Hello all,

WE (like DH has anything to do with lugging another human being around inside oh HIM) are currenlty 14 weeks pregnant with baby #3. We currenlty have 21 month old twins and I am mulling over the thought of using cloth diapers iwth this one to save money. Has/does anyone use them? How many and of what would I need? How do you wash them? Any information anyone can give me would be fabulous!!

Thanks,

Susan
Finley and Jde
21 months
#3 arriving 05/2007

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finleyandjudemommy

We are big fans of Happy Heinys with hemp inserts. They are pocket diapers, which means that you use inserts inside them for absorption. There are all in one diapers, which have all of those layers sandwiched together. While convienient, they take longer to dry. Then there are prefolds, which are the old-fashioned diapers that use pins or other method to secure them. You generally use covers, either plastic or wool, with them.

I generally take the inserts out and throw everything in a dry bucket in the laundry room. I wash once a day. All diapers get air-dried, inserts in the dryer. I invested $240 in 20 cloth diapers (Happy Heinys) and a friend lent me the inserts. With a newborn, that is a lot of washing. With a toddler, its totally manageable.

That is a very, very brief synopsis of cloth diapering. Mothering.com has a great cloth diaper board and loads of resources. Good luck!

I will be cd'ing this baby that's coming in January. I have gotten TONS of info on diaperswappers.com. That's also where I've been buying everything I'll be using - cheap! Definitely check it out. There's also good info in the "diapering your baby" forum of babycenter.com.

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Jennifer
dd Sarah 1/4/02
ds Brady 1/15/07

I've cloth diapered for a while now. We have a 16 month old, 3 year old, and are expecting number 3 in april.

i am a fan of pocket diapers for older babies. we use happy heinys, fuzzi bunz, and other pocket diapers, as well as bumkins all in ones.

when katie was a newborn--up to 7 months, i used prefolds (old fashioned diapers) and fitted diapers with covers. I loved doing that.

I am not sure if i will be cd'ing my third baby. it is a lot of laundry in the beginning, but if you stay home with your kids and want to save in the long run i think its worth it.


greenmountaindiapers.com has awesome info. thats where ive bought all my stuff.

I've used them on all 3 kids and plan on using them when #4 arrives. I have collected a variety of different diapers over the years and I think all have their positives and negetives. The biggest plus is that my boys have potty trained early, my middle ds was completely trained at 2 and my 20 month old is in the process of training (he only poops in the toilet and is getting to the point where I can put him in underpants when we are at home during the day and he'll stay dry).

The diapers I have are

Happy Heinies and Fuzzi Bunz, which are pocket diapers. I stuff them with prefolds instead of the inserts. I've found the prefolds are cheaper and absorb just as well.

Fitted Cloth diapers with snaps and covers ranging from Bummis Whisper Wraps to Wool Covers (which are great in the summer!)

All In One Diapers, which are my dh's favorite because there is no stuffing or having to put on a seperate cover. I have a few varieties but our favorite are Blue Pengiun AIO's. They are less expensive than the Fuzzi Bunz, IMO more convenient and they absorb a lot.

I currently wash our diapers with Charlie's Soap and hang them out to dry. You don't have to use special detergent, but I have a front loader that doesn't use a lot of water and I was getting residue build up on my diapers. Even with the extra rinse. I store the dirties in a dry pail and on wash day I run a pre-wash, wash and extra rinse cycle. I usually wash every other, every 3rd day. But I have a "collection" of diapers now since I have been CD'ing 3 kids. So far I have about 30 diapers that I rotate for my 20 month old. I also have a stash of smaller diapers when baby gets here.

I have used them with both my girls and plan on usint them for the 3rd time with this baby!!!

I have a couple of diff ones!! the ones I like the most are the covers and
just diaper service type diapers!! Tho I do hav a bunch of all in ones for Nana and papa and for daddy !!!
I use Disposable for long outings and for some back ups in the car just in case!!!

I dont even remember how much I have!! but look at what your kids use right now (or at least how many 1 of the twins use! and go from there)

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Kelly mom to 3 great girls A Peanut, a monkey and a little burrito.

We use cloth and love it!

DD is 18 months and we've used cloth since she was 4 months old. We use a variety of brands, but prefer pocket styles and All in Ones. The AIO (all in ones) are for my DH and my parents to use when they are with DD.

I frequent the websites diaperswappers.com and the diapering your baby board on babycenter.com. The babycenter board has a diaper swap each Thursday where you can buy or sell your used diapers. I have bought a lot from there, and I have also had good luck on diaperswappers.

As for what you will need. You will want to decide which style you like...

prefolds/covers - cheap, but take a bit more work. They do have snappis now, so no pins to worry about.

fitteds/covers - bit more pricey than above, but no folding.

pockets/inserts - bit more pricey, but very effective. These are my favorites, but I've never used the above diapers. You can customize your inserts..so if you are going to be in the car for an hour, you many want to put an extra insert in. These are very versatile and I stuff a pocket with a 'leobaby mightynighty' at night and have only had one or two leaks in all the time we've used them. Both leaks were just damp, rather than a full-blown wetting, and came from the velcro tab area.

AIO (all-in-ones) - Probably the most expensive, but very easy and convenient. I don't think they absorb quite as much as a pocket w/ one insert, but they are worth it for the convenience of not worrying about inserts for sitters and DH.

I wash every other - third day. I have a diaper sprayer to spray poops into the toilet (I highly recommend these) and then I place the diaper into a dry diaper pail lined with a cloth pail liner (wet diapers go straight into the pail). On wash day, I wash the liner along with the diapers.

I wash with Sun liquid detergent from Walmart and I use a very TINY amount in each load. Probably less than an inch of liquid in the lid/measuring cup. The diapers always smell fresh and clean and I haven't had a problem with build-up. (knock on wood that I didn't just jinx myself)

I do a cold pre-rinse, then a hot wash w/ cold rinse, then an extra cold rinse.

I dry the diapers and inserts in the dryer most of the time, but I do finish the AIOs on a drying rack as they aren't always dry when the cycle is complete.

I now have about 25-30 diapers in our collection, but I started with just 12 and washed everyday, or sometimes every other. I didn't use cloth when DD was newborn, but I've seen there are several posts w/ advice on the best styles to use for itty-bitties.

I agree with the above post about potty-training early. My DD is 18 months and already asks to use the potty occasionally. I'm not pushing it, but she is genuinely interested and already has an idea of how it all works.

I don't use diaper rash ointments with cloth, so I put her in disposables if/when that happens and return to cloth when she's all cleared up.

I use cloth for daytrips and overnights, but switch to disposables if we are gone more than one night. We don't do that much so I've only bought disposables two or three times in the last 14+ months.

When we are out, I keep a wetbag with me. I keep one in the diaper bag at all times, and an extra in the car w/ a spare diaper and wipes.

When I change her I just put the wet/dirty diaper and cloth wipes in the wetbag. Then I just empty the wet bag into the diaper pail when I get home, spraying any dirties in the process.

Sorry this has gotten so long. I love using cloth and it's so much easier than people think. There are no smelly wet buckets in the bathroom or soaking diapers in the toilet.

Cloth rocks

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When dd was still in diapers, we used cloth and LOVED them. We used fuzzi bunz pocket diapers with hemp inserts. We had 24 diapers. I don't remember how much we paid altogether but I do remember that when we were done, we sold them on ebay and recouped well over half the cost.

THANK YOU!!!! Your detailing has really helped to cement cloth diapering for our next child (whenever we get pregnant again).

My mom used them for all 5 of us kids and I had intended to use them for DS, but in my mind, they were still the unfolded ones with the diaper pins. I had NO IDEA of how far cloth diapers had come until about a year ago, and that spurred my desire for cloth diapering for the rest.

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~~Amanda~~
Mommy to one Little Man (3 1/2 yrs old), FINALLY expecting #2!!! (due around Memorial Day 2009) *adoption has been put on hold*

I have 4 children and my youngest child is 3 and working on potty training, but I used cloth diapers almost the whole time for her. I am very low income & couldn't afford diapers all the time so I worked up enough to get some AIO's from other moms & they worked great!! All you do is wash & dry then go again lol...in my opinion they worked great and you can get cute covers for them & patterns on them, etc...so they even look cute! They are a good investment if you dont want to buy diapers all the time or deal with them!