Awww yeah, talkin’ bout ass. Perhaps because I FEEL like ass; my illness has left my sinuses and head, and headed south, with the benefit of feverish ooginess. FAB.
So, since I’m laid out on the couch with the laptop and flat ginger ale, I’ve been researching the crap (ha!) out of cloth diapers. I’m into this idea, after seeing how it’s done by AnneMarie last summer. We have a washer and dryer and clothesline (and high efficiency front loading washer, to boot) and since it is my mission to prevent allergies in my kid, cloth appeals. (I even have an allergy to Always Dri-Weave. Don’t ask.) I realize that people might be rolling their eyes at my allergy fanaticism, but if you’ve not dealt with the grand trifecta of allergies, eczema, and asthma, you have no idea. Imagine scratching furiously at your legs while sneezing and gasping for breath. FUN! Therefore, I’m into the cloth diapering idea. I also like it from a financial standpoint; if I can prepay diapering costs (while I’m EMPLOYED, remember) that’s one less expense later on. And if we have another kid, I save big bigmoney, and if we don’t, I sell the lot and recoup some money.
If I get a job and have to used disposables in a daycare situation, well, I’ll have the income to supplement that, but I’d still want to use cloth as much as possible. (When I was like, 19, I worked for 2 weeks in the town dump hauling trash back to the dump from where bears dragged it out. Worst thing to have to deal with was a diaper, and not because of the plastic, but because of the neongreen gelatinous goo that remained years after they were trashed. The plastic turned to dust, and the goo looked like a science experiment from outer space… and by gathering clues from the surrounding trash — you learn alot about your neighbors in the dump — the diapers had been there for years.) And so, I begin my quest for cloth info.
AnneMarie has given me a lot of info, not the least of which was an actual demonstration of how to diaper a baby in cloth. I’ve been researching different styles and such, and I like the packages on babybecause.com. For about $100, I can get 24 prefolds, 6 covers, 4 doublers, and 2 Snappis. That’s the middle package, there’s one up and one down in size and price. I also know I’ll have to order the Gerber E-Z liners, and I’m thinking I might want a couple fitted diapers as well, maybe kissaluvs? I’ve heard both good and bad about fuzzibunz, and they are pricier than the kissaluvs to begin with, but maybe I’m missing something.
In the packages, they have the choice of ImseVimse covers (what Annemarie uses), Bummi’s Super Snaps, or Bummi’s Super Whisper Wrap. The prefolds come in bleached or unbleached (I expect to get unbleached.)
I know a few of my readers use cloth, so I’m hoping y’all will chime in with suggestions. I’m also curious as to how many sizes I can expect to need, and if quantity needs will change with size. Oh, and I also plan to use disposables for the first 2 weeks or so, and perhaps at night, depending on the needs of the baby. And in case it isn’t obvious, we don’t have a service up here.
So, CDing mamas, what’s your ideal stash?
ETA: If any of you have any of the abovementioned stuff that you’re looking to get rid of, I’d pay a fair price if you wanted to skip the hassle of eBay and such, just email me.
As Marvey outgrows his wraps I’ll send ’em your way (maybe if you’ll send ’em back when your done since we are considering at least one more kid in a few years???). We have the Gerber Wraps as well as some other brand of which the name eludes me and I’m not getting my butt out of bed to go look at it. The service we use uses the chinese bleached. The one thing to be sure of when you do cloth is to air out the bits. We bought a little portable battery powered hand fan and use that on the bits. We do use disposables overnight and when we are out and about. This is mostly for our convenience. We’ve had marvey in cloth overnight a few times and he pees right through and we end up having to wash the entire bedset. We also use disposables when we are out because we KNOW we don’t always empty the diaper bag right away and the last thing we want is stinky gross cloth poopie diaper 3 days old!!
We think the kids like the cloth diapers too. They are soft against their skin and libby will at this point indicate if she’s wet by walking a bit different to keep the wet off her. So 1. she’s aware of the difference and 2. she doesn’t end up in a dirty diaper for long which is better for her.
All said, we are very happy with our choice of doing cloth and my mom is buying us the chinese prefold package for christmas. We think we will buy a 2nd package since the premium size fits 15 – 30 lbs and that will take care of both Marvey and Libby.
Cloth diapers rock. 🙂 There are lots and lots of choices out there. A really really great forum is diaperpin.com. The site itself has tons of information, and includes a forum that has lots of experienced Moms that use a bunch of different stuff.
I found prefolds were great in the beginning, but I quickly moved ot fitteds when we got into the mobile stage. For this new baby I have some fitteds for the beginning and preemie prefolds. Since Magdalena was SO tiny at birth, we weren’t able to move into cloth right away asI would have liked.
Fuzzi Bunz are more expensive then Kissaluvs because they are an AIO type diaper. There is no need for an extra cover as the outside is waterproof. Kissaluvs require an extra cover to keep your clothes dry. I have both and I like both. FB tend to be trimmer and are nice at picture time and with certain clothes. I like that I can customize my absorbency needs in a FB for long trips and such.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions, I have just about one of everything when it comes to cloth diapers and I’ve tried tons and tons of stuff.
I highly recommend prefolds and Snappis. I was never really impressed with fitted diapers as they tended to be much bulkier than prefolds- and since modern baby clothes are sized to fit over ultra-thin disposables, a little less bulk makes a big difference.
I used Imse Vimse covers- the wool ones totally rock, other than the fact that they have a fairly narrow weight range and get outgrown too quickly. The cotton ones were okay at first, but after a few washings they began leave velcro-induced scratches on my daughter’s thighs and belly. I tried at least half-a-dozen brands of covers and the only ones that didn’t have the velcro-scratch problem were the Bummis Super Whisper Wraps. I think the Bummis are the greatest!
Oh, and you might note that the Gerber liners are made of polypropylene- not a great thing to have next to your baby’s skin, especially if you’re using cloth diapers in order to avoid allergies. I used re-useable liners made out of fleece- they were lovely and soft, kept baby’s skin dry, and poo just rolls right off them!
Sorry to butt in again, but I just did a quick Google search and discovered that Always Dri-Weave (which you mentioned being allergic to) is made out of polypropolyne laminate- the exact same substance that the Gerber liners are made out of. Here’s a link if you want to delve through the patent info:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5820616.html
So, I obviously don’t have any actual EXPERIENCE at this point, but we’re trying Fuzzi Bunz. I have a couple of good friends and a sister-in-law who use them religiously after having tried a bunch of other types. I now have a stash of Fuzzi Bunz and liners (Hemparoos and some of Mother Eve’s French Terry liners, but I’m willing to go through other types of inserts in search of good ones).
So, I don’t know. I’ve changed Fuzzi Bunz, and the all-in-one system seems really easy to deal with. We have a stash of (hand-me-down!) disposables for the first little while, and I figure we’ll use disposables when we’re up to having sitters, etc. I’ll almost certainly report on how I find the cloth diapers to be working out as soon as I have an actual and informed opinion. 🙂
We’ve got a combination of cloth diapers, but all in all the Fuzzibunz are my favorite. My mom, on the other hand, uses straight-up, old school prefolds with pins and covers–she bought her own stash of the old style plastic covers to keep at her house. If I use the prefolds, I like them with the Whisper Wraps, which I have a couple of. I also like the Snappis and do use pins, but with the pins I tend to poke myself or the baby (now that’s fun!) because she’s really squirmy, and I just can’t really get the hang of the snappis, but I like them more than pins.
I like the FB because, again with the squirming, you can do all of the advance work before hand (meaning stuff the diapers, usually while I’m watching TV), so it’s just a matter of slappping them on her and is thus as efficient as a disposable. Perhaps I’m lazy, but as G. is squirming all over the place, the fewer steps I have the better for both of us. And since I have to change her every 2.3 minutes (very good kidneys), the less time I spend diapering the happier I am.
Oh, and I have two friends who have their kids in cloth diapers and full-time daycare. The daycares, as a rule, don’t allow cloth diapers because it’s more complicated than disposables for the staff, but since the FBs are an all-in-one, they allow them to be used. They just have their own diaper pail next to the garbage can.