Cloth/flushable Diapers

Hi S.
I use bumgenius onesize pockets and some BG sized AIOs for my tall skinny 18mo and I find they work and fit great. I will admit I still use sponies for overnight. I found I had to buy about a dozen and that generally gets me through 2 days. I do a wash every other day. The AIO take longer to dry but are super easy to use. The one-size will handle just about anything you can throw at them. I do use liners (flushable rice-paper-like sheets) that make dealing with pop eminently more bearable (almost as easy as sposies). Good luck with it.

Hi S.!
We use cloth diapers with our younges who is now 15 months old. We have used BumGenius onesize pockets which have worked great. They were easy for my hubby to use and they washed/dried easily. Now we are switching to fitted diapers with wool and fleece covers for more breathability.

If you haven't already, look into a website called diaperswappers. It's a great site with TONS of info from types of diapers, diaper care, handling different diaper mishaps, as well as parenting info and a whole section devoted to green and thrifty living!

I have been very happy with FuzziBunz with my now 8 months old daughter; however I do use a disposable at bedtime because I was having trouble controlling leaking.

I totally recommend using cloth diapers and my husband, who was skeptical at first, loves them too. A lot of my friends have switched to cloth after seeing how easy it is. We began when my daughter was 6 months, and now we’re using the same diapers with baby #2. I recommend paying a bit extra for really high quality diapers. Not to discourage prefolds, but they don’t work as well as the pocket diapers and they don’t pull the wetness away from your child like pockets with fleece lining. I decided to buy BumGenius diapers because of their ease of use but mostly because they expand from small to medium to large (you snap them to fit your baby’s size and shape). You then just buy about 18 diapers or so and you can use the same ones from about 10 lbs up to 35 lbs rather than having to buy more as your child grows.

As for environmental impact, there is no question cloth is better. You don’t use bleach with BumGenius (it ruins the diaper if you do) but you do need to buy an environmentally friendly detergent with no enzymes or dyes. I do about 2 loads a week and then hang them to dry overnight on a drying rack (or you can use a dryer). You don’t need to dunk diapers in the toilet or anything like that. You just put them directly in the diaper pail (wipe off any large amounts of poop with toilet paper first) and wash them. Simple as that. I don't bother to bleach out my washing machine, but I do run the diapers on the hot cycle. They come out smelling clean and fresh. The only thing to consider is that day cares do not generally let you use cloth diapers in the daycare center.

Note: We also started with G-diapers and they were a total disaster. They leaked so much that I felt like I may as well use cloth since I was washing the g-diapers so much.

We did BUMMIES and G diapers. I did not care for the G-diapers. I felt they did not hold well for my daughter. So we did BUMMIES with her. At night i did seventh genaration diapers. They held her pee & poop really well. Seventh Genaration is a all natural diaper and does not stay in the land fill. All so they are not bleached so we had no major diaper rashes. The other brands have bleach wich is why they are whitte. Seventh genaration are bronw. We order them on line from diapers.com We also get the wipe from the Seventh genaration also better for the land fill no add perfume.
My daughter is going on 3 in a month and she still uses seventh genaration and we are preg. again due in Nov and we will do the same thing with this one. Good luck I hope this helps.

Have you heard of G-diapers? http://www.gdiapers.com/
I have the same dilemma as you and so far that's what sounds to me like the greenest (and practical) option is to combine G-diapers with cloth...
Good luck!
Genie
PS: hum.... I just looked at the other mom's response...sounds like G-diapers are not that fantastic after all! :(

We were happy with cloth. We used a mix of prefolds and pockets mostly (fuzzibuns worked well) with a few fitteds, contours and other random diapers thrown in. Obviously you need to do more laundry. But I really didn't find that to be a huge burden as it's not fussy laundry. It all goes in, gets washed and doesn't really require folding or sorting.

Many of the online diaper stores have starter packages so you can try out a few of different types. That's a great way to go. And really you can't beat the cost of prefolds. They may be more intimidating to some, but my husband (who was skeptical of cloth) seemed to prefer those actually).

The only negative I found with cloth is they are so cute shopping can be addictive! :)

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Joanne at Zannadu.com is wonderful and responsive. I suggest attending her workshop in Natick where you can see all different types and ask lots of questions.

There are calculators all over the web, but IIRC a box cost $30, and I needed one about every 2 weeks - that's $360 for one year.

The cost savings can be hard to see, because you're putting out a large chunk initially, but package after package of disposables really add up to more than your outlay.

A friend gave me her newborn prefolds & wraps after we spent the first two months in 'sposies. When we needed regular size,we got our first order of prefolds, Bummis SWW covers, and a couple pockets and other covers to try for about $250 from Zannadu.com We used them for 15 months, then DD decided to potty train.

IF we were to have a third, we wouldn't really need to buy anything more. It's just hard, sometimes, to resist the cute factor.

I made the switch to cloth believe it or not less than a year before my dauhter was potty trained. I just couldn't stand putting that junk on my daughter any longer. I went with cloth and although it can be a pain at time making sure you don't run out but knowing I was doing what was right for my daughter and the enviornment made the difference. They have so many great diapers to choose from now that it's impossible not to find your favorite. there are diaper swaps to help on cost as well. Plus when your finished, you can swap back and get paid for those you've already used.
I highly suggest Peacock Organics. The owner and the girl she has working there are great. They can help you find what is right for you, provide info on how others feel about things and they have young children of thier own so they know from experience. If you go there you can tell them I sent you.

Actually, we love gDiapers - if you are truly going green, 7th Generation is not for you. They are better for baby's bum but just as bad for the earth, as they don't biodegrade well. The gDiaper flushable inserts completely biodegrade in 30 days (even if you throw them in the trash rather than flush). You can also get cloth inserts for g's, which is what we do, and love it, and that's what saves you money, as the flushables are expensive. Takes a few days to get the hang of it but they're a good option. I have an awesome coupon code if you want to try them - g1018Corey will get you a 6 pack of pants for only $40 (usually $70) - that's only about $7/pant, super inexpensive in the cloth diaper world. Good till the end of July. Email me privately if you want to chat more - there are so many options it can be overwhelming. Another great option is to try the cloth diaper trial from Jillian's diapers - for just the cost of shipping, they send you one each of about 12 different cloth dipes to try out...you launder and send back but you get to try a lot of different ones.

I used something like them when my kids were little, and they were great. I had trouble at first because every timeI changed a diaper I laundered the cover. Finally I figured out to wash and rinse out the cover in a sink and not have to wait for a whole load etc.. (perhaps I was less organized than you are). That made things easier, I then always had a clean one available. They are cute but do take up more 'clothing' space than disposables so sometimes outfits don't fit as nice. Good luck with your search! Also excellent figuring out to stay as green as possible!
Clare Willis
Helping families keep toxins out of their homes.
www.LiveTotalWellness.com/Arizona

Don't buy gdiapers they are a waste of money they are more expensive them buying 7th generation diapers. We used bummies and very rarely had any leaks. The gdiapers pad doesn't stay in place very well it stayed much better in their older ones. We use 7th generation or other green disposable when we go camping but cloth the rest of the time.