@flame-free CD vs disposables

[niq]

If you picked CD, what was the biggest factor for you (cost, environment, baby's comfort, whatever)? Did you wash them at home or use a service? Did it end up costing more or less than disposables would have cost? If it was less, was it "worth" it in terms of the amount of extra work for you & H?

If you thought about both but went with disposables, what tipped the scales for disposables?

W and I disagree on this one. The Mint blog post makes it look like CDs save $200+ the first year, and probably a little more the second year. Maybe I am overestimating the inconvenience but an extra $20/month doesn't sound like much to go disposable. W thinks I hate the environment or something. :@

[dana86]

I didn't start cloth diapering until M was about 15 months. While the convenience of taking a disposable off and tossing it is nice I definitely enjoy not having to buy diapers every time I got to costco or target. We switched for the money factor. It works for us since I dont work right now so I have the extra time to put in the extra work of washing and everything. To me it is worth it for the savings, even if I complain about having to do the extra washing lol

[Deleted]

We do disposables because I'm not willing to risk build up in my diapers because we have a communal laundry room and I can't control the detergents the other tenants use and I'm not willing to hand wash them.

I've already decided that once we have a house and if we have a second child that we will cloth diaper that child.

[shevacc]

If you picked CD, what was the biggest factor for you (cost, environment, baby's comfort, whatever)? All...I have super sensitive skin and it turns out DD does too. We and daycare have to change her hourly (and they had to switch to cloth wipes we provide rather than disposables they provide) to keep her skin from getting irritated. Knowing I'm sometimes a tightwad I didn't want to be tempted to change her less often to save money...that seems gross. Plus we never have to run to the store for diapers. They're cute to look at and feel more comfortable. And finally they fit better. We haven't had a blowout requiring a wardrobe change since she was a newborn. One of her daycare "friends"/fellow babies has at least 1 a week which requires tons more dealing with poop than I ever do...on clothes and baby in addition to just in the diaper.

Did you wash them at home or use a service? We wash them at home twice a week.

Did it end up costing more or less than disposables would have cost? Less already, I think. I don't think I can break it up as nicely as spun, but here goes.

CD:
Diapers: ~$400 (48 prefolds, 14 BumGenius pockets we just use as covers, 3 thirsties duo wraps, 2 softbuns, 2 random ones from Zulily plus 6 Charlie banana newborn sized covers and a bag of newborn covers I got for free from someone).

Wipes: $32 for 4 dozen cloth wipes from Zulily

2 Large wet bags for home use, 3 medium and 1 small for daycare or on the go: $70ish

Detergent: Ditto on using Planet. We're still on our 2nd bottle at 9 months.

Laundry: I don't know the cost but 2 loads extra a week. I do double cycles and also often throw in bibs, towels, washcloths, etc. after the 1st cycle.

Trash:
We have the smallest Bainbridge can right now.


If it was less, was it "worth" it in terms of the amount of extra work for you & H?

I find laundry a lot easier than going to the store, though for me my closest non-grocery store is 20 minutes away. It takes 2.5 hours to wash and dry diapers but only a few minutes of doing anything, mostly waiting. That's much preferrable to 40 minutes of driving round trip plus shopping time. And DD hates her car seat so it could mean 40 minutes of screaming. I do one load over the weekend. The other I put in when I get home, start the 2nd wash after dinner, and throw in the dryer before bed. In the morning I get out a stack of prefolds and wipes to take to daycare and put the rest in DD's room.

If you thought about both but went with disposables, what tipped the scales for disposables? We've only used cloth, even traveling so I have no idea what living with disposables is like.

[jennlin]

the environment is what made me *want* to do it, the cost-savings is what pushed me very close to the ledge, the cute designs is what made me leap.

i have a friend who is VERY into cloth diapering, and buys/sells both new/used in this whole trade market. so i'm very comfortable with my low-cost diapers.

i've spent a grand total of about $350. that's 49 pocket diapers and 65 (upgraded) inserts. i also have about 25 miscellaneous (basic) inserts that i don't use and my friend is working on selling for me. we started at about 6 months in, so we have no teeny-sized diapers that you would need for bitty babies. i made my own wet bags. 4 for $15. took about 20 minutes to make all 4, and i have zero sewing skills. seriously. it's a square. you can sew that.

we wash our own. the first 6 months (which i didn't get to take advantage of), you can throw diapers straight into the wash with no rinsing necessary. breastmilk poo is water soluble. solids, it's a scrape then throw in the wash. it's really not all that bad. poo is gross, but your own baby's poo is not. i swear.

h did not want to do CD's, he said he didn't want to scrape poo. so i said fine, i'll do it. so i do 100% of the diaper laundry, and i don't mind. it takes about 10 minutes every other day. the size of my diaper stash can last us 4 or 5 days or more...but i don't recommend letting them sit!

i make my own detergent..and it costs about $8/gallon. i'm about halfway through my tub right now, and i started using it in august for ALL laundry, including diapers and all clothes.

cloth diaper rash cream (aka coconut oil) is also WAY cheaper than traditional diaper creams.

after i'm done having kids, my friend is confident that i'll recoop at least 50% of what i've spent on the diapers by selling them. i call her my diaper-broker.

[jennlin]

LL- tell me more about blue dawn.

i only use blue dawn when i'm stripping my diapers, or if i've gone too long in between washes, i feel like it gives it an extra oomph. how much do you use? i read online to use 1tsp, but i've gone up to 4tsp w/o being the over sudsy mess i've read about.

[jennlin]

how big is the circle?

there's a costco coupon for the bulk blue dawn right now. i think it was 6.99 after coupon for the huge thing? will last me a lifetime.

do you use regular detergent for clothes?

[picksthemusic]

I was SO gung-ho for cloth diapers when I found out we were pregnant, and we went so far as signing up with Baby Diaper Service (brother and SIL had used them with my niece and loved them, since they do a lot with saving water, using the right detergents, right temperatures for killing bacteria, etc) and getting our first diaper shipment two weeks before M was born.

I have to say that I caved to pressure from J and ILs about how much easier disposables were, and though I had support for CDing from my mom, MIL was saying all the time that it'd just be easier, and making an "ew" scrunchy face every time I looked at CDs when we went baby shopping. We had CDs on our registry, got some from some family members, and I was so excited... but J just wasn't on board and thought it'd be a ton of extra work and money up front, and I just didn't feel like fighting over diapers when I was so uncomfortable and hugely pregnant, and since I didn't have the support of the people who are around me most, I just gave up and went with disposables.

I do feel guilty that I didn't do CD, but maybe we will with the next baby. I think it'll depend on if we're in a house with a laundry room (our laundry "room" is the bathroom, and we have a stacked washer/dryer that I hate) so I can be better organized about it. I also felt that I would be doing it alone, since J was thinking it would be a huge PITA. And to be frank, if I was the only one doing childcare and CD laundry, I would have gone bananas, especially with M's start and recovering from a c/s.

We were just lucky that M didn't have any huge reactions to disposables, and has tolerated them well since.

I also have to say that my ILs do Costco runs for us for diapers and wipes, so since she's been born, we've only had to buy a handful of diapers ourselves, which has been SO nice. They offer, so we take them up on it.

I think I'll have to do some major campaigning for CDs for the next baby, though, but if I can find them gently used at good prices, I think I'll be able to stock up slowly so we have a good supply before the next baby arrives.

[jennlin]

picks, when the time comes again, my friend buys/sells new/used diapers so i'll put you in contact with her.

[shevacc]

Jan 14, 2013 12:26:11 GMT -5 jennlin said:

how big is the circle?

there's a costco coupon for the bulk blue dawn right now. i think it was 6.99 after coupon for the huge thing? will last me a lifetime.

do you use regular detergent for clothes?

Jennlin or ll, where do you get "regular" blue dawn? All I've seen at Costco seems to be the "new improved" kind you're not supposed to use...how can I tell which one is the right stuff?

[jennlin]

Jan 14, 2013 12:29:39 GMT -5 @lauralynne said:

by circle I mean going around the drum twice (we have a top loader. If I had to guess I'd say about a tablespoon?

We do use regular detergent for clothes with no issues, I suspect it had to do more with the pee interaction to something in detergent.

gotcha. i can estimate the size of that. thanks!

[jennlin]

Jan 14, 2013 12:41:53 GMT -5 shevacc said:

Jan 14, 2013 12:26:11 GMT -5 jennlin said:

how big is the circle?

there's a costco coupon for the bulk blue dawn right now. i think it was 6.99 after coupon for the huge thing? will last me a lifetime.

do you use regular detergent for clothes?

Jennlin or ll, where do you get "regular" blue dawn? All I've seen at Costco seems to be the "new improved" kind you're not supposed to use...how can I tell which one is the right stuff?

the only thing you need to watch out for is if it's concentrated or not. i'm not sure if costco's was "new and improved", but it wasn't concentrated, and that's what i was looking for.

i got my first (small) bottle at walmart. they had both concentrated and non-concentrated varieties of blue dawn.

[sarack]

i don't have babies yet but i've done a lot of research. cost, the environment, comfort, everything is important to me so i'm going to cd. i think it really up to you.

are you against cding? if not, i say try it out. the initial cost will be expensive, but you can lower the costs by doing prefolds and covers. you can buy used prefolds or just buy from greenmountaindiapers.com which i've heard is a super reputible site for prefolds, and shipping is SUPER cheap, as compared to buying used and having to ship those heavy diapers. also, dpending on where you register, they might have covers that youc an put on your registry which would be super simple.

i'm hearing that about 36 nb prefolds and 5-6 covers would be sufficient. that is less than $200, if you pay for everything. Obviously, the covers will grow with you, but you'll have to order more prefolds, but you'll need less as they get older. less diaper changes.

also, the detergent lasts a while, and a bunch of myf riends who bf and cd keep the wetbag in the nursery, open usually,a nd it doesn't smell.

i personally just feel it's better for everyone involved, but i don't sideeye those who go the disposable route. for me, cd is it.

[picksthemusic]

Jan 14, 2013 12:33:21 GMT -5 jennlin said:

picks, when the time comes again, my friend buys/sells new/used diapers so i'll put you in contact with her.

That'd be great. I think I also need to do more research so I have more ammo to come back with.

I swear, convincing J of anything he's even a little bit "not sure" about is horrible. He was on board with CD when we talked to my brother and SIL about it (we even saw how easy it was to change my niece and he said "Wow, that was easy," and was on board for about a month), and then I think his mom was the one trying to convince him that it would be much easier to go disposable.

[jennlin]

what convinced my h was the cost savings. however, since your IL's buy a lot of your diapers, i don't know if it's a savings you guys would "see", so that may make it difficult to convert.

[niq]

Jan 14, 2013 12:49:32 GMT -5 sarack said:

are you against cding?

I'm not against it. I think I'm like picks's husband. It's not so much the upfront cost as the amount of extra work/ick factor.

But it sounds like for the first few months the only "more work" is doing the laundry vs emptying the Diaper Genie into the trash.

The travel thing isn't a huge deal; W always checks a bag b/c of all her makeup and not wanting to lug a roller around the airport, so we have plenty of space. Plus we'll be flying like 2x a year tops.

I'm not sure how MIL would feel about CDs if we were to leave babyniq with her while we went away for a weekend or something.

This has been really helpful. The solid poop thing does sound like more work but for the first few months it seems fine, esp. since one or both of us will be home on FMLA leave for the first 5 months.

[karebear219]

If you thought about both but went with disposables, what tipped the scales for disposables?

We decided on disposables for convience factor. We would only do cloth for environmental factors and I read a lot of articles about cloth vs disposable. The green factor is actually slightly negative for cloth because of all the laundry that has to be done.

I also didn't want to wash a bunch of poopy diapers.


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[catbus]

If you picked CD, what was the biggest factor for you? Biggest factor was the environmental impact of CDs vs. disposables. Next was cost. Then cuteness.

Did you wash them at home or use a service? We wash at home. EBF poop washes right out. We have a really new W/D with a "sanitary" cycle that efficiently cleans the diapers really well.

Did it end up costing more or less than disposables would have cost? We're only a couple months in (I was too chicken to start using them until ~six weeks, because I had enough stress on my plate), but I am confident we'll save money. I only spent about $350 on our stash of 36+ pocket diapers. Maybe less; I lost count. 30 of those are SunBaby diapers, which are really cheap and offer volume discounts--the more you buy, the cheaper they are per unit. The rest are BumGenius and FuzziBunz, which I bought during CottonBabies.com sales. Add another $50 for wetbags (two large for home, two travel), and $30 for a garbage can to act as a diaper pail. So we've spent $450 max. Let's say the average price for disposable diapers is $.19/each, and a baby averages six per day in the first year. We'll break even at pretty much exactly one year with those stats. I'm being very conservative with the six diapers per day estimate.

If it was less, was it "worth" it in terms of the amount of extra work for you & H?
Totally worth it for us. So far I only do diaper laundry twice weekly (I wait until we only have three diapers left). For now, since there are no solid foods involved, everything's really easy. Once solids are introduced, we'll have to deal with shaking and possibly spraying poopy diapers before putting into the pail.

Disclaimer: We do use disposables overnight, because I'm too chicken to risk ruining E's sleep.
Also, for now we're using disposables at daycare because they're not thrilled with the idea of cloth. But we're just waiting for a spot to open up at the center in H's office building, which is completely fine with cloth. Odd, since both centers are run by the same company.

[omangie]

If you picked CD, what was the biggest factor for you (cost, environment, baby's comfort, whatever)? $$$ baby's butt health, enviro

Did you wash them at home or use a service?
At home

Did it end up costing more or less than disposables would have cost? If it was less, was it "worth" it in terms of the amount of extra work for you & H?
WAY less. I began cd at about two months, with a stash of 12 bum genius and 8 flips, all on sale. Since then, I have added 4 alvababy ( $6.10 or so on ebay, buy now , new, free shipping) That was the barebones # I would recommend, but I washed every other day in the newborn stage, and every 3-4 later. I have only spent about $300, and have saved major money on dipes. I use cloth wipes sometimes, when I remember to get them wet lol I bought cheapie baby washcloths, get wet in sink, and put in empty wipe container.

You can definitely spend way more money and make it not cost efficient, but my first motivation was saving money, so I did it on the cheap but easy side. You can get even cheaper with tri folds, but I wanted easy as disposables for others watching Sammy.

As far as solid poo... I make my own disposable liners out of scraps of fleece from Joanne's ( no need to sew, fleece doesn't unravel) or if I have some old t shirts to repurpose, I cut to size, wash if only pee, and toss for poos.

For wash, I soak in the machine for an hour or so, agitate for a couple, drain, then just one regular hot wash/ cold rinse cycle. I use either powder planet or the homemade stuff.

The only reason I am sad to be potty training is I have to give up the cute diapers I have loved it, all 2 1/2 years of it! ( and for the record, my husband was never against it, he just wouldn't use them, so we always had some disposables on hand for him. Whatev's, I still saved mega $
Good luck!