Have Had THREE in Cloth Diapers (at the same time!)
Jan 26 '00
I have had a while of having three kids in cloth diapers and I have to say it was not a big deal! Actually I liked it much better than disposables, because we didn't have the excessive amount of garbage which goes together with that. And, instead of having to buy package after package of disposables, I could just throw a load of diapers in the washer and dryer now and then and have nice, clean diapers a few hours later.
I used disposables for my two oldest (well, tried cloth with both of them, but the very low quality, too thin diapers without good wraps, so that was no success). Then when I was pregnant with Tara, I decided I was going to give cloth another try, but now with better diapers and with good wraps. So, during my pregnancy, I checked all the 2nd hand stores around us for diapers and diaper wraps. I didn't find diapers, but found lots of wraps for very good prices, so I picked up a lot of them. Then I went to a baby store and bought some Rainbow diapers for in the wraps. (Later I found out that those aren't really the best, but they did the trick for me in the beginning)
We used cloth diapers most of the time, picking up more and better ones on the way, although I did use disposables at night and during longer trips out of the house. When we moved to the Netherlands last year, we couldn't take the cloth diapers, so they were in disposables until we finally moved back to the States and got our stuff out of storage in December. But they are back in cloth now, and I am on a cloth diapering mailing list and picked up lots of good tips and tricks that way. I also started making my own prefolds, which is easy, fun and cheap. If you have a sewing machine, you might want to consider doing that.
Also, getting 2nd hand wraps is much cheaper and allows you to try different brands so you can figure out what works best for you and your kid.
For great cloth diapering resources, very extensive, go to http://webhome.idirect.com/~born2luv/d-list.html
Good auctions can be found at http://www.mothersnature.com Lots of cloth diapering products. Ebay ( http://www.ebay.com ) usually has some too, but not as many, do a search for 'diapers' and 'diaper wraps'.
I would recommend that you NOT go with regular store-bought bird's-eye
weave diapers that you buy cheaply at the store. They don't hold as
much as prefolds. The prefolds hold a lot more, I have heard people rave about the proservice prefolds, although I don't think I have any of those, so I can't speak from experience. I had some generic prefolds that I bought 2nd hand from a friend, who used them for 3 kids and they are still doing well. But at the moment I mostly use a Rainbow diaper and one of my own prefolds in the wraps. I made the prefolds from some flannel and a double terry pad inside (from cheap Walmart towels) I have some prefolds made of old receiving blankets, which thrills Tara and Jane to no end: 'I want the bear diaper!' or 'I want the duckies diaper!' :-)
One more idea: You can use plain white wash clothes instead of wipes. This saves a lot of money and is very simple, since you have to wash the diapers anyway. I got tons of them at Costco for a really low price. I just use warm tap water when they have a poopy diaper, sometimes with a little baby oil in it. I also have made some of my own wipes, with a layer of flannel and a layer of terry. They work great too! I pick up cheap baby towels and flannel sheets in the thrift store and put them together to wipes. Even cheaper than the wash clothes and more fun.
I have only one in diapers right now, since my two toddler girls potty trained over the summer. But if I get pregnant again, there is a good chance that I will have two in cloth again, since Kate isn't very old yet and will most likely not be pottty trained by the time #6 arrives.
I can definitely recommend cloth diapers, they are fun, easy, and much less of a hassle than people generally think! I now wish I would have used them for my oldest two too, but it always easy to see in hindsight what one should have done :-)
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Epinions.com ID:
nursing3
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Member: Karen Plomp
Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 39 members
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