Can we talk diapers and pumps?

[fayeelle]

These are 2 "big" undecideds in our house right now. I'm 22w so we have plenty of time I know, just want opinions and thoughts from you guys.

Diapers: DH is pro disposable where I am pro cloth. Neither of us have a solid argument just a preference. He did disposable with his boys and remembers how bad his sisters cloth diaper pail used to smell. I'm swinging towards cloth because of cost as I understand its much cheaper and the clean up doesn't bother me at all. What are you ladies planning and why?

Breast pumps: This is definitely a sole decision for me but I'm kind of lost. I will be primarily pumping (honestly it will likely be exclusively pumping) since I'm going back to work rather quickly. The distributors my insurance uses offers the Medela PIS or Freestyle as well as an Ameda pump at no cost to me. Both the FS and the Ameda have the bag, cooler etc so its not up to the extras. Anyone have any recommendations or experiences with both/either?

[Deleted]

Diapers: I love the idea of cloth but the execution, laundering, and upkeep is just not something I am interested in. I'd do it if I could use a service, but a service jacks up the price to more expensive than disposable. H and I are on the same page here.

Pumps: Girl don't even get me started on the confusing world of pumps. I can get all 3 of the ones you mentioned as well, and because I'll be lugging it back and forth to work, I'll be going with the Freestyle. It's a little more portable which is important to me. I know they are slightly less powerful than the PIS, but I'll be lugging it around so much I don't think I'll mind sitting a few extra minutes to get the job done. In talking to a friend, she preferred her FS for the same reason.

[Poppy]

Diapers - we are planning to try cloth, but I am worried about keeping up with the laundry. I was surprised my H was on board but he seems to be for now. I am just getting a couple fitteds and covers for NB and I bought some used larger diapers - I think we may give it a try twice (NB CDing seems fairly different than solids-CDing). If we don't like it, I'm not going to be upset to switch to disposables. I have seen a couple people register for CDs and get hardly any at all, so I don't see a downside to trying them out as opposed to having a big stash ready. Also, everyone seems to prefer a different diaper style so it'll be nice to try a few before committing.

Pumps - There were a few posts on MMM that you can search through, and I found a couple comparisons through Google searches. I think I'm going with Medela. PIS over Freestyle since I don't plan on traveling much with it and PIS seems lower maintenance. It's tough though... I think any of them will be fine.

[626]

Diapers: I've done extensive research on this and talked to friends.

My first choice was biodegradable/compostable diapers. However, you have to hire a service to dispose of the diapers and you can only buy diapers through the service. You cannot just throw away compostable/biodegradable diapers because they require air and water to breakdown. When they go to landfills they are covered to keep out air and water and therefore they will not breakdown and you're in the same boat as regular disposables. I'd really like to do this, but the cost is significantly higher.

Cloth is appealing too, but I know there's a learning curve and from what I've read they aren't always the best with newborns. Some things to keep in mind - 1) Most daycares will require disposables and not take cloth diapers 2) What do you do with a dirty cloth diaper when you are out? Do you carry the dirty diaper around with you until you can put it in the diaper pail? 3) As sessalee mentioned - the thought of constant laundering is not all that appealing to me, so I'd likely hire a service, but of course that comes at a cost as well.

That being said, I'm not entirely thrilled with using disposables which will sit in a landfill, but I think at least for the beginning that is what we'll use. I figure I'm going to be exhausted and stressed from trying to figure things out in general, that I'm just going to take the easy way out and use disposables. Then when I've established a routine and figure things out a little better I'll give cloth and/or biodegradable a shot.

As for breast pumps, no experience, but my friend has the Medela and likes it. I have to call insurance to see what my options are.

[linz]

Diapers - disposable all the way. Cloth sounds nice as far as money but not sure if I want to spend the time to make it work. I know a friend of mine did it but she used disposable for newborn. I don't think you have to but she just thought it was easier to start with that and gradually use cloth.

Pump - There was a post once on MMM about PISA vs Freestyle and it seemed like both were good options. I don't think either would be bad for pumping at work. I think the only complaint on Freestyle is it's louder? I would try to see if you can find the post or maybe ask on that board which one. My insurance only does PISA so that's what I will be using and I'm fine with it since I heard Medela are really good.

[linz]

pandce.proboards.com/thread/319637/help-choosing-medela-freestyle-pisa

[Bonita]

Diapers - Disposable.

My H was pro disposable, and I was pro cloth. Our daycare will also allow cloth diapers, so I was thrilled when I found that out(we would just need to provide a wet bag and pail). Ultimately, we talked it over and decided on disposable because we are both already very busy pre-baby and cloth means one more thing added into our schedule. I decided to go ahead with giving disposable a try and if I find myself with copious amounts of time later on where I think I could handle the laundering for cloth then we may make the switch.

Pumps - I went with the Freestyle.

My insurance would provide all the ones you suggested as well, so my thoughts were mostly geared towards how I thought I would end up using the pump. I sometimes travel for work so it's nice to have the portability there, and even on normal work days when I'm not traveling I'm typically pretty rushed in the mornings as it is trying to get to work by 6:30am. Someone mentioned over on MMM that she used a hands-free bra and the Freestyle in the mornings WHILE she was getting ready for work. This was super appealing to me since I could get ready AND pump at the same time in the mornings, so the Freestyle it was

[nessness]

We're going with disposables, in large part because I couldn't get my H on board with cloth and didn't want to be solely responsible for diaper duty. I do feel bad about the environmental impact though. My understanding is there's not a huge cost savings using cloth for the first kid (when you add the cost of buying cloth diapers to the increased water and energy costs from washing them), but you get a much bigger savings for subsequent kids.

No advice on pumps; my insurance only offered one electric option (the Ameda PY) so I didn't do too much research.

[motzie]

Diapers: I didn't want to burden myself with anything extra last time (being my first time) so I went with disposable. DD was also in daycare so cloth wouldn't have worked there. Now that I SAH I might switch to cloth once we get past the newborn phase. I don't think you have to commit to one or the other. You could cloth on the weekends and evenings and do disposables during the week days.



Pump: I had a PIS that I liked, although there was nothing stylish about the big vinyl bag. I also bought the medela hand pump for use in the car or emergency situations.

[thatgirl2478]

diapers - we tried cloth with DD1. I never felt I could get them clean enough - there was always a faint smell and they were always stained. Part of that is our water quality issue, part of that was probably the detergent we were using. However, they never ended up being the 'money saver' I thought they would be. We're using disposables all the way for this one.

pumps - I had a PISA with DD1, it was OK. My insurance only allows a choice between the Ameda manual or Purely Yours electric. Clearly I'm not wasting my time with the manual one, so I got the electric one. It comes with a tote bag and isn't anymore or less bulky that my PISA. I don't know how the performance is, but I suspect it will be similar.

[Deleted]

Diapers - cloth. But I've already done it with my other kids so I'm familiar with the work.

FWIW, we used a diaper service for the first 3 months with DS1 and yes, disposables were cheaper, but I liked the idea of cloth plus we were in a condo and taking garbage out is a pain.

Then I bought a dozen cloth diapers off Craigslist and tested myself to see if the laundry was a lot of work and if I was up for it. I didn't find it to be too much work so we went with it.

We are fair weather CDers. I use disposables at night and for vacations or when life gets busy.

Pump - I SAH and have failed at pumping with the last two and they both refused bottles until 10 months or so. This time I'm going to get a good manual pump and see if I can try and introduce bottles early. Third times a charm? Hope so.

[Deleted]

Sept 30, 2014 12:54:19 GMT -5 motzie said:

Diapers: I didn't want to burden myself with anything extra last time (being my first time) so I went with disposable. DD was also in daycare so cloth wouldn't have worked there. Now that I SAH I might switch to cloth once we get past the newborn phase. I don't think you have to commit to one or the other. You could cloth on the weekends and evenings and do disposables during the week days.



Pump: I had a PIS that I liked, although there was nothing stylish about the big vinyl bag. I also bought the medela hand pump for use in the car or emergency situations.

Agreed. For various reasons we took a cloth diaper break over the summer with DS2 and are just getting back on it now. I actually enjoy cloth diapering but it really is more work than disposables.

[osulori]

Former GPer popping in...

re: diapers, we were in a similar situation. I wanted to try cloth, and built up a decently varied stash. My H didn't care either way but we both knew that with his work schedule (11+ hour days 5 days/week, with the earliest he'd be home being 930pm and the latest being 2am) I'd end up doing the majority of the laundry. That plus our sitter preferring to not deal with cloth plus me going back to work FT led to realizing that cloth was just not going to work for us. I ultimately ended up selling my stash. You don't have to decide one way or the other, like PPs said you could do half and half, or start with one option and switch to the other.

re: pump, I had the PISA and loved it. Well as much as you can love a breast pump I guess I didn't use the cooler bag that came with it b/c I thought it was too small, so I ended up buying an inexpensive cooler bag from BRU and that worked much better.

[formerlyllizzyb]

We use disposables and will with this baby. I love the idea of cloth but it's just not for us. A lot of my friends who used cloth eventually switched to disposables. The successful cloth users were okay with switching back and forth as needed.

I have the Ameda PY. It worked fine for me last time, but I only worked two days a week. Most people rave about their Medelas. I'm a SAHM FT now so I should be good with my old Ameda and my Medela manual.

[busterpup]

We did a mix of cloth and disposable. Cloth at home and disposable when out and at daycare. It worked pretty well. But I also had an H who was willing to do cloth.

[MamaMaui24]

Diapers: honestly if you're going back to work quickly, I'd go with disposable.

Pump: I only have experience with Medela PIS but I like it!

[estrellita]

We will be doing disposable diapers. I like the idea of cloth with the cost savings and being better for the environment, but I just can't do it! The upkeep isn't reasonable for us at all.

I don't have any experience or opinions on pumps other than I will be reading other recommendations because I will be pumping at work too!

[vtdiamond]

I briefly considered doing cloth but after finding it we were having twins DH both said no way. We will be using disposable.

I got the Medela PIS as I had heard good things about it but haven't actually used it yet.

[junebug]

Diapers: I always wanted to cloth diaper but my husband wasn't on board with our first DD. This time, I convinced him and we stared with DD so that I could learn the ropes and make the transition easier on us before the new baby comes. I love them. The cleanup isn't that bad and I don't find washing them to be terrible either (this is the main concern that people seem to have about cloth diapering) There are time that I use disposables and my favorite are the Earths Best brand.

[starfish79]

Sept 30, 2014 12:28:07 GMT -5 626 said:

Cloth is appealing too, but I know there's a learning curve and from what I've read they aren't always the best with newborns. Some things to keep in mind - 1) Most daycares will require disposables and not take cloth diapers 2) What do you do with a dirty cloth diaper when you are out? Do you carry the dirty diaper around with you until you can put it in the diaper pail? 3) As sessalee mentioned - the thought of constant laundering is not all that appealing to me, so I'd likely hire a service, but of course that comes at a cost as well.

--------
I think the daycare thing is somewhat a myth.  I've heard of daycares that do cloth no problem.  You just have to call and see


When you're out and about you use a "wet bag" to carry them around in.


Ecology and sustainability are important enough and a priority enough to me in my life that we're doing cloth, exclusively.  In fact, 4 out of 5 pregnant people I know right now are planning on the cloth route, which is awesome! And I know three families currently cloth diapering without so much as a complaint.


DH and I are doing a service, though, because I'm a poor housekeeper and I let laundry pile up.

[sillygoosegirl]

Diapers: we're planning on a combination of cloth and EC. Our main consideration is the environment, though the fact that cloth diapered babies tend to potty train earlier will I'm sure inspire us to stick with it. We'll be starting with a service the first 2-3 months, maybe longer depending on how overwhelmed we're feeling. There's a lot of kinds of cloth diapers out there these days, and I'm trying not to think too hard about them (though I can say that several of my friends speak highly of the pocket diapers that have become very common, while the EC community seems to mostly favor trifolds). My sister is giving us her diapers, so whatever style those are will be what we use when we're done with the service, unless they end up totally sucking.

[kballerina]

We plan to cloth diaper with a service. Several of my friends have done the same in the past few years, so it seems logical to DH (I didn't have to convince him.) They allow us to swap out a % each week for disposables, which we will do for our daycare on M/W/F. Also, they have a registry, so others have already asked to "buy a week" of service for us, which is amazing.

For pump - plan to get the Medela PIS. Covered by insurance. Not really much else went into that decision.

[lp]

A

[lp]

Whoops! Sorry, my baby hit me while I was feeding him and made me accidentally post before.

While I'm here though, for what it's worth I have the Medela advanced personal (which I believe is the same thing as the PISA, but it's built into the tote bag). It's a bit annoying to lug to and from work everyday, especially since I travel to multiple locations most days. But it works well and I've heard that the freestyle tends to have a slightly lower output. No personal experience with it to compare though.

[smm5623]

for pumps - freestyle, hands down. The ameda PY did not work for me. I have both the PISA and freestyle. The freestyle is more portable with good battery life. my output is always better with it compared to the PISA. Once you find which level works for you, you can program it. This helps to maximize output.

[kams]

I did both cloth and disposable with dd. I plan to do the same again. We used newborn and size 1 disposables, and then used disposables if we were going to be out for a large part of the day, and then I used a disposable over night.

I used a wetbag instead of a pail, and just dumped the whole thing in the washer. The cloth brand I ised had a liner that agitated out in the washer, so I didn't need to touch anything.

The trash I used for the disposables also stunk .

I prefer medela.

ETA: just a few more things to add after reading the other posts:

If We were using full time childcare, we would just go with disposables only.

There is so much laundry with a new baby, diapers really don't add much, IMO..

If you have a dirty cloth diaper when out, you keep it in a wetbag until you get home. They zip closed, so no odor. They are bulkier in a diaper bag, unfortunately,

[fayeelle]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Tons of great input

Medela sounds like to go to pump. The freestyle seems like the best bet for me. We do a lot of camping so I'm liking how easy it is to carry around.

Still lost on diapers. Lol. I think seeing how things go is the best approach all around. We'll for sure start disposable and then maybe I can add in cloth diapers once we get a bit of a routine established.