Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

[silry 0]

i use cloth! recently my washer broke (:thumbup:) and i had to use sposies. it was horrible! i guess i was so used to my bum genuis diapies that the sposies really bothered me. his butt felt so tiny and i was constantly changing him b/c i was paranoid he was going to leak. plus his poor wee boy bits got a rash. :thumbup: i got my new washer today (IT IS SO COOL!!!) and am thrilled to have his butt back in BG. LOL.

[SwanGal 0]

A mix of both. When I am out and about I use Pampers Swaddlers. Don't want to carry around dirty diapers, be they pee or poop.

[gentylwind 1]

www.diaperswappers.com

Great forum for cloth diapering Moms (and other kinds of Moms too!).

[armywife2002 0]

we use and love cloth. my son is 17 months and has only been in sposies a few times and i hate it. we use a mix of mostly prefolds and flats, with some fitteds (although we're using them more now since we're putting ds on the potty, and fitteds are easier for going coverless) and some pockets that are mostly for nighttime, and will ce for daycare when i go back to work in a couple of months

[watermum 0]

DS is 13 months and we use mainly cloth. A mixture of Baby Beehinds, PeaPods and some I made him. I am already working on my nappy stash for this bub and he/she will be in nappies all made by me. Gotta luv MCN's.

[lindata 1]

WAtermum - do you have a website to go to for directions on making them?

I'm 3 months pregnant (I still can't believe I'm saying that!) and I'm going with cloth this time around. The only thing I can't figure out is the poop issue - I guess that's where the liners come in??? It's going to be a steeeep learning curve.

[Telly 4]

keeping track of this thread

[losingjusme 12]

telly... CONGRATS..

i use a combo spozies & cloth... cloth when i know i'll be home and spozies when i'm out and about ...

i bought my cloth all in one (one size) from ebay - coolababy... LOVE them!!! i wash every 2-3 days depending on how much i'm home ... and washing takes about 90 min, drying 45 ... so not so bad... Joshua loves them and i love the colors... we have red, blue, orange and white...

[Kissmygrits 0]

For purely ecological or environmental reasons- I did read somewhere that cloth is actually worse than disposable. The carbon footprint needed to manufacture and CLEAN the cloth diapers is bigger than the manufacture and disposal of the disposable ones.

The cleaning was the issue- the energy used to clean the cloth properly was the bad part.

Of course, cloth vs. disposable a personal preference issue, but I did read that analysis on environmental impact. NO JUDGMENTS HERE.

Unfortuntely, there is no "good" choice for diapering.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Kissmygrits

[laurieanns 0]

i have done both & i think it depends on many factors....

Is it your first child? You have more time if it is, therefore more time to wash cloth.

[When i had twins with my second pregnancy it was definitely disposable]

Also what kind of washer do you have? I think a newer model with a sanitary cycle would be a must.

Cloth is more of an first time investment, but disposables are very quick and convenient.

[lindata 1]

Kissmygrits, it's hard to know which is better for the environment according to all the studies. Totally agree!

My thoughts on the matter is that cloth are better since you're reusing rather than throwing something out that will be in the landfill for the next however many hundreds of years. Also, if you hang them to dry in the sun (or on a collapsible indoor rack) that will help the carbon footprint greatly since the dryer takes 90-95% of the energy use when washing/drying. The washer actually takes very little energy to run. The sun will naturally bleach the diapers too, so you don't need to use a chemical bleach.

Also, you can use vinegar in the rinse cycle rather than a synthetic fabric softener. Vinegar naturally softens and there is no vinegar scent left on the clothes - I promise! Plus it will be better for little bottoms. I do this all the time with my clothes. Just some tips for any moms wanting to go a little greener.

[Jennie1976 1]

It's been 7 months since I had my baby and I'm just now getting back on this website!

We bought the medium size of fuzzi bunz and just used disposables until she fit in them. Now we use cloth at home and disposables when we are out and about. I LOVE THEM! It was such a good choice. Thank you to everyone who helped me make this decision!

[lindata 1]

bumping to the top

[Jennie1976 1]

Okay,

I saw that this got bumped so I figured I'd update it. My daughter is now about ten months old. The fuzzi bunz still work great. I replaced the original inserts with hemp ones (she's a very heavy wetter). I have to change her a lot more frequently than with disposables or it soaks through, even with the hemp, but I'm still happy. I bought a box of diapers from costco that we use when we go out. I bought it about four months ago and I've only used about half of it (I bought a size that was pretty big for her so they still fit).

If anyone has any questions, feel free to e-mail me!