Do/did you use cloth or desposable diapers for your baby?

Question

Why did you make that choice?

Answer 1

I tried both, I ended up using disposable, mostly cause it is hard to wash the diapers fast enough without a washing machine, also the plastic pants that are needed with cloth diapers leaked with me. I have been through 3 kids with disposable and wouldnt change it if I could go back.

Answer 2

We use cloth because my daughter is allergic to disposable. The more I researched cloth and learned about the chemicals in disposables, the more I regretted not doing it from the beginning. We love our cloth diapers - her bum is happy, we're saving money, they protect the environment, and they're oh so much cuter than disposable diapers with the awful cartoon characters all over them!

ETA: To the person that said disposables hold more and you can go longer between changing - you should still change the baby EVERY time he/she is wet, regardless of if the diaper is "full" or not! Would you want to sit around in your wet/dirty pants for a couple of hours until you peed yourself a second or third time??

Also, cloth is not what most people think. We have a lot of all in one diapers (see my avatar) that velcro on and off just like a disposable diaper. No folding, no pins, no rubber pants. Even with cotton prefold diapers, I use a cover that velcroes on, no pins needed. Some of our diapers also have a layer of fleece that protects baby's skin from the wetness, and I have far fewer leaks with cloth than I did with disposables. You do so much laundry with kids in the house anyway, what's 2 more loads a week?

Answer 3

first baby used cloth from birth, except when we went out then I used disposables for convenience. Also once she was 2-3 mths I used a disposable at night too because the cloth didn't absorb enough so she would not sleep through the night.
By 7mths I was working so daycare wouldn't allow us to use cloth so she went into disposable full time.
But using it for the daytime for 7mths still saved a chunk of money.
I did pretty much the same for my second baby. But he was in them in the day till about 10mths (night and out was disposables) and I only stopped then because he was too big and they just wouldn't absorb anything anymore with the type of folds I could do (for his size).

This next baby will use cloth in the day and disposable when we go out too.
It does save a huge amount of money and really is not a pain to set up and wash/fold. I have to do that much laundry anyway that a couple of extra loads doesn't make a difference. Plus the more kids, the better the monetry value gets. My white square nappies are in fantastic condition after 2 kids. I took care of them and used quality soaking powders so they didn't get yukky. I still have the nappy buckets for soaking and new snappy pins are so cheap. All I need to get is new plastic pilchers/pants to put over the cloth so t doesn't leak onto clothes but they are cheap too. Maybe $20 will see me through for a good while.
They will easily do another couple of kids too! (no more for me though, my SIL gets all of my stuff when I'm done!)

best of luck

Answer 4

We used disposables for the first 3 months. I was recovering from emergency surgery and was not able to walk up and down the stairs to the laundry in the basement so I waited to start cloth diapering. After that we switched to cloth diapers and I LOVE them. I wish we had started her out wearing cloth from day one! I had decided before I even thought about having a baby that I would use cloth diapers like my Mom had used for me and my sister. She thought that it was best for us and we potty-trained way before all our cousins and friends in disposable diapers.

We have no leaks with cloth. No stinky Diaper Genie. We never "run out" of diapers. Diaper rash is non-existent. And we have no more guilt about 2 trash bags of diapers going out to the bin every week! Plus she looks adorable in all her cute candy-coloured cloth diapers!

Answer 5

Disposable, only cuz I don't have time to deal with cloth....if I was a stay at home mom, I would prolly use cloth, but I work like 11 hours a day, and I don't have time to keep up with cloth diapers...

Answer 6

Cloth for many reasons.
Primary reason it's how I was brought up - my mother used terry square nappies for 3 children and actively encouraged both my sister and I to go cloth as well. My nephew is now 12 but he and my sister lived at my parents with the rest of our family until he was 2 so I saw cloth in active daily use.

The cost of disposables (UK households average of £26 p/month) v's a one time outlay for cloth of less than £200 helped too. In 8 months I would have spent more on disposables.

Another deciding factor is waste disposal - my local council waste service collect household rubbish and recycling on alternative weeks - during the summer you end up with black bin bags sitting in the hot sun for upto a fortnight - the smell is revolting and attracts rats and foxes and it's not unusual to find rotting rubbish spread over the garden in the morning. This in turn attracts flies and unless you have time to clean it up before going to work you come home to maggots everywhere too. Ewwww!!!!

I did use disposibles in hospital and at home for a total of 3 weeks while waiting for my cloth nappies to be delivered and hated the way the gel in them felt when disposing of the dirty ones.

Like my mum, my sister used terry squares with plastic pants. I use next generation shaped nappies 'Bumbles' with 'Motherease' wraps - no folding involved and they just go straight in the washing machine, no special power or soaking programme required.

Answer 7

I used and am still using disposables... they are much easier and more convenient to use when out and about. A lot of people complain about disposables because of the environment etc but Mothercare and other various companies do sell disposables that are environment friendly nappies that decompose quicker. It is such an individual choice and I don't think anyone should be put down for the decision that they make... this is quite a controversial topic.

Answer 8

Clorh diapers. I can sew well, so I've make fitted diapers and felted wool covers for my son. They're fantastic, good for baby and the environment, and cost so little to make/use.

I used disposables for the first few weeks, but that was only because I was busy sewing a cloth diaper stash. Now, we exclusively use cloth and they absorb great, wash well, and will last for the next babies to use.

Also, if you sew your own you can make them to fit exactly for your child... customize the absorbency if your littlle one is a big wetter. THey're really versatile.

Answer 9

Yep, I use Pampers (huggies aren't as soft) I use them for convenience. I have enough to do with a 2 month old baby and I would not have the time to fuss with cloth diapers.

Answer 10

My grandmother freaked out when I talked about cloth and offered to buy disposables AND do my laundry for me =))

So since she was doing my laundry (which was a huge help) I just humour her. Also where I live disposables go into the compost picked up by the city so I like to pretend they aren't that bad.