I'm pregnant and considering using cloth diapers. I know they r alot better than they use to be and would like

Question

to hear the opinions of people who have also used them. I have used disposable diapers and the past and have been dissappointed .

Answer 1

Ok I just had to jump into this thread... Here are my two cents. I am currently using cloth diapers. They aren't inconvenient. They only add a couple of loads of laundry to my chores each week. (And they're small loads.) I did start out using the traditional cloth diapers with the outer waterproof wrap. I admit, it was a pain in the butt. I hated it. I had looked into Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers, and thought they were too expensive. (I hate parting with my money..;) After a couple of weeks in the bulky, leaky, stinky, easily stained cloth, I talked my husband out of $140.00 and went to fuzzibunzseconds.net (These guys are 10.00/ diaper, new. They have *minor* imperfections, but they are functional, and presentable. You can look into e-bay, and also buy new and perfect for around 17.95 a pop.) and ordered my diapers. Here's how I look at the investment:
(I am not a greenie)
- I'll be able to re use these for all of my babies when I have them.
- I don't run out of diapers in the middle of the night, and have to go out for more. What a pain. And expensive. Really expensive.
- These things travel well. I've done a weekend with my son in them. You do have to be a little bit considerate of how you'll do it though, proper prior planning and all. ;)
- My son's little bits aren't exposed to the chemicals that the disposables contain, and I know what his little buns are wrapped in.
-These things require NO special treatment other than throwing them in the wash for 1 extra cycle to really rinse them. They don't stain, unless you use petrolium based diaper rash cream. ( I've used Burt's Bees Baby Bee Diaper Rash cream with success, it won't stain the fleece.) (Breastmilk poo dissolves nicely.)
- They are easy to use, and very trim. They absorb a lot depending on what they're stuffed with, and they wick the moisture away from baby's bottom.
- They come in just about any color you'd like, even black for 'formal occasions'!
- A random bonus I found is that they lay flat when you're diapering baby, they aren't curly like disposables, which is really hard to put onto a sqirmy, wiggly baby.
I could go on for a long time about these, but I'll let you chew on this. If you want more info, google Fuzzi Bunz. I would rather you go into this with an informed opinion about cloth rather than old information. There's a lot of new stuff out there that is worth looking into. Have fun!

Answer 2

Now have my 2nd baby, 8 months old. Used pre-folds & covers for the first baby, but as the babies are both breast-fed, the stools are very loose, and the diapers & covers used to leak a lot! No fun washing out covers and clothes all the time! The 2nd baby, I bought some 'Sandees' from www.mother-ease.com . They are great! Buy their covers too, as other diaper-covers are not big enough. These diapers leak a lot less than disposables, and I can wash them at really high temperatures. The all-in-ones are problematic this way: if you wash them at the recommended temperatures, you are not washing hot enough to reduce the risk of diaper rash! The all-in-ones' recommended washing temperatures are low because of the covers. With a separate cover and diaper, and heat-resistant thread and elastic, you can wash the diapers at the high temperatures needed to keep your babies' skin healthy. So, in short, make sure you buy: diapers separately from covers; covers that fit over the diapers you buy; diapers that can be washed in very hot water; fitted diapers (to eliminate leaks). A nice extra with the Mother-Ease diaper varieties is that they are adjustable, and fit newborn-to-35 lb sized babies! It's worth your money to buy quality diaper-covers: I've had some (not Mother-Ease!) fall apart after only a few months' use. Good on you! You're doing your baby and the environment a favor, and having used disposables sometimes for a week on holiday, I swear they're more work, with all the extra garbage-handling, and washing leak-stains out of clothes!

Answer 3

The new cloth diapers really are not that much trouble. A couple extra loads of wash per week and you save a lot of $$$. Especially if you plan on diapering more than 1 child. I am on the 4th one now with the same cloth diapers I bought almost 10 years ago. Definately more economical for our family. On the few occasions that I did use paper diapers we had to deal with diaper rash. They seem to get less rash with the cloth if they are changed promptly. I have had great success with the Motherease brand one size diaper and airflow covers. I have only had a couple of leaks with all those kids. And those leaks were due to major blowout poops which happen with paper as well. I read somewhere that the USA uses chemicals in their paper diapers that other countries have banned. Not sure how true but it got me thinking .... what are the chemicals they are exposing our little ones bottoms to in order to make a buck.

Answer 4

I'm just the opposite. I tried cloth briefly, thinking they would be more comfortable for my baby, then said no way! Cloth diapers are better for the environement, but little else.
You will be constantly changing your baby, having a higher risk of diaper rash, going through more clothes in one day, and having a LOT more laundry. Plastic pants are necessary over the cloth diapers, and they have yet to make one that is leak-proof. There is also nothing to pull the wetness away from the baby's skin and if they aren't changed within minutes you risk irritating the skin or even diaper rash. This is fine if you're at home, but when you're out? It can be difficult to change your baby right then and there.
My mom was forced to use cloth with me because I was allergic to all of the available disposbale brands, but the cloth diapers weren't much better.
A diaper service will help with the laundry, but it's expensive.

I'm sold on Huggies Supremes. They're much softer than regular disposables, they keep my kids dry, I've had next to no trouble with diaper rash after having 4 babies, and the newer designs now make them fit even better.

Answer 5

My mom used cloth diapers on me and she said I had diaper rash and vaginal infections all the time. The only advantage I think is saving money but there is no real advantage for the kid. If you go with dispossible you have got to stay away from pampers and loves. They leak and cause diaper rash with the perfume they use in them for the smell and my son had horrible diaper rash from pampers. I only use huggies or white cloud I prefer huggies. My son never gets diaper rash since I switched. The same thing happened with my daughter when she was still in diapers. I'm pregnant with my third now and I plan to keep using disposables I would not even think of using cloth. I baby sat a girl who's mom used cloth diapers and she was always sore and raw no matter how much diaper rash cream I used. And it was so gross to try and wash the poop out of those things. The disposable diapers soak liguids up much better and keep more of it away from the baby's skin and keep them dryer. Whereas the cloth diapers keep it all real close to their skin and cause more skin irritation. That is my experience at least.

Answer 6

I used them for the first 2 months of my sons life... and I hated it. You needed to change them more often then disposables. They are really thick and keep the moisture close to the babies skin so there is a lot more diaper rash going on. You have to wash and dry at least 10 a day so a lot of time is actually spent doing that. Time that I prefer to spend with my baby.

I know they say its better for the environment but I don't think it is in the long run... you gotta use more water to wash them.(in Australia we are on water restrictions due to a low amount of water in our reserves) and you put alot of chemicals into the sea with the washing powders.

So I think disposables are best.

Answer 7

If you want info about diapers, all you have to do is a Google search for the word "diaper" and you will get tons of information.

Cloth diapers are best and cheapest to use in the long run.

Disposables put plastic, paper and chemicals against your baby's skin, is this really a good thing for the baby?? Not only that but with disposables you put all that paper, plastic, chemicals and human waste into our landfills. The human waste breeds all kinds of bacteria that filters down into our water systems, yuck! Not to mention that the diapers themselves take decades to decay, long after our own bodies decay they will still be there. Why do that to our environment? I think they should be outlawed.

With cloth, your baby will have less chance of getting diaper rashes, your baby will be wrapped in a nice soft cloth diaper and will be more comfortable. Your baby will potty train sooner because with the cloth diapers your baby feels it more when they are wet and messy and learn quicker not to like it and want to get rid of wearing the diapers.

Think long and hard about it. What are you really interested in? You should be interested in your baby's health and comfort, not your own convenience when it comes to changing diapers. Take care of your baby, they aren't supposed to be a convenience, they are little human beings that you are supposed to be taking the best care of, lovingly raising them to become happy and healthy productive adults.

Good luck.

Answer 8

I thought about using them as well. Then my mom (who had 5 kids) told me this story: Mom had her 5th child after the invention of disposables. For her first 4 there was no choice but cloth diapers, and when my younger sister was born she told herself that no child of hers would wear paper pants! So she used cloth diapers again. But my sister just wouldn't sleep through the night. Then one day my mom's friend came over and said "Try this" and gave her a Pampers. My sister slept through the night for the first time. My mom switched to disposables and never looked back.

That's all I needed to hear. I think it's horrible what disposables do to the environment, but have decided to go green elsewhere in my life, b/c cloth would just be too much work.

Good luck. (I hope you do go with cloth, b/c it would be better for our planet!)

Answer 9

To add to the answers here, depending on where you live they do have diaper services that will pick up and clean them for a fee. From what I see its not that expensive compared to the cost of diapers nowadays, besides you will be doing the earth a service instead of making more landfills. Check your area for diapers services, I have seen ads in the back of pregnant mags and baby mags.

Good Luck :-)

Answer 10

Well cloth diapers are a plus to saving money. But it just gets messy sometimes. I have used them before and didn't like them. The baby kept out wetting and out pooping in them getting it on his cloths. They have plastic like underwear type things to put over the cloth diapers but I still had a problem with them leaking all over the place.