CBB Poll: What Would Make You Opt For Cloth Diapers?

Continuing our Earth Month theme, we’d like to know what kind of diapers you use/used with your kids and then what benefits would persuade you to use cloth. If you’d like to share which brands you use and what you love about them, post a comment below!

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Comments

Alice on April 17th, 2009

I don’t have any children but I was curious how using cloth nappies potty trains the child faster?

Jess on April 17th, 2009

I am almost 5 months pregnant with our first. We plan to use Seventh Generation diapers for the first couple months and then we will try g diapers, as well as cloth diapers. It will not only benefit my baby girl but also the environment, which is very important to us. I think using a combination of different types will allow us to find what works best for us.

Selena on April 17th, 2009

I have exclusively used cloth diapers on both of my children, aged 2.5 years and 7 months. My son potty trained or potty learned at 16 months, but better than that, he ‘poopy trained’ at 9 months!!! We used the tiniest potty chair out there for going #2, and I am happy to have only changed about half a dozen poopy diapers after the age of 9 months with him. Everyone says that boys are harder to ‘train’ than girls, but I think each child is different, and cloth diapers definitely helped in our case.

Cloth diapers allow the child & the parent to be more aware of when a diaper is wet or soiled since there is no chemical gel to absorb fluid (as in disposables), and at least in our case, that was what helped potty training happen earlier. My son absolutely did not want a wet diaper, so he started telling me as it was happening, and as he got older and became more aware, he started telling me right before he had to go.

There is the ongoing debate about whether or not cloth diapers actually have a smaller carbon footprint than disposables, but I am using the same set of organic cloth diapers for my 2nd as I used with my 1st, so even taking the effect of laundering into consideration, we have saved about 5000 non-biodegradable disposable diapers from going into our landfills. If I have another child, I will use them again. If I don’t have any more children, I will pass them along to someone else to use again and again.

In addition to health and environmental benefits, cloth diapering really is more economical than using disposables. Considering that many people are trying to cut their household expenses in this shaky economy, you can’t go wrong with cloth diapers. There are so many great family owned stores out there that sell them, our favorite place on the net is GlobalEnfant.com but I am sure there is a store out there for everyone!

cara on April 17th, 2009

Alice,
With cloth diapers/nappies the baby feels the wetness where as disposables are mad to keep the baby dry longer so that they are comfy longer between changes.
I use cloth and can tell when Riley is has peed more than once cause he gets a bit annoyed. lol

kara s. on April 17th, 2009

we used cloth diapers on our 2nd daughter, and we are currently using cloth on our 3rd daughter. i use them for both money and environmental reasons. i spent around 500.00 for her ‘stash’ and i will be able to use them from newborn (she was 9 lbs 9 oz) til potty training! this alone is AWESOME!
also due to the insane amount of chemicals in the diapers. i have used a disposable on my 3rd daughter a handful of times and after the use she has a HORRIBLE rash!

a cloth diapered baby is PT’ed earlier because they are able to ‘feel’ the wet sensation in the diaper. with a disposable they have their urine pulled away from the skin by the chemicals in the diaper.

kara s. on April 17th, 2009

i also wanted to add that i buy cloth diapers 2nd hand from a great site called http://www.diaperswappers.com !! its a great place for moms who are interested in using cloth, or moms who already use cloth to ask questions!

i also agree with the previous poster about the monitary savings!! this has helped my husband and i in the last couple months since he works on a commission based occupation.

Lulu on April 17th, 2009

I don’t have children yet but in my family all the children, myself included, were cloth-diapered. I reacted badly to disposables but the main reason my mother used cloth was financial. They didn’t have much money and the repeated cost of disposables was an expense they couldn’t justify.
Most of my friends would’ve been cloth-diapered too and yet as they’ve all started having children in the past couple of years I’ve been surprised at how few of them have even considered cloth diapers. Even the idea seems utterly crazy to them as it does to the mothers’ of the children I care for. (One of them has been struggling to potty-train for 8 months now and he’s almost three so perhaps in his case cloth might’ve been helpful).
When I have children I can’t imagine not using cloth, or at least attempting too. Obviously the possible environmental benefits are good but more than that, in these tough economic times, I can’t think of a good enough reason not to.

burnice on April 17th, 2009

I used disposables on my son until he was right at a year old, then finally had the opportunity to get some Bum Genius cloth diapers. I was pretty determined to start using them, whether or not they were more convenient. I think the main reason I switched is because of the worry about the bleach/chemicals in the disposables. I would have done it sooner if I could have made up my mind about which diapers to get. Now that I’ve been using them for 6+ months, I realize they are a snap! Wish I’d gotten with the program sooner.

Lis on April 17th, 2009

Wow Selena, that is AWESOME! That alone is good enough reason to use cloth diapers

Don’t have any kiddies yet, but I’ll definitely be taking that into consideration once I do!

Selena on April 17th, 2009

Lis, it really is a good enough reason! I can’t tell you how great it was that my son was already out of diapers by the time I had my second baby!

Sarah on April 17th, 2009

I’ve used disposables for 4 months and cloth for 8 months, and cloth really is the way to go. Once you make the switch, you never want to put scratchy, chemical-laden disposables on your precious baby again. It just amazes me how few people even consider cloth. We use all BumGenius are they are just as convenient to put on as disposables. I’m always singing the praises of cloth to my friends – they probably get sick of it! If you are on the fence, purchase a sample pack from Jillian’s Drawers and give it a try. You’ll never look back!

RockinMomma! on April 17th, 2009

The lesser chance of asthma and cancer from not being exposed to the toxic chemicals in disposables was a great motivator. The absorbent material in a disposable is the same stuff that was BANNED from use in tampons for causing toxic shock syndrome and deaths. Sure, diapers aren’t internal, but how many times do you find those crystals on the child’s bottom. Who’s to say that, especially with girls, some don’t get inside of their little bodies? Less rash, less money (way less money!), just as easy, and never having to worry about running out of diapers are some other benefits.

heather on April 17th, 2009

With a combination of fuzzy bunz, WAHM diapers, and a few hemp huggers happy heinys thrown in, I have diapered two kids and a third on the way. The initial investment may seem like a lot, but once you’ve done it, it’s done- no grocery store runs.
The key is not jumping in head long” don’t buy a bunch of expensive diapers that you aren’t sure will work for you- start out with a few of the different brands that interest you, and figure out which ones are worth the investment. Look for good deals. I never bought any of my dipes for full price, and they were all firsts )
Secondly, develop a good washing routine. You don’t need expensive detergent or even baby specific detergent, because the goal is to make sure there is no detergent left in the dipes ( detergent residue is what leaves the smell in fabric, good or bad). Depending oj water quality in your area, you can use a mix of cheap detergent, vinegar OR baking soda, hot water and an extra rinse cycle. Many dipes, like fuzzi bunz, line dry very quickly ! So you may only nee to use your dryer for your doublers. With a good wash routine, you aren’t even going to pay more in washing bill ( and without runnin out of usable diapers !)
I use cloth in conjunction with elimination communication, which also means that I don’t need as many diapers, use as many diapers, and have even more benefit for my kids’ sensitive skin.
Done carefully, cloth dipering is good for the environment, good for your checkbook, good for your baby, and no more difficult that using disposables.
Both of my kids pot trained before two, as a bonus- that obviously wasn’t our goal, they just took it upon themselves.

Molly on April 17th, 2009

I am 29 weeks pregnant with my first child and I would not put a disposable diaper on her once she’s born unless an emergency. Im buying koolababy diapers on eBay and for 24 im going to pay about $200 incl shipping, and that will last us at least 1.5 years (its a one size) I will then reuse it with my 2nd and 3rd. The disposable would cost us about $12000 – 15000 for three kids and I air dry so we will only really have the diapers expenses plus washing and detergant which I make myself. People say kids are expensive but its all about choices, education and priorities

DD on April 17th, 2009

I made the mistake of not making a firm commitment to cloth because I was confused about all of the different types and did not know how to use them. We got a sample of a few different cloth diapers but ended up using disposable in the end. Just because that was the path of least resistance.

But I would highly recommend buying all cloth supplies needed right at the beginning so you are not tempted to go back. (a big chunk of money at first but in the end cheaper than disposables)

actualsize on April 17th, 2009

My mom used cloth diapers for her first three children (my brothers, now 22 and 25, and me, 19). They were just bits of cloth that were passed down. By the time my younger sister came along (now 15) water restrictions were in place and she couldn’t be bothered with the constant washing. So it was disposable all the way.

We still have the cloth diapers, LOL. They’re used as cleaning rags and other things around the house. Actually, they’ve recently had a new job as wipe down towel for my new puppy, when it comes in from the rain.

Selena on April 18th, 2009

Heather is right, if you shop around just a little bit, you can find sales and even free shipping to bring down the cost of cloth even more. In fact I just got a newsletter from the site I mentioned http://globalenfant.com that they are having a sale for Earth Day next week. I really don’t see how you can go wrong. I forgot to say that with my first baby, we were living in an apartment with coin laundry, and it was still so manageable! Okay, enough from me )

Linda on April 18th, 2009

I wanted to use cloth diapers for my first baby but was overwhelmed by all the different styles available these days. So I gave up and used disposables for the first year. Then I decided to take the plunge and dive into the research of the many styles of cloth diapers.

I finally decided on pocket diapers because they resemble disposables and are one-size. I really liked the idea of using the same diaper for all of my baby’s diapering life. I made the switch when my first baby was 1 year old. I also have a newborn that I started using cloth diapers with at 3 weeks. I’ve been cloth diapering for 5 months and I love it.

I use Bum Genius and Happy Heinys one-size pocket diapers.

I am very happy I switched to cloth diapers. Every time I threw away a disposable diaper, I felt bad because I was creating more garbage. And we certainly don’t need more garbage in this world. I still use a disposable for overnight though. I have a great sense of satisfaction knowing that I went from using ~35 disposables per week to just ~7 per week.

Cloth diapers do take more work but if their purposes are important to you – less garbage going to the landfills – then you’ll be willing to do the extra work. That’s why I am willing to do the extra work.

Kat on April 18th, 2009

I was sad I could only pick one reason!

honestly, if I hadn’t had a special needs child who was just not going to potty train at the usual time, along with a toddler still in pullup diapers when I had my daughter, I would have used cloth this time around.

I just didn’t have it in me to mess with cloth and the extra laundry from that when I was working hard still on trying to potty train my oldest and dealing with mess and extra laundry there and had a toddler to deal with, too.

But if we have another, it will be cloth all the way.

Kristina on April 21st, 2009

I switched to cloth when our second son came. With two kids 15 months apart we went through a costco case of diapers every two-three weeks. It finally dawned on us that we spent the cost of a good stock of BumGenius diapers in a couple of months. When Cotton Babies had a seconds sale I napped a bunch up. I did try out some other brands but BumGenius was the one that worked the best for us. We do still use disp. for long car rides and travel. After all that is what disp. diapers were really invented for in the first place. Not as an everyday thing. You don’t realize how much money you are literally throwing away. The larger your diaper stash the less loads you need to wash. I would rather do a large load of diapers every two-three days, less carbon footprint than washing small amounts everyday.