(Elitsirk) wrote in message . com...
(tigger) wrote in message . com...

Also, if you have any ideas on which is better - using a diaper
service or doing them yourself - that would also be appreciated!!! We
have the option of a diaper service where we live, but I'm not sure if
it's worth the expense, know what I mean?

Thanks!

-Lesley


I have a piggy back question here. I've heard conflicting reports as
to which is cheaper: diaper service or cloth diapers. We have
friends who use a diaper service here in town that costs $14 a week,
which sounds decent to me. How much do people usually spend on
disposable diapers?


Well, I would think that you would spend about that much on
disposables. I just bought a pack of Huggies for vacation.
30-something of them for $9. The big determiner seems to be how often
you change them. Most people that I know who use disposables will
leave the baby in the same diaper for hours or until there is a
noticeable smell. I don't leave him in one for more than 3 hours. Day
care changes all the kids every 2 hours so he goes through 6 diapers a
day there. If he were in disposables, we'd be going through 7 a day,
so nearly 50 a week.

DH and I are looking at all our options here, though washing our own
cloth diapers is probably at the bottom of the list based on time. We
hardly get our own laundry done some weeks, and we know we'll be
adding regular baby laundry too. The last thing we need is *more*
loads per week.

We were the same way. All of our laundry for the week waited until
Sunday night and then we argued about who had to do it and it didn't
usually all get done. Strangely, we don't seem to have a problem with
diapers. We do diapers every other night. We just chuck them into the
wash when we come in the house and put them in the dryer last thing
before we go to bed. I wouldn't want a service because I wouldn't want
a week of diapers sitting around my house. I feel the same way about
disposables, too. I don't want them sitting in the garage waiting for
the trash man. If he does a very bad stinky poop, I can handle it
immediately by throwing it in the wash.

We also haven't figured out childcare for once I go
back to work (when the baby's about 3 months old)--I don't know if all
daycares will work with cloth diapers if we were to go that route
(there's a possiblility we may use a nanny or in-home person also, but
we just don't know that yet).

Both centers that are considered were fine with cloth diapers. He's
been wearing them to day care for the past 6 months with no problems.
I brought in an example when I talked to them about it so they knew
that I wasn't using the old flats and pins method and they were open
to the idea.


Anyways, just gathering data here so we can make an informed choice.
Any guesses on diaper costs would be appreciated. Thanks!


We've gone the terribly expensive route on cloth diapering and I'm
pretty sure we're still ahead. I haven't ever calculated it because
cost wasn't ever what drove me to cloth diapering. His newborn diapers
were $9 a piece, but I resold them on eBay for over $8. I resold all
his wraps for at least 50% of new. Although my initial cash outlay was
in the several hundreds (which, of course, is not necessary), I
estimate that I spent less than $75 to diaper him for the first 2.5
months. At 2.5 months, we switched over to FuzziBunz full-time. He is
still wearing the same ones we bought at that time (they fit 15 - 25
lbs). We bought 25 $20 diapers (insert and diaper), but he's been
wearing them for over 6 months now.

--Elit.
#1 due 9/20/2004