Thrifty Cloth Diapering | A guest post
Hi everyone! Today we have a guest post from a fellow frugal blogger (she's a friend of one of my former piano students, who is now a mom herself. Yes, indeedy, I am getting old!). Beth Anne asked if I'd like a guest post on cloth diapering, and I said something like, "Yes, please!" because this is an area where I have a) no knowledge and b) no personal experience (long story, but cloth diapering never quite happened in this house). So, hopefully this will help fill in a gap left by my non-comprehensive frugal experience, and I hope it'll help to make cloth diapering a bit less scary to some of you.
Hello! My name is Beth Anne, and I blog at Thrifty Living where I share the ways my family is seeking to be more purposeful with how we spend our money. I am a frequent participant in Food Waste Friday, and I am so thankful for Kristen's diligence in this area! One of the biggest money-savers for our family has been cloth diapers.
Getting Started
Before our daughter E (now 2) was born, my husband and I talked about using cloth diapers (CD) and decided that we would wait until we had adjusted to being parents before we would buy any CD supplies. Not long after E arrived I began my research. I found a diaper trial program through Jillian's Drawers and ordered my sample pack. We got 6 or 7 different diapers to try for 3 weeks. It cost us $120 out of pocket, but we could return them all and get our money back, save the $10 cost of the diaper trial. That sounded like a pretty good deal to us!
When the diapers arrived, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed. Everything seemed to have different washing and drying instructions and I knew no one who used CD that I could ask. I was so thankful for the 800 number at Jillian's Drawers! I called and talked to a rep who was so sweet and answered all my questions. I had new confidence that just maybe this would work.
Less than 2 weeks into the trial period we knew we were going to use cloth full time. I ordered a 12-pack of bum Genius (made by Cotton Babies) from Jillian's Drawers (for $200) and we hit the ground running! Every two weeks of using cloth exclusively we paid for a diaper! We still used disposable wipes full time and disposable diapers if we traveled. We also tried using some flushable liners once she was eating more solid foods. In the end, we opted to use homemade fleece liners in our diapers since they can just go in the wash.
Diapers for Two
A few months before W (now 4 months) was born we knew we would need a bigger supply of diapers in order to have both of our kids in cloth full time. I was able to purchase a set of Flip diapers (made by Cotton Babies also) secondhand from a neighbor for $70. This added 4 Flip covers and 10 Flip inserts to our diaper stash.
We were given enough disposables for the first month or so after W was born. I got so used to using disposables on him that I started to worry that I would not want to put him in cloth when the time came. It turns out that nothing could be further from the truth! When we switched W into cloth full time I wondered why I ever wanted to keep him in disposables! We went from a blow out every few days to just an occasional leak with the CD, and from a slight rash every week or so to virtually none while in cloth.
Diaper Laundry
Because of the supply of diapers we have, we have always chosen to wash our diapers every other day. There are times when someone goes through extra diapers and we have to wash daily also. We start the cold pre-wash right after our kids go to bed for the night, and then do a hot wash with an extra rinse cycle. Before we go to bed, my husband and I hang the diapers out to dry so that they are dry by the morning. Since we have pocket diapers, they need to be "stuffed" before using, which takes me about 5 minutes in the morning.
It may seem like a lot of extra laundry, but we've found that it is just a part of our daily routine now. I make our laundry detergent and we bought a high efficiency washer used from some friends just before E was born. Between the homemade detergent and the minimal amount of water the HE washer requires, the cost of 200 or so extra loads of laundry every year has not even been noticeable.
After that first month of going through tons of disposable wipes because of newborn poop, we switched to cloth wipes also. Our wipes are simple; just a square-ish piece of fleece sprayed with some water. We think they work better than disposable wipes, and they go into the wash with the rest of the diapers!
Our cloth diaper supplies
14 bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers (velcro closure)
4 Flip covers, plus 10 Flip inserts (snap closure)
around 30 square-ish pieces of fleece for wipes
around 15 rectangular-ish pieces of fleece for liners
1 Blueberry wet bag
homemade laundry detergent
bleach and original (blue) Dawn for stripping once a month
Total cost: less than $400
High Quality and Versatile Diapers
Our Bum Genius 3.0 diapers have held up really well, especially when I consider how many hundred times they have been used and washed. They do show some signs of wear. The biggest wear is the hook-and-loop velcro closure not sticking to the wash tabs any longer. This does not affect the diapers staying shut while in use, but we do get some diapers stuck together in the wash. Also, the fuzzy strip that the diapers velcro shut against came apart on 3 diapers, but took about 10 minutes of hand-stitching per diaper to repair.
Last year, Cotton Babies released the Bum Genius 4.0 that has much improved velcro tabs. I have seen these diapers and I am very impressed! We have not felt the need to replace ours at this point, even with the wear they have sustained, but when we buy new diapers we will be getting the 4.0s. Both versions of this diaper are one-size, meaning both our children can wear the same diaper! E's is open to the largest size
and W's is snapped shut to the smallest size.
Making it work for YOU
Choosing a cloth diaper that you like and will enjoy using is one of the most critical parts of cloth diapering, in my opinion. I cannot recommend the diaper trial enough! You get the opportunity to try several different diapers on your child with much less cost than buying several diapers. Because of the diaper trial, we decided to go with only Bum Genius diapers, and get the velcro closure instead of snap closure because we could get a better fit on E. After using both our preference is still for the velcro (better fit, quicker, simpler) but the snaps will likely hold up much longer. We use the 3.0s on W and the Flip on E. Since she is larger, they fit better on her than on him.
Taking the plunge into cloth diapering was really scary since we did not know anyone else who had done it before. Because of this, I love to tell as many people as possible about our wonderful experience with cloth, and be the resource I never had for anyone who is even remotely thinking about CD. Both my husband and I have enjoyed the chances we've had to introduce cloth to many of our friends. Cloth diapering has saved us a ton of money, has kept 2,000+ diapers out of the landfills (so far), and has been better for our children's skin.
There are days when I forget to throw the diapers in on time and we are scrambling to get them dry and I think "life would be so much easier with disposables". And I have looked enviously at the moms that toss their dirty diapers in the trash at the mall while I'm bagging mine up to take home, and thrown myself a little pity party about our diaper choice. But those bad days pass and life goes on. As I said earlier, cloth diapering is just part of our routine now.
We are just one of many families that use cloth diapers, so the way we have chosen to do things may not work for someone else, and that's fine. In the two years that we've been using cloth, the CD movement has gained a lot of momentum and there are a lot of options out there for diapers. I hope our experience just goes to show that cloth diapers are not as scary as they used to be, and that there are more affordable, greener option than disposables.
Additional Cloth Diaper Information on Thrifty Living
I have a few posts that are more detailed about the way we do cloth diapers:
Our cloth diaper routine
Cloth wipes
Reflections on two in cloth
Today's 365 post: Candle Jars=Ribbon Holders (plus the definitive word on Sonia's art subject!)
And don't forget about my $100 Walgreens giveaway. 🙂
I use the flip and I LOVE THEM!!! I am so glad we made the choice to go with cloth. I have a friend who has a baby 3 months older than mine, and when I look at the $$$ she spends on disposable, I think she is crazy. I also use disposable liners and disposable wipes. We were lucky the diapers were a gift from my mother, but if they weren't, I would be making the purchase in a heart beat.
Maybe I'm just naive, but my question is how do you wash CD? I mean what about the body fluids that are in the diaper? Does all that go in your washer? If so, then do you have a separate washer just for CD? Or do you put it in the toilet somehow?
We don't have kids yet but would like to someday and I find the CD an interesting alternative...but I find this post hasn't really made me think "Hey that is a great idea-we will try it when the time comes"
If it's solid waste (once baby is eating solids) you can shake it into the toilet or use a disposable liner to drop it in the toilet. Everything else comes out in the wash.
Also, we used a diaper sprayer. Its a nozzle that you can attach to the side of your toilet (similar to a sprayer on a kitchen sink). Totally worth every penny in my opinion. No need for swishing or dunking - just spray solids off!
Thanks for your input, that makes much more sense to me now 🙂
I have a wet bin for the dirty (wet or soiled). I wash twice a week with a bio-degradable detergent and one scoop of baby oxy clean. Once a month I let them soak for 4-6 hours in baby oxy clean. Pretty easy stuff.
Jodie,
whe you say a wet bin what do you mean? where is it? what type of bin and what do you leave in it?
the reason I ask is because my husband is concerned with the smell...flies and such. what do you do with the stoll when they are little babies?
Cheryl, I should have read both comments. For the stoll, we I have a disposable liner that goes over the cloth part. It is bio-degradable and goes in the toilet when then are dirty. If they are wet, I put them in the garbage. If they need it, I give them a little rinse before putting them in the bin. Once I started using the Oxy clean baby, I have found most of the marks from the stoll are removed when washing. I have not had any problems with flies or anything...but I live in Canada, where we are just finishing a cold winter, so I would have no idea about a warmer climate. Also, my hubby loves that we use cloth...the $$$ saving and he does not find them a pain or anything.
We have only had a problem with maggots once & it cured us of a) waiting longer than 7 days to wash the poo diapers, and b) not putting soiled clothing into the poo bin.
In general, we use washable liners from planet wise as the bin liner, and have bins with locking lids. Keeps all of the smell in & any baby hands out.
Cheryl, I have a bin (I think rubber maid, from Walmart) with a bag (for wet diapers) that I keep the dirty diapers in. Because most of them are wet, I call it the wet bin. When I need to soak, I can use that bin.
Another benefit of cloth is kids are generally potty-trained earlier. After having two use cloth I agree with this, and my theory is that mom's are sick of the laundry and are therefore more motivated to PT. I always tell my friends that this is one of the biggest benefits. 🙂
I spent $100 to diaper my second from birth to 21 months when he became fully PT.
We also used cloth diapers for about a year on our third son. Pre-folds with those velcro covers or wool soakers were my favorite. Pre-folds are relatively cheap. My sister (also very frugal) has a free fitted diaper pattern and knitted wool soaker pattern on her blog if anyone is interested. She is truly a cloth diaper diva and I also loved her diapers and soakers.
http://dutchgirldiary.blogspot.com/
Breastfed "body fluids" wash out extremely well and get bleached out in the sun as they hang on the line. It's really quite amazing. I loved cloth diapering...that is, until my son started having some bowel issues around the age of one. Then it got really disgusting (he was having multiple messy diapers per day) and I went back to disposables. With our fourth, I wasn't able to make it work...just very very busy.
The key is having a system that works for you. My system was really simple and I loved it, even though I started out really skeptical. So if you're hesitant to try, I'd say, go for it (at least part time). Buy about 6 diapers and a cover or two and start with one a day. If that works, then go to every other diaper. Once you've got the hang of it and see how easy it really can be, you can go full time if you feel so inclined.
This is *exactly* what I've been looking for: someone who's done it, with an idea of what the infrastructure will be, what the daily routine might look like, and all that.
THANK you, Beth Anne (and Kristen)!
We've been using cloth on our two children. Because we started late with our daughter (she was 11 months), and because I went a little crazy with buying every cool new diaper on the market, I think we broke about even financially - but healthwise and environment-wise, we were definitely ahead.
Those diapers are now being used for my son - I only had to buy diapers for his newborn stage. Because he has sensitivities to polyester we use prefold diapers and nylon covers at home (super-breathable - more so than pocket diapers) and our pocket diapers, primarily BumGenius, when we're out and I need to ensure that he stays feeling dry.
Definitely no separate washing machine here! Think about it - if you use disposables, you are going to get a LOT of poop blowouts, which tend to get all over the baby's clothes. Where do those clothes go? In a separate washing machine? Nope! 🙂 Breastfed baby poop is water-soluble, so you do nothing special. And yeah, then you shake off solids into the toilet first (you can buy flushable liners to make that easier if you so wish). A cold rinse before the wash gets rid of anything else.
When my daughter was still diapered but talking, she used to get upset if I wanted to put her in a disposable. She'd say "no hard diaper, want soft diaper". And my son cries if we put him in a disposable (I do if we're going to be out for a very long time with limited changing facilities). That's a pretty good indicator to me which diaper a child would choose. I know I prefer my cloth underwear to paper and plastic underwear 😉
Thanks for the guest post.
We've used cloth diapers since the very beginning with our daughter (she's now 21 months) and it has been truly wonderful for us. We just use thick prefolds with Thirsties Duo Wraps (the wraps come in 2 sizes, which are adjustable). We have something like 50 prefolds (our daughter pees a lot) and 6 wraps in each size. Not only is it much more inexpensive than buying diapers, but it's a lot less stressful. I don't have to worry about running out of diapers and having to go out and buy them. When I see that the diaper basket is getting low, I throw a load in the wash. It's like second nature now. I've never even had problems with staining or smells! And, while this is totally a personal anecdote, on the few occasions when we have used disposables, my daughter has had terrible diaper wash. So cloth diapering has really worked out for us.
Great post! I did not use cloth with my kids and I'm now potty training my youngest but I so wish I had read something like this when my kids were younger and the thought of using cloth was lingering around the edges of my brain. For all the parents of younger kids out there, give it a try...I now wish I had for multiple reasons (financial, environmental and skin!)
This is a guest blog that fits with the tone and outlook of your blog, Kristen. Thank you, Beth Anne, for adding to our store of frugal knowledge (in my case, useless knowledge but I have a vast store of that, too.).
What WilliamB said.
I used cloth diapers with all 3 of my kids, though I will admit that the third one used more disposables than the other 2 did, mainly because of the already overloaded laundry routine. Even hubby liked them and got used to using them (and cloth wipes). Other than a few extra loads of laundry, there really is no extra work to using cloth diapers. An efficient system means you have them stored where they are easy to grab and use, and you have a bag or pail in your changing area for the dirties. A laundry tub with a fast flowing tap "beats" any mushy solids off the inside of the diaper, and "blow outs" are almost unheard of in cloth diapers. They are THAT absorbent. Fleece liners hold solids so they can be disposed of in the toilet, easily, without swishing in water! And fleece inners wick all the wetness away from your baby's skin - resulting in more comfort for baby! Not to mention the chemical is disposables diapers - and the waste that sits in landfills for thousands of years.
Plus, they turn a diaper into a fashion statement! Especially with my girls, I loved co-ordinating the diapers with their dresses. Cloth diapers are so cute! And addictive - you can't just buy one!!! I would highly recommend cloth diapers to anyone who has a baby!
Where do you get your cloth wipes? Or do you just use a wash cloth?
You can buy cloth wipes, but we I just cut up a piece of fleece (you can get at a craft store) into squares the size we wanted. I tried using baby washcloths as cloth wipes but they were not soft enough for my taste and it was hard to get them the wetness I wanted by spraying with water.
Jodie wrote:
"Where do you get your cloth wipes? Or do you just use a wash cloth?"
_______________
I just used super cheap washcloths from Walmart (40-pack for $5). I kept an old wipes container, and each morning I would fill it with warm water with a drop of babywash. The water would be cool by evening but honestly, none of my babies seemed to care or notice.
I'd empty the container and rinse it and leave it to dry overnight, to be re-filled in the morning again. I tried a drop of tea tree oil to keep the water fresher, but my first baby reacted with a rash, so I never bothered again after that with the other babies.
We used disposable baby wipes when we were out.
Good guest post!
We, too, did the trial pack from Jillians. We opted for size medium Fuzzi Buns with snaps. I liked the snaps better than velcro. Our daycare was also fine with us using them as they just stuffed it into the wet/dry bag. I had to take care of the poop at home, but thankfully we have an old basement, and there's a "grandpa" toilet next to the washer I dumped the poop into.
I bought my diapers used off of Craigslist and through the local cloth store (they have an annual used sale).
We used the diapers long enough to make back all I had spent on them compared to disposables, but after a few months, my daughter kept getting a nasty yeast rash that no amount of "stripping" and laundry detergent switching would get rid of. So we're back in disposables.
And I actually made a profit by reselling the diapers for the same price I bought them for. I essentially had 6 months of free diapers.
LOL @ the "grandpa toilet"! I wish I had one. Thanks for the feedback on Fuzi Bunz... I am planning to use those with our first. I saw them on Craigslist as well, and I plan to buy them second-hand if I don't receive enough as gifts. Sorry to hear about the rash... I wonder if that is common? I've never heard of babies getting rashes from CD's before.
Great idea for a guest post!
We're using CD most of the time with our 6 month old. We're using Fuzzi Bunz and LOVE THEM! They are so easy to use and really do hold his blowouts so much better. We were having what I called "the daily blowout" before we started using our CDs. We use disposables at night so that he doesn't need a diaper change before morning, and we use them if traveling or out for a long day. So far, though, we were gifted with enough disposables that we've only had to buy one package. We're also still in size small Fuzzi Bunz and my son is probably 20 lbs and 28-30 inches by now. They still fit very well, though I'm sure we'll need to transition to Mediums soon.
I find CDs to be so easy to use, economical and cute that I would recommend them to everyone!
My daughter's name is Elinor!
My friend uses cloth diapers and it was so fascinating to learn about. I think for "stay at home moms" it is an ideal way to save money and provide more comfort for your little one. I am thinking of doing cloth diapering when I have children one day, and really appreciated how informative this guest post was!! Thanks!!
Great idea for a guest post! I'm not a mom yet, but have thought about this for the future and will definitely be bookmarking this. I think an easy step by step guide would have a lot more people hooked on cloth diapering, but it's such a foreign concept to most people that they don't even know where to start! Thanks for getting my education started so I'll be ready in the future 🙂
We have one kid, 22 months old. We've cloth diapered him. Our bum genius have held up really well - not one single repair needed. We mix those with prefolds & waterproof covers. We really like the wonder wraps covers - they are one size and not plastic-y feeling at all.
LOVE! We also use the BG's and the Flips. Love them both. Had my son in them from 4 weeks on, and he's just potty trained the last two weeks...but # 2 is coming the beginning of May, so we'll be right back into it. I love CDing so much...it's SO easy. Here's a link to the post I wrote on it several months ago.
http://lifesagreatbalancingact.blogspot.com/2010/03/try-it-youll-like-it-i-promise.html
Although we did do some disposables at night, really, the cost (and waste!) we have saved in almost exclusively CDing has been incredible.
I am so grateful for this post! I have been researching cloth diapering for yet-to-be #4 and this was a wealth of information. Thank you.
Just reading this caused great exhaustion and remembrance of two in diapers...we used cloth and disposables and there is no other way. You have to use both. Have you ever figured the cost of cleaning the cloth diapers after washing, detergent, and drying. For most moms it is time consuming and while chasing other little ones or working almost impossible. When considering always choose sanity. Your sanity.
Why do you "have to use both"? We only used cloth....
As the poster mentioned, the hand's on time is minimal. Wash while you are sleeping... Aside from that, there really isn't much difference. Either way you have to change the diaper and find someway to take care of the dirty one. Disposable goes in the trash, cloth goes in the hamper.
Honestly, I think having 2 systems would make things more difficult. You'd have to have 2 pails... and washing only a partial load b/c you used disposables too, would waste water.
When we started with cloth, I had tons of people tell me I was crazy to do it. But nearly 2 years later, I am so glad we didn't listen to them! Admittedly, we started using prefolds but once Allison started crawling it was tough to change a mobile baby. That's when we switched to BumGenius and fell in love with cloth diapering. It's so easy and the laundry isn't a big deal at all. It's been really exciting to see so many people go cloth because not only is it good for the environment, it's great for the babies!
Excellent post! We CD'd our 3 (8 yrs of CD & cloth wipes) Happy to have those days behind us.
The CHEAPEST way to start is prefolds. Good ones run about $25 for 12. Plus covers. Never buy the Gerber you can get at the baby store... They have "foam" in the middle, which is not absorbant. They last forever and can be used afterwards. We used them for the first 2 kids and then added some MotherEase to our stash.
We initially went the "prefold" route which is much cheaper, but not quite as easy. Here was my cost analysis for prefolds (about 2 year ago): To diaper from birth to potty training you need:
4x8x4 (refers to layers of cotton) these are the aprox. weights I used them for
36 "newborn" diapers 5-12 lbs. 4x6x4 $17/doz x3= $51
36 "baby" diapers 12-22 lbs. 4x8x4 $31/doz X3=$93
24 "toddler" diapers 20-36 lbs. 4x8x4 $39/doz x2= $78
http://www.babycottonbottoms.com/dsqcottonprefolds.htm is a good website for prefolds and general info.
4 covers in each size (motherease makes the BEST covers I used in our career) 4 covers for $45
SM 6-12 lbs.
M 10-20 lbs
ML 20-27 lbs.
L 27-35 lbs.
XL 35-45 lbs. (if you need this size before potty training)
Cover Total: $180
Diaper Total: $ 222
Cloth wipes/wipes warmer w/ water/soap/tea tree solution.
Approx. total $402 (which will last for 2-3 children) verses the typical $2500 per child disposable diaper
We used a "baby" sized prefold inside training pants with a cover over the top for "pullups" day or night.
Leigh Ann,
So you used mother ease covers with the pre-folds from baby cotton bottoms
? how did you secure the prefolfs in the wrap?
only 4 covers? 1 prefold per diaper? does the cover stay dry for the most part is that why you only needed 4 covers?
Cheryl-
I used pins to secure the prefold. I tried the "Snappi" but never got the hang of it. One big advantage of the pins is that the baby/toddler can not get them off. I typically used 1 prefold inside a Mother ease cover. The exception was with my 3rd baby who was a heavy wetter at night. As a toddler I used a toddler diaper with a newborn prefold as a doubler at night with a mother ease cover. I rarely if ever has leaks (even at night!). The covers stay dry on the outside. I would wipe the inside of the cover with a cloth wipe and then leave it to dry on the diaper table. Sometimes I could re-use the same cover. When they got messy from poop, I would throw the messy cover in with my towel load in the wash. Some people put the messy covers in with the dirty diapers, but I found I often needed it sooner with only 4 covers. I only ever had 4 covers (per size). Motherease has a deal if you buy 4 covers and you can mix sizes if you need to.
if you don't mind me asking which covers of mother ease did you prefer? any particular reason?
C-
I always had the Motherease airflow covers. They have snap adjustments at the legs and waist. We rarely had leaks (just from the massive blow out kind and only then ocassionally). The Rikki wrap covers are velco and having had a different brand of velcro covers for a while I found problems with these including: 1. toddlers could readily take them off, (snaps are much more difficult, 2. Velcro tended to give out. 3. Velco in the wash can be a nightmare. (the tabs they include for hiding the velcro in the wash are usually the first to give out.)
Leigh Ann
You have been very helpful. This is my last post I swear....were the covers you purchased good for newborns? My daughter was 6 pounds when she was born and then went down to 5 pounds, so for the baby on the way I assume the size will be similiar. And lastly when you say you wiped out the inside of the cover, I assume the material in the inside is a plastic type of material that allows for this or is it fabric?
C- I really don't mind. Most of us who CD (or used to) like to talk about it (weird I know!). The motherease covers are made of PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) (water proof) and fused with a polyester/cotton blend outer layer. My first baby was 6 lbs when we brought her home. The extra small mother ease would probably fit a 5 lb. baby. (I know their website says only for extra small mother ease but it's ok). The small covers would probably be to big at first. So I would definitely start w/ extra small. It depends on how fast the baby grows as to how many XS I would want. I always had 36 diapers in each size and that allowed me to wash every 5-6 days (after the newborn period). That's what worked for us as a family. I used a "dry pail" system. (very simple!) no soaking diapers! If you are interested in seeing the my washing system, I'd be happy to post it. Let me know! We saved $$$ with this diapering/washing system in 8 years!
I would love to see your washing system......just out of curiosity have you seen these gdiapers? what are your thoughts? expense wise and such? and if you think prefolds would work? my biggest fear is that I won't be able to pin the prefolds into "diapers"
http://www.gdiapers.com/shop-diapers?gclid=CP7m9bnizKcCFc4M2godGwfyEg
Washing Cloth Diapers- Top Loading machine (*adaptable for HE front loader). Baby making "solid" poop. (newborns see bottom of post)
This is the method I used for 8 years. We never had bad rash or "sick" or smelly diapers with this method. This method is based upon the Weebees washing method. Her theory was that we should take a page out of the "Professional" diaper service manual. Wash 1x per week (or when nearly out of diapers) and dry pail (no soaking any diapers anywhere; toilet or diaper pail). We had a stash of 24-36 prefolds and typically was washed diapers about every 6 days after the baby was past the newborn period. (More often when there were 2 in diapers).
You will need:
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not Baking soda) (Meyer, Kroger)
Your choice of detergent, (I use homemade)
2 Diaper Pails
Flushable diaper liners or fleece liner (do not flush!)
I use 2 Pails once baby is making solid poop. Use flushable liners and flush the poop and liner, put the dirty diaper in pail labeled "dirty" which in our home lives in the bathroom. (Remove as much poop as possible with a rubber spatula from the rest of the diaper if necessary.)
"Wet" pail is for all the wet only diapers (unless baby is not making solid poop yet) This one lives next to the diaper table.
WASH
1. Cold water wash. Place all the "dirty" diapers in the wash. Run on cold with ½c. Detergent and 1/4 c. washing soda (restores the ph of the diapers). Using cold water first helps the stains not "set". The "dirty" diapers will get cleaner in a smaller wash load.
2. Warm water wash. Place the rest of the diapers from the "wet" pail in with the "dirty" and run on warm with 1/4 c. Detergent and ½ c. washing soda.
3. Hot water wash. Run on hot with 1/4 c. Detergent and ½ c. washing soda.
4. Extra rinse. I put vinegar in with this final rinse.
*You can adapt this method for HE front loader by doing: 1. Cold water wash, detergent + washing soda 2. sanitise wash, detergent + washing soda then an extra rinse with vinegar.
DRY
I put the diapers in the dryer (not covers) on med/high with a dry white towel. DO NOT use dryer sheets. They will coat the diapers making them less absorbent. Clean the lint screen ½ way through the cycle to speed drying time. You can hang them on the line to dry. This will lighten any stains, but also makes diapers very stiff.
NOTES
"¢Never use bleach (tends to wear out the fibers) You can "strip" diapers if you need to. (another lesson later)
"¢Never use fabric softeners (Downy etc.) or Dreft/Ivory Snow or dryer sheets ...they coat the diaper fiber making them less absorbent.
Washing Cloth Diapers- Breastmilk/formula only baby (no solids yet)
WASH
1. Cold-water wash. Set the washer on large load. Place all the diapers and wipes in the wash. Run on cold with 1/4c. laundry soap and ½ c. washing soda (restores the ph of the diapers)
2. Hot water wash. Run on hot with 1/4 c. laundry soap and ½ c. washing soda.
3. Extra rinse. Put vinegar (in softener dispenser if you have one) in with this final rinse.
C- I have not seen gdiapers, however prefolds are VERY versatile. We used newborn prefolds folded longways as doublers at night for toddlers. I have a friend who stuffs her pocket diapers with prefolds instead of inserts. We used regular sized prefolds folded longways inside regular underwear with a mother ease lg. cover over the top for night time "pull ups" after they were daytime trained. That said, they would easily work inside a gdiaper. Don't be afraid of pins and making the prefold alone work. Here is a link to a vidio of pinning a prefold. Incidentally, there are covers that have tabs inside so you don't have to pin. Mother ease covers require that you secure the prefold in some manner. Having tried both, securing the diaper usually meant virtually no leaky diapers, especially with wiggly babies!
Here is a link to a video of pinning a prefold:
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/videos/DiaperPinning.wmv
I bought a starter pack of gdiapers thinking it would be the perfect compromise. But we have an old-ish house with challenged plumbing so I was always nervous about flushing the inserts, and we have nowhere practical to compost them. They're also super expensive, so that was pretty much it for me. I will say, though, that I loved the g-diaper COVERS. I used them with cloth diapers as inserts and I thought they were fabulous.
Thanks for this awesome system...so do you use this system when you pre-wash your prefolds? and how many times do you wash your prefolds before you start using them as diapers?
For any of you Canadian readers out there, I'd like to recommend AppleCheeks cloth diapers which are made in Montreal and are available in several stores across the country. Just check their website for the nearest store. http://www.applecheeks.ca And their 1-800 # is very helpful and prompt at calling you back if you run into trouble.
Some cities offer a cloth "diaper service". A company near San Jose, CA includes the following as part of their service...pick up of dirty diapers, delivery of clean diapers, & laundering!
I cloth diaper with flats, pins, and nylon pull-on covers. They are easy to wash (no complicated washing rituals or specific detergents) and one size fits all. The best thing: 30 dollars for two dozen. Pins are not as scary as they look. If you put your fingers inside the top of the diaper while pinning, you'll only prick yourself. And really, once you've had a little practice it probably won't happen at all.
I love my cloth diapers. I was worried too about starting them on my babes but took part in a diaper trial program (she explains it so much better than I do at: http://www.ottawaclothdiapers.com) that let me see which ones would work the best for our family.
I fell in love with totsbots and also got some AMP's that I doublestuff with liners at night for the heavy peepees. These diaper adjust and grow with your kiddo.
Before I go to sleep at night I put the diapers in the wash on the small hot load and then put them in the dryer in the morning before I go to work (in the summer they sit on the deck). We stuff them at night when we're packing the babysitter bag anyway and soak them in a pail of 1/2 vinegar 1/2 water once every two weeks to strip any residue off of them.
Nellie's soap is fab and you can get 1100 loads worth from Costco online for under $100.00. yay!
I've cloth diapered all 5 of my children - the youngest being our 18mth old twins, the oldest being 8yrs. I've spent about 500 grand total on cloth diapers from start to finish. I do disposables when we go out and I will put in a sposie for bedtime once they are sleeping through the night.
One year of size 4 diapers costs 839.00 here. My daughter was in diapers for 2 yrs, both my older boys for 3yrs and the twins now for 18mths. I've saved on average 11yrs worth of disposables to the tune of 9200.00. Take out my initial 500 purchase and you've still got over 8000 dollars of saving.
When I first read this I thought you meant you'd spent $500,000 (500 grand) on CDs!
oops!! Soooo sorry! typing with 18mth olds around me and it took about 1/2hr just to type that! I must have lost my place when editing!! sooo sorry!
What you wrote made sense if one reads it the right way. You meant "I've spent about 500, grand total, on cloth diapers." I read it "I've spent about 500 grand, total, on cloth diapers."
Thanks for the laugh I got, imagining cloth-of-gold diapers!
Good luck with those twins. At least they waited to arrive till after you had some parenting experience.
🙂 I missed a bit of punctuation in there! I'll plead 9yrs of lack of sleep! 🙂
Gosh - could you imagine? Gold diapers? LOL And yes - they waited and I'm glad they did - I am much more relaxed and patient then with my first.
I wanted to warn that the cost efficiency will probably still come out ahead, but in some areas (like ours) where water is very expensive--you will see a significant jump when you do more wash loads (worse with a non-energy eff. washer, but even with). For example, our normal water bill (for 2 people, being SUPER SUPER conservative) is about $70 every 2 months, but when we have company come for about a week and do just a few extra loads of wash plus their showers, our bill is usually about $200 for that 2 months. So, be very careful with calculating water expenses based on your area. Cuz on the other end of the spectrum, I know where my dad is, he thinks $35 every quarter is high!!
Very nicely written!
My only regret about cloth diapering is that I didn't start sooner!!!
My first child was exclusively in disposables.
When my second child was a little over 2 and nowhere near potty trained, I found out we were expecting again. I got 6 Bum Geniuses so that I could get the hang of it. With the new baby being our third, we really didn't need anything else so whenever anyone would ask for a gift idea, we'd ask for a diaper! We ended up with a nice stack of 18 Bum Geniuses by the time the baby was born. We did disposables for a month and now just do one disposable at night (because I'm chicken!).
I have found that the tabs did in fact need to be replaced but I confess to not being fussy about laundry (until I had to replace the velcro... and now I hang them to dry!). I hadn't thought about air drying the inserts overnight, though -- I assumed that they wouldn't be dry by morning but I will try that next time (tonight!).
With a family of five, really, a few extra loads of laundry a week barely registers anymore!
I was thrilled to see a post on cloth diapering! We also use BumGenius on our six month old son, which we stared at 1 month old.
I completely agree with Beth Anne, when using cloth diapers you have a dramatic reduction in blow-outs and rashes. My son had a horrible non-stop rash while in disposables, and that was using Earths Best, 7th Gen and Huggies Natural. Once in cloth we haven't had one!
Even better than cloth diaper though, are cloth wipes. They are so much more effective. One cloth wipe does the job off 4-5 throw away wipes, sans chemicals. No joke!
Soo excited to see this post! I second everything the author said, down to the trial program. We took the same route as well and never looked back. Even my husband, who was initially very hesitant (and that's putting it mildly) has been heard telling his friends how great they are 🙂
Also - if folks find the daily laundry daunting, simply increase your "stash" of diapers. It can be done very cheaply, as previous posters have mentioned, and the $$ spent will still far outweigh the cost of disposables. I washed every 2 1/2 days. Part of the cycle was done during sleeping hours...so, really, not a big deal!
I mentioned this above in response to someone else's question about cleaning. But I'll say it again: Diaper sprayers are your friend!! Worth every penny in my opinion 🙂
I usually dislike guest posts, but this was super helpful! I'm 24 weeks pregnant with my first and we're planning to use Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers, since they have adjustable snaps rather than velcro. I want something that will last. You're supposed to be able to use the one-size Fuzzi Bunz for three years. We'll see! Does anyone have experience with this brand?
We had Fuzzi bunz in our trial pack and ended up liking the Bum Genius better...I think a big part is personal preferance, but diapers also fit children differently. I've always had trouble getting my kids diapers to fit tight enough with snaps. The new velcro Bum Genius are made much better, and are also made with snaps now.
A friend just alerted me to some Bum Genius diapers on Craigslist, so maybe I will try those as well! I've heard having a few diapers from each brand is a good idea until you figure out which fits your child best.
THANK YOU! A friend passed this on to me, knowing that I plan to CD my firstborn in a few weeks. I've heard great things about BumGenius, Fuzzi Bunz, and Thirsties in particular, but I REALLY am keen on the idea of the CD trial. I'll be setting that up once my kiddo arrives! Also, I've heard that the diaper sprayer and a wet bag (like Planet Wise brand) make things MUCH easier.
Thanks for this!! I have a 17 month old and have often thought about doing CD but found the whole process, language, and options to be overwhelming. Thanks for giving some great tips and practical advice. I may try them for our next kiddo. 🙂
To address the "water consumption" issue that some commenters made, I read that washing a load of cloth diapers once every 2-3 days is equal to flushing a toilet 6 times a day. Would you keep your child in disposable diapers so you didn't have to flush your toilet as many times a day - just to save water? Of course not. In most areas where water is reasonably priced, it really won't affect your water cost. No one notices the difference in wter costs between having a child in disposable diapers vs after they toilet train and start flushing the toilet 6 times a day!
Hi, enjoyed the post! Any information to help parents get the facts about cloth diapering is wonderful! You make it very accessible, too! We just started CDing a few months ago and have to say we love the BG's, Flips, and Kawaii Baby diapers best.
My husband and I are both engineers and a lot of what I do specifically at work is cost justification for purchasing and maintaining new equipment (it's fun, really!). A lot of work goes into accounting for all the dollars that aren't obvious. Sometimes it's the extra things you don't think about that make the initial investment not worth the long term expense. Anyway, when we were exploring CDing, I was worried that a lot of people were over simplifying the costs associated with it. We had used disposables with our first daughter and thought we'd figured out the most frugal, cost efficient, and convenient way of going about that. We felt that there was very little we could save by going to CD. Being the number-crunching, spreadsheet-loving fiend I am, I did a thorough cost comparison that you might find interesting and helpful (because, let's face it, being frugal means being informed).
Assumptions:
-Child in diapers from birth to 3 years of age (national average for potty training)
-Cloth Diapering does not utilize any disposable wipes or wipes solution with your cloth wipes. You do not use disposable liners. You pay a flat rate for water usage (I know this is not true for everyone, but we don't pay by the gallon, and the price varies widely, so I didn't include in our cost analysis – would be happy to plug in your numbers into my spreadsheet if you wanted.). You do laundry every other day. Your laundry routine is 1 cold rinse, 1 hot wash, and 2 cold rinses. You have a top loading washer. Your washer is full or almost full. You use BumGenius CD detergent ($11.95 per 66 loads). You dry each load in a drier. Your washer is electric. Your water heater is gas.
-Disposable diapering has no affect on your garbage costs (i.e. you pay the same rate regardless of diapering method), you buy Huggies from Amazon (free shipping on all diapers), and wipes at Shopko. Age, diaper size: 0-1 month, newborns; 1-2 month, 1; 2-4 month, 2; 4-12 month, 3; 12-18 month, 4; 18-30 month, 6; 30-36 month, 6. Use 2 wipes per wet diaper and 6 wipes per dirty. # of dirty diapers varied by age (i.e. 4 dirty diapers per day when younger and 2 dirty diapers per day when older). Cost of garbage bags included.
Findings:
Average Price Per Disposable Diaper Over Child's Life: $0.15
Price Per Disposable Wipe: $0.02
Total Cost to Disposable Diaper One Child: $1,305
Monthly Water Usage to Wash Cloth Diapers: 1,680 Gallons (560 Hot + 1,120 Cold)
Monthly Detergent Cost to Cloth Diaper: $2.53
Monthly Energy Cost to Cloth Diaper: $9.20
Total Cost to Cloth Diaper One Child, Minus One-Time Costs (Diapers, Wipes, Wet Bags): $327
If you spend $450 in start up costs (Good stash of diapers, wipes, diaper sprayer, drying rack, etc.) you'll save $528 over disposables with just one child. Assuming you reuse all of your non-consumables (diapers, wipes, sprayer, etc.) then you'll save $978 with each subsequent child over disposables.
Another interesting finding that I had was that if you used disposable wipes with your cloth diapers, you'll spend $100 more over the diapering life of that child. If you use a wipes solution with your cloth wipes, you'll spend MUCH MORE than $100 (depending upon the brand) over the diapering life of that child. So, in my opinion – don't bother with the wipes spray. I'll eat up your savings!
Hope this was helpful. I worked hard on my spreadsheet so that I could be accurate and honest with the realities of CDing.
EngineerMom, this is fantastic and I give you a big thumbs up for being a spreadsheet jock. A good attitude in my opinion.
WIlliamB
former spreadsheet jock
sibling to spreadsheet jock
child of mathmetician and enginner
I've never heard the term spreadsheet jock, but I think I'll have to add it to my official work title. 🙂 Has a much cooler ring to it than Excell Geek. Nice to have someone appreciate the skill set as it is applied to CDing. All my recipes (several hundred now) are in spreadsheets, too, and I use them to optimize my shopping lists. $$$ money saving tools, those spreadsheets are. Sometimes I think I should just make a blog with all my parenting and "domestic" spreadsheets that help us save money or have evaluated various parenting options (format them as calculators, really). It's interesting, once you've set up a good spreadsheet, to see what is revealed with various input scenerios.
Also, I have a correction for my original post. In my haste I summed up the MONTHLY costs assciated with wipes and cloth wipe solution. I didn't multiply those costs by the number of months. So, here are the correct estimated values with the additional assumption that a bottle of $9.00 wipes solution will get you through 200 diaper changes.
Cost for Disposable Wipes Over Diapering Life of Child: $445
Cost for Wipes Solution for Cloth Wipes over Life of Child: $354
Most interesting to note, though, is that the savings you see with CDing the first child are almost completely eaten up by the cost of the Wipes Solution. Instead of $538 savings, it's $173. Nothing to sneeze at, but considering that's $173 over 3 years ($58/year) we decided that it makes little sense to CD for money reasons but turn around and use wipes solution with your cloth wipes. Now, if you made your own wipes solution, that would be different. (Like, if you spent $3 and it got you through 200 changes, that would be $106 tota for the CDing life of that child.)
Any way you slice it though, the money you save with CDing is most substantial when you start resuing your diapers with subsequent children.
I just want to make that clear because I worry a lot of people on tight budgets would switch thinking they'll instantly save several thousand dollars with just one child when that's simply not the case. For those of us in a comfortable financial situation, it may not seem that big of a deal, but for those on tight budgets, the numbers have to be accurate if it's going to be worth the upfront investment and additional time.
I'd also like to reccommend, for those on a tight budget, Kawaii Baby diapers. They are roughly $7 per OS pocket diaper (with 2 inserts) and I can personally attest to their quality. They have a wide variety of types and styles and I bet most people could find something that works for their family on a budget. http://www.theluvyourbaby.com or http://www.jackbenatural.com are the best sites to get them. However, the owner's stock is currently low, so there isn't much selection at her site or Jack Be Natural's. I think the site said they'd restock mid-March. She's out of Canada but the diapers are made in China. The China thing doesn't bother me because many major CDing brands make all or part of their diapers there.
I totally agree with this. The argument also ignores the amount of water used in the manufacture of disposables.
Yay - my two favorite Frugal-Bloggers in one spot 🙂
Thanks for being the first to take the plunge into CD, Beth Anne! Your experience definitely made it much easier for me to dive into CD when Phoebe was born!
Very interesting post.
Any chance we get to see a post on cloth menstrual pad? I am very curious on this.
Love this post! I've wanted to switch over to cloth for a while, but there has been some negativity in regards to it *cough* husband*cough*cough* :)!
Also, some friends who had switched said it actually caused a terrible rash so I was really worried, but with Robbie turning 1 and Liam coming in a couple weeks, I feel like this might be the best option for us. We spend about 46 dollars a month on diapers for JUST Robbie and adding a newborn into that mix means a whole LOT more diapers!
Thanks for such an encouraging post! I feel inspired 🙂
I do love cloth diapers but, they are not for everyone. Some children get urine scald too easily so for that child I use disposables. You can sign up for great coupons and get them on sale for a great price. They retain much more urine if your child urinates a great deal at once. I would use the others if I could. Huggies and Pampers have rewards programs too.
Thank you soooooooooo much for posting this. We are TTC and I want to go the route of cloth with this one. I bookmarked this post so that when it gets closer to the arrival of number 2 I'll have this as one of many resources to use when choosing which brands to buy! Thank you so much, I learn so much from your blog!
Slightly off-topic question, but how do you make your own detergent? I've recently started switching over our household cleaners from conventional stuff to baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, etc. but I've never seen a recipe for laundry detergent!
On the subject of CD, we never considered it for our first daughter and I'm sooo sorry! I tried G-diapers with our second, didn't love flushing the inserts, dropped the idea. We had cloth diapers around to use as burp cloths, but never used them as diapers. Then one day shortly before bath I needed to change her diaper and I couldn't stand to waste a disposable. So I shoved a cloth diaper in a G-diaper cover and it worked beautifully! Since she was already 11 months old I didn't want to make the investment and go cloth full time, but we bought a couple and she wore them as much as possible. It was so much less stressful to me to know I could just do a load of laundry when we ran out instead of having to worry about ordering, or going to the store and paying $$. If I had to do it over I would DEFINITELY go CD.
I make my own - let me get the recipe for you - I don't have it offhand and I want to be sure I'm right.
I understand from the nurses at the NICU that disposable wipes have harsh chemicals and they recommend I use plain water and cloth or a plain disposable type cloth to clean baby's bum. Hearing you talk about making your own wipes helped me so much. I too have decided to go with CD so thank you for the information. An earlier comment mentioned how easy it is to deal with "breast milk" stool. I can say it is true. My niece had to be formula fed for some time and her stools really got stinky compared to when she was being breast feed. So if you are on the fence about breast feeding consider the benefits both saving money and having for the most part "less" stinky stools (I didn't say messy).
You mentioned you made your own laundry detergent and have a HE washer. What recipe do you use and do you have any issues with the washer with homemade detergent?
There is a link in the supplies section of the post that describes my homemade detergent (actually I can copy it here too http://thriftylivingde.blogspot.com/2009/09/homemade-laundry-detergent.html). It is really simple and I like it so much that we use it for all our clothes, not just our diapers!