Cloth vs disposable diapers.

[geenamercile]

Hey so I am 20 weeks and some odd days and trying to figure out what would be better to do, cloth or disposable diapers.

We did do disposable with DD and never had a problem with them. One thing I am looking at is cost difference between the two. Cloth you can wash and reuse, but disposables I can use coupons and all of that with them to bring the price down. I'm trying to figure out how much I would need of each with the cloth, diaper covers (and what is a good brand) the diaper inserts themselves (and again what is a good brand). I get that cloth is an upfront cost and disposables are over time, box after box. So yea just looking for different peoples opinions and experiences.

[Martivir]

I've done both. We ended up sticking with disposables because DS is a super wetter and even doubling up on the cloth inserts he was soaking through the diaper and his clothes in a matter of an hour or two. I got most of mine new. Depending on how often you want to do wash I would get at least 24 inserts and 4-5 covers. Diaper Swappers is a good site if you don't mind used.

[patchwork150]

I've heard so much good about cloth diapers. Here's a link with a post from a young mom about them:

jenloveskev.com/2010/12/29/cloth-diapers/

her post is very informative. and she's not pushing the brand or paid for it

[Sam_2.0]

There's a HOT deal at Walgreens this week if you have one nearby. I am getting a year's worth of diapers for our baby for about $75. You can't beat that with cloth for sure!

For one kid, I have heard there's no cost-savings to go with cloth. Now if you will use them for more children after that, then you can see significant savings. If you can sew, you can also make your own & cut down on the cost.

[doxieluvr]

Feb 12, 2011 18:57:31 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

There's a HOT deal at Walgreens this week if you have one nearby. I am getting a year's worth of diapers for our baby for about $75. You can't beat that with cloth for sure!

For one kid, I have heard there's no cost-savings to go with cloth. Now if you will use them for more children after that, then you can see significant savings. If you can sew, you can also make your own & cut down on the cost.

Can you explain the deal please?

[Deleted]

I just found this on a budgeting website:

Buy (4) Packs of W Brand Diapers @ $8.99 each = $31.96
Walgreens Diapers will be BOGO the week of 2/13 = $17.98
Use (4) $2/1 Coupons from Infant Care Booklet = $9.98 (You may only need to let them scan 1 coupon, and it should take off 4 times)
Get a $3 Register Reward when you use your AARP Discount Card = $6.98
Makes it $1.74 per pack!

Read more: www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2011/02/walgreens-diaper-deal-1-74-pack/#ixzz1DnHG71I6

[Sam_2.0]

Yep, its the deal Archie just mentioned. But I don't have the AARP discount. Here's what I am doing:

Transaction #1 -
Neuragen PN (diabetic pain relief) - $14.99 minus $10 coupon (found in the Diabetes & You mag at the pharmacy - free mag) = $4.99
Pay $4.99 + tax, get back $10 RR.

I did that 15 times to basically double my money first. Cost me $75 + tax (not too much)

Then I will buy the diapers 12 packs at a time

Transaction #2
12 packs diapers
Small filler item ($.10 taffy)
-$2 coupon (will apply to all 12 packs)
-3 $10 RRs from above
Final cost = $.06 + tax (only post-coupon here)

That comes out to $1.37/pack!!

I need to figure out the AARP discount. I wonder if I can get it even though I am about 30 years away from applying for an AARP card!

[muttleynfelix]

I'll fully admit that I am a diaper snob. I love cloth diapering. Sure you can find good or great deals on disposables, but honestly I don't have the time or the energy nor do I want to try to find another store in town (which if it isn't at walmart it means a trip to a different town). Financially, you can cloth diaper as cheaply or expensively as you want. I do buy some stuff preowned. It has been hit or miss on some items as far as what we like and what fits DS the best and there are times we like different types of cloth diapers.

There is a lot of one size stuff on the market that typically fit from about 10 pounds to 35 pounds - more or less. I like not having to worry about getting diapers or making sure I have the right size. We were snowed in for the better part of 2 weeks, no worries, we just do laundry. Laundry for us is not a big deal, it is just part of the routine. You don't have to fold it , just sort it and stuff any pockets you have, so it takes just a few minutes after it comes out of the dryer. We did disposables for 2 weeks while we waited for our prefolds to fit and the amount of trash it produced was disgusting. We more than doubled our usual trash load. I was so glad it was the middle of winter and not summer. I don't want that sitting out behind my house when it is 90 degrees outside. I'm not uber environmentalist, but really it grossed me out. We did do disposables for our week long road trip for my cousins wedding and by the end of the week my son had nasty diaper rash. Any redness is cloth goes away by the next diaper change.

For newborn, you are talking 24 diaper changes for 2 days worth of diapers. We did newborn prefolds from Green Mountain diapers (got tired of waiting for our other prefolds to fit and went ahead and ordered those) and covers. THere are a lot of newborn rental packages you can do. I like pocket diapers for ease of use and care. There are some inexpensive ones on the market now that are hit or miss (sunbaby and Kawaii are a couple), but my favorites are bumgenius. I just bought 4 off of the Babycenter diaper swap for $25. They fit when DS was 6 weeks old (I didn't try sooner, but they probably would have fit sooner, I only had one when he was born and he is 1 now - I now own 6). We also use Flips. At night we use fitteds and covers. There are always lots of fitteds on the babycenter swap. It just depends on the brand you want. For overnight, I love sustainablebabyish and a Thirsties cover. You can also keep on eye on cottonbabies (or your other brand of choice) for when they do their seconds sale. Cottonbabies usually does theirs 4 times a year. When I need extra absorbancy, I add a hemp doubler. Hemp and bamboo are super absorbant.

The bottom line: unless you are always looking for diaper deals, cloth diapering will be cheaper than disposables. So either you spend your time, money and energy searching for deals or you throw in a load of laundry every other day (which you will be doing anyway). It is a lot less trash, they are cute, better for your baby, and in my experience more convinent. I am so glad we cloth diaper. If you want more specifics, I'll be glad to write you a book.

[sj3339sta]

Dumb question here....but what do you do with dirty poopy cloth diapers when you are out and about?

[Deleted]

I have a younger brother (11 years younger than myself) and we were all cloth diapered, so I remember how my mom handled it with him. She would rinse the poopy diapers in the toilet, then wash in the washing machine (for this reason alone, I didn't do cloth diapers, too much of a gross-out for me). To answer sh3339sta's question - she would also carry those little plastic diaper disposal bags (like dog-walking, poop bags - which work the same) to put the diaper in while we were out.

Something you may want to think about if you are planning on using a daycare - will they use cloth diapers? I've heard that some places will not...

Good luck and congratulations!

[geenamercile]

DH is a SAHD, so day care and laundry are not an issue. I do remember the amount that of diapers that DD used. I really I'm reading it all and taking it in. I figured that Cloth was cheaper then buying normal disposable diapers, but I also know I would use coupons and different stores.

I have looked at green mountain but it seems amazon is cheaper for the same items. Does anyone know if Amazon mom gives discounts on their cloth diapers as well as disposables?

[geenamercile]

Any one have used www.amazon.com/Thirsties-Wrap-Snap-Blackbird-Size/dp/B003GSLCOG/ref=sr_1_5?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1297620131&sr=1-5

DD was 6 pounds 4 oz when born, but I know that really doesn't mean much for this one.

[muttleynfelix]

Out and about with a poopy diaper we just put it in the wetbag and deal with it when we get home.

If you get prefolds, Green Mountain Prefolds are a MUCH better quality than some you will find on amazon. Plus they are sized which means they are wider. I did not use THirsties Duo Wrap Size 1 so I'm not sure if they fit a 6 pounder or not, but I use size 2 now. We had an extra small thirsties cover and it was a little big in the waist on DS, but he was a long 8 pounds and is very narrow in the waist.

[Deleted]

How many covers do you need?

[muttleynfelix]

Newborn - I like 6 and then rotate them through out the day and only put them in the wetbag if there is poop on them. It gradually went down and by 6 months we were really only doing 6 diaper changes a day. So you can get by with 4 covers for washing every other day.

[yogiii]

I'm using the fuzzibunz perfect size diapers and I love them. I bought 18 small for $295 and used those up until 7 months old and then I bought 24 mediums for $340 and they say most kids can use that size until potty trained, we'll see about that, DS is currently 9 months.

Kind of along the idea of what muttley said, I'm not an uber-environmentalist but I used disposies for a couple weeks waiting for the fuzzibunz to fit and we went through a ton of diapers. Even with both DH and myself working full time we can do diaper laundry every other day without much effort and I really don't have time to shop around for diapers. DS hasn't had a diaper rash with the cloth which is also a nice plus. I bought a couple thirsties hemp inserts and I use those to double up at night. He doesn't have any leaks, those are amazing!

[geenamercile]

Okay so I ordered on of the THirsties Duo Wrap Size 1 in white. I figured I can look at it and play around with it some, and I'm not out of that much.

I was looking at green mountain for the prefolds, but for the covers it seems they are the same (brand name) amazon is just a little bit less.

Figure we decided with cloth we will wait until we find out the gender to order most of the covers.

[muttleynfelix]

Cottonbabies has some some items on Clearance which they usually don't.

www.cottonbabies.com/index.php?cPath=51

[regina24601]

geena - My baby is only a little over a month old, but I've also got 4 nieces that I've been around a lot (one of which I helped raise for her first year and a half). We've always used disposables, so I can't speak to cloth, but I just wanted to let you know that not every baby gets diaper rash with disposables. My little girl hasn't had any reaction yet, and none of my nieces ever had any diaper rash. So, it's not an absolute given that if you use disposable you'll have to deal with that.

Also, if you do go with disposables, consider a diaper shower if you're going to have a baby shower thrown. I had one shower at work and another for my friends and family. The work one was organized as a diaper shower, and we have enough diapers to last for the first year or so (except for newborn sizes, which we weren't given and had to buy for our little peanut). So, our diaper costs for the first year are going to be about $60.

Just something else to consider! I'm an environmentalist in a lot of ways, but this is not an area that I wanted to put forth the effort in (sorry if that makes me a selfish, evil consumer. )

[yogiii]

Bad regina!!! Just kidding ...

There are certainly times where I take off DS's diaper and wonder what I am doing CDing.

[regina24601]

Lol! Hey, I tip my hat to you, yogiii and mutt. More power to ya!

[muttleynfelix]

regina- Cloth is so much easier than you think. Personally, I think it is easier than disposables, but that is just me. I've been doing cloth for long now it is second nature. Plus we were leaking out of every disposable DS had on those first 2 weeks, I just couldn't wait to get cloth on his bum. Nothing like having to change your newborn's clothes every 2 hours and only having 7 outfits that fit. DS spent a lot of time just swaddled in a blanket because we had nothing else clean that fit. The first day he was in cloth, he ended up in the same outfit for a day and a half because we just forgot to change it.

[regina24601]

How weird that you had so many leaks, Mutt. I've only had to change my little girl's outfit once in 5 weeks because of a blowout (and that was the blowout after 2 days with no bm). And believe me - she pees and poops like a champ! Her diapers are HEAVY after she sleeps for 5-6 hours, but it's all contained. I wonder if different brands are better or worse? We've only been using Huggies since she was born.

[muttleynfelix]

regina - I think brand has something to do with it, but he was in pampers and huggies so it wasn't like we were using generic brands.

[yogiii]

We had a lot of leaks with disposables also, when DS was a newborn he would poop after every feeding. I remember once, he was sitting on my lap and all the sudden I saw stuff just bubbling out the sides of his diaper. We used Pampers, Huggies and BRU brand and for that time I actually found the BRU brand "contained" his business the best. Once we switched to fuzzibunz we only had one major blowout that escaped out the sides.

[gidgetc13]

We started out with disposables for DD and switched to cloth when she was about 10 months when I got tired of buying diapers all the time. I am also a bit of an environmentalist but we didn't start with cloth because I thought it would take up too much time (which it really doesn't). We were able to switch because our daycare does allow them and they have been great with it. I love cloth diapers! After switching DD does not get nearly as many diaper rashes. It really is a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I get no help from DH because he thinks it is gross . I will only put DD in cloth at night, the few times she has had a disposable on at night she has leaked right through. I have to triple stuff her cloth but they keep her dry all night. We are expecting #2 in June and I'm planning to cloth diaper from the start with this one.

We use mostly one size pockets because I like them and I think they are convenient, you change the whole diaper like a disposable. For brands we have FuzziBunz, SmartiPants, Kawaii, and Bumgenius. FuzziBunz are my personal favorite and we use the Kawaiis mostly at the daycare because they cost a lot less than most of the other brands so I don't worry as much about something happening to them. I also have some Flips that I only use once in awhile if I waited too long to do laundry. I just really prefer pockets. I can go 2-3 days between laundry loads with the stash I currently have. I usually try to wash diapers every other day.

[oreo]

We were planning to cloth diaper. We bought tons of the Kushies from Walmart They are an all-in-one so there is a liner (plus you can buy additional cloth and/or absorbent paper liners) and cover. We barely used them at all, we just didn't like them. We have a friend who has cloth diapered her daughter the entire time and she loves the diapers she has (I think they are nearly $40/each though).

We buy the Target brand disposable and Huggies Overnight for overnight. DS had diaper rash only 2 or 3 times (he is now 2). We found that putting the zinc cream on him at night and after he goes #2 has solved any diaper rash issues we've had. We occasionally have some leakage overnight but it doesn't happen often and he sleeps 9 - 10 hours.

If I were you, I'd buy a hand full of cloth diapers to start (and a package of disposable for comparison), see if you like them, and if you do, buy more. We bought 36 of the Kushies and I bet we used 3 or 4 of them total before we decided against them so that was a total waste of money.

[Deleted]

Oreo have you tried to sell the cloth diapers?

[oreo]

We actually gave them away to someone (hopefully they are using them but I really don't know--my mother in law gave them to someone she knows). My son is 2 and I have sold some of his old things but I find it to be a lot of work (or I'm lazy...take your pick!) I still have his excersaucer and a few car seat bases, his jumper and tons of other stuff to sell. My son isn't in day care, he stays with both sets of grandparents while I work so everyone has a TON of stuff for him (he basically has 3 of everything)! That makes me think that maybe I should get on the stick and sell some more stuff!

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

So yea just looking for different peoples opinions and experiences.


We did the disposables with my three boys.

I think it comes to a quality of life issue.
I imagine if you are thinking going cloth, you will be rinsing, washing and sanitizing them yourself? Or will you get a service?
With disposables you just toss them.