Comments on: Cloth Diapering an Infant – What’s Cheapest?

By: Beth @ The Natural Mommy

Beth @ The Natural Mommy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:34:13 +0000

Oh, and Vika, the prorap brand cover has a notch for the umbilical stump. It’s one of the reasons we got that brand. That and it’s the cheapest! (Besides the plastic pants… which, given the poopies we’ve experienced, scare us…)

By: Beth @ The Natural Mommy

Beth @ The Natural Mommy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:31:03 +0000

~M – Pocket diapers are diapers such as the bumGenius and FuzziBunz which have a pocket where an absorbent insert is placed. The outside of the pocket diaper is typically made of waterproof PUL material and the inside of a suedecloth materieal that allows moisture to pass through, but remain dry on baby’s skin.

Nancy, I completely understand why you did what you did – there were no other options at the time! And now! Wow! I feel blessed to be CDing in this age of convenience and choice!

Steph – I’m trying to remember what we did for the meconium. We didn’t start cloth with our oldest until she was 6 months old because we had yet to be introduced to the concept! With Benjamin, I think some got thrown in the washer un-rinsed and the ones Gammy changed were rinsed (she’s very thorough). We also were using up the sposies we were given from the hospital. I say “given” because I was under the impression they were included in the room and board fee… they weren’t!

Kacie – if you can get diapers that don’t leak that cheaply, more power to you! For my husband and me, our choice to cloth diaper is as much about reducing waste as it is about saving money, so we would still opt for cloth!

Vika – You definitely need to take into account the amount of help you can expect that first week! This post is about what’s cheapest, not what’s best for a recovering mama! Luckily I have a very supportive husband who, with a little instruction, would be more than willing to throw the diapers in the wash for me. Plus, I usually have grandmas visiting as well to make my live even easier! If I didnt’ have all that, convenience would have to win out over frugality!

By: Vika

Vika — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:01:42 +0000

I would actually recommend using disposables for about the first week with a newborn. I think there is a certain level of convenience that is nice, especially if Dad isn’t too hip on washing the diapers and Mama is resting like she should. For us, though, the real reason was that we found the bulkier prefold/diaper cover to irritate our son’s umbilical stump and cause a small amt of bleeding. Nothing life threatening but can make baby more prone to infection. Disposables can more easily be folded down to avoid the umbilical stump.
After that first week or so, I completely agree that cloth diapers are better than anything else!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:17:35 +0000

Well, 4 years ago when I was about to give birth to my twins, Fuzzi Bunz was THE way to go for me. I knew I was not going to use anything that I had to fold and then use something else on top of that (i.e. prefolds with covers and the like). Safety pins were out of the question, and I wasn’t aware of the snappis, but that wouldn’t have made much difference to me anyway. So after doing a ton of research, I settled on Fuzzi Bunz. Of course there were no BumGenius or Baby Kangas back then, or any one-size grow-with-you kind of cloth dipe (that would have probably been my choice).

We had that same debate, about whether having the newborn size would be worth buying in cloth or not. We took the advice of our friends (who introduced us to Fuzzi Bunz in the first place) and did NOT buy the newborn size. We ended up using disposables for the first 5 weeks or so, and I think we still came out better off since we got so many diapers for free or super cheap. We had no idea if we were going to be able to have anymore children either, so that was another factor.

The choices available now for really cool cloth dipes are amazing. It’s hard to believe how much things have changed in the diapering world since just 4 years ago. But what’s best definitely varies per family based on many different factors. I am looking forward to using my cloth again once we get moved.

By: Steph L

Steph L — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:56:56 +0000

I used disposables on both my girls for the first week until the meconium was gone. They were also both very small (under 7 lbs) and we were using preemie diapers. After that we use prefolds until the small ones don’t fit anymore. I bought one size dipes after my first was around 6 mos and still need to fix some of the tabs so I haven’t pulled them out for the 2nd yet. I do also have some small FB’s that I like for nighttime.

My oldest is now just in a Snap-EZ trainer at night (which are awesome!) and I’m attempting to do some part time EC’ing with the little one. Any diaper I don’t have to wash is a success!!

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:37:34 +0000

Donielle — Our 2nd was 8lb3oz at birth, and it didn’t seem like our BGs would fit him – so I waited until he was over 9 lbs. to use them. But — I realized then that if I had used smaller inserts (preemie prefolds, or even a washcloth!) and folded the back and front in before putting them on him — they would have worked. Oh, well, live and learn. So – just put smaller inserts in them and fold in the front and back and you can use them on a smaller baby!

By: ~M

~M — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:03:34 +0000

What are pocket diapers?

By: Kacie

Kacie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:16:33 +0000

In my disposable diaper stash, my average cost is like $0.07 per diaper, thanks to drugstore deals.

What do you do about those first few days of meconium poopies? Seems like those would ruin cloth diapers, or at least be really really tricky to get out.

If we end up moving to a place with a washer/dryer, I do think we’ll give cloth diapering a try!

By: bren j.

bren j. — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:44:10 +0000

We used disposables for the first 2-3 weeks with our daughter not because of cost but for convenience. We already felt overwhelmed enough nevermind having to rinse and wash diapers every three days. We plan to do the same this time around. We used Bumkins pocket covers with Snuggleup diapers (we’re going to use some prefolds this time around) and the diaper covers lasted us a long time. We bought a few extras this time because we got a cheap deal but the newborn covers fit our girl for at least the first 6-9 months and the small covers fit from then until about a month ago when we started potty training! We’ve definitely gotten our money’s worth!
Glad for the link to the cheap prefolds though – thanks!

By: Donielle@Raising Penauts

Donielle@Raising Penauts — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:52:44 +0000

Glad you’re not judging! I’ve totally only been using disposables. BUT, I got mine for less than 5$ a pack a few months ago when those awesome coupons came out and CVS had a sale w/ ECB’s. Plus we were given about 4 or 5 packs from family, friends, and the hospital. And my one size BG’s are way to big for her even though she was born at 8lbs. 4oz. I figure at about 10 pounds they’ll start fitting better. Plus I still need to buy a pail liner. And pail. Oh, and a sprayer! (was hoping some family member would buy them, but no such luck