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insegnante
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| Posted: Oct 13 2008 at 8:36pm | IP Logged
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This 7.5-week-old baby goes through so many disposables I think we could probably save some serious $ quickly even if we had to buy more covers for the CDs we already have & different detergent. We have Mother-Ease. We also have some of the covers Mother-Ease sold -- I think they were called "Airflow" or something?
I'm intimidated though at the thought of how much time we'd spend dealing w/diapering & laundry!
So I'm looking for advice on how to approach CDing this particular baby -- products, methods, etc. to help keep her comfortable and sanitary while not changing her constantly, or at least not having a huge pile of laundry and something to soak every time, having lots of accidents, or using so many disposable liners etc. that it practically amounted to using disposable diapers anyway. The thing is, she has so many seriously wet disposables per day. Doesn't wet cloth need to be changed even more often and quickly? She also tends to have lots of very slightly dirty diapers but even with the fewer bigger ones, she's been nearly blowout-free the entire time, so that may help a little. But all together I would say we're using 15 to 20 disposables per day! I'd say about 2/5 just wet, 1/5 seriously dirty and 2/5 slightly dirty.
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Oct 14 2008 at 7:07am | IP Logged
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Theresa,
I found a lot of discussions on cloth diapering that really helped me a lot when I was re-tooling for my littlest.
I don't put my babies into cloth until they're about 3 months old for a few reasons...
1) they're so tiny and yet they grow so fast! I can't afford to buy enough of the tiny size cloth diapers in the beginning and then have them be outgrown in two months - so I just go disposable for a few months. I think others here have found solutions for working around this (thinking of Lisa, so maybe she'll chime in).
2) they do explode sooooo often! It seems as soon as you change them, they explode again.
Once the baby is around 3 or 4 months they fit into a size that will accomodate them for a while, and they're a little less frequent in their explosions. That's when we make the move. I completely upgraded my diapering system with my newest, and even with the purchase of all new happy dipes, we recouped the loss of the big purchase within 3 months.
I don't think I change any more or less often with cloth diapers than I do with disposables. The suedecloth of the Fuzzi Bunz and the soft velour cotton of the Swaddlebees keeps most of the wet away from her. I can't say enough about how pleased I've been with my new investments! I wash every other day. It's easy once you have a system.
Have fun researching this...it seems there are a plethora of choices out there these days!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Oct 14 2008 at 8:23am | IP Logged
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I started out cding from the beginning with my first; so, now that my third is using the newborn dipes (plus, my sister used them with her first and will use the same newborn dipes with her second due in December--making 5 babies having used these dipes--so, that's how we have recouped the cost of a newborn sized system).
I actually have fewer blowouts with cloth than I did before I switched my first to cloth at about 2weeks.
I find that newborn poo washes out easily without a lot of soaking (before they start solids).
However, if you did think that liners would make a difference, I think that even 10-15 rice paper liners a day would not really equal even one disposable. You can also make your own washable liners out of microfleece. You don't have to hem, and the poo doesn't stick to it as easily as cotton. So, if you don't want to invest in a more expensive system like fuzzibunz until they are 3-4 months like Jennifer suggests, this gives you the same sort of "stay dry" in a prefold or fitted that you would be getting in a pocket.
I also use Charlie's Soap for my dipes (and all my other laundry, too). I really like it!
I use prefolds and covers (I have bumpy/imse vimse and some WAHM wool (that will fit for much longer) mostly, but I do like the Thirsties cover (and fitted diaper--which is expensive but reasonable compared to other fitteds like it) my sister added to the newborn stash--and they are reasonably priced as well.
Thirsties Cover
I think prefolds and covers are the most economical way to go--and I use wrap covers and just lay the prefold in without using pins or snappis or anything. I find it easy (though I have some fuzzi-bunz seconds that I like as well and imagine that a system of that would be nice!), but its what I've always done; so, my perspective might be different.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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anniemm
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| Posted: Oct 14 2008 at 10:39am | IP Logged
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I just wanted to second Thirsties. When my little one was a newborn, I was having to change her more often, but at least everything was contained in the Thirsties covers. I never ever had a blowout all over her clothes or bedding that I had with disposables with my first two babies.
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Andrea
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Wife to Charlie (03)
Mama to four little girls (04), (05), (07), (09),& my 1st little guy 11/11
www.hiswillmypeace.com
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KellyJ
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| Posted: Oct 14 2008 at 8:52pm | IP Logged
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We've used cloth with two as newborns using whatever the small size was (not newborn size, whatever is next up) in prefolds (FWIW, our smalls have green stitching). We fold them down more with the smaller babies and move over to the next size up when needed. We use snappis and nylon covers. We're about to move our infant over to cloth after deciding to go with disposables till the summer weather passes and our supply of disposables runs out.
FWIW, I do think we go through more disposables than cloth. We have 3 dozen of the cloth, and I think we usually were washing every second or third day with a fairly ample supply still on-hand.
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KellyJ
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doris
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| Posted: Oct 15 2008 at 4:20pm | IP Logged
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I don't tend to put my babies in cloth nappies until they're out of the first size, either.
What really works for me is using a cheap fleece liner (you can cut up your own, or I got a load from a WAHM on ebay) then a paper liner. The paper liners I use are washable if they're only wet rather than dirty so they work out really cheap. The fleece draws the moisture away from the baby's bottom and seems to contain the mess as well.
I honestly find cloth nappies to be better than disposables. I don't have the change the baby more often -- in fact, cloth sees him through the night better than disposables.
Oh, one other thing -- I don't soak the nappies. I put them in a lidded bucket, then wash them with a prewash of 'Nappy Fresh' at 60 degrees (that's 140 degrees  ). The nappy fresh removes the bugs at that temperature and they come out really clean.
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: advice for cloth diapering?
