Even if both parents work, it is possible to do this part-time and succeed. The really big payoff comes at the end of the process — many diaper-free babies are toilet-independent (with a small potty seat) as soon as they can walk. Many toddlers in North America continue using diapers two years after diaper-free babies have stopped having “accidents”, and the incidence of nighttime bed-wetting in later years is also much lower.

A decision between disposable diapers and cloth diapers (though the latter handily wins in just about every category, if you’re willing to try) is a false choice. Most babies in the world today do not use diapers, and successfully communicate their elimination needs to avoid accidents. It’s more difficult to do so in North America than in other places, but it is not impossible, and can take substantially less time (not to mention less money) than either of the other two options, in the long term.

At first I was very excited at the cost savings, but then we received our first water & sewage bill. Yikes. $50 / month increase! I was doing diaper laundry every other day without filling up the washing machine since we’re also doing “elimination communication” part-time; I was washing often because I didn’t want the diapers to stink. But now I’m letting the dirty diapers pile up for an extra couple of days… when the diaper pail starts to smell, I just dump in some baking soda :-) Waiting for our next water bill…

Am interested in knowing what you and your readers think of their water bill increase with cloth diapering use.

We’ve CD’d continuously except that DS gets a disposable on at night and the 2 days/week he’s in paid childcare.

For a household of 2 adults & the one kid, we do 2-3 (full) loads of laundry/week. The diapers just don’t add that much to our need to do laundry, so I don’t find the water-use concerns convincing. I do wash the diapers in with everything else, in the same detergent. We line dry as much as practical (most of the time, weather permitting).

My experience has been exactly the opposite of what at least one commenter mentioned up above my comment: we’ve had virtually no problems/issues with diaper rash. My guess is this may be a function of the type of diapers used; we use Fuzzibunz outers with Nurtured Family Contours 100% cotton inners. Fuzzibunz were specifically designed by a mom struggling with a rash prone baby and they really are wonderful (wicking fleece, very soft), and easy to put on/get off. I don’t know which category Bum Genius falls in, but I don’t like velcro closures because I find they get full of fluff in the laundry and become unusable (unless I pick the fluff out; tedious); FuzziBunz use snaps.

I rarely get stains but if I do, they come out very well in the sun in just an hour or 2.

I have never had a diaper rash but I could just have a baby with less sensitive skin.

I don’t need to change him more often than every 2-3 hours – I don’t find that the cloth “soaks through” quicker than disposables at least with the microfiber inserts.

We bought 3 bumgenius and got 3 as a shower gift. I started with just using one early on, figuring that if they didn’t work I could sell the others unused. I first tried when my baby was 2 weeks old and found that it was very bulky and leaked onto his clothes. Found out later that it was just wicking because they didn’t fit him right yet. I tried again at 1 month (he was about 10 lbs) and they fit much better and did not leak, so I put all 6 into my rotation. I liked them so much that I bought 3 more. Yes, that is only 9, but we use them nearly full time (not at night or during long outings). We use 4-5 per day and then a disposable overnight for 12 hours. I spent a total of $88 on these 9 diapers (3 were a gift and I used a coupon code at diapers.com) and I figure they will pay for themselves in about 6 months.

We wash every other day. I throw them in the washer after dinner. I do a cold rinse and then one hot “heavy soil” cycle in my front loader. I use Country Save detergent for HE washers. I got a box for about $10 that I think will last me 2 years and I use it for all the diapers and baby clothes. I put them on a rack to dry and then stuff them in the morning before work (it takes about 5-10 minutes). I use a dry pail with a liner I got for about $10 (Planet Wise) that is the same material as the diapers. The bag makes it nice cause I just dump into the washer without touching the diapers.

I don’t know if many day cares accept them but I have in-home care (grandma and dad) so it works well for us. I haven’t tried them overnight… I suspect they would work ok but don’t feel that adventurous yet. We will use them if we are going out for just a couple hours but not for a whole day trip because they would take up too much room in our diaper bag. We use Viva paper towels as diaper liners. I got a roll for $1 and cut each sheet in half.

They are slightly bulkier, but it seems like I move up a size in clothes maybe 1-2 weeks sooner than I would have otherwise, not a big deal. And we have not had a single blowout using these. Using disposables (Pampers Swaddlers, which Trent says never leak), we would have a blowout almost every day. (Which is an area where I disagree with Trent. Although I haven’t tried any low-end diapers, I have had a lot of leaking trouble with the “premium” disposables I’ve bought so I wouldn’t think cheap ones could be any worse.)

So, we have been very happy with the BumGenius. The new colors are really cute (I only wish we had a girl so we could get the pink ones too) and even my husband loves them. I suggest that you get a few and try them out if you are even on the fence.

I would have to know what the lifecycle is on one of these diapers. If the size doesn’t need to change, then if you have three of them needing 80 uses to hit the break even point would then require 240 uses total for the three. If these can be used as she grows, then you will likely use these more than the 240 uses. This would assume that she only needs one a day for 240 days (which is far less than a year). I would have to say that these are well worth the investment (assuming that the “other” part of the process doesn’t become to time consuming).
Schwamie

I just wanted to say that when I was pregnant with Olive (who is now almost 10 months) I was so overwhelmed with the cloth diaper choices out there. So, I did what all expectant mothers do…I bought one of every kind! We have the pricey All-in-Ones, a little less expensive pocket diapers, and the workhorse prefolds with organic covers.

After 10 months our family (mom, dad, two pre-teens, and grandparents) have all come to prefer the prefolds and covers. I guess you can say it is like learning to ride a bike or tying your shoe laces. We can all do the folds in the dark, at 3 am, in the back of the car, anywhere! Cloth diapering should be viewed as a system that has a very steep learning curve! (To be honest the first few weeks of diapering–which included one use disposables–was the steepest!) Like all good things, a little work and practice upfront and you’ll be rewarded. Our children and our communities deserve the effort!

The benefits of cloth diapers are numerous, and reach much farther than economics and environment. Do a little research into the ingredients found in a standard disposable diaper. Personally, I prefer to avoid all the chemicals found in the “gels” that will be against my baby’s skin.

As for cloth causing more rashes than disposables… that’s simply untrue. Not sure where “anon” is getting their information, but the exact opposite has been found to be true. (Although, in truth, diaper rashes are most closely correlated with the frequency of diaper changes, regardless of diaper type. It’s simply that cloth diaper users tend to change their babies more, because the kids can “feel” the wetness and are more likely to complain.)

One thing to note: Your break even analysis has a flaw – you haven’t taken into account the cloth diapers’ resale value. That bumGenius diaper may retail at $17.95, but you can recoup a lot of that once finished with the diapers. Buying them used to begin with will save a few bucks too. A used disposable diaper has no value.

http://not-the-jet-set.blogspot.com/2008/03/dirty-frugal-job-cloth-diapering.html

cheers!

I’m going to be picky, because I think your post inadvertantly discourages using a less expensive option because of what you perceive to be convenience (and because you made a rather jumpy assumption about my situation – what on earth made you think that I wasn’t one half of “two working parents”?).

Both my huband and I work full-time outside of the house; we ARE two working parents, just like you and your wife, and we’ve got TWINS in cloth diapers. Once you get the hang of it, folding a diaper doesn’t take any longer than putting an insert into an all-in-one (I’ve used all-in-ones as well, so I have a point of reference). BUT – it does take practice. I just don’t want your readers to automatically assume that prefolds are a huge time vacuum (because they’re not), so they should automatically shun them and go for the pricier option.