We're thinking of cloth diapering our newborn (due late June) and I am quite overwhelmed with all the cloth diapering options out there...I was wondering if there are any cloth diapering workshops in the West LA area, or a store we can visit to look at different types and as questions.
We're also considering signing up for a cloth diapering service (who will drop of diapers, and pick them up at end of the week, wash them etc) and are trying to decide between Luludew, Blessed Bums and Dy-Dee diaper services. I think all three cover West LA/Culver City area.
Any advice or tips in general on cloth diapering - much appreciated! Thank you!
I did cloth for my first born. My mother paid for a service for about 3 months. It was great, easy and convenient. But then I had to go back to work. With numbers 2 and 3 I used plastic!
I advise you to try it. It is so much fun being a new mommy! Your first born is always the test baby. You try out all the new things on them.
Whatever you decide I wish you luck, Love and much happiness!!
Blessings!
D.
I've used cloth for both my kids and I LOVE them. Check out www.diaperpin.com for excellent reviews and help. Also, www.mothering.com tends to have a more "natural" approach to parenting and lots of good advice.
Cloth diapers are so nice for baby- no harsh chemicals or weird gels- more than once I've taken a disposable off my baby (I use them when we travel) and there were bits of the gel stuck to her bottom! Also, dispoables are hard on the environment- they never biodegrade and can end up in the ocean.
I use 2 types of cloth diapers. We started with dydee, the service, for 3 months when my daughter was born, so I could get the hang of it and see if I liked cloth. Then I decided to buy those exact diapers and wash them myself. So I bought the indian prefolds and 6 prorap diaper covers to use during the daytime. At night with my daughter I used the fancier one-size pocket diapers- these have microfleece that are super soft against baby's bottom and also wick the moisture away, so the baby stays completely dry all night. It's amazing. Also, since there is a pocket, you can stuff as much absorbency as you need. I've used several brands- bum genius, fuzzy bunz, happy heinys, and haute pockets... they are pretty similar in design so it's just preference and fit. With my son, I just use the basic pre fold/prowrap which seems to be fine. You can double the pre fold for nighttime absorbency.
Some stores carry the pocket diapers if you want to see in person. The diaperpin website has reviews for all the diapers as well as sites where you can comparison shop. The best advice I read was to buy one of a few different brands and try rather than buy a whole bunch of anything. The pocket diapers are pricier ($15-$20 per diaper) Although the prefolds are super cheap (a couple bucks each) so I think it's fine to buy lots of them.
Washing turned out to be really easy. I only wash every 3 days, and there is no smell in our room. I do one cold wash no detergent, then a hot wash with detergent, vinegar rinse occasionally. Every so often I do an oxiclean soak to get them back to white white. They are great! We have saved so much money on diapers.
We just used the diaper pail that came with dydee diaper service (no diaper genie or anything like that)- they let us keep it. I would definitely recommend buying a fabric diaper pail liner instead of plastic- you can turn it inside out in order to push the diapers into the washing machine and never have to touch a dirty diaper. Then the diaper pail liner goes in too and gets washed along with the diapers.
I bought a PUL diaper pail liner online.
http://www.babysorganicnursery.com/home/dp1/page_9/diaper...
You can wash and re-use the liners a couple of times and they keep the poo off the diaper and make it so easy to clean up. Keeps your diapers looking great.
With cloth, my daughter never had diaper rash. We used A&D during the day but didn't use any diaper cream at night at all since we used the micro fleece pocket diapers at night. However, with son, he does sometimes get rashes with the cloth (or any kind of diaper), so sometimes I switch to disposables for him so I can use A&D and keep the wetness off his skin.
Oh- one great thing I discovered with both my babies- the cloth diapers absorbed the breastfeeding poop better- in disposables, we would often have "blowouts" with the poop ejecting out of the diaper onto their back. This never happened with my prefolds/prowrap combos. Somehow it held it all in.
If you're grossed out by the poo on the diaper, you can also get diaper liners that can be flushed into the toilet if there's poo, or washed and used a couple of times if it's just pee.
Hope this helps!
Glad the other moms who answered liked using cloth diaper service. I HATED it. I tried it for a month and dropped it as soon as my contract was up. It was 29 years ago and perhaps they fit better and the pails don't smell, but I didn't like it. If you don't have to sign a long-term contract and can try it for a month, the only way to know for sure if you like it is to try it.
We used Dy-Dee with both of our children. Very handy. Their diapers and prorap covers hold in newborn poop the best! The disposable always leaked it. We also have a couple Bum Genius, but after months of use, I (and my friends who use them) can't seem to get the pee smell out. Highly recommend Dy-Dee!
We used Dy-Dee since that was the only one that delivered to our area. No regrets about going cloth. We did buy the plastic covers that velcro shut to make changing easier. If we would be going out all day we would sometime use disposable to make it a little easier on us. Good luck
