personal experiences from using cloth diapers?

Answer 1

I cloth diapered my son from the time he was 6 weeks old until he potty trained right before he turned three. I loved it! I can't say that there were no issues, but even disposable users have issues... They have blow outs and leaks and rashes, yet if someone has those same issues in cloth diapers, then they blame the cloth.

What a lot of people aren't aware of these days, is that there is a whole world of cloth diapers available on the internet. There are enough choices to make your head spin. Those gauzey flat diapers, plastic pants and oversized safety pins that you find in the baby section of your local department store are a thing of the past. And if that is someone's only experience with cloth diapers, I'd be surprised if it weren't horrible.

Diapers are meant to be changed everytime they are wet or soiled, yet dispoables are made so absorbant that many consumers are spoiled and don't change the wet diaper until it is falling off the baby. Therefore if someone is conditioned to this mindset, they will end up causing a rash on a baby by leaving a wet cloth diaper on for 8 hours or so at a time. If used and washed correctly (it's not hard- just use a hypoallergenic detergent such as All-Free and Clear) , cloth diapers do not cause rashes. However, disposable diapers contain so many chemicals that they have been known to cause severe diaper rashes.

Sorry to use your question as my soapbox, but I get so irritated at the close minded people who buy into the myths without giving something a fair shot.

Answer 2

I use cloth diapers. They save a lot of money in the end. The upfront investment is a little higher. Washing the diapers is not very complicated at all. You can find a lot of information on the Internet. A lot of the time rashes using cloth is from either not changing them often enough, or from using too harsh of laundry detergent... or not rinsing well enough. Whether or not the extra work is worth it depends on your reasons for cloth diapering. I do it to save money and for the environment. I also feel more comfortable with the materials i use with cloth versus the materials used to make disposables.

Answer 3

Cloth diapers are the best darn thing I ever did. All of my nephews and nieces wore and still wear cloth diapers, and most all of the children I babysat wore cloth diapers.

All the extra added work that people all claim is nothing more than old wives tales. I find that it's usually the lazy moms who always whine and cry and make such an issue over using cloth diapers.

Cloth diapers are softer, warmer, and far more comfortable for a baby or child, than disgusting disposable diapers are, and cloth diapers are ultra economical. The more simple you go, the cheaper cloth diapering is. ie: (Flannelette square diapers with safety pins and rubber pants). The ultimate in cheap diapering.

Answer 4

I have found a happy-medium using both :)
I put disposables at night and when we travel, and the rest of the time I use my hand-made beautiful cloth nappies. I actually have more problems with rashes when I use disposables. It only makes 1 extra load of laundry every few days, and I'm already doing SO much with 3 kids, whats the difference!! LOL

There seem to be alot of new moms that "mistreat" their cloth diapers by washing them in bleach and over using soap, not rinsing well enough etc. I think if you follow the easy fuidelines then you shouldn't have such a hard time :)

Answer 5

I loved them. We used them with my daughter right from the beginning (brought them to the hospital) and even when traveling, right up until her last diaper. We are expecting again and will do the same. We didn't have any diaper rash problems. We also did elimination communication (http://www.diaperfreebaby.org) which I think helped with not having diaper rash. Also you just have to realize you can't let a kid sit in his/her own body waste. If you change cloth diapers right away you won't have a problem.

I loved pulling fresh clean diapers out of the dryer, I loved wrapping that tiny little bum in soft cotton instead of nasty chemicals, and I loved knowing I was doing a little bit of something for the environment. Disposable diapers smell terrible and may be part of the reason for rising male infertility (sperm counts in men are 1/10 of what they were in the 1950s when everyone used cloth) and childhood asthma (breathing all those chemicals is not good for tiny respiratory systems. Even just walking down the diaper aisle at the store you can smell all that nasty stuff and who knows what it does to kids. Disposable diapers also contain dioxin).

Because kids can feel when they are wet, they potty train a year earlier on average in cloth diapers.

I loved everything about cloth. I wouldn't do it any other way.

Answer 6

Diaper rash is an ongoing problem with cloth. You don't have the expense of buying the disposables but I'm not sure it's worth it. Even if you lick the problem of the diaper rash there is always the possibility of an allergic reaction to your laundry soap - those little butts are pretty tender.

Answer 7

You can get good ones these days that are shaped, have poppers (do Americans call them press studs?) and things. The nappies are shaped, and so are the plastic pants that go outside them to keep clothes dry. There are new ones out called "fluffies" which are excellent. Maybe use a disposable overnight, but terries are great in the daytime.

Answer 8

My daughter always had diaper rash with them. I would change her all the time and nothing helped until I switched to disposible ones.

Answer 9

I raised 2 girls and tried them but it was terrible. Always having a rash no matter what. They are a mess to deal with and a total pain in the a.. Use the disposables and save yourself the headaches.

Answer 10

Insanity and a lot of laundry. Switched to disposables, never looked back.