do the right thing. I started with my own, but then went to a diaper service because they could get them cleaner and I was able to afford it at the time.
Also, many years ago disposable diapers were not as well made as they are now.
While living in California I read an article that said cloth diapers were as tough on the environment as cloth - because of power/water/detergents. Experts were saying that if you lived in a part of the country where water was an issue, then you should opt for disposable and if you lived where landfills were an issue, you should opt for cloth.
I cheerfully switched to disposable. By then the disposables were being made to wick the moisture away and so I found my babies no longer had diaper rashes, which they did tend to get with cloth diapers.
I did not have a front loader then. I think the issue with having your own diapers is getting the water hot enough to kill the bacteria.
Do you want me to run this question on the blog and see what other moms can add?
When is the baby due?
love,
barbara
March 14
Lisa's baby is actually due today - July 7 - so ironic that I just found this in my backlog of email. Publishing for Lisa and any other mothers pondering this question.
Your input is VERY welcome!
There is also a very through brand-by-brand analysis - including a comparison chart - at The Moms Dish.
(If you buy cloth diapers, please consider purchasing them through my Amazon link :)
Comments
Speaking from the experience of cloth diapering twins, I have found that cloth diapers and a front-loading washing machine are not a good mix. The front loader just does not have the volume of water needed to rinse away the poop and detergent thoroughly and as a result, odor tends to accumulate in the diapers. Ick. I found that I was having to double wash my cloth diapers with a front loading machine, which totally blows any cost savings and environmental impact considerations out of the water. Bottom line, I ended up switching to disposable. If you don't change your baby the moment he gets wet (today's disposable diapers can hold A LOT of urine and still keep baby's skin dry) you can reduce the number of diapers you are using and therefore minimize cost and environmental impact.
Posted by: Kristen | July 7, 2010 10:11 AM
Hi Lisa. Congratulations on your new little one. I use cloth diapers so thought I'd share what I've learned. We have a front loader washer which I actually prefer to a top loader... the diapers come out cleaner. I just send them on the hottest wash cycle and hang dry. If it's an especially icky load I do a cold rinse first. You only need the tiniest amount of detergent so no big extra cost there. I know cloth dipes have saved us money, but I usually have 2 in diapers so it's a bit more drastic. I started with our 3rd and went the cheapest route I could find. Two different sized prefolds used in Bummis covers. (I've since switched to Flip covers when the velcro wore out on the Bummis.) A one-size system will save you some money. The Flips fit my 1 month old, 1 year old as well as my 2.5 year old and we've had no problems with leaks in any size. When I started cloth I figured out that the it would pay for itself in 6 months time so I told myself I needed to make it 6 months and then I could switch back to disposables if I couldn't stand it. By that time I'd adjusted and now I'm on my 4th cloth diapered baby. All that being said just to squelch any supermom images... I still a disposable for nighttime. :)
Posted by: Dawn | July 7, 2010 10:17 AM
I've been a cloth diapering mom for five years (as of next week), for all four of my kids thus far. I highly recommend trying a small assortment of different types to find out what really works for you & your baby. I've found that you can get a trial pack of a variety of diapers for a total of $10 for 21 days from: http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/products/clothdiapers/tryclothfor10/tryclothfor10
As for the washing, I know that the front loaders require a teeny amount of detergent to avoid detergent build up, so you may want to visit cloth diapering forums to get an idea from a large crowd of clother-diapering enthusiasts for exact instructions.
My wash routine is this: I throw the diapers into a large garbage can (the kind with the step pedal to open it) until we need to wash diapers. I throw them into the washer & run a cold cycle (think of it as the dunk & swish cycle), I run a hot cycle with about 1/4 the normal amount of *cheap* detergent (or less), and then I run one more hot cycle to really make sure all the detergent is out as I've had issues with it building up before & it causes quite a stink. Then I throw them in the dryer.
I do not touch anything beyond what you may contact during a normal diaper change...there is no toilet time during which I scrub a diaper or try to rinse it ahead of time. I let my washing machine do its job! :-)
Hope this might help you in some way!
Posted by: Dianna | July 7, 2010 10:20 AM
I cloth. I've done both off and on for all my baby years (my oldest is 8, I have 5 kids).
I love cloth diapering and even with the use of disposables for night time (baby sleeps better) and the occasional outing, the cost savings is awesome!
Most of the ones I use now were given to me.
I actually just did a long post on cloth dipes, the kinds I've used over the years and what I did/did not like.
Head on over and check it out if you'd like ;)
http://blessedfam.blogspot.com/2010/06/cloth-diapers.html
Posted by: Sandy | July 7, 2010 10:30 AM
Having just adopted baby #6, I as planning on going back to the cloth until I saw the prices of the stuff these days. I did cloth for children 1,2,and 3, but those things wore out. I used disposable for 4 and 5, because I assumed they were the last children and it wasn't worth replacing for such a short time of use. Now I wish I had gone for the cloth stuff. Used to be,when my big kids were born, you could refold and reuse the same diapers as the child grew, and you could buy the diapers and covers pretty much anywhere. Now, it's online, and only from specialty people who are charging an arm and a leg for prefitted, prefolded environmentally trendy diapers that will only last until they get to the next size. Maybe it's my region of the country - I'm in South TX. I am going with the disposables, again, and they are cheaper to use now that the cloth ones are "green". Times have changed.
Posted by: Sue | July 7, 2010 10:45 AM
I've not used cloth with newborns, but started a little later. I use Fuzzi Bunz, and bought them used from DiaperSwappers.com.
I'd google cloth diapers+front loaders, but just from an anecdotal sense, I have friends who have had issues with front loaders and their cloth diapers.
As far as saving money -- number one advice -- breastfeed, as long as possible. And, for Lisa, with this being her 5th child, she probably knows that newborns don't really need much more than diapers, a car seat, and mom's milk!
Good luck, and God Bless!
Posted by: Dianna | July 7, 2010 10:54 AM
I have used cloth diapers for my four children. I agree that both are hard on the environment, but water and power are re-newable resources, whereas disposables stay in landfills for a really long time. I never had diaper rash with my cloth diapers as long as I changed them often, even when left on overnight. I have a front loader washing machine and it does a fine job. I dry them in the sun (even in winter when it is sunny) and they come very clean. I have tried lots of different covers and I found an adjustable kind that are the best. They fit newborn up to toddlers so I didn't have to have two different sizes to choose from.
The biggest problem that I have had is finding new clothes. The diapers make it so their pants are a size 2T while the shirts would be less than 12 months size. I just stopped buying new and mixed and matched outfits to fit the size. The bonus was that when my two year old stopped wearing the diapers and switched to panties the baby and toddler wore the same size.
Posted by: Kellie | July 7, 2010 10:56 AM
I agree with the points Barbara made. Cloth diapers aren't better for the environment and in most cases the baby will have more diaper rashes. I've had a few friends who were determined to put their babies in cloth diapers; all ended up with a diaper service because they just couldn't keep up at home. And eventually, all of them switched to disposable - because cloth are a lot of work and their babies were getting rashes.
Posted by: Kristina | July 7, 2010 11:32 AM
my husband and I did the math a while back because we just had # 4. We calculated the price for a number of cloth diapers, detergent, water etc etc and it was the equivalent of what we are using in disposable diapers without the work.
I think that cloth diapers are just not worth the trouble and work, unless you like all the extra scrubbing, washing, hanging cloths to dry. :)
Posted by: tereza crump AKA MyTreasuredCreations | July 7, 2010 11:52 AM
Cloth. I use Motherease (I have used many many types over the past 6 years and these are my favorite and six years later the original 13 I bought for my first are still going strong). I also use a front loader. With my first I was using a front loader that was older than I was and had been through a flood. I had to do a pre-wash, then a regular wash with detergent, then a regular was without detergent to really get them clean. It was annoying but it worked. (It was also economical still for me because we were in a town house and our water bill was covered as part of our HOA fee). Now I have a new front loader and I love it for my diapers. I do a quick rinse cycle (takes about 15 minutes, uses about 5 gallons of water) then I do a "Sanitize" cycle. It heats the water to very hot (forget how hot, but quite) and I also use my "water plus" button feature to make sure there is enough. Not a environmentally friendly water wise or pocket book friendly, but gets them super clean. And has been pointed out, while cloth diapers do require water and energy to clean, these are renewable resources and aren't sitting in a landfill for 100+ years. (not to mention the energy and chemicals used to make disposable diapers).
When I started cloth diapering it was solely for the money savings. (conservative estimate, I figure I have saved about 4,000 dollars over the past 6 years. More than paying for the fancy washer and drying I now have). But I now do it also for the health benefits (do some reading on the chemicals in most disposables, nothing that should be near skin for 24 hours a days for 2-3 years of life) my children get far fewer diaper rashes (my middle daughter still has scars from the rash she got when I had to switch to disposables when my washer broke, and that was 3 years ago now) and for the environmental impact and mindset. I think we live in a "disposable" society any more. (think of all the disposable products the average home has, and all of the items that we just expect to have to regularly replace) and anytime that I can I go for something that lasts rather than something I will throw away, even if it is a bit more work (cloth napkins, micro fiber towels instead of paper towels, that sort of thing).
Although I'll never give up my TP. :)
Posted by: Tiffany | July 7, 2010 12:10 PM
I am on baby #3 with cloth diapers and my oldest is 5. I am a big fan of whatever works and for my family what works best is cloth during the day and disposable at night. There are so many options with cloth diapers and I chose to be as frugal as I could, by buying used covers and using baby gift cards to get the prefolds. I actually wrote an article on my personal blog about it here: http://billandaddie.blogspot.com/2009/06/poo-gality-poopfrugality.html
Posted by: Addie | July 7, 2010 12:35 PM
Something I read somewhere, but now can't remember where, is that the water used for washing cloth diapers is about the same amount of water that same child will be using when they use the toilet after potty training.
I think cloth is very easy to use, especially with all the great options out there! I mostly have used Fuzzi Bunz, but have also used simple prefolds and covers. I use disposables when we are going away.
I love trying to reuse all sorts of things, so cloth diapering fits right in with our lifestyle. We always use cloth napkins, hardly ever use paper plates, and try to buy used furniture and clothes when we can.
Posted by: Sarah O. | July 7, 2010 12:41 PM
Haha! Boy, does THIS bring back memories! When I had my first baby, I used a diaper service for the first 6 months. After we moved to Maine, I used one for a few months, but then thought, since the hot water was included in our rent, I would wash them myself. Which I did for the next year and a half. We didn't have a dryer (or a washer) so I washed them by hand and hung them out to dry. When the baby had diarrhea, it was very difficult to have to go through 7 or 8 diapers in an afternoon, knowing I would be washing them right away!
I continued to use cloth after we bought our first house, with a washer, until I had 4 kids, and then after that, I was just too flat out busy, homeschooling, house renovations, etc. to deal with pre-washing diapers. I notice I had to use a lot of bleach to get them really clean. I switched to disposables for #'s 5 and 6 and don't regret it AT ALL.
I think you need to do what works for your family. I had a friend who steadfastly never used disposables and her kids bottoms were always a mess with rashes.
Mary E
Posted by: Mary Eckstein | July 7, 2010 12:58 PM
I never used cloth diapers because my husband was really against it. That said, if you're looking for money saving tips, I say that you should switch to the store brand diapers at about 3 months.
When babies are really little the premium diapers are nice because they hold in the mess better than the cheap diapers and feel better on the skin.
However, I started useing Wal-Mart's diapers with my second at about 3 months and never looked back. They're about 1/4 the price of Huggies and they work just fine. I wish I had taken the plunge into the generics with my first, instead of overpaying for 2 years.
Posted by: Lauren | July 7, 2010 3:17 PM
I began using cloth when my 1st son was 2 and my 2nd son was 1. I now have newborn twin girls in cloth diapers. I chose prefolds because they are cheapest. I use the Thirsties covers that come in 2 sizes so I won't have to buy as many covers. I've been using disposables at night until the babies had gained enough weight to use our "nighttime diapers" which are the BumGenius. I like these pocket diapers because they grow w/the babies and they keep the moisture away from their skin at night. I'm trying to potty train my 2nd son but at times he still ends up in diapers. I couldn't imagine buying disposables for 3 kids! I had to buy for my first 2 kids long enough as it was! Expensive! Also, I later read that disposables are not good for baby boys. Someone posted that there are chemicals in disposables which shouldn't be near our babies' skin for so long - I don't doubt it! As far as washing, I don't personally find it a big deal. Throw them in a cycle w/cold water to rinse out all the junk. Then an extended hot water cycle. Very little soap or you get stench. I used to hang them to dry but I was told that the dryer is good for helping to kill bacteria.
And for leaks - I had a lot of leaks w/disposables. I haven't had any leaks w/cloth unless my husband put the diaper on (he doesn't tuck them in the cover quite right).
On the flip side, it would be nice to just throw a dirty diaper in the trash, rather than having to clean it out in the toilet. (Especially for the toddlers!) But for breastfed newborns, you don't have to do anything as the washer will take care of it.
Posted by: Michelle | July 7, 2010 4:53 PM
I just started using clothies on my 8th baby! LOL.
I started cloth diapering with a top loader, but then we got a front loader. I find the front loader is actually easier, because it has a built in sanitize cycle and I can add an extra rinse at the push of a button. The real key is to use a tiny bit of soap - not laundry detergent- to wash them and do a double rinse.
If there is soapy buildup in the diapers, it can cause a rash, so a double rinse will really help with this. Green Mountain Diapers has great tutorials on their website about how to care for cloth diapers. I also have some squares of polar fleece that I use as a liner between baby and the cloth insert if I know we're going to be, say, in the car for a while, to help wick away moisture.
I bought my covers off ebay and my inserts of cottonbabies.com - I googled up a coupon code and got 2 dozen prefolds for less than $40, shipping included. We're still using them a year later!
I should add that we do cloth and disposable about half and half, and now that my baby is bigger (1 year old) I use a disposable at night on her.
As for other money saving tips, I second the recommendation on Walmart store brand diapers (I think they are called Parent's Choice). I've used them for all 8 of my babies, and only use name brand when baby is very, very small (because Pampers makes the tiny sizes).
Honestly, I have no problem keeping up with diapers at home. I bought a stainless steel trashcan with a foot pedal, and use the "dry pail" method. When the trash can is full, I empty it into the washer. About 1x a week. But then, I routinely do laundry every single day, sometimes multiple times per day for my 8 children.
A friend of mine has a home business selling cloth diapers and gear, and she sells special laundry soap for clothies:
http://www.juliestuff.com/pages/LaundryCleaning.html
She also has a helpful hint tutorial on cleaning them.
Posted by: Milehimama | July 7, 2010 4:55 PM
I used cloth on the first two (had them both in cloth diapers at one time for a while) and switched to disposable for our third--she was sick when she was born and I needed to lighten my load. We put a disposable on them at night (waking up to a wet bed is NO fun) and when traveling over night.
We didn't have trouble with rashes or getting the diapers clean. I put all of the dirty diapers in a "diaper pail" with a mixture of water and Borax. Once the pail was full (this happened before I had odor problems), I drained off most of the water, put the diapers in the machine and let it do the work.
At the time we decided to take this venture of cloth diapers and water resistent covers, we did the math. Now, I must admit, I seriously hated folding the diapers and putting them in the stacker, but knowing the savings helped a lot---I just envisioned dollars signs while I folded :-)
Blessings on your sweet new arrival!
Posted by: von | July 7, 2010 8:16 PM
Just to throw something out there, when you find calculations for "environmental impact" of cloth diapering, they usually estimate washing at a water temp of 90 degrees C. That is almost BOILING water. The hot water that comes out of my hot water tank is no where near that hot. Diaper services do wash at a very high temp, but they are able to use less water per diaper because they are doing such large loads. Manufacturing anything usually uses a great deal of water. Somehow no one ever mentions this when talking about disposable diapers.
You can kill bacteria with an oxygen bleach.
Posted by: Jamie | July 9, 2010 11:25 AM
I use cloth diapers on my two children. We use mostly prefolds and covers because they're the cheapest. When my older child outgrew the infant prefolds, we bought a dozen premium prefolds for about $30. Now, after they have been used about 250-300 times each, we have bought some replacements, as they do wear out after being used and washed 2-3 times a week. So for our prefolds, we spent $30 and got 3000+ diaper changes out of them. Our covers are still in excellent condition and can be used for future babies (even after being used by 2 babies).
Posted by: silver | July 12, 2010 3:00 PM
I would use cloth diapers even if they were hard to use, really expensive, and worse for the environment. Why, you may ask, would I want to go through so much trouble?
Have you ever looked into all of the nasty stuff that they put in disposible diapers? There is no way I can put them on my son full time and feel OK about it. I'm not a huge fan in increasing my son's chances of getting cancer... and I would like grandchildren someday, thank you very much. That being said, we have to use them at night because he's always slept a long time and he gets a rash sitting in cloth for 13 hours, no matter how much fleece he has on top. We use 7th gen for night time.
Thankfully, none of these things are an issue. Cloth diapers ARE better for the environment, I love using them and don't mind an extra couple loads of laundry, and I've chosen economical options, so yes, they save me money.
I calculated it today. 2 dozen flats cost me about $25.00 plus one snappi and some fleece liners, and we're up to about $40. If buying disposibles, that would be about a month. I can use these flats until he's out of diapers, and on my next children. That sounds pretty good to me. I don't count covers because we use wool and I make them myself. They work out to be about $10 for a pair of longies. I count that into the clothes budget because that's almost what I'd pay for any pair of pants, and his woolies fit him longer than normal baby pants.
We have a front loader. I rinse any dirty diapers, wet ones go straight into the pail. I was every 3 or 4 days. Throw them straight into the washer, press the prewash button, put it on Warm/Cold, and let them go. Flats dry quickly, and so do fleece liners so the dryer isn't necessary but I usually dry them (they dry VERY quickly) so that they're soft.
Posted by: Robyn | September 28, 2010 8:47 PM
