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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants
My Baby Wears Cloth Diapers. AMA.
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 11 2018, 11:08 pm
My babies were getting burns from the prefolds I was using. It must have been buildup on the fibers. Cloth for 2 1/2 kids, disposable for 3 1/2. Ds we used cloth foe one year before I gave up.
The washing was not my issue, the delicate tushie was.
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ggdm




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Nov 12 2018, 4:16 am
amother wrote:
I have enough diapers for a few days between loads. Last time I went away I did two loads by the vacation home. I do bring along disposables though in case I run out of clean diapers.

Is this enough for a full load or do you run the machine half empty or do you put in other stuff with the diapers?

amother wrote:
I started doing cloth part time with my second child and used it more and more with time. It's been a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Who or what geve you the idea to switch? Was it difficult in the beginning? How did people (parents, siblings, friends, babysitter, midwife, ...) react? Is it common where you live or are you the only one?
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Mon, Nov 12 2018, 7:33 am
Iymnok wrote:
My babies were getting burns from the prefolds I was using. It must have been buildup on the fibers. Cloth for 2 1/2 kids, disposable for 3 1/2. Ds we used cloth foe one year before I gave up.
The washing was not my issue, the delicate tushie was.


Did you ever try stay dry liners? Many kids have a wetness sensitivity. I use mostly pocket diapers that have stay dry suede. Many people also like athletic wicking jersey- I personally haven't tried those as they're more expensive.

Another question I'd have is whether you ever tested how hard your water is. If you have hard water and aren't adding washing soda or water softener you end up with an ammonia buildup which can cause irritation. Another issue people have sometimes is putting too much detergent or an ineffective brand.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Mon, Nov 12 2018, 7:45 am
ggdm wrote:
Who or what geve you the idea to switch?


I was reading a book on toilet training and it said that kids who are cloth diapered have more self awareness and train faster. It sounded interesting. I then saw some cheap cloth diapers on Aliexpress so I figured I'll give it a shot.

ggdm wrote:
Was it difficult in the beginning?


Not really. There was a bit of a learning curve but wasn't difficult.

ggdm wrote:
How did people (parents, siblings, friends, babysitter, midwife, ...) react?


Everyone thought I was nuts at first. I think they're getting used to it by now.

ggdm wrote:
Is it common where you live or are you the only one?


I do not know a single other person in real life who does cloth diapers.
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ggdm




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 1:47 am
amother wrote:
I was reading a book on toilet training and it said that kids who are cloth diapered have more self awareness and train faster. It sounded interesting. I then saw some cheap cloth diapers on Aliexpress so I figured I'll give it a shot.

Did it wotk out? Did the child train faster?
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Raisin




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 2:04 am
How much did you spend on them?

I bought some cloth pads and they were so expensive! bh for menstrual cups. I can't imagine how much 40 cloth diapers would cost.
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imasinger




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 3:31 am
Good for you, OP!

I had a lot of fun with cloth.

The best part for me was the savings. I bought gently used, and then resold when DS outgrew that size, usually for 50-80% of what I had paid for them. Have you also been reselling as your DC outgrows?

I don't think I ever had or needed as much as 40 at once. 20 was a generous supply. I had a washable bag for the used dipes, and would cart them down to the washer, dump out the diapers, liners, etc, then turn the bag inside out and wash it along with the diapers.
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Amelia Bedelia




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 6:39 am
Just got free samples from https://getdyper.com. They seem really good! It's a great eco-friendly disposable diaper. They're expensive, but so are cloth diapers. What are your thoughts on these, compared to cloth?
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 8:00 am
ggdm wrote:
Did it wotk out? Did the child train faster?


Yes, the child did train faster.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 8:05 am
Raisin wrote:
How much did you spend on them?

I bought some cloth pads and they were so expensive! bh for menstrual cups. I can't imagine how much 40 cloth diapers would cost.


I'm not sure exactly as I haven't done the totals recently but my diapers are mostly very cheap. I originally had some charcoal bamboo ones and my son is sensitive to those and I was able to get back the full amount I had paid for them on resale.

Even with expensive cloth diapers you still end up saving money overall.

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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 8:26 am
imasinger wrote:
Good for you, OP!

I had a lot of fun with cloth.

The best part for me was the savings. I bought gently used, and then resold when DS outgrew that size, usually for 50-80% of what I had paid for them. Have you also been reselling as your DC outgrows?

I don't think I ever had or needed as much as 40 at once. 20 was a generous supply. I had a washable bag for the used dipes, and would cart them down to the washer, dump out the diapers, liners, etc, then turn the bag inside out and wash it along with the diapers.



I use one size diapers so no need to resell. I just adjust the snap setting. (see below for an example although my diapers are slightly different than these)



I actually recently counted my stash- at the moment I have 32 although I have a few more overnights on the way. I find that this is a perfect sized stash for me for washing once a week. I also have special bags to keep them in and wash them along with the diapers.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Fri, Nov 16 2018, 8:46 am
Amelia Bedelia wrote:
Just got free samples from https://getdyper.com. They seem really good! It's a great eco-friendly disposable diaper. They're expensive, but so are cloth diapers. What are your thoughts on these, compared to cloth?


I've seen this website. It's crazy expensive especially when comparing to cloth. It is interesting though that they give you labels to send back extra diapers to reduce waste. It's also good that it's biodegradable. I do wonder whether it has SAP though and how it is for highly allergic kids.
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pnina




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 7:16 pm
Hey this sounds interesting, heard about cloth diapers but never really heard first hand experience from people who tried it. Maybe for next time. Hatzlacha Folks, how does it wash? and what do you do about #2?
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 7:35 pm
pnina wrote:
Hey this sounds interesting, heard about cloth diapers but never really heard first hand experience from people who tried it. Maybe for next time. Hatzlacha Folks, how does it wash? and what do you do about #2?


It washes beautifully. I love that the inside is white because it shows me how clean it gets after each wash.

I have flushable/disposable liners and I rinse off the diaper if anything made it outside the liner.
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 8:09 pm
amother wrote:
I'm not sure exactly as I haven't done the totals recently but my diapers are mostly very cheap. I originally had some charcoal bamboo ones and my son is sensitive to those and I was able to get back the full amount I had paid for them on resale.

Even with expensive cloth diapers you still end up saving money overall.



I am finding this thread very interesting, but have to disagree with these numbers for two reasons:

1) The cloth number doesn't account for the added laundry costs, which, while not thousands of dollars, easily adds up to a few hundred once you add in the hot water and detergent.

but MUCH more importantly:

2) the disposable diaper figure is calculated using a $.31/diaper cost. I NEVER pay anywhere near that. I actually shoot for $.11-$.17, usually closer to $.11 a diaper - and I use mainly Huggies or Pampers. At $.11/diaper, the total is only $808.

So then, if you subtract the laundry costs, you end up with pretty similar numbers.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 8:29 pm
tryinghard wrote:
I am finding this thread very interesting, but have to disagree with these numbers for two reasons:

1) The cloth number doesn't account for the added laundry costs, which, while not thousands of dollars, easily adds up to a few hundred once you add in the hot water and detergent.

but MUCH more importantly:

2) the disposable diaper figure is calculated using a $.31/diaper cost. I NEVER pay anywhere near that. I actually shoot for $.11-$.17, usually closer to $.11 a diaper - and I use mainly Huggies or Pampers. At $.11/diaper, the total is only $808.

So then, if you subtract the laundry costs, you end up with pretty similar numbers.


I'm not sure if you're reading this accurately; this counts the cost of cloth diapering at $550 after reselling the used diapers. This is also counting on expensive cloth diapers which are $25 each. I pay between $4-7 generally speaking (I pay more for overnights or cuter prints). If someone gets 20 daytime diapers at $5 each (just to be generous) and 4 overnight diapers at $8 each (again, can be cheaper as well) total for purchase would be $132

While I did not do the math myself someone else calculated the average cost of washing cloth diapers at $0.03 each.

I never paid a whole lot for disposables either although now I'm forced to pay more for the disposables I do use since they need to by ultra hypoallergenic.

ETA I left out total cost without reselling used diapers if using cheap cloth diapers comes out to $352. You can then reuse them for other children for only the cost of laundry.
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 9:09 pm
amother wrote:
I'm not sure if you're reading this accurately; this counts the cost of cloth diapering at $550 after reselling the used diapers. This is also counting on expensive cloth diapers which are $25 each. I pay between $4-7 generally speaking (I pay more for overnights or cuter prints). If someone gets 20 daytime diapers at $5 each (just to be generous) and 4 overnight diapers at $8 each (again, can be cheaper as well) total for purchase would be $132

While I did not do the math myself someone else calculated the average cost of washing cloth diapers at $0.03 each.

I never paid a whole lot for disposables either although now I'm forced to pay more for the disposables I do use since they need to by ultra hypoallergenic.

ETA I left out total cost without reselling used diapers if using cheap cloth diapers comes out to $352. You can then reuse them for other children for only the cost of laundry.


I'm not convinced you are right about what they calculated. And of course, being able to use for future children is definitely a money saver. But (tell me if I'm missing where you said it) I don't see your accounting for your liners, which, even at the rate quoted above for $5/100 (which someone said is the cheapest possible option), would total another $365.

So:

Diapers - $132 +
Liners - $365
Laundry - $220
$717 for the first child - less than $100 cheaper than my disposables - over 2.5 years


So yes, for your second child and on,

Liners - $365 +
Laundry - $220
$585 per child - less than $300 cheaper than my disposables - over 2.5 years


Where am I wrong?
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Sun, Nov 18 2018, 10:44 pm
tryinghard wrote:
I'm not convinced you are right about what they calculated. And of course, being able to use for future children is definitely a money saver. But (tell me if I'm missing where you said it) I don't see your accounting for your liners, which, even at the rate quoted above for $5/100 (which someone said is the cheapest possible option), would total another $365.

So:

Diapers - $132 +
Liners - $365
Laundry - $220
$717 for the first child - less than $100 cheaper than my disposables - over 2.5 years


So yes, for your second child and on,

Liners - $365 +
Laundry - $220
$585 per child - less than $300 cheaper than my disposables - over 2.5 years


Where am I wrong?


I did not account for liners, however $5 for 100 is not the cheapest at all. The cheapest option is $0.50 for 35 fleece liners (non flushable) which comes out to less than 1.5 cents per liner. Also liners are only thrown out for poopy diapers and are reused if they only got wet. Most people end up going through about $2 worth of the cheapest liners and less than $10 of the flushable liners if they choose to go that route per child. I have been using the same roll for almost a year now. I also throw fresh wipes that are mostly clean into my diaper laundry and use those as liners as well (which is why my roll is lasting so long Smile )
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Nov 19 2018, 3:38 pm
Ok - my intent was never to say that the costs are the same - merely that depending on one's choices (and obviously you and I are both very frugal! LOL ) the price differential may realistically be nowhere near the numbers displayed above.

But I really do find it impressive that people manage to do this!
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amother
Mint


 

Post Mon, Nov 19 2018, 4:03 pm
Do cool that you use cloth! I don't but my parents used only cloth until their youngest child. I myself was never in a disposable.
We used to have the cutest diaper pins and rubber panties!

I think my mother still has them somewhere!
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