Cloth diapering for an older baby. Can I start now? TMI talk

[sequins]

Baby sequins has reasonably regular bowel movement now. Once a day she poops and rest of the time is only pee. I'm wondering if I can cloth diaper her now. I'd still like to use disposables while traveling but it might be nice to have her in cloth diapers at home, especially overnight. What do you guys think?

[looseseal]

I am normally very happy to encourage people to try cloth diapers. But I've been washing them every other day for 5 3/4 years, I am tired, and I'm going to tell you not to do it.

[FastHands]

Sure, if you want to.

[papie]

I cloth diapered starting when Anna was about 14 months, and stopped when Alex was about that age, lol.  You can definitely start now.  Keep in mind that it is a PITA for nighttime, finding the right kind of CD that will keep it all in and not stink by morning (ammonia smell).  I loved CDing.  We stopped when we went on vacation last summer and I said fuck it when we came back.  I'm just tired.  

I recommend buying a variety, and also asking for rev's from other CDers fort nighttime.  

[ginger]

I don't think starting now is a big deal. Give it a go.

[sequins]

Ok, great. Where do I start? some beginner tips?

[sequins]

Feb 5, 2016 15:12:25 GMT -5 looseseal said:

I am normally very happy to encourage people to try cloth diapers. But I've been washing them every other day for 5 3/4 years, I am tired, and I'm going to tell you not to do it.

Well, I;m hoping this baby is potty trained by 2-2.5, so Another year and a half? Is that going to be terrible?

[kellsbelles]

My son is 7.5 months old and we have cd from day one. I do diaper laundry every other day but it's not a big deal at all. It's an investment up front but now I never have to buy diapers again. We have a sprayer on the toilet for the solid poops and I swear it's not as gross as it sounds-you get used to it. I encourage all my friends to try it-it has happily worked for us. People always side eyed me and said I'd never stick to it but here we are!

[looseseal]

Is your reasoning to save money? You can check out the costs of different types of cloth diapers, and compare it to how much you'll likely spend on disposables for the rest of her diapered life.

Also, I am considering discontinuing cloth for overnights because my son pees so much. I would have to buy something heavy duty just for the overnights, and I'm not willing to put money into it so close to potty training (he's 2 1/2).

[lilac05]

Sure you can start now!

If you're only planning to have one kid, just know you're doing it for personal preference. It'll most likely be more expensive than disposables & isn't much better for the environment if you're doing it part-time with only one child. But fluffy butts are SO cute! Caution: Buying the cute patterned ones can be addictive!

ETA:  We also liked Kawaii.  They have overnight diapers, and are much cheaper than a lot of the other cloth diaper options!  The downside is that they are not as good for resale (because people don't recognize the brand as much).

[looseseal]

Feb 5, 2016 15:16:34 GMT -5 sequins said:

Feb 5, 2016 15:12:25 GMT -5 looseseal said:

I am normally very happy to encourage people to try cloth diapers. But I've been washing them every other day for 5 3/4 years, I am tired, and I'm going to tell you not to do it.

Well, I;m hoping this baby is potty trained by 2-2.5, so Another year and a half? Is that going to be terrible?

No, not terrible, but maybe not cost effective depending on which kind you decide to use.

I use some pocket diapers and they are more expensive. I also use some prefolds, and they're pretty inexpensive, but a bit more work to put on.

I generally ordered from this website:

www.nickisdiapers.com/

[Deleted]

Go for it!

I barely use cloth anymore, mostly because our old washing machine was terrible and couldn't spin them properly, but I'm thinking about going back to it now that we have a new washing machine. I'm so over buying diapers, and I have like 50 cloth diapers just sitting in a box.

[kaybee85]

We cloth diaper with prefolds and and covers, mostly because it's cheaper. Also, I like that the prefolds are cotton (not a microfiber), so they don't require a special wash routine.

I really found YouTube videos helpful in deciding what would work best for our family.

[casarosada]

Feb 5, 2016 15:15:49 GMT -5 sequins said:

Ok, great. Where do I start? some beginner tips?

I vote do it! I love love cloth diapers. 

You can ask questions/for tips/etc. here (created when the bump migrated to pro boards). They were very helpful to me when I first started researching cloth diapers. 

I would say buy a few different types/brands used to try them out. I have had luck buying from the board I linked above - they do a weekly posting of cloth diapers people are wanting to sell/swap. I've gotten great deals and almost half of my diaper stash are used . :-)

[casarosada]

Right now we're using covers (I have a variety - flip, best bottom, thirsties) and they are all good but I like the best bottoms ones a bit more because they are double gusseted. I use prefolds and bamboo inserts.

For daycare we're using pocket diapers (again, I have a wide variety) because they won't mess around with covers/prefolds.

At night we use a pocket diaper with two inserts - one microfiber one and a thirsties hemp insert. So far we've only had leave issues twice and I blame user error (DH) on both of those. :-)

I honestly don't think the washing is too bad once you get used to it. :-)

[thebreakfastclub]

I used cloth until just before 2. I thought poop was easy, because it mostly just plopped, and my kid was/is a once a day pooper.

I thought pee was a bit more trouble as he got older - more acidic or strong smelling, IMO. It felt like more work to get them clean, and I felt like DS had a red bum more in CD vs disposables.

I never tried CD overnight.

[rex]

Feb 5, 2016 15:40:15 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

i love cloth!

we use fitteds and covers (wool during the day, but i could never get it to work at night) and a heavier duty fitted at night (Sloomb OBF). i had to add a hemp insert folded into thirds to her overnight dipes in the last few months because toddler pee is NO. JOKE. but i'm still very pleased.

green mountain diapers has fantastic, basic fitteds. we could never use anything microfiber because she got an instant rash (and leaked), but cotton/hemp has worked beautifully for us. plus, bonus! allll the diapers can be tossed in the dryer easy peasy, you just have to hang dry the PUL covers (which dry super fast!)

love rumparooz covers for daytime/smaller and blueberry coveralls for nighttime. both have double gussets. 

yes to all of this. I stopped cding L at age 2 because her 8x/day bms got to be more than I could keep dealing with otherwise I would still be using them. green mountain diapers fitteds were my favorite too. 

for overnight I did the same, or used a bum genius aio with a pre fold in it. 

[rex]

Feb 5, 2016 15:56:32 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

Feb 5, 2016 15:43:45 GMT -5 rex said:

yes to all of this. I stopped cding L at age 2 because her 8x/day bms got to be more than I could keep dealing with otherwise I would still be using them. green mountain diapers fitteds were my favorite too. 

for overnight I did the same, or used a bum genius aio with a pre fold in it. 

omg, is this real life?? is she okay? i would dieeeeeee if i had to face the diaper sprayer that many times a day. i thought i had it bad when she has two a day. 

drink this.  it helps lol.

not a typo! she sees a gi lol

in the last 2 weeks it's finally down to 2/3, which seems like nothing, sadly. and she is scared of the potty    

[gigem]

Yes you can do it! I started my daughter in best bottoms at 15 months, i loved them. She potty trained at 2 and a bit and the laundry never bothered me once i got a good routine (that being said i did put my inserts in the dryer to speed up drying). Best bottom for night always worked for her, we did the hemp night insert and the microfiber on top of it. The reason i picked best bottom after testing a few is because she had really messy poops and we needed the gusset to contain it.

Do they sell tot bots in the us? We used their bamboozle for night it also worked great, no leaks. Actially for my son cloth never worked at night but for dd it was always fine.

i dont like pockets personally i find stuffing the pockets to be annoying so thats why i prefer the best bottom or hybrids. Good luck!

oh best bottom also has a neat potty training pant system.

[CloudBee]

Yep, go ahead and buy 5-10 and see what you think.

We've used them off and on, and are back with it again while we navigate through potty training. I'm tired of buying diapers, and we're finally at a point where he won't soak through a CD overnight.

[gigem]

Feb 5, 2016 15:28:36 GMT -5 kaybee85 said:

We cloth diaper with prefolds and and covers, mostly because it's cheaper. Also, I like that the prefolds are cotton (not a microfiber), so they don't require a special wash routine.

I really found YouTube videos helpful in deciding what would work best for our family.

I remember from the international board that you are moving to france! Let me know if you need any cloth diapering supplies once you get there.... I know all the cloth websites and id be happy to pass those along if you need them! 

[sequins]

Feb 5, 2016 16:02:05 GMT -5 rex said:

Feb 5, 2016 15:56:32 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

omg, is this real life?? is she okay? i would dieeeeeee if i had to face the diaper sprayer that many times a day. i thought i had it bad when she has two a day. 

drink this.  it helps lol.

not a typo! she sees a gi lol

in the last 2 weeks it's finally down to 2/3, which seems like nothing, sadly. and she is scared of the potty    

Aww, poor baby

[sequins]

Feb 5, 2016 16:07:44 GMT -5 gigem said:

Yes you can do it! I started my daughter in best bottoms at 15 months, i loved them. She potty trained at 2 and a bit and the laundry never bothered me once i got a good routine (that being said i did put my inserts in the dryer to speed up drying). Best bottom for night always worked for her, we did the hemp night insert and the microfiber on top of it. The reason i picked best bottom after testing a few is because she had really messy poops and we needed the gusset to contain it.

Do they sell tot bots in the us? We used their bamboozle for night it also worked great, no leaks. Actially for my son cloth never worked at night but for dd it was always fine.

i dont like pockets personally i find stuffing the pockets to be annoying so thats why i prefer the best bottom or hybrids. Good luck!

oh best bottom also has a neat potty training pant system.

So you used it for about a year? Did you have to try on a bunch of them? I'm wondering if the effort is wasted if it's going to take a few months just to find the right fit. This is (mostly) our only kid.

[kaybee85]

Feb 5, 2016 16:16:42 GMT -5 gigem said:

Feb 5, 2016 15:28:36 GMT -5 kaybee85 said:

We cloth diaper with prefolds and and covers, mostly because it's cheaper. Also, I like that the prefolds are cotton (not a microfiber), so they don't require a special wash routine.

I really found YouTube videos helpful in deciding what would work best for our family.

I remember from the international board that you are moving to france! Let me know if you need any cloth diapering supplies once you get there.... I know all the cloth websites and id be happy to pass those along if you need them! 

awesome, thanks!

[gigem]

Feb 5, 2016 16:26:27 GMT -5 sequins said:

Feb 5, 2016 16:07:44 GMT -5 gigem said:

Yes you can do it! I started my daughter in best bottoms at 15 months, i loved them. She potty trained at 2 and a bit and the laundry never bothered me once i got a good routine (that being said i did put my inserts in the dryer to speed up drying). Best bottom for night always worked for her, we did the hemp night insert and the microfiber on top of it. The reason i picked best bottom after testing a few is because she had really messy poops and we needed the gusset to contain it.

Do they sell tot bots in the us? We used their bamboozle for night it also worked great, no leaks. Actially for my son cloth never worked at night but for dd it was always fine.

i dont like pockets personally i find stuffing the pockets to be annoying so thats why i prefer the best bottom or hybrids. Good luck!

oh best bottom also has a neat potty training pant system.

So you used it for about a year? Did you have to try on a bunch of them? I'm wondering if the effort is wasted if it's going to take a few months just to find the right fit. This is (mostly) our only kid.

It was A year full time but we still use them for naps and night and long-ish car trips which addmitedly is a weird load to wash with so few diapers so now but i do the load every 2 or 2.5 days and there r maybe 8 at a time.

I went to a physical store to look the first time and i tried 2 different brands and i only got a few of each and i tested them for about 2 wks just on the wknd and figured out right away that we needed the double gusset ones. Is there a store where you are? If there is thats a good first place to try to get advice and it helped I think to narrow down what we needed. plus dd has chunky thighs so right away we could try on a few to see how they fit. If not, im pretty sure nikkis diapers (which has good custimer service) or kelly's closet lets you do a trial pack of some sort. I also liked the bummis duo brite which has a double gusset. If your dd only poops once a day then cloth will be crazy easy. I found it to be a worthwhile experience. I had only about 12 total, with covers you can reuse the pee ones, just wipe down the cover and let it air dry and use it for the next change after. I think they say 3:1 inserts to covers on the best bottom website, especially if your daughter only poops once a day you do not need a ton.

Also if you only use them 1-1.5yrs with one kid you could sell them pretty easily.

I think this is where i got my wash routine
m.babygearlab.com/a/11105/Cloth-Diapering-Laundry-Basics-Helpful-Hints

[gigem]

This is my go to night time diaper
www.nickisdiapers.com/bamboozle-stretch-fitted-diaper.html

You will need a cover with it. It never leaked for dd even if it was totally saturated in the morning.

[fryjack2]

I started when the boys were about 6 months? and lasted until they were just shy of 2.

I used all in ones. No stuffing. The brand I really liked were Totbots. Super cute patterns and so so soft.

I had about 30 diapers and washed every other day (twins) with Green Mountain detergent, but switched to Tide.

I always used disposable for overnight and naps. Plus I used liners. And when we were out all day. I never bought a sprayer. I used a tall trash can with a liner that I just threw in the washer with the diapers.

Basically, I was a half ass cloth diaperer.

[jennysmitten]

Commenting to save.

[gigem]

Ditto on tide original powder, sometimes i use the gro via might bubbles maybe every 6-8wks. I also use paper/disposable liners and we dont have a sprayer, most of it comes of with the paper (depends on ur kid's poop) or if not a little dunk in the toilet worked to get solids off. Dd had messy poops but ds always stays on the papers so u could get lucky haha. Sorry to reply so much i guess i want to encourage you i never thought id be someone who cloth diapers but it worked out well for us and i like to encourage people now tjat being said for most outings and vacations i switch back to disposable (the exception being maybe to the pool where ill have a wet bag anyways for swimsuits)