Is It Worth it? Convince me.

[ShangriLewis]

Whatever you do just warn people even the most crunchiest, birkenstock wearing hippie may not take a popping baby well when she is eating.

[JoannaV]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

II'll probably start around 4-5 months when baby can sit with help. The idea of trying to do it with a newborn is just to too much for me but some people love ECing with a newborn.

I think I started at 5 months with DS1. We had some really good phases. I didn't put him in underwear until 3 though. I should've done it much earlier, kind of missed my chance, but I found naked time too stressful lol.
With DS2 I started at birth. (Only partially though.) Before my milk came in it was surprisingly easy to catch his pee cues. After that I mainly focused on offering at each diaper change, and also offering at likely poop times. (Soon after nursing, though not immediately.) I had so few poopy diapers in the first 6 months that when I did have one I was a bit grossed out and couldn't remember my butt-cleaning routine.

I really should put some more effort towards it right now, because he seems to be trying to tell me about pee needs and I'm not responding enough.

EC definitely helps me with nighttime diapering because I don't have to worry about the diaper having to hold the first morning pee. And sometimes sleep troubles are due to needing to pee.


Wipes. I just have a bunch of dry wipes. I have a spray bottle with some essential oil concoction. I can spray directly onto the bottom. If I need more wipage I just wet the wipe at the sink first, then spray a little onto the wipe.

[RoseOfGrace]

I know I'm coming into this convo late, but thought I'd throw my 2c in here! I have three kids (soon to be four!) and also homeschool, so I can relate to the time element. We started using cloth with baby #3 as a way to save money. I bought several different kinds of diapers, covers, etc., to see what we might like and would work well for us. We also have hard water.

I liked the G-Diapers in the beginning (they are so cute!), but we had the medium size ones and my 13 mo old has grown out of them now. They are nice, but I don't care for velcro so much. I often forget to put the tabs down. So, we aren't buying the larger sizes.

My fav is probably Flip covers with tri-fold inserts. I fold down the extra diaper material in the front (since I have a boy) and it works really well for us. I also bought what I call "single use" covers, which are really just covers with inserts stuffed inside that I keep in the diaper bag in case we are out and about or someone else needs to change him (like in a nursery) and would be intimidated by cloth. This keeps it easy, since the inserts are already inside the cover and the cloth diaper can be put on just like a disposable, aside from snapping the fronts instead of the velcro-like fronts of disposables. I also have some all-in-ones that I keep for emergencies (like, we run out of covers) or in the diaper bag. I've been able to score a lot of these extras for very cheap ($4-5 each instead of $20-30) by going to MOPS sales and seeing friends sell off their cloth diapers.

Our tri-folds are unbleached Indian cotton that I found on ebay for about $2 each (I bought 24 of the large and 36 smalls). They were washed about 10 times prior to use and have never needed to be stripped. Once little J grew out of the smalls, we use them as inserts for pocket diapers (folded in half lengthwise and doubled up, they work great!). We also have many different inserts, some cotton and some microfiber.

We also use cloth wipes, which I love! I had found a pack of 24 Grovia wipes on ebay and those are definitely our favorite. We have about 50 wipes or so overall. I use a wipe holder I got on Amazon (I think by Oxo) and just fill it with wipes folded in half and add water and maybe a splash of vinegar and/or witch hazel. This way we always have wipes ready to go. These usually last a couple days and we've had no problem with smells or bacteria build up. We have a smaller wipe holder for the diaper bag, by the same company, and it holds 3-5 wipes, which I also keep wet with water and a touch of vinegar. This has worked well for us, too.

Since we also have hard water, which was causing problems with rashes, we have adjusted our routine in a couple of ways. First, we do diaper laundry about twice a week (my goal is Tuesdays and Fridays). I have enough covers and inserts to make this happen fairly comfortably (laundry is not my strong-suit, so I planned accordingly). I typically start the load at night, with a scoop of detergent, and let them do an overnight soak, then let it finish in the morning. I have been using Nellie's washing soap with a little extra borax thrown in, since Borax will bind with the material that makes the water hard and then allow the washing soap to do it's work (at least, this is what I found when researching what could be causing the ammonia smell and rashes). We add vinegar for the rinse cycle (which I do for all my laundry, rather than use fabric softener). Then, I do another full wash with another scoop of detergent. Then, two rinses. I wash on hot and rinse on cold. This worked pretty well.

Then, my husband did some research and found he could build a whole house 3-stage filter for our water for about $100, which took us down to 2 microns and helped immensely with the acidity of our water. Since we installed that, things have been even better and I don't even feel bad about using our nasty city water for cooking anymore. We still use our distilled water for drinking, but I don't worry about trying to use it for cooking anymore.

So, I think what makes it worth it for me is the fact that it is just 2 extra loads of laundry per week, we've solved the water issue, and I never have to worry about running out of diapers or having enough money left over for diapers. Since we just had to buy a van to accommodate our growing family, I feel really good about saving money each month. We rarely have problems with leaking or overfilled diapers with the prefolds and covers we use now. I had way more blow-outs and leaks with disposables. So, overall, since I was able to fit it all into my life with fairly little trouble and less stress than dealing with disposables, I'm pretty happy with my choice to keep doing cloth. It did take some planning and figuring out how to make it easy, but it was worth it.

[purple_kangaroo]

For wipes, we just keep baby washcloths, a few more beefy cloths for really messy diapers, and a spray bottle of plain water next to the changing table.

[ValiantJoy07]

So I decided against cloth diapering ds....until a few weeks ago i started thinking about it again. The natural brand diapers don't work for him they leak leak leak. I was changing his outfits constantly. And I really didn't like using cheap disposable diapers on him. Then a friend told me about Fluff Love University and Cloth Diaper Science...I started reading and joined the fb group. It was like a light bulb moment.

I shared my water hardness number, my detergent, my (special snow flake) washing machine and they told me what wash routine to use to have success. the diapers are the cleanest they have ever been and it feels so freeing!!! Their main thing is, "diapers are laundry, you should be able to get your laundry clean!"

So far so good!!! I had all the prefolds and covers I was able to start back up for the cost of a box of diapers at target. we're attempting cloth tonight, if it doesn't leak I will feel like it is a huge success because I have yet to find a disposable that we don't wake up soaked form at least 3/mornings a week!

[esperanza]

That is awesome that you are back to cloth! I would be careful with that group. Both my local and a national cloth FB groups I am in will not allow links to that page because of many problems with their advice ruining diapers and going against manufacturer recommendations. Just a warning. Glad you found what works for you!

[2sunshines]

Hope it works out for you! We LOVED cloth diapering.

[FlyingBlueKiwi]

Just to quickly answer the original question, which seems to have gotten lost in all the crunchy stuff, being crunchy has ZERO to do with being AP. Using disposable diapers and wipes, if it works for you, is just as legitimate in terms of being an attachment parent, as using cloth and washing out baby poop by hand.

Frankly, you could not pay me enough money to use cloth!!! (Unless, that is, you paid me enough to have a maid to do all the laundry and keep them completely out of my sight.

[Quiteria]

How did you find out your water hardness?

[ValiantJoy07]

Originally Posted by Quiteria

How did you find out your water hardness?

They sell water test kits for $6 (for a handful of strips) at the pet store. Make sure it includes water hardness and not just ph.
Re esperanza :
I've heard negative things about the Fluff CD science group as well, my local cloth diaper group doesn't like them either. But if you get your advice *from an admin* and read all of their information in the files their methods and philosophy make a ton of sense. So much more sense then what the diaper companies push. And there are a couple diaper companies who have caught the heart of their methods and are changing their warranties to align with what fluff love recommends. Because diapers shouldn't be such special snow flakes that you can't get them CLEAN.

I also felt so validated that they are anti Charlie's soap (some thing my local diaper group pushes and the local diaper store sells) because we had chemical burns and nasty rashes with Charlie's and my diapers stunk. I also like that they don't recommend stripping at every turn. In my earlier years it was like every month my diapers needed to be stripped.

I don't love that they are not very natural minded, I have found a natural detergent that works but most of the people in the group don't use anything natural and it makes me personally to think of that on my kid's skin.

So yeah the group is a "do your own research with what they have there and make sure you're answers are admin or peer mentor approved." As for my diapers I only use natural fibers and covers...my prefolds have had a lot of love and my covers I rinse in the sink and throw in with regular clothing and hang dry between diaper wash days. If I had brand new fuzzibunz or expensive pockets and a warranty to protect I'd be more wary. But hopefully more and more diaper companies will be falling in line with fluff loves "diapers are laundry, wash your laundry and we stand by our product!" Cotton Babies and Grovia have and I'm sure others will follow.

Also my local cloth diaper group all tied to the local cloth diaper store (which I love) but they sell detergents that fluff love has researched and shown not to be appropriate (scientifically the ingredients won't clean your stuff and can cause chemical burns) so I feel kind of stuck in the middle...I love my local Mama baby store. I wish they could hear what fluff has to say.

---------- Post added at 07:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 AM ----------

Originally Posted by purple_kangaroo

For wipes, we just keep baby washcloths, a few more beefy cloths for really messy diapers, and a spray bottle of plain water next to the changing table.

I made 40 flannel wipes with old receiving blankets and the serger. I use a peri bottle and just squirt the wipes and some times straight in the bum. I love cloth wipes!!!

[AngelaVA]

For what it's worth since its been awhile (youngest is 7) i am pro the hard core washing routines and anti the fussy diapers that require such special washing that you will never get the poop and pee really out of them. I used prefolds and wool exclusively with DD2. I have slightly hard water, used all free and clear with a tablespoon of bleach to wash, rinsed and then a second wash with vinegar. I washed my wool on the hand wash cycle with Dr Broner's and lanolin. My babies always had rashes from disposables so it was worth it to me. I don't think the expensive pockets are worth it, they are so so fragile and fussy and even when you follow all of the instructions they get nasty so fast. And personally I have never used a natural detergent on diapers or clothes that wasn't terrible so I have no patience for that either.


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[ValiantJoy07]

Originally Posted by AngelaVA

For what it's worth since its been awhile (youngest is 7) i am pro the hard core washing routines and anti the fussy diapers that require such special washing that you will never get the poop and pee really out of them. I used prefolds and wool exclusively with DD2. I have slightly hard water, used all free and clear with a tablespoon of bleach to wash, rinsed and then a second wash with vinegar. I washed my wool on the hand wash cycle with Dr Broner's and lanolin. My babies always had rashes from disposables so it was worth it to me. I don't think the expensive pockets are worth it, they are so so fragile and fussy and even when you follow all of the instructions they get nasty so fast. And personally I have never used a natural detergent on diapers or clothes that wasn't terrible so I have no patience for that either.


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I just couldn't understand how a tablespoon of Charlie's soap was supposed to clean all the poop out of my diapers.
My wash routine is
Prewash: normal, warm, line 3 detergent (seventh generation ultra power plus, not *the* most natural but the best I feel I can do if I want clean diapers).
Main wash: heavy duty, 1.5 caps of detergent (8 lines), hot/cold, high spin. My diapers come out smelling so good (like nothing!) And I have the dirty ones sitting in an open laundry basket: no smell!!! well the poop ones smell like breast milk poop, but he only poops every other day.

And his bum is the happiest it's ever been he gets yeasty rashes from seventh gen diapers and the target bran diapers seemed to irritate his bum too. It has been a lot more work diapering him with disposables than I anticipated.

How often did you wash your wool? I really love wool but he's outgrown all but one of my soakers, I want to make him another asap but I am unsure how to make wool less of a hassle.your wool routine sounds nice.

[AngelaVA]

It's hard to remember for sure, every couple weeks I think. More often when she was at the 4-6 month EBB explosive poop phase.


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[Quiteria]

I feel validated that their advice is to wash three times with my special snowflake of an HE machine, and thoroughly icked out it recycles rinse water. Personally, that was the point at which I gave up on cloth...running them through three cycles to get them clean was just too much.

I would lie to know why they recommend turning OFF the extra rinse, though.

[ValiantJoy07]

Oooh you have one of those yuck! I don't know why they would recommend not doing the extra rinse if you use recycled rinse water. I know they don't recommend extra rinse in general, but especially for hard water, because it is rinsing the diapers in minerals which can then build up in the cloth and cause stink issues.

I have a 30/minute Prewash and a 68minute main wash and in the dryer for a bit. So much better than my old routine which was cold rinse, hot wash, followed by 3 cold rinses because I was told I had to be sure I was getting all the detergent out. Detergent build up causes rashes. it was likely the bad detergent,and hard water causing the stink and burns on her bum. We have a water softener and soft leaning water now.