I'm thinking of switching to cloth diapers?

Question

I have two boys: a 3 week old and a 2 year old. So far, we have been using disposible diapers and pull ups for them and the cost is eating us alive. We don't have a lot of money and I thought it might be more economical to switch my 3 week old to cloth diapers, at least during the day and to put my 2 year old in big boy under wear. We've been trying to potty train my 2 year old but, while he will go when sat on the potty nearly every time, he doesn't seem to care if he soils or wets his pull up nor will he tell us in advance. I thought maybe puttin him in underwear would discourage him from wetting himself and soiling himself or at least make him a little uncomfortable when he does so he will potty train better.

Can someone tell me if this will actually save me money and how well do cloth diapers actually work?

Answer 1

Okay, so for your older boy, I would definatly put some cloth training pants on him.  I got some from Walmart for my son. Three pair for like, 5 bucks or something.  There the ones that are like regular underwear, just thicker in the middle.  My boy did the same thing with pull ups, treated them just like a diaper, so when we switched to the underwear he realized that he didn't like peeing and pooping in his pants so much.  Of course it takes a while for them to realize the sensation of needing to go before they do, but it helped a lot!  (You will be dunking a lot of poopy underwear in the toilet, FYI)

As for cloth diapering, there are so many choices that you need to research what type of cloth you want to do. It is initially expensive to begin with, if you go with the newer types of cloth diapers.  I began cloth diapering my son when he was two (now trained) and now I am due in a month and am going to cloth diaper my new one.  I don't find it realistic to cloth exclusivly.  It's harder to cloth when you're on vacation or out all day.  Situations like that I'd take along some disposibles.  I personally enjoy the pocket diapers.  I have a favorite cloth diapering web site I use , http://www.nickisdiapers.com/  They have pockets, prefolds, contours, all in ones, etc. that you can check out and research on.  The cloth diapers will save you money in the long run, but like I said, it can be expensive to start out.  You could always just do little by little.  I found it easier for me to start out by rotaiting between cloth and disposibles until I got the hang of cloth.  Another site l like that people sell used/home made or ones they just dont need for a, usually, cheaper price is  http://www.diaperswappers.com/ . If you sign up, let them know MooMoosMommy sent you.  

You also will need a special detergent for them because normal detergent will leave residue on the diapers that will cause them not to soak up the pee, then it leaks everywhere.  Also, it's nice to get the disposible diaper liners that you lay in the diaper (they're thin like tissue paper) when you put a fresh one on to catch the poo.  So what you do is just take the liner and throw it and the poo in the toilet.  It helps to reduce the dunking/spraying of the diaper in the toilet to get the poo out.  Very nice to have, I would not cloth without them.  

In the end, switching to underwear for your older boy will definatly save you money, you'll just have more of a headache dunking the poo out of the underwear. Which, you'd have to do eventually because I don't think pull ups really teach children about potty training.  It's just an ugly part of child rearing.  As for the cloth, I believe that can save you money, too.  I don't think it's as intense as potty training, just a different mind set then disposibles.  

Good luck!! I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Parents raised millions of children before the advent of disposable diapers. You will save plenty of money and the landfills will not be stuffed with all that plastic lining. Just be prepared for extra work, washing, bleaching, drying, folding. Babies tend to have less diaper rash as well, because cloth breathes. Good luck.

Answer 3

I used towelling nappies for both of my children. (Disposables weren't around then!) You use about 6-8 per day. You can buy nappy liners which saves to poo being squashed into the towelling. Put each one in a bucket to soak and on a daily basis boil them in a big galvanised bucket. Rinsing well is essential, don't use bleach or anything else or your baby will get bad nappy rash. They are used with rubber pants to stop urine leaking into/onto clothes/bedding etc.

Answer 4

yes you will save money. do the math how many packages of diapers times the money spent.. you save money.