I would like more information on cloth diapers.

[ebwy2]

I tried to cloth nappy my son, I really did. But I met with too much resistance from his daddy.

Before he was born, I bought a load of traditional towelling ones, with the rubber panties to go over the top. I couldn't get on with them, even the newborn size ones didn't fit him until he was 4 months old (and although he was born tiny he soon caught up, so within a month they should have fit) and pins were too awkward. So I have a load to sell at some point, most of which are brand new.

So I got some prefolds with covers that fastened with velcro. They were great! easy to fold, pop them in (well, on) to the cover, and then it's as easy as a disposeable to use. And there's minimum wriggle time for him, and if you use a disposeable liner as well you can flush most of the yuck away... But every time daddy changed him, he put a disposeable on him, and left the dirty cloth one in the middle of the floor! Then we reached a size which I hadn't managed to obtain any covers in advance for, and daddy hit the roof at the thought of paying for them when he saw the price of them new (though of course disposeables have cost us a lot more in the meantime...)

I was lucky - most of the prefolds I obtained VERY cheaply second hand. All good brands, but cheap. A few of them are a bit battered around the edges, but they worked fine. I wonder if any of the covers I got would still fit him now... hmmm.... I'll have to check.

So I'm looking out for the sizes I didn't have last time ready for the baby I'm having in November because I still think it's the better thing to do, more responsible.

Also, it's worth remembering that you can still use disposeables when you go out for the day or for an overnighter or week.. I had friends who said "I couldn't possibly carry dirty nappies around with me!"
And think of the cost of disposeables, especially the decent ones - the really cheap ones are horrible, they felt like putting a plastic bag on my baby. Even supermarket own brands are better than their economy ones! but they cost a lot.

And if you do go for disposeables, there are more ecologically sound ones than the generic brands, it's worth looking into those for days out etc.

 

[mixitup]

I also had to use cloth on my daughter (now 27 years old

) because of her sensitive skin. I used 100 % cotton. Didn't have a diaper service. Simply rinsed soiled ones and washed in a mild detergent and hung up to dry. No softeners used because of the fragrance chemicals. I had a bunch for rotation and you quickly get used to a routine with them. Yes, they get wet quickly, but they are also much easier to potty train (in my opinion) when you use cloth diapers. (Who wants to sit in wet diapers?) As for travelling, I used the disposables very sparingly as she would get rashes all the time. Not wih the cotton diapers!

No sizing required. Bought one size and folded accordingly. Used baby pins as well with rubber pants. And always doubled up, sometimes tripled, at night.