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Cloth Diapers?

indecisive

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
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I am glad to see more action in this thread too! I have followed along with it since before I was TTC but since I was put on bed rest a while back I read through the whole thing like luvthemstraberries! I am 37 weeks now and I hope I have made good decisions and am getting a little worried about laundry routines... basically just second guessing everything because I have too much time on my hands! I am so excited to use the cute diapers though!

luvthemstraberries- I am skipping newborn diapers and going for disposables because I was nervous at first so I don't have any advice. I kind of regret that now but hopefully it will work out. I am tempted by pre-owned diapers too but DH isn't comfortable with it. I can't wait to see your stash and see how it goes! I have 2 pail liners so I have one when the other is being washed, 2 large hanging bags for daycare, and one smaller wet bag for out and about. I need to get a small/medium one for another out and about and I think I want it to have a strap. I have mostly Planet Wise and then the rest Whammies I think. Let me know what you decide on!

haven- I am glad to hear you like it so far!! Do you trifold and put the prefold in the flaps or do you do the fancy folds with a snappi? That has always intimidated me but I think flips are so nice! I bet B looks so cute in them!

Iloveny- I hope you like the flats! I have heard they are super easy to launder.

lovesvintage- I missed your question a while back about the daycare. We have 3 daycares in our town and when we went to visit we took a wetbag, an AIO, and a pocket to show them. After they saw what they were like the one we liked most and least were OK with it. The other one said no right off the bat but after we showed them they said they would look into it and consider it. We didn't follow up with them about it because our number 1 choice said yes. I hope it won't cause issues when it is actually in practice. I am worried most about them using a non-cloth safe diaper cream instead of one we supply. I really hope it works out!

Speaking of diaper creams, if you buy a cloth safe cream do you use liners for a week to test it or do you just go straight to using it? The cloth diaper class I went to recommended the liners for a week and I probably will but it seems like a pain to do every time you try a new cream. I would love to hear what everyone does!

Since I have too much time on my hands I thought I would show off some pictures of my "stash". DH thinks I am crazy and that no one wants to see pictures of diapers but they are just so cute! Sorry for the overload!

Here is my Bum Genius drawer. 6 are elementals and the rest are freetimes. I feel like the freetimes seem easier and trimmer than the elementals but it seems like others think the freetimes are bulky and elementals are trim. They are such cute colors though!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/84oigrv08xmatlh/2013-01-12_04-33-20_843.jpg

Here are 6 Charlie Bananas OS pockets, inserts, osocozy prefolds, and doublers for my Bum-Wares.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0nkftrcobpb2kod/2013-01-12_04-33-38_840.jpg

And here are my Bum-Ware Extremes (medium) and Adjustable (aka OS).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t33x8ogfa2nutsp/2013-01-12_04-34-07_995.jpg

I got the Bum-Wares because I got really worried about all of her cute clothes fitting over the diapers. Does anyone have any experience with them? I read about how trim they are and lots of good reviews so I bought 4 size mediums and then some on the adjustables. Here is one of the mediums compared to an elemental on the middle rise snap.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayzmgbed9d1yhbd/2013-01-12_04-35-36_29.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7qnrt2mjuknwb7a/2013-01-12_04-35-54_198.jpg

And here is the adjustable compared to the elemental with them both on the smallest rise setting.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x7jztdlfagyatmo/2013-01-12_04-36-38_450.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nt7x6t0y9fc0fk7/2013-01-12_04-36-54_577.jpg

Sorry for the super long post!!
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Wet bags & Pail liners: Get the medium sized wet bags for day care. Ethan's has been at day from 10-12 hrs and all of his dirty diapers fit in the medium sized wet bag. True it's FULL, looks almost like a pillow it's that full, and they don't put any of his soiled clothes in there. But I wouldn't want his soiled clothes in there anyway. Get 3 of them. One to be in the wash, one to pack for day care the next day, and one to take in YOUR diaper bag if you need to take him out. I wash my diapers everyday. If you go every other day, you're going to need one more. Pail liners, I have enough liners to keep the pail lined at all times. We only have 1 changing station though, so we just need 2 liners. If you have multiple stations you'll obviously need more.

Diaper creams: For day care, when you stuff your diapers, add the liner in it right away. That way if the daycare uses a ZO cream by accident they're not ruining your diapers. We actually use fleece liners for all of our diapers and I buy A+D cream (which is made from lanolin, but isn't necessarily marked as cloth safe). I like using the fleece because 1) They keep the diapers clean/stain-free better. 2) No worries about whatever cream is being used on Ethan's bum 3) If it's a REALLY messy poop, have the option of just tossing the fleece liner because they're super cheap ($1 each or there abouts). Otherwise I wash the liners with his regular diaper load.

Daycare and cloth: Hopefully your day cares will take cloth diapers. Especially easy to use ones like pockets or AIOs. However FYI: for those using OS diapers (with snaps for the adjusting rise) just be warned, daycare will likely just use the diapers at the larger/largest setting, especially in the beginning. At first, Ethan's daycare ALWAYS unsnapped the rise snaps. Or tugged so hard that they unsnap. It doesn't damage anything, but it just means he gets leaks at daycare. No big, the kid's got a lot of clothes and we're doing tons of laundry anyway. But as a result I keep more spare clothes at daycare for him. Now that he's been there for 7 months, I think they're getting much better with the diapers, as I don't see the snaps undone as often. So that's just an FYI.
 

indecisive

Brilliant_Rock
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Thanks for the input, lliang_chi! It is great to hear from someone that uses cloth in day care. Did you make your own fleece liners or did you buy them? I need to just bite the bullet and make or buy some I guess. How many do you have? Also, do you use cloth or disposable wipes for day care? If you use disposables do they wrap them up in the diaper or throw them away? Thank you!
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Making fleece liners, that's BRILLIANT! I used to just buy them and I could TOTALLY make it because it doesn't need hemming or anything. Off to google microfleece fabric! Thanks for the brain storm.

Re daycare and wipes: I use disposable wipes both at home and at daycare. At home I wipe and toss. Now that Ethan's on solids/table food, his poops are BIG, messy and smellier, so I'm glad I can just throw them away. Daycare wraps the dirty wipes with his diapers. It's not horrible because I just unwrap the poopy diaper, remove wipes and toss, then flush any solids and spray "stubborn" poop off my fleece liners and diapers. If I can I try to remove the microfiber inserts so the diaper isn't SOPPING wet when I toss it into the pail. TBH, at first you're like, "EW poop." But now I'm just like, "Meh, whatever I'll just wash it off when I'm done." So I'm not poop squeamish much. But if you're poop squeamish, maybe keep gloves on hand?
 

Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
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LC - Our DC would unsnap the rise too. How weird. I finally just moved him up at one point so they'd stop tugging on my snaps!


And since there is talk of diaper creams... I've become a total CJ's Butter convert! LOVE it. I'll probably keep ordering it for myself (hands and whatnot, haha!) once the kids don't need it anymore. We've tried quite a few scents so far.

Loved - Monkey Farts, Love Spell
Liked a lot - Sweet Memories, My Pixie Pie, Warm Vanilla Cake, Pink Sugar, Tis the Season
Hated - Honeyed Patchouli, Oatmeal Milk & Honey
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Kunzite, I love CJ's also! Monkey Farts for sure! If you like that try the Lime Coconut. It's also quite nice. I did the CJ with Neem, it was OK. Smelled more "medicine-y" I like the pretty smelling ones better. I'll have to give Love Spell a shot. It sounds girly smelling. Is it? DH would hate putting Ethan in a girly smelling cream.
 

luvthemstrawberries

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megumic - Thanks for the input on the wet bags!

indecisive - Thanks to you also! Those are some great pictures of your stash!

Liang - So helpful, as always! :)) Thank you! I had not thought of how many wet bags to have in rotation for daycare, so you guys telling me 3 is the magic number when combined with one for personal use is good to know. I hope to wash every other day, so 4 might be good for us. My husband mentioned having two changing stations, but I'm only thinking one is necessary - I can just see myself getting frustrated with stocking up 2 different ones with diapers anyway, so I think one will be better for me.

You've got me looking into liners now, at least for daycare. I was researching the flushable ones, but like the idea of just cutting up some fleece and using it too. We still are working on choosing a daycare (blegh), but I make a point to ask about cloth whenever we've visited one. It's so funny to hear the different reactions - one lady spent a few minutes telling me about how they've had one other parent use cloth, but that I should be warned because the kid was always having leaks and blowouts. :rolleyes: I didn't argue the point that day, just nodded like she was informing me of how I should be wary of cloth.

And thank you for the heads up about daycares and the rise snaps - I remember you writing earlier in this thread about that. It's funny to me how foreign a concept this apparently can be for some people - it just seems so simple to me I guess.

I don't know why, but it's funny to me that they wrap up the used disposable wipes at daycare and send them home to you in the diaper. I know it's not bad to deal with - it's just odd to me that they wouldn't just throw away the wipes there at daycare - it's not like the trash can isn't right there by the changing table.

Thank you guys also for the diaper cream scent recommendations! I need to go check them out somewhere, because I can't take anything particularly strong or fragrant - I tend to like the more natural and "clean" smells (sounds like I might like the lime one).
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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LT, daycare wraps up the dirty wipes in the cloth diaper because that's how they dispose of the dirty disposable diapers. They put gloves one, wipe poop, wrap used gloves and dirty wipe into the poopy diaper and toss the whole thing in the trash. They're just doing the same thing with cloth (although I suppose they don't put the gloves in there) and pack the diaper in my wet bag.

Oh another thing for daycare: transporting your diapers to and from daycare. Everyday you'll be bringing your baby, a day's worth of diapers, and milk/food. I use a backpack for the diaper and a soft lunchbox carrier for the milk. I leave 6 or 7 diapers @ day care every day. They tend to change diapers at least every 2 hrs, so you just count off how long your baby will be there. E.g. drop off @ 7:30, pick up at 5:30, so that's 10 hours, so 5 diapers. Plus you want to have one or two extra just in case.
 

luvthemstrawberries

Ideal_Rock
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LC - ahh, makes perfect sense with the wipes and diapers.

Thank you thank you thank you for the daycare tips! I just realized this - to clarify, do you just use a wet bag for dirty ones and keep the clean diapers in the backpack, or a wet/dry bag with the dry pocket for the clean diapers? And I guess if you have any extra clothes or wipes to replenish, you just bring them in the backpack too and restock their cubby/box area?
 

luvthemstrawberries

Ideal_Rock
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FYI, thanksmama.com has Kissaluv fitteds for $12.95 ($1 less than some websites), plus they are running $0.96 off each right now - so I just saved $23 off 24 of them. Also not a huge discount but still a discount, they had an additional $0.50 off Thirsties duo wraps (didn't advertise it but it showed up in the cart) plus they were $12.25 to begin with instead of $12.75. I didn't order anything else big, but I'm wondering how many other items might have discounts attached when added to the cart, especially if multiples are ordered - that's what seemed to happen with the Thirsties.

Free shipping too. They also have what look to be some good freebies with some items or packages flashing on the home page, including BG and some others.
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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LT, I bring all the clean stuff in the backpack. That includes a washed & clean wet bag, his diapers for the day, and any clothes and/or wipes I'm replenishing from his "reserve" in his cubby. In the lunch box I have all his bottles for the day, and any purees (when he was younger)/cut up fruit (for snacks now).

They put the soiled diapers in his wet bag. Any soiled clothes they just put in a plastic bag (not sure why they put it separate, but oh well).

End of the day at pick up, I put his stuffed full wet bag, his day care info sheet in the back pack and all the dirty milk bottles/puree containers in the lunch box.

Usually I come home feed Ethan and leave the bottles for DH to clean, and 50/50 I do the diapers or he does. I like getting to the diapers first because I suspect he probably puts too much soap (full measure of laundry detergent). So I try to combat that by using soap nuts. Fortunately we haven't had any repelling issues thus far.

Question for BG users: have you noticed your velcro not sticking as well? Granted we run our pockets in the dryer but the velcro is WAY not sticky anymore. I'm going to see if I can clean it out (pulling out any fuzz in the scratchy velcro part). But I think I'm going to get a few replacement Rumparooz soon.
 

luvthemstrawberries

Ideal_Rock
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LC you are awesome! :appl: Thank you so, so much - it's really nice to get a rundown from someone who's in the grind and dealing with it every day. Sounds like having a routine is key to it all running smoothly and staying on track.
 

megumic

Brilliant_Rock
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Free one size pocket diaper from Smart Snugs with any $15+ purchase! Code is FREEDIAPER and only runs through the weekend!
 

Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
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lliang_chi|1358375116|3357221 said:
Kunzite, I love CJ's also! Monkey Farts for sure! If you like that try the Lime Coconut. It's also quite nice. I did the CJ with Neem, it was OK. Smelled more "medicine-y" I like the pretty smelling ones better. I'll have to give Love Spell a shot. It sounds girly smelling. Is it? DH would hate putting Ethan in a girly smelling cream.

It depends on if you'd call fruity girly. I don't think it is, but I would understand if some might say it's a little girly. Not like the sugary scents though (Sweet Memories, My Pixie Pie, Pink Sugar).
 

luvthemstrawberries

Ideal_Rock
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Any users of Nellie's Laundry Soda here? I use cloth feminine pads, and I've used Nellie's on them from the beginning and loved it - no scent, very concentrated and goes a long way - and cleans really well. From the brief research I've done, it appears to be approved for cloth diapers (it's a natural powder detergent).

I also use a stain remover on them called Buncha Farmers Stain Remover - it is a natural stain stick, and it is FANtastic. From a little reading, it looks like it can be used on diapers too, possibly even to strip where creams may be building up.

Just curious if yall have heard of or used these items.
 

luvthemstrawberries

Ideal_Rock
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Just realized I never came back here and updated after we received our newborn diapers! 24 Kissaluv fitteds, and 6 Thirsties duo wrap covers.







Now they're all washed, prepped, and ready to take to the hospital! ::) They're so soft, and cute! I washed with Nellie's Laundry Soda, and it's been great so far.



I also got one snappi to use if needed with some prefolds I received at my shower, but they're Gerber and are already pilling badly after just one wash. But they're here as backup if needed.

Found some various Planetwise wet bags to use, so I'm hoping those will go well. Haha, I definitely learned when hang drying them how NOT to hang them - the inner part separated from the outer, and I ended up hanging the waterproof part at the bottom, which resulted in nice dry bags but a pool of water inside at the bottom! :cheeky:

I also got some fleece and am cutting it up into strips for liners to use at the hospital and as needed at home (don't plan to use all the time at this point, just for the meconium and if other creams are used).

I plan to order some various products at some point to try, but for now I have some of the California Baby diaper cream if needed. Anyone have advice on that one - good or bad?

20130122_214112.jpg

20130125_111818.jpg

20130125_115411.jpg

20130126_115653.jpg
 

megumic

Brilliant_Rock
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Diaper stash looks great. We also have Cali baby diaper cream, but really prefer Weleda calendula diaper care.

We are having serious diaper leaks at night. I use a prefold with a booster and a cover. Any suggestions on what I might do different? C sleeps on his belly and being a boy, he leaks at his tummy. Suggestions?
 

Kunzite

Brilliant_Rock
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megumic|1361214111|3383256 said:
Diaper stash looks great. We also have Cali baby diaper cream, but really prefer Weleda calendula diaper care.

We are having serious diaper leaks at night. I use a prefold with a booster and a cover. Any suggestions on what I might do different? C sleeps on his belly and being a boy, he leaks at his tummy. Suggestions?

Silly question, but are you pointing him down? We've never had a tummy leak at night.
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Ditto Kunzite, point the head of his penis down into the crotch of the diaper.

LTS, great stash. Those tiny Thirsties covers are so cute! Wee baby :)

I ordered some microfleece fabric and some bamboo terry from diapersewingmaterials.com. I'm gign to cut some liners and also try my hand at making bamboo inserts. Ethan's sleeping better at night, so I'm trying to have him go the whole night with no changes. (currently changed @ 11PM). Since he's peeing so much more, I'm thinking I need to arm myself with super doublers for inserts.
 

megumic

Brilliant_Rock
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Lol I never thought to bother about the direction of his penis. Haha I will give that a go and let you know how it works!
 

mayerling

Ideal_Rock
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Mar 4, 2010
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OK. I admit it. I need help. I swear that if I wasn't so into CDing, I probably would have given up by now. I have leaks every single day, multiple times a day, with multiple types of diaper.

I use pockets: FB, CB, HH, and Blueberry, and hybrids: BB and Flips.

I don't have pee leaks unless the diaper has been on for a while and is soaked. My problem is with poop. It almost always leaks out of the leg holes. I don't know what to do. I can see that there are gaps in the legs but I do have my diapers on the smallest setting possible to actually reach over the hips. I can't make them any smaller. I don't know what to do. :confused:
 

Miscka

Brilliant_Rock
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Are your diapers all snaps? You may consider a Velcro or snapless fitted which requires a snappi or pin so you can get a more "custom" fit than you get with snaps.
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Mayer, do you think you can take pictures of how they're fitting on N? Does the poop leak from the legs always? Try going up one size in the rise (assuming you're doing one-size) and see if that helps. What's his age and weight?
 

mayerling

Ideal_Rock
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Miscka, 1/3 of my diapers are velcro.

LC, yes, it's always from the legs. I'll see if I can get pictures. When I try to adjust the rise in my fuzzis or CBs, the leg holes just get bigger. :confused:
They're all one-size.

N will be 8 months old next week and he weighs 8.5kg.
 

mayerling

Ideal_Rock
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mayerling|1362209704|3394386 said:
Miscka, 1/3 of my diapers are velcro.

LC, yes, it's always from the legs. I'll see if I can get pictures. When I try to adjust the rise in my fuzzis or CBs, the leg holes just get bigger. :confused:
They're all one-size.

N will be 8 months old next week and he weighs 8.5kg.

Wow! This thread's been forgotten. Where are all the CD mammas?

I have a question for the mamma's of older babies. How often do you resize your diapers. I think I last sized N's diapers when he was around 3 months old which makes me think that's why I keep getting leaks. Having said that, he's on the last rise and it seems weird to have the diaper completely unsnapped at 9 months. How's it going to last him until potty-training? :confused:
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Mayer, Baby's growth really tapers off after 1 year. I mean they still grow but not as crazy fast. Ethan is totally unsnapped on some diapers and still one the 2nd to last rise snap on others. He's 13.5 months. I was thinking about the leg fit, can you compress the crotch narrower to get a snugger fit higher up N's groin area and see if that gives you better luck with the leaking. It's probably because N's crawling now and not just sitting/lying around. And I really doubt that cloth is good until potty training unless your baby trains early. Or maybe for girls they can last that long but boys, especially bigger boys, might outgrow them faster.

And thought I'd post a peeking diaper picture of Ethan. THese are his Bumkins AIO cloth. They're OK. Fine as daytime diapers but not over night. I like his Rumparooz the best.

Oh yeah and I just replaced the velcro on most of his diapers. Now they're good as new again, close to it. Hooray! If anyone wants a tutorial on how to replace the velcro I'll try to put something together. You do need a sewing machine, or lots of patience if you're going to sew by hand.

2013-04-02_0.jpg
 

mayerling

Ideal_Rock
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LC, I hadn't realised there wasn't much growth after the first year. I might try and enlarge the diapers then to see if I get a better fit.

On another note, Real Nappy Week is coming up in the UK and I'd like to take advantage of the offers to expand my stash. I'd like to give AIOs a chance. Can anybody suggest a good brand - preferably tongue-style as I don't have dryer.
 

lliang_chi

Ideal_Rock
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Mayer, we have two pairs of TotsBots. Their velcro is quite good, much stronger than Blueberry, Thirsties, even Rumparooz. The fit is a little smaller though, Ethan was on the full rise (fully unbottoned) first with our TotsBots. Otherwise that's the only AIO that I would recommend.
 

mayerling

Ideal_Rock
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LC, is the totsbots a tongue-style AIO?
 

Kunzite

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mayerling, it depends on the fit of your diapers. We have both Bluberry and BumGenius and O can still go out two more waist snaps on both at nearly 2.5 years old, 32lbs, 36 inches. He will easily fit them forever, which is good because I think he's going to be late at PT. He has sat on the potty exactly once so far!

LC, I have to say that I was totally wrong about Love Spell not being a girly scent! I was using it this weekend and my sister asks me, is that Love Spell? Which confused me because she shouldn't know that! Well it turns out Love Spell is a Victoria's Secret scent and the CJ's is a perfect match!! So my boys smell like a VS body spray :lol:
 
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