Do you LOVE cloth diapering?

[iamgrace]

The only way I would cloth diaper is with a service. I don't want to wash that shit.

[rosen]

I'd say I love it. My kid gets a rash pretty much any time she's in disposables, so cloth is best for us on that front. Also, her diapers are really freakin cute. And I love not having to remember to go buy diapers. Yes, cleaning them is not my most pleasant chore, but they also contain poosplosions better than any disposables we've used.

ETA: It's one extra load of laundry every third day. I don't see that as an overwhelming burden.

[RobotLegs]

I cloth diapered for 3 hours.

[broc]

I don't love cloth diapers more than liquor. I don't love cloth diapers more than the internet. I don't even love cloth diapers as much as stick-on placemats (which are currently my #1 most useful kid product). but, I feel like you have to 'loooove' it if you do it because you have to constantly explain and defend yourself to randoms, because it's an alternative choice, or whatever. I'm used to this from being a vegetarian... I do it for health reasons, but I still have to be all 'rah rah vegetables!' on occasion.

Really, CD because, pros list vs cons list, there are more pros. When I used disposables they leaked constantly, CDs only very rarely do (and then it's usually only because I need to change sizes). Dressing Joaquin in the colorful diapers makes it super easy to just grab a coordinating dress or pinafore, and not bother with finding shorts or bloomers. It is far, far cheaper if you do it 'right', and if you do it pretty half-ass like I did it's still way cheaper than disposables. The laundry is an extra load every 3 days, and for me personally I hate dragging my ass to the store for disposables way, way more. Cons are, disposables are more convenient in general, especially when you get a poopy diaper while you're out. But at this point, Joaquin has a poop a day, so it only really rarely happens that I have to deal with it. Spraying out poop is gross, and gets grosser as they get older. The idea of putting it in my washing machine is also gross, but let's be real here; that poor thing sees all kinds of crazyass child bodily fluids anyway.

[speckledfrog]

We CD for the first two months. I think part of the "love" is the "hey look at this weird thing I'm doing! Others are doing it, too" Honestly, cleaning them was NBD. We stopped because he kept getting rashes. Looking back, I think we weren't changing him often enough because he was such a good sleeper.

ETA: broc has a point, too.

[papie]

I love it so much, I can't even express. I FUCKING HATE DISPOSABLE DIAPERS. There, I said it. I'd rather use cloth even if you gave me an unlimited supply of free disposables.

I love that the poo goes in the toilet and not in the garbage (in fact, I flush the poo from the few disposables that I use too). I love folding a load of pretty clean diapers, and I hate laundry. But they are so cute and soft and comfy looking. I love that I never run out of diapers. I love that I have one size since she was about 4 months old (smaller ones before) and never have to wonder about going up a size, just change the inserts. I love how well they fit. I love hpw the poo never leaks out of the diaper.

[papie]

Jul 3, 2012 19:17:52 GMT -5 @theycalledherkate said:

What I want to know is how many working moms are able to CD. Most moms I know who do this either stay at home or work at home. Will daycares CD your child?

I work, and so do all my friends who CD.

Some daycares do, my nephew goes to one of them. My daycare won't, so we buy disposables for daycare, and we put one on her in the morning before sending her off. I love my daycare enough to deal with that.

[daisyheadmaizie]

I really liked it with DD and plan to do it again with this baby. The cuteness factor was a huge selling point for me. I loved matching clothes to diapers/diaper covers. I also really loved how cheap it was and not having to buy sposies. And, honestly, the laundry wasn't that bad. It was just an extra two or three loads a week.

[Deleted]

I really like CD. I like that I never run out of diapers. I love the money we save. Pretty much everything Papie said. My husband is a disposable diaper fan though, so it's been frustrating trying to get him on board with CDing.

[papie]

The poo is there, whether you use disposables or cloth. There is no getting around that. But it WILL be betetr contained with the CDs.

[hymen]

I do love cloth diapering, for a lot of reasons:

1. It's way cheaper. We spent about $300 dollars on cloth diapers last summer and that's been it (except for the package of disposables we buy here and there for various reasons).

2. It's environmentally friendly. I hate the idea of all those disposables going to landfills (especially when I think of how many diapers we went through during the newborn stage).

3. They're cute.

4. We haven't had to deal with diaper rashes for the most part. We do have yeast every once in a while (going through it now) so when that happens we use disposables because the Rx cream isn't cloth friendly.

Also, I hate the smell of disposable diapers (going into the aisle makes me gag). I hate doing laundry but I don't mind doing diapers at all. I wash every 2-3 days. We do use disposable liners that get thrown away so no spraying poopy diapers or anything like that. Our day care does accept them too, which is awesome.

[Jermys]

I don't love it, but it's not hard. I like that it's better for the environment, better for their skin and makes it easier to potty train. I don't mind doing the extra load of laundry.

[fuckyourcouch]

Jermys, this might be a stupid question, but why does it make potty training easier?

[hymen]

Jul 3, 2012 19:42:43 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Thank you for answering! I didn't want to ask on my BMB, because you people as a whole are saner and less annoying.

I do use cloth napkins (and now we use them for burp cloths too, so we are always washing them), so I guess I can see how the benefits of something can outweigh the small burden of extra work. I love the CN because they absorb better. I just feel like if I did cloth diaper, it would be more of a "suck it up because this is the 'right' thing to do" than true love. Because.. poo. lol

I'm not a poo person by any means (ok, who is?) but it doesn't bother me at all. Maybe because it's my own kid's poo? I don't know. The worst part of a poopy diaper for me is the smell, and you have to deal with that no matter what kind of diaper you use.

[alleycat]

Because they feel wetter with the cloth against them instead of the disposable. I think it may be why we were able to potty train early.

[hymen]

Jul 3, 2012 19:57:12 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Jul 3, 2012 19:55:17 GMT -5 Jermys said:

I don't love it, but it's not hard. I like that it's better for the environment, better for their skin and makes it easier to potty train. I don't mind doing the extra load of laundry.

How does it make it easier to potty train?

They feel the wetness so they're more aware of when they pee, unlike disposables which are so absorbent and have that "stay dry" feeling to them.

My H's aunt who runs a day care always says to use training pants instead of pull ups for the same reason - the kids feel the wet sensation more.

[malibu]

We never even tried. I knew I would never have the patience for it and would spend a bunch of money and give up.

Plus, most daycares we interviewed wanted nothing to do with cloth diapers. I don't blame them.

[malibu]

Jul 3, 2012 19:59:26 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

I think the worst part about baby poo is its appearance.

Has Joanna launched any across a room yet? That was the worst, albeit hysterical. My H was so proud when K did it at about two weeks old.

[Xyz]

I like it a lot. I really like shopping for new diapers. I don't love diapering no matter what method it is unless its a magic diaper changing elf....that I would LOVE! But really it's pretty easy once you do the initial deciding. There are trial programs you can do to figure out the different kinds. The FAQ on the cloth diaper board here and on the bump is good. So is YouTube.

They really work and smell much better than disposables, easier on some babies skin, cheaper (even if you obsessively buy diapers), last through multiple kids. It adds 3 loads max of laundry to my week, which relative to the amount of other laundry is kind of a drop in the bucket. I mean the machine does the work I'm not out with a washboard in the stream. I don't even really fold or stuff just dump in a drawers and pull as I go.

Considering I had to cut several blowout onesies off the baby when the disposables failed, then wash all my poopy cloths plus the changing pad, crib sheet, towels etc, cloth diapers were a good switch.

And they are soooooooooo cute!

Buy one cute diaper and see if you like it

[hymen]

Jul 3, 2012 20:00:22 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Jul 3, 2012 19:58:46 GMT -5 hymen said:

They feel the wetness so they're more aware of when they pee, unlike disposables which are so absorbent and have that "stay dry" feeling to them.

My H's aunt who runs a day care always says to use training pants instead of pull ups for the same reason - the kids feel the wet sensation more.

okay, Joanna really hates wet diapers. I was hoping this might mean potty training would be easier! Thinking way into the future, lol.

Isaiah used to hate wet diapers too. He would cry every time he peed. I was along the same line of thinking as you but unfortunately he grew out of it around 6 months and now a wet diaper doesn't affect him at all.

[daisyheadmaizie]

Oh yes, I loved that we never had blowouts with cloth. It is so much easier to deal with when it is contained. And, DD did potty train really quickly. I forgot about both of those aspects of cloth.

[idris]

I CDed with my youngest. I loved it. I have a friend who makes diapers (and they are absolutely amazing), so I had tons of cute ones to put on my DD. Probably silly, but it made it more fun that way.

[looseseal]

I like it too, but also agree with Broc. I mean, I'm explaining myself a lot, so I sell myself on it every few weeks. I'll go ahead and say that I do find the laundry a bit frustrating. I have to wash every other day or my diapers smell. It doesn't help that I'm bad about keeping up with our clothes laundry, especially now that we have a kid. But, we've made the investment and kept up with it for two years with this kid. We'll CD #2, when the time comes.

[looseseal]

Jul 3, 2012 22:01:18 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Do daycare centers mind if you CD? Do they just send the soiled ones home in a bag with you after they dump the poo. Or do they make you use disposables?

I live in a small community, there are only two centers. One accepted CD's, the other didn't. I went with an in-home daycare, and every single one I called/interviewed was willing to accept a CD'd kid.
I send a small wetbag to daycare each day. It has a small zippered area to hold the clean diapers and the PUL lined area to hold used diapers. It'll hold approx. 6 diapers. She doesn't shake the diapers out (though I wish she would), but my kid isn't often solid enough for that to work. The diaper sprayer makes it a non-issue, because it all rinses right off at home.

[emsumm]

I love that I've saved so much money using cloth. I love that they're cute, and that my girls don't get rashes in them (they def do in disposables). My H does the diaper laundry and I do regular, so it's not a ton more work for me