[Mama_Knowles]

I thought I would ask here because I know you ladies have used both and I am wanting to know what you gals preffered. I used the clothes diapers with baby #2 and remember alot of washing and it wasn’t fun when wee went out to places. Seeing we are having baby #5 I am thinking that it would save a ton $$ by using the nappies though. So ladies are using nappies bad or do you like them better than the throw away diapers?

Second I have seen several patterns out there to make the nappies. Did you make yours? What pattern did you use? What kind of fabric do you use and where did you find it? Thank you for any advice here!

Sharon

[tami]

I’m probably a little biased but I prefer cloth. So many reasons- economical (although not always if you get into the OOAK and high end brands), better for the earth, less rashes and finally- CUTE! 😛

There are several patterns out there, Ottobre even has one if you happen to have past issues. I’m a license WAHM for Darling Diapers so obviously really prefer that one. It has so many options and the instructions are comprehensive and well done. http://www.darlingdiapers.com/

Fabrics are easy to come by, I use bamboo velour and fleece mostly which I get right from my supplier by the 50 yard roll which is way more than you’ll need LOL. Check out http://www.diapersewingsupplies.com/ for cut yardage.

Good luck!!

[Masha Richart]

We have been cloth diapering since our first was born 2.5 years ago. Now we have two, and they are both still in diapers, so it’s a lot of washing. We have saved quite a bit of money, however, that is not the reason that we cloth diapered.

Our reasons are: 1) I think cloth is better for baby (and more comfortable!) than chemical-laden disposable diapers. 2) Cloth diapers just work better for us. Since we move around a lot, we do use disposables when we’re in transition, and we always have way more blowouts in them, than in cloth (the exception being in the newborn phase, when we’ve sometimes tried to make a too-big diaper work for a small baby). Those are the main reasons we use cloth. The money savings is just bonus 🙂

I have made some diapers, both using my own traced pattern, and using the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern. It is a good pattern and you can use it to make fitted diapers, pockets or all-in-ones. When I made pocket diapers, I used PUL for the outer, and fleece for the inner. I made inserts of hemp jersey because I had it lying around. I would have preferred organic bamboo velour or cotton velour, though. For the fitted diapers I made, I used the hemp for the insides, and cotton knit for the outsides. There are lots of sellers on Etsy who sell diaper fabric. VeryBaby.com also has a lot of diaper fabric. Good luck!

[Nicole]

I used cloth with all mine and saved a fortune!

I prefer square nappies that you fold yourself,they are cheaper,dry quicker and you can use them as dusters and posset cloths as well.

I think most girls prefer the pre made nappies,I was just a bit tight on time to make them and money to buy them!

[meleliza]

I use bumgenius. I bought the velcro ones with baby #2, but got the snaps with this one. (all in pink:)!) The velcro gets all tangeled up in the wash and is a total pita. I wanted to try with #1, but the expense is big upfront and I was skeptical of all the washing. By the time I had baby #2, I had two babies in diapers and added up the costs – it was staggering! Plus, at that point I did so much laundry that a few extra loads didn’t hurt. I think it helps that put laundry is on the second floor in this house instead of the basement. The fabric felt nicer than all those plastics and chemicals. I think the hardest part was deciding what kind to buy. I haven’t had any more trouble with leaks than with disposable.

I still use disposables at nighttime because they absorb more and she can sleep all night. I use them when I’m travelling too or when I get behind on the laundry. But over all, I save quite a bit of money on it.

[Tamara]

I did the disposable thing only because we had two dry years in a row with our daughter and a practical drought with our son and being on rain water that was more precious to us. I found them time saving and practical for my kids especially at night as they were heavy wetters. I didn’t have rash problems with them as I put aloe on the bottoms and they had bottomless tummytime everyday to air them out. I had one cloth nappy for my daughter and HATED IT! Mind you it was this cheap thing from Coles and not a good idea!

I have seen friends raise their babes with fitted cloth nappies that have pockets for extra liners etc and they come with pretty colours on the outside. They aren’t your average run of the mill squares of white flannel. These ladies swore by them as they were adaptable for boys/ girls newborns or toddlers. You basically buy all your nappies and reuse them much the same as the normal square type except there is no folding!

I tried different brands of disposables and was pretty much set on Huggies from the start. They didn’t leak and they even covered the number 3’s (of which we had quite a few) plus they caused little or no rash on sensitive skin.

I didn’t really like the idea of sluicing (I did a fair bit of that whilst working) and that influenced my decision against cloth. Now knowing though that cloth have changed with the times, I may decide to give them a proper try next time. The brand my friends were using was Pea in a Pod.

[Lightning McStitch]

I’ve used the modern cloth nappies with both of mine.

BumGenius and Haute-Pockets brand one-size pocket nappies for day time and BabyBeehind bamboo nappies with wool covers for nighttime.

The Bumgenius have been the most successful (the PUL on the Haute-Pockets disintegrated pretty quickly) but nothing could cover the long nighttime except the bamboo/wool combo. I tried the PUL covers but they just didn’t make it through the night.

The Lanolin treating of the wool covers was a bit if a nuisance, and when Miss McStitch (no 2) looked like she was reacting to the lanolin I switched to a dispoable at nighttime.

I think I’ve now sewn new elastic into the nappies at least twice and will probably have to do it one more time to get through to the end of nappies. Not a challenging task, but annoying and boring, so I resent having to do it…. There are so many more interesting things to sew.

On the subject of clothes sizing, I do look closely at clothes to see if they’re cloth compatible.

My puppet show shorts are hopelessly too small, and my recent Sunday brunch skirt a bit tight. But curiously I find that the combination of two chunky baby thighs is actually wider than hips, bum or waist. Maybe I should shove her head first into her skirt….

[rastis]

i use cloth nappies… they’re from my own pattern a one-size-fits-most pocket nappy… and i really love them… they’re like using disposables, except you wash them… really very easy!! my preference is for a PUL outer and suedecloth inner… stuffed with microfibre… it suits our hot climate here… i tried a bunch of other types of nappies and these are the ones i was happiest with! if you’re making them, make sure you buy a good quality PUL as not all PUL’s are created equal… i had to throw out quite a few made from cheap made in china PUL… the laminate disintegrated on some of them, while others the laminate lifted right off… some just wicked through from the word go… they worked out pretty cheap to make…

i talk a bit about cloth nappies and what i use for my set up in my flickr posts here- if that’s of any help

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49182185@N02/sets/72157624647143105/

[Mama_Knowles]

Thanks ladies for the great advice! Everyone is very helpful!

Tami, how much fabric does it take to make a diaper(s)? Also about how many diapers would you ladies recommend to have made up on hand? ALos what would you do for teh soild diaprs for cleaning? ANyhting different than just washing? Also what do you use to wash them in?

Sharon

[Masha Richart]

How many diapers you have depends on how often you plan to wash. I have to wash diapers every day since I’ve got two in them. Otherwise, the load gets too big for the machine. When I only had one, I washed every other day. 24 diapers was plenty. An exclusively breast-fed baby’s diapers can go straight into the pail, no rinsing required. Once they start solids, you do want to get most of the poop into the toilet before washing. I shake off what I can into the toilet, and if there is any left, I rinse it off in the sink. This site has great information for detergents to use: http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm. I use Arm and Hammer for Sensitive Skin, since that is what we use for our regular laundry and it is diaper-safe.

[Nicole]

I had a squirty thing on my lavatory that hosed the solids in to the lav. It was called ‘The Little Squirt’,I think they are still available.

I soaked all my older children’s nappies in napisan but by Matilda I gave them a quick rinse,hot wash in the machine with a vinegar rinse and then out on the clothes line.

Any stains of the brown variety fade out in the sunshine and nappies left out in a frost come up wonderfully white.

[meleliza]

Sink? Eewww. I have a sprayer hooked up to the toilet. But on e everything is pretty solid, I find it just dumps right into the toilet and doesn’t need much rinsing off. The early days of runny yellow poop is a little harder. I did disposable early on for ease and then switched to cloth when I had things under control. I figure I was still saving plenty of money and waste in landfills. For #2 I had 12 but that wasn’t really enough. I have 18 for her and I wash every 2-3 days. It’s plenty. You don’t want to go any longer in between because they will really start to stink. Once when she had an ear infection, I forgot about them and they grew mold. Yuck! When she’s on antibiotics, I switch right away back to disposables, because they are drier and antibiotics give her horrific diaper rash if I’m not extremely proactive. Poor thing was bleeding it got so bad once! But thats all because she gets lots and lots of ear infections, not because of the diapers.

[Masha Richart]

Yeah, the sink took some getting used to, but it’s one that doesn’t get used for anything else and we wipe it down after each use. I couldn’t get into the diaper sprayer because I kept reading stories of a the diaper sprayer’s hard spray bouncing off the diaper and all over the bathroom.

[Nicole]

R T W G,you are so right!

My husband never mastered it and would blast the wall with baby pooh!

The sink would have been far more hygienic. As you say,your going to clean it any way.

[Lightning McStitch]

We have a dedicated spatula that stays in the bathroom for scraping solids into the toilet.

I rarely bake, but for those occasions there IS another spatula that stays in the kitchen!