Questions on cloth diapers

I've been looking at cloth diapers, especially the preshaped ones with
covers and the all-in-ones online, but I have a few questions. I absolutely
do NOT want anything requiring pins. There are NO diaper services here, so
I would have to do all the laundry at home. I will be home full-time until
the baby is at least 9 months old, probably longer (I have a leave of
absense from the school system through next August, so I won't have to
decide on returning to work until next summer sometime).

1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next? The ones I was
looking at are pretty high priced, and I'd hate to have to replace them
every 2-3 months or something. The range of sizes makes me think they
outgrow them pretty fast.

2) Are they resizable enough to fit different body shapes of babies with
similar weight? I know from working child care that some diapers leak
horribly on a tall, thin baby, but not on a shorter, chubbier one (of the
same weight) and vice versa. I'd hate to buy several dozen cloth diapers at
the prices I've seen online ($12-15 each, new)

3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper pails
really that good?

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems kind
of yucky to me.

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up and
around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for the baby?

This just seems like a more natural thing to do, and I can't imagine that
cloth wouldn't be more comfortable on the baby than the papery stuff (I'm
thinking about wearing a maxi pad 24-7 for at least 2 years-not fun), but
I'm not sure of the logistics.

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
I've been looking at cloth diapers, especially the preshaped ones with
covers and the all-in-ones online, but I have a few questions. I
absolutely
do NOT want anything requiring pins. There are NO diaper services here,
so
I would have to do all the laundry at home. I will be home full-time until
the baby is at least 9 months old, probably longer (I have a leave of
absense from the school system through next August, so I won't have to
decide on returning to work until next summer sometime).


I used pins and much prefered them, but it's totally personal. You can get
velcro wraps that do not require pins at all. I'll let someone else fill you
in on the details of what's out there now, I just used Dappi pins (very
sharp, locking heads, easy peasy to use.) with diaper service quality
prefolds and pull-up nylon pants. Worked great, no leaks to speak of. We'd
triple diaper at night.


1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next? The ones I was
looking at are pretty high priced, and I'd hate to have to replace them
every 2-3 months or something. The range of sizes makes me think they
outgrow them pretty fast.

My kiddo never really outgrew the regular diaper service quality diapers.
You just fold them differently as they get bigger.

2) Are they resizable enough to fit different body shapes of babies with
similar weight? I know from working child care that some diapers leak
horribly on a tall, thin baby, but not on a shorter, chubbier one (of the
same weight) and vice versa. I'd hate to buy several dozen cloth diapers
at
the prices I've seen online ($12-15 each, new)


I think that your best shot at fitting "any" baby is with pins and prefolds,
but that's my bias. I have no idea what I'll do with this child, but I *do*
need to get more cloth diapers and covers as my dd's have been worn out with
other uses in the past 11 years.


3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load
for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper
pails
really that good?


I got a real basic diaper pail with a flip top lid and a handle that locked
it. It had a little chamber up at the top for a deodorant disk--I used a
deodo disk and never had problems with a smelly bucket. I washed maybe every
3-4 days. For what you get 2 dozen fancy diapers for, you can get closer to
six dozen prefolds or more, which means fewer laundry days. Here was my
basic system:

2 buckets--one the official "diaper pail" with the deodo disk. Another,
smaller, uncovered bucket for diaper covers, because you go through less of
those and they require less cleaning. Neither had any "soak" in it--I think
letting the diapers stand in liquid for days is gross--left alone the urine
becomes ammonia, which tends to keep down bacterial growth. The Deodo disk
worked *fine*. I think I washed more frequently when my kid developed a
garlic fettish, but that's another story...lol!

A diaper change... remove the old, yucky diaper. If you use disposable
liners, you can just take anything solid out on the liner and flush it. If
you use fleece liners, you can get the poop of those pretty fast in the
toilet, I think. Anyway, *I* didn't use liners, so before she started
solids, we would just toss the dipe, poop and all, into the pail (breastfed
baby poop is just *not* solid enough to be a problem in the wash--it comes
out fine without even rinsing ahead). After, I'd soak the diaper with a
diaper duck in the potty for a few minutes, flush the solids and put the
dipe in the bucket. No biggie. If the cover was yucky and had poop on it, it
would go directly in the cover pail. I might rinse these out by hand later,
or do them with the wash, depending on whether I was low on covers or not.
I'd use a damp washcloth to wipe her bottom, and toss that into the bucket
with the diapers. Put on a new one... just plunk, bring it up, pin one side,
then then other--I stuck myself once or twice, but never her that I can
recall--it's almost impossible to stick the baby the way I put pins in. Then
pull up the pants..that's it.

To wash:
Diapers and washcloths in on hottest, with plenty of perfume/dye free soap
and a downy-ball filled with vinegar for the rinse. In my new front loader,
I can put vinegar in the fabric softener compartment and it happens
automatically.

Then, leaving the diapers in, I'd add the covers, turn the heat to "warm
wash/cold rinse" and run another shorter cycle.

I'd hang dry the covers and dry the diapers and washcloths on hottest in the
dryer.


This all sounds more involved than it is. There's a routine to it and I just
didn't think much about it.

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems
kind
of yucky to me.

If you're worried about it, take them first to a commercial laundry and have
them wash on hottest for you. Their "hot" is hotter than your hot, most
likely. Personally, it wouldn't faze me too much.


5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering
from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up
and
around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for the baby?


My best friend used cloth from the get go if I recall. She used velcro wraps
with prefolds and said it wasn't much more trouble than disposables.

This just seems like a more natural thing to do, and I can't imagine that
cloth wouldn't be more comfortable on the baby than the papery stuff (I'm
thinking about wearing a maxi pad 24-7 for at least 2 years-not fun), but
I'm not sure of the logistics.

There are a zillion ways to do it. But zillions of people *have* done it and
it's just not a huge deal. I used disposables for my foster baby because we
were in an apartment and laundry was *expensive*--I seriously would have
spent as much on laundry as on the disposables, plus I was working. But I
didn't like it much--I'd have rather had the time to do cloth. IMO, dealing
with cloth diapers is far less time-consuming than say, formula feeding.

Jenrose

1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next? The ones I was
looking at are pretty high priced, and I'd hate to have to replace them
every 2-3 months or something. The range of sizes makes me think they
outgrow them pretty fast.

Depends what you do. I started with Infant/Newborn-sized prefolds (3 dozen,
http://www.cloth-diaper.com/detail.a...CT_ID=GREN1201 -- the ones with
dark green stitching on the ends), and they lasted my baby until about 5
months. She was a big and tall baby, though -- other people have gotten
closer to 9 or 10 months' use out of them, though a friend borrowed my
diapers and only got 3 months' use out of them because her baby is
super-tall. They fit her fine from birth (8 lbs. 11 oz., 21"), but friends
with more petite babies have said they needed to wait a bit until their
babies grew into those diapers. When DD outgrew those, I moved to
Regular-sized prefolds (2 dozen,
http://www.cloth-diaper.com/detail.a...CT_ID=GREN1202 -- white
stitching on the ends). I think they would still fit her now (almost 29
months), but a) I sewed my own fitted diapers for her last summer, and b) as
she'll tell anyone, no more diapers for her now. If you have a very heavy
wetter, you may want Premium (blue stitching) instead of Regular, because
the Premiums have 2 extra layers in the middle. Most people I think do not
need the Toddler-sized prefolds, but IDK for sure. If you're using fitted
diapers or all-in-ones, you may need a few sizes, two or three depending on
your baby's size.

For covers, we went through three sizes and needed all three. We used
Newborn size covers for about the first 6 weeks, and then the Smalls from
about 6 weeks until about 5 months. The Infant prefolds fit into the
Newborn and Small covers fine. We used Medium covers from about 5 months or
so on up until potty-training, though I have a couple of Larges in one brand
that I used for nighttime sometimes (the Mediums still worked for nighttime
though).

2) Are they resizable enough to fit different body shapes of babies with
similar weight? I know from working child care that some diapers leak
horribly on a tall, thin baby, but not on a shorter, chubbier one (of the
same weight) and vice versa. I'd hate to buy several dozen cloth diapers
at
the prices I've seen online ($12-15 each, new)

Again, depends on what you're using. Prefolds are more adjustable to
different body shapes than other diapers, in general. What may vary is the
cover fit, and that may change as your baby grows and changes shape. I
think that's why DD was able to use the same size cover for so long -- as an
older infant, she was very chubby, but as a toddler, she grew more slender
and tall. You may want to try a few different brands of covers, or
different brands of fitteds/AIOs to see what works best for your baby.

3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load
for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper
pails
really that good?

I always washed on Mondays and Thursdays. For dirty diapers, breastmilk
poop doesn't smell at all, and it just all goes into the wash. Once DD
started solids, I'd dump the solid poop into the toilet and toss the rest in
the pail. I use a dry pail, no soaking. I suppose there is a bit of a
smell from the wets after a while; DH says he can smell it, but I don't. I
always used a tightly closed pail though, but I have recently heard that a
more open pail might cut down on smells more, so I'm going to try that with
the new baby. (I also kept the pail in the bathroom, which doesn't
naturally get as much airflow as other rooms.) Some people do wash every
day; they just run their other laundry first, and then throughout the day
they toss the diapers in the machine and wash at the end of the day. Some
brands of covers can be washed with your diapers, though I usually ran mine
separately. When I used covers with velcro/aplix, I washed the covers
totally separately from any other laundry, on gentle, but when I switched to
fitted diapers and pull-up covers, I washed the covers with the rest of the
baby laundry on gentle.

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems
kind
of yucky to me.

I've never bought diapers from ebay, but I have gotten some covers with no
problems. I felt okay with that since the covers wouldn't be right next to
the baby's skin. Not sure if I'd go for diapers or not, but if you don't
feel okay with it, then don't.

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering
from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up
and
around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for the baby?

The transition isn't likely to cause problems for the baby, but sometimes
parents have a harder time making the switch since disposables are so easy.
A lot of people use disposables for the first few weeks, for various
reasons -- no dealing with meconium stains, there's enough else to learn
when you have a newborn so maybe folding prefolds isn't high on your list,
relatives visiting are happy to change disposables, disposables are often
given as gifts, Dad doesn't want to use cloth and Mom is supposed to be
resting, baby doesn't fit into the cloth yet, etc. We came home the day DD
was born, her meconium was totally gone by 24 hours after birth, and I had
had an easy delivery, so we started using cloth during the day and at home
when she was about 3 days old, gradually working up to using them at night
and out of the house. This time we're planning a homebirth, and since we're
used to cloth diapers and have a general clue about newborns, we're planning
to use cloth from the beginning, with a fleece liner that we can just throw
away to catch the meconium. Ymmv, and everybody's different. If your DH or
whomever is going to be helping you would prefer not to use cloth at first,
then you might want to go with disposables. In that case, I'd probably skip
newborn covers/fitteds/AIOs and start using the smalls when they fit.

This just seems like a more natural thing to do, and I can't imagine that
cloth wouldn't be more comfortable on the baby than the papery stuff (I'm
thinking about wearing a maxi pad 24-7 for at least 2 years-not fun), but
I'm not sure of the logistics.

We love using cloth diapers! They're so cute on the baby too. Ask away if
you have any other questions!


--
-Sara
Mommy to DD, 28 months
And Someone Due in February 2005

Donna Metler wrote:
I've been looking at cloth diapers, especially the preshaped ones with
covers and the all-in-ones online, but I have a few questions.

I started out cloth diapering the day we got home from hospital, and DD has
been in nothing else since. And with no. 2, I intend to use them from the
start. I started out with flannelette flats (not sure if they are common
over there, but here in NZ, they are the standard). I used velcro wraps (no
pins needed) and washed every third day. Then when DD started getting
mobile, we started having a few leaks, and I found the joy of fitted
nappies. I made some when DD was 9 months old, and she still fits them
really well at 19 months. (I'm hoping she'll be toilet trained before she
grows out of them, but I suspect this is wishful thinking). These days I
wash every 2nd day, as I only have 2 Fuzzibunz, which I use at night, and
I'm too lazy to hand wash them. Also, it is winter here, and fitteds take
longer to dry, so if I leave a wash for 3 days, I start panicking that they
won't dry in time.

As for smell, I use a plain ordinary lidded bucket, and dry pail. I started
out soaking, but found that it was unnecessary. I have also bought 2nd hand
nappies - I soaked in Napisan, and did a hot wash, but I like the idea of
the hot commercial laundry wash.

Good luck with your information gathering - I love using cloth (but then I'm
stubborn, and people didn't think I'd last 6 weeks doing it, so I had to
prove them wrong).

Cathy
DD 8 Jan 03
EDD 8 Dec 04

Donna asks:

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering
from a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until
I'm up and around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for
the baby?

I've cloth-diapered both of mine, and had c-sections both times. It was no
problem. The only trouble was lifting the full diaper pail to put the
diapers in the washing machine, which DH did for me. We used the
disposable diapers the hospital gave us when we first got home both times,
but that supply didn't last long. Neither of my sons had any difficulty
whatsoever going from disposable to cloth; neither one of them ever seemed
to notice the difference at any age.

-- Alpha
mom to Eamon and Quinn

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 18:24:59 -0500, "Donna Metler"
wrote:

I've been looking at cloth diapers, especially the preshaped ones with
covers and the all-in-ones online, but I have a few questions. I absolutely
do NOT want anything requiring pins. There are NO diaper services here, so
I would have to do all the laundry at home. I will be home full-time until
the baby is at least 9 months old, probably longer (I have a leave of
absense from the school system through next August, so I won't have to
decide on returning to work until next summer sometime).

1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next? The ones I was
looking at are pretty high priced, and I'd hate to have to replace them
every 2-3 months or something. The range of sizes makes me think they
outgrow them pretty fast.


If you're using fitted or all-in-one diapers, they'll go through the
newborn and small sizes very quickly. The mediums last for a very long
time generally. DS has been able to fit into medium Fuzzi Bunz and
Bummi wraps since about 2.5 months (he's 1 on 8/11). We use Fuzzi Bunz
exclusively now.

2) Are they resizable enough to fit different body shapes of babies with
similar weight? I know from working child care that some diapers leak
horribly on a tall, thin baby, but not on a shorter, chubbier one (of the
same weight) and vice versa. I'd hate to buy several dozen cloth diapers at
the prices I've seen online ($12-15 each, new)


It varies greatly depending on the diaper. If you go to diaperpin.com,
you can see lots of reviews. Some of the WAHM diaper stores have very
helpful owners who will advise you on things like this. We used
Kissaluvs Size 0s when he was a newborn and those are generally
considered to be a wonderful newborn diaper. They are expensive, but I
resold mine on eBay and got 90%+ of my original purchase price back.

3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper pails
really that good?


We wash every 2 or 3 days. How often you do diapers will depend on how
many diapers you have. I think you'd need at least 24 for a newborn
because they'll go through almost a dozen a day. We had the Diaper
Champ diaper pail originally and it had foam built into it that
eventually absorbed the icky smells and the whole pale stunk. We
through it away and got the Safety 1st diaper pail. I haven't had any
smell issues. Newborn poo doesn't really stink anyway (if BFing).

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems kind
of yucky to me.


I, personally, feel icky about buying used diapers, but I have sold my
used diapers on eBay. Most of the good diapers go for almost what they
cost new, so I would prefer to just buy new. For what it's worth, my
diapers were very, very clean when I shipped them off to the buyers.

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up and
around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for the baby?


I didn't have a c-section, but I think the only difficulty could be
hauling the dirties to the washer. Are you going to have your husband
or someone around to help? We never used disposables until we went on
vacation with DS when he was 9 months old and he didn't even seem to
notice a difference.

This just seems like a more natural thing to do, and I can't imagine that
cloth wouldn't be more comfortable on the baby than the papery stuff (I'm
thinking about wearing a maxi pad 24-7 for at least 2 years-not fun), but
I'm not sure of the logistics.


I feel like the cloth diapers must be more comfy. We use a diaper that
is micro-fleece lined. I know after 6 weeks of post-partum bleeding, I
basically had diaper rash from the maxi pads. I can only imagine what
3+ years of disposable diapers does.

Manda

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...

3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load
for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper
pails
really that good?

My DD isn't on solids yet, but an exclusively BF baby's nappies smell of
breastmilk. I don't notice a smell at all. I wash every 2-3 days, and have a
dry pail. If the smell becomes a problem, you can sprinkle with baking soda
or a few drops of lavender.
After that, I soak in hot water and a nappy soak, which kills e-coli, for
two hours, then cold wash and rinse. It's important not to use additional
detergent if you use a soak like that - read the directions. Multiple
detergents can cause rashes. I just pour the lot in, wash and rinse. Then I
hang out in the sun which takes out any residual stains.

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems
kind
of yucky to me.

I bought mine secondhand, just soaked them & washed them thoroughly. Deal
with a trusted trader & asked if they're stained etc. All mine arrived in
perfect condition.

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering
from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up
and
around better? If so, will the transition cause problems for the baby?

I used disposables for the first week & I had an easy delivery. There is
just so much going on with a new baby, and you'll be tired. We had no
problems making the transition. DD still uses disposables for going out,
because dirty nappies in the parcel tray with my bread and milk don't
appeal! :-/

This just seems like a more natural thing to do, and I can't imagine
that
cloth wouldn't be more comfortable on the baby than the papery stuff (I'm
thinking about wearing a maxi pad 24-7 for at least 2 years-not fun), but
I'm not sure of the logistics.

My DD enjoys her cloth nappies, they haven't given her a rash yet.
Occasionally during a growth spurt she leaks through on to her clothes, but
better that than sitting too long and getting a sore bottom. At 5 weeks,
we're still fine tuning.

Donna Metler wrote:
1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next?

Caterpillar was in newborn size for a couple of weeks, and small for a
couple of months, and will likely be in medium until she potty-trains,
although I'll opt for the toddler petite size of Fuzzi Bunz if we end up
buying more covers.

2) Are they resizable enough to fit different body shapes of babies
with similar weight?

We use covers and prefolds, not AIOs, and some covers don't fit some sizes
of baby very well. Proraps are cheap (why I have a bunch of them) and run
big in the leg (and I have a small-thighed baby). The velcro has always
overlapped at the waist and she peed out the leg holes every now and then
for months. Polar Babies run small for the weight listed. Fuzzi Bunz are
the most adjustable ones we've tried, and the snaps defeat small strippers
(so far).

3) How often do you wash them?

We keep dirty diapers in a dry pail lined with a nylon bag. It has one of
the lids that you step on the thing to open, and I've gone a week between
washings (a week I didn't use much cloth) before I've noticed a smell.
Normally I wash every 2-3 days, because that's when the pail is full (small
pail).

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay?

Heck if I know. The price difference isn't that huge, though, so you could
buy new then ebay anything that didn't work for you (and / or as you
outgrow). Then it's someone else who has to worry about germs.

5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first
recovering from a C-section

I used disposables for the first 2 weeks, because I couldn't cope with
learning another new skill. With AIOs, you have less learning curve,
though. Caterpillar could have cared less what she had on.

Phoebe
--
yahoo address is unread; substitute mailbolt

"Amy" wrote in message
...

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...

3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load
for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper
pails
really that good?

My DD isn't on solids yet, but an exclusively BF baby's nappies smell of
breastmilk. I don't notice a smell at all. I wash every 2-3 days, and have
a
dry pail. If the smell becomes a problem, you can sprinkle with baking
soda
or a few drops of lavender.
After that, I soak in hot water and a nappy soak, which kills e-coli, for
two hours, then cold wash and rinse. It's important not to use additional
detergent if you use a soak like that - read the directions. Multiple
detergents can cause rashes. I just pour the lot in, wash and rinse. Then
I
hang out in the sun which takes out any residual stains.

I should note that 'nappy soak' such as Napisan, does not exist in the USA.
At least I've never seen it, nor seen anything like it offered for sale. I
find vinegar helps keep down ammonia smell, however, and it's also a pretty
good cleaner in its own right.

4) Is it sanitary to buy used cloth diapers through ebay? It just seems
kind
of yucky to me.

Well.

I have done it, and had no qualms. I just wash everything in my own washer,
dry them in my own dryer, and/or hang them in the sun....and put them on my
baby. Since I use fleece liners I made from my own piece of fleece, any
questionable whatever would be buffered away from direct contact with baby's
genitals, but honestly, I don't worry about it.

True, I would hesitate to purchase and wear stained underwear for *myself*,
but adult underwear has a higher risk of carrying something nasty (in
theory) like a venereal disease, than a diaper does.

My attitude toward diapers is this: they're clothing meant to be pooped and
peed in. If your baby has a blowout in a disposable diaper, you don't throw
the soiled clothes away, do you? You rinse it out, wash it thoroughly in hot
water, and maybe use some Oxy-Clean or non-chlorine bleach if you think it
will stain. (If you've gotten hand-me-down or second-hand baby clothes,
there's always the chance those babies had blowouts in those clothes....yet
you don't think a second thing about dressing baby in them, probably.) And
you'd do the same with your own underwear if, for some unfortunate reason,
you experienced incontinence or found a 'skid mark'. Or if you found you'd
gotten dog poop on your socks, or pants somehow. You'd wash them thoroughly
and go on with your life. And if you have cloth diapers, you'll probably
use them on as many children in succession as the diapers can bear (until
they're worn out). Probably the kids will have hand-me-down underwear, too.
It seems inconsequential to me. If it isn't, to you, then buy new. You'll
pay more, but you won't have to worry about it.

--angela

Donna Metler wrote:

1) How often do babies grow from one size to the next?

The nappies I use are not pre shaped ones, although I'd love to get
some, they look quite funky, mine are large cotton squares that I fold
differently depending on the size and sex of my kids. And I use pins and
they are fiddly, especially for me as I have RA, I also have clasps but
don't like them as much. I imagine the pre shaped ones are similar sizes
to the overpants I buy, small, medium, large and extra large. I have
never use a small one yet, always start with medium that lasts me until
about 4/5 months then I go to a large.


3) How often do you wash them? And, since I assume you don't run a load for
one diaper, how do you keep wet diapers from smelling? Are the diaper pails
really that good?

I washed my newborn ones every 3-4 day's, when my bucket was full, I
would soak all of them first and wash them separately. And I do Lydias
everyday, I just bung her's into the regular wash, I don't worry about
soaking now but if it's stained I do a pre soak in Napisan with whatever
other white things are handy, rinse them then add more clothes and do a
regular wash.


5) Will it be reasonable to use cloth diapers when I'm first recovering from
a C-section, or would it make more sense to use disposibles until I'm up and
around better?

I did, but I had no choice, the hospital only used cloth, I didn't find
it a problem, but then I didn't have to wash those ones :-) I used
disposables when I was home until she was about 4 weeks, then have used
a mix of cloth and disposable ever since.

Andrea