On the Edge... lots of questions.

[Close2MyHeart]

Washing CD's... Is it a ton of work? Like how many cycles do I have to put them through? Rinsing them off a must? Stuff like that... I have 3 kids ages 4, 3, and 20 mos, so as you can imagine I don't have a TON of extra time on my hands.

Also... water. I assume you have to wash in warm? I've been cutting down on hot water consumption and wash all my clothes in cold now. We do have our own well, so there is plenty of water, but I'm wondering about the hot?

Oh and also how often do you have to change them? Is it every 2 hrs or less? App. how many diapers would you go through/day w/ a 20 month old??

TIA! I'll probably have more questions later... I'm on the edge about ready to take the dive into CDing world... but I'm teetering.

[kris10s]

I think washing CDs is easy. I dump poops in the toliet as they happen. When I was, I do a cold pre-wash cycle and then wash on hot.

I am not close to PL with Kate, so I put fleece liners in her diapers and only change her about 5 to 6 times a day. I change her the same amount in 'sposies, maybe one more diaper in cloth, but not significantly more.

[Moon]

I also have 3 kiddos, 3 months away from having 4. Washing dipes is simple :-) I drop whatever drops/shakes off a poopy dipe into the toilet, then straight to the pail. I wash them every other day usually, just set the washer to the longest possible cycle, on warm water (other household cloth goes with 'em most of the time). Occasionally I'll run them through an extra rinse cycle, usually only if I catch a whiff of soap smell on 'em. 3-4 extra loads a week is all it adds.

How often I hafta change depends on the diaper. Over the last few months my moderate wetter has turned into a super soaker (18mo), if he's in a low absorbancy dipe he'll have it soaked in an hour easily, if he's in a good hemp diaper with a doubler he can make it through the night (hemp is more absorbant than cotton). Around home he plays in just a fitted (no cover) and is changed as soon as I notice he's wet.

[BeckaBlue]

I run through one wash cyle most times, ill double wash (one w/ detergent, one w/o) every so often if theres a pee or soup smell. only rinsing before wash needed is to get poo chunkies off

I wash in just cold, we don't even have hot hooked up. I'll soak in hot occasionally but it's not necessary all the time

we change as needed. after the first pee if we catch it, if we on't catch until a second or so after a couple hrs, no biggie. they can go out and about and usually not be changed for up to about 4-5hrs or so if there's nowhere to change them

[ChristineG]

I just wash my diapers (which I might add that I have been doing proudly for 11 years) in hot water on a regular cycle, no extra rinsing or extra products or anything. Warm water would also be fine. I don't find smell to be much of a problem. If it ever is, the culprit is usually a diaper pail which needs a little attention. A smelly diaper pail will smell up non-smelly diapers! :)

Cloth diapers are not lots of work. They are simply an extra load of wash now and then. When I run out of diapers, there is no dragging 4 kids (including a toddler and a 3yo) and my pregnant body out to the store in the dead of winter. (Think of ALL those snow suits and boots!) I simply ask my 11yodd to watch the baby for a sec while I run down to toss the diapers in the wash. Then, 30 mins later, I run down to toss them in the dryer. That is IT. It is no big deal at all. One deciding factor for me is that I calculated the amount of money I would save using cloth diapers over disposables (which was a lot) and the amount of extra time it would take me to care for cloth diapers (not a lot) and discovered that I could afford to pay myself $20/hr to do the 'extra' work! Woo hoo! :clap

As for changing...I like to change diapers as soon as they are wet, but usually I am ECing (Elimination Communication -- links on this page) to some degree, so this is a must for this to work well. Technically, cloth diapers should be changed whenever they are wet, but so should disposables. In reality, however, as previously mentioned, they can definitely go several hours without leaking at all.

Speaking of leaking, poopy leaks are something you can kiss good-bye with good fitted cloth diapers and covers. Any fitted cloth diapers and covers I have used do not leak poop, even the really messy bf poops at the beginning and even with a once-a-week pooper! A disposable, under these conditions, would have major blowout requiring a full change of clothes for the baby...and maybe anyone holding him!!

I hope you decide to cd because it is (I know this is a little nutty) very satisfying. There is nothing like all those freshly washed little diapers sitting in a laundry basket. :) I think the most important things about cding are: 1. Tell yourself it is no big deal. (It isn't.) Don't say things like, "I''m going to TRY it." 2. Get yourself some good fitted diapers if you can afford it because they work really well. For me, having spent a fair amount of money on cds helped keep me going in the beginning when in the adjustment period. If your budget is limited, used diapers are an option, as are prefolds, snappis and wraps.

Way to go on considering cloth!!!!!!!!!!!!! :heart

[Lantern Light Mama]

WIth DS ( age below) who is not potty trained we use like five mother ease a day and a prefold and doubler at night. If hes in prefolds we go through about 7 a day though. Now if we are home, he runs around with a bare bottom, so that cuts down on laundry. I wash diapers every day, but only because I don't have many.

I shake off poopsie into the toilet, and rinse all of the diapers on a cold rinse first and then wash in hot water. I used to wash only in cold but I noticed they'd have a smell, so we use hot. But if you want, you can wash them in cold and boil them if they don't have snaps and you get the same effect.

Also, teatree oil is really helpful!