Diaper Service Vs. Disposable

Hi T.,
I used a diaper service with both of my children. I would highly recommend it. I don't think it smelled any worse than a regular diaper pail.

Hi there - I actually wash them myself as most CDers do this day and age - it's soooooooooo easy! Feel free to email me directly.

J.

Hi, I use cloth diapesr on my 2.4 year old and 10 month old...and our to be #3 in August. www.diaperswappers.com and www.diaperpin.com are good places to learn more and buy some stuff cheap to see what you like. We used Fuzzi Bunz and are moving to Rumpsters now. Yes, the diaper pail smells--but diaper that sit and diapers that stink! I wash my own every other day. Keeps the stink down! I think they smell less than disposables though. I've seen yucky gross stuff, especially with poop that sat for too long and other yucky things...but I wouldn't do it differently. Diaper services can get expensive, but just examine your families preferences. I've just bought some custom mades from SewNappyDiapers. com. Those are nice too. My only piece of info is that sometimes adopted kids are older than expected when they arrive or bigger/smaller than expected. So maybe do research and then use disposables, until you see your little / big one and then get into cloth. Also think about allergies, sensitivities, etc. Active kids vs. sedentary and DIFFERNT to change! Also, if they are going to child care/day care, that should be considered too. Fuzzi Bunz are the easiest/cheapest to use. PeaPods in St. Paul has a website and diapers on site too. I have lots here if you ever want to come and look, or we could meet up for coffee sometime. Good luck!

We have been using cloth diapers since my son was a newborn and I love them, I would never go disposable.

We personally decided not to go with a diaper service for two reasons: 1) they tend to use harsh detergents/bleaches and 2) you must use prefolds (at least with the services that I found).

I started by buying a sample of various types of cloth diapers: chinese prefolds, european prefolds, kissaluvs, fuzzi bunz, etc. I can pretty much give you the low down on many of the cloth varieties out there. Prefolds are the pits in my mind. The pins work better than the plastic grabbers but trying to pin a diaper on a squirmy baby isn't any fun.

We loved Kissaluvs Fitted when he was very pre-6 months. We now use Fuzzi Bunz. Kissaluvs are a super absorbent and the size 0 has a snap down section in the front to keep the umbilical cord out of the diaper area. You need to buy covers and I would recommend Imse Vimpse soft cover or the Bummies super whisper wrap or snap. But, for a newborn and even up to about 6 months, it is easy to get away with about one wrap for every 4-6 diapers. That is actually why we switched to Fuzzi Bunz when he was older, it is an all in one that you put an insert in between the shell and and inner-layer. Once our son became a heavier wetter and even had more solid stools from solid food, the Fuzzi Bunz just worked better. Fuzzi Bunz don't work well for a newborn because they are just a little too big. We had friends that borrowed our size 0 kissaluvs until about 2 months when their son was able to fit the Fuzzi Bunz they bought.

Something to think about in terms of the cost of the cloth diapers. When you see the prices of the Kissaluvs plus the covers or the Fuzzi Bunz plus the inserts, it seems high at $10-$15 per diaper but... You can sell used diapers. After my son grew out of his, I posted them on ebay and made back 75% of my money. Also, kissaluvs.com has a section where they sell 2nd quality diapers for a discount. You have to watch the site because they come up randomly and sell quickly. We bought some of these and noticed very very minimal difference between them and the 1st quality. It was basically that a snap would be a 1/10 of an inch off or the stitching would be a little off. But fit and functionally they were wonderful. I wouldn't recommend the 2nd quality Fuzzi Bunz as much, they can be missing snaps. A good place to buy Fuzzi Bunz new is www.cottonbabies.com They have a good bundle price for twelve diapers and you get their free inserts rather than paying $3 per insert for the Fuzzi Bunz brand. You will want to eventually buy some doublers or extra inserts to use at night (especially for a heavy wetter). Our friends bought a bad of high absorbency rags used to wash/dry cars and use those as their doublers, I think they paid $10 for the whole bag.

In terms of washing and stinky buckets. I haven't every noticed a stinky bucket or had anyone comment on it. We keep two buckets in rotation and switch frequently. I know that with diapers services, they often only come once a week and that is where you get into the problem with stinky diaper buckets... We use a wet bucket and put a few drops of tea tree oil. It is a natural disinfectant and can be bought at Whole Foods or the like for about $10 a tiny bottle. We have only bought three bottles in the 10 months since our son was born. I also think it helps with the smell. When it is time to wash, we put on our rubber gloves and use a bristle brush to wipe of excess stool. They go in the wash for a cold prewash and then a hot normal wash. And if they get stained from the stool, you just hang them outside in the sun and it's gone.

For more info and other ideas definitely check out www.cottonbabies.com or www.babybecause.com

If you have questions about anything I wrote or want ellaboration, do not hesitate to email me at ____@____.com

I'm a huge fan of cloth diapers and have been using them since my son was born 18 mos ago. His daycare uses only disposables but I still use cloth at home.

A good website for information is diaperpin.com. Everyone has their own preferences for diaper types and you can go cheap or spend a small fortune. I go cheap, using 24 diapers purchased on eBay along with 12 LiteWraps diaper covers. The pail doesn't smell for babies until they're eating solids, and now I rinse diapers in the toilet before putting them in a pail, so they don't smell.

Minneapolis has only one diaper service and I don't really recommend it.

You can email me if you have more questions: ____@____.com

Good luck with your decision.

Gabrielle

T.,
GOOD FOR YOU!!! Cloth diapers are the way to go. The diaper pail smells no worse than a garbage can full of poopy paper diapers.(And there are ways to take care of it.) Most diapering resources are online; google cloth diapers and you'll learn a ton. Be sure to order/buy good quality diapers: chinese or indian prefolds are excellent and economical. You will spend a chunk of money initially, but it's less in the long run than disposables. Not to mention the environmental cost! I've never found the extra laundry to be a burden either. My cloth-diapering friends and I have had very good experiences, don't listen to the people who tell you it's crazy. Ask me any questions, if you wish, also check out Peapods store in St. Paul. GOOD LUCK!

We cloth diaper, but use and wash our own at home. It's surprisingly easy (I used disposables with my first child and didn't start with my second until she was 9 months old) otherwise I wouldn't have stuck with it.

I use the "dry pail method" and with a combination of tight lid and deoderant disk, it doesn't get too stinky (it's kept in her room). My daughter is formula fed, so the poops are pretty solid and fall off into the toilet easily before sticking the diapers in the pail. I don't swish in the water/toilet. I do, however, spray Bac Out on the poop residue to help avoid staining.

I have some great website resources for you to look at if you are interested in buying diapers or just getting advice on what to do. Email me directly if you are interested.

Also, PeaPods in St. Paul sells a few types of cloth diapers (not the kind I use, unfortunately), so that may be a place to check out too.

Hope that helps!
H.

p.s. our friends just came back from Guatemala with their baby boy last month...small world!

Hi T.,

We use cloth diapers at home and decided against a diaper service. While you will not get your hands as dirty with a diaper service, I have read that the diaper services wash the diapers somewhere between 11 and 14 times (I don't remember which) to sanitize them. Definitely not very "green conscious" if you ask me. :)

We do the "wet pail" method at home. I keep a 5 gallon pail inside the stationary tub in the basement, and I fill it with water a little detergent (I use Allens Naturally or Bio-Kleen). Sometimes I stick a few drops of tea tree oil and/or Bio-Kleen "bac out" in the bucket, which I think helps with the smell. Before I put the dirty diapers in the 5-gallon pail for soaking, I knock any solids into the toilet and rinse the diapers in plain water (in a separate 2-gallon pail... I thought swishing them in the toilet sounded disgusting). My husband has a very sensitive nose, and we have never had any problems with the smell.

Good luck!
E.

I don't have advice, but I noticed you're adopting a child from Guatemala. I was born in Guatemala and moved here when I was nine years old. I think it's great you're adopting from there. Good luck!

T., I used cloth diapers for the first few months and never had a problem with them smelling in the diaper pail. But I breast fed. I've heard that formula fed babies diapers smell.

I stopped using the cloth diapers because when my son outgrew the first size, the next size up was so large that he look ridculous in them- and I was concerned about his comfort.

Cloth diapers are great :-) My daughter is 9 months old now and we've done cloth exclusively since about 1 month old. I know nothing about services, since we own and wash our own diapers. If you are interested in that, there are many great websites and also Peapods in St. Paul. However, to respond to that diaper pail thing - we have a "dry pail" (by this I mean no water in it) by the changing area for just pee diapers. It is a plastic diaper pail, and we do NOT use any deodorizer, and we have not had any problems with odor. When I take out the diapers to launder them, I also bleach down the pail. Then for poop diapers I have a separate "wet pail" in the basement with soapy water. We have no problems with odor their either. If you have any other questions you would like me to take a stab at, please feel free to email! Good luck!

T.,

We use cloth diapers for our 6 month old daughter and am so happy we decided to do so. We also have a very "green" household.

I never actually looked into a diaper service as I had nannied for a boy who used cloth diapers before and was used to doing the cleaning. So, we wash our own. It is really very simple. We purchased a spray hose that attaches to our toilet to spray off the dirty diapers and then we just throw them in the pail. We use a dry pail system as opposed to a wet pail. For us the dry pail works great as I do a load of diapers every day or every other day. Occasionally we use disposables, like when we are travelling or out and about. I find the smell with the disposables to be way worse than with the cloth diapers!!! AND, we have had many more leaky accidents with the disposables than with the cloth!! There are tons of websites out there that have great info on using cloth diapers. My daughter is and always has been very petite, the cloth diapers we used when she was a newborn are called Kissaluvs. I thought they were great. They have adjustable snaps so they grow with your child, elastic around the legs and back and a flap for the umbilical cord(which you obviously won't need) Now we use Mother-Ease diapers in the sandy's diaper. I tried the Mother-Ease one size diaper and they were too big for our petite girl. They are supposed to fit 8-35 pounds. I have friends that used those for their son, and they loved them. If you decide to wash your own, I recommend just checking out the different brands, seeing what you think will work for you and your budget. If you do a service, they use the chinese prefold diapers which I think would have more leakage because they aren't contoured for the baby. You also have to use pins? And as far as being green, using a service may not be that better. You don't know what kind of detergent they use to wash the diapers, it could be a harsh phosphate based detergent and they are using fossil fuels to transport the diapers to and from your house. So, I'm not sure if that's better than the waste from the disposables or not.
We purchased our spray hose from cottonbabies.com I think I found they had the best price. Our diapers came from mother-ease.com. BUT, there are many, many choices out there so do your research! Good luck, I hope this helped and was not too rambling.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ADOPTION!!! Guatamalan boys are the absolute cutest in the world. You will have so much fun.
I was adopted from Colombia when I was 3 and just had my first baby 6 months ago. We are having a blast!!

Take care,
R.

Hi T.,

Congratulations on your upcoming adoption. I currently cloth diaper my 11-month-old. I use Fuzzi Bunz, but there are lots and lots of options out there. A set of a dozen Fuzzi Bunz diapers and inserts runs about $150. My daughter got about 4 months use out of the smalls and has been in mediums for the last 7 months. Cloth diapering was both an economical and environmental choice for our family. We keep a medium-sized trashcan with a lid next to the changing table. I have a reusable liner that can be washed with the diapers. I do a load almost every day, so I have not had an issue with smelly diapers. The liner I use also has a small swatch of terry cloth that you can put a few drops of essential oil onto to help mask odors. This also seems to help. I'd be happy to share more information with you if you'd like. Good luck!

My mother used cloth diapers on my siblings and I. She said the only of getting them properly clean was with bleach which is NOT recommended- otherwise they get horribly nasty, stained and grey quickly.

My pediatrician didn't recommend it for me. She said that there are more incidences of diaper rash etc. so I feel that it really comes down to a preference and what you will really have time for.

My daughter and I have VERY sensitive skin and eczema so that was a major issue for us.

If you will be staying home, I would give it a try to start out and if it just isn't working, make the switch.
One thing we did however use was cloth diapers for wiping. That way you don't waste so many wipes that many times contain harsh chemicals that my daughter was ALWAYS sensitive to (even the hypoallergenic ones) and you can wipe them with nice warm water that won't wake them in the middle of the night or give them shivers in these cold MN winters.

My baby blew out of her diaper (she was breastfed) virtually 15-20 times a day. Though I hear this was rather excessive, there is just no way I could have dealt with that many cloth diapers.
Another thing we did was purchase the generic/cheap diapers a little later (I wouldn't recommend on newborns) for the day when the are changes more frequent and then the good diapers at night which soak much more and help prevent diaper rash. For diaper rash, the best thing is a THICK product with Zinc Oxide as main ingredient. (Desatin or little one which is generic) but NOT desatin creamy for example which isn't as messy to work with because it rubs in but the point is to find a thick product that stays on to protect.
Hope this helps

I used a diaper service for a couple of months when my son was born. It was nice, and I did feel better about not using as many disposables and filling up the landfills. I rinsed the diapers out a little and let them dry on the side of the tub for a few hours before I put them in the diaper pail. I never tried just throwing them in totally dirty because I was afraid of what the smell would be like at the end of the week. Even with rinsing them, there was a little odor, but as long as the lid was on the pail it wasn't bad. And even disposables have an odor when they collect in the trashcan, so it's partly just something to deal with as long as your child is in diapers.

I also got some cloth diapers to use after I cancelled the service. I kept it up for a while at home. I don't know if daycare providers will use cloth diapers, but my mom and mother-in-law watched my son for a couple of months after I went back to work, and they both used the cloth. That helped. After I got used to using cloth diapers with the service, and since I was rinsing the diapers anyway, I found it wasn't a big deal to just have my own cloth diapers and wash them myself.

I ended up not using the cloth diapers for very long mostly because of convenience. Once my son was running around the house and getting into everything I didn't have the time or energy to deal with cloth.

In case you're searching, I used Cheek to Cheek diaper service. I think they'll deliver just about anywhere in the Metro area.

Hi T.,

I loved using a diaper service when we had our first baby. It was great and I felt it was the "greener" choice. We asked for "gift certificates" for baby gifts, so some people contributed towards the sevice for us. The pail didn't smell..they provided the pail for our use and also the deodorant disks to use in the pail.

While I think the price of the service was very reasonable, our cash flow at the time would not allow us to continue after the first six months, so I made a small investment and bought cloth diapers for her. It's more work to wash them myself, but I really love using cloth and I still feel good about minimizing the disposables we use.

..and Congratulations to you and your baby!