Guest guest Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 when we did cloth diapers, I loved the MotherEase snap closure diapers. You can probably find them on E-bay for less money than buying them brand new. Jenn On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 11:51 AM, mdv <mdvkpm wrote: > hi > > i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very > expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. > > thanks in advance > meera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Oh yes, I'd definitely say that Elimination Communication is worth a read. :-) Jenn On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 1:01 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar <jb wrote: > Ahh... the diaper dilemma. Let me tell you that there is no clear cut > solution. It's a debatable topic and no matter what you use you are > doing harm to the environment. This issue was just covered by Bill Nye, > the science guy on his show last week (called Stuff Happens an Planet > Green - it's a GREAT weekly show about eco living). > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 We did cloth, we had limited resources when our son was born, so it was part eco-choice, and part money-savings ( we only bought them once, and we ended up with a TON of the gerber ones - the tripple fold and the doubles - they do work fine, though we ran into some folks who were down on them, but had never used them - we prewashed them, never use fabric softner on them, as it covers them in a waxy film so they are less absorbant. use plain white vinegar in the wash and one in the rinse cycle and they will be soft and fluffy and very absorbant - I still have a few around that I use as cleaning cloths because they're great for spills!). I made covers myself, and even some inserts from old flannel and old towels. I knitted a few acrylic covers (also looked down upon because wool is what folks say they ahve to be made out of...but acrylic worked fine for us - so I think those that say anything about it just haven't used acrylic, they just say it's not as good because everyone says that. LOL) I'm not sure about the water issues (which I have also heard and looked at) but we had one of the HE front load washers when we had our son, and his diapers only added one or 2 loads a week to our usual laundry. Which is what his laundry adds to our loads per week ANYWAY...maybe just having a kid you use more water. LOL. If you do cloth, You can also get a toilet sprayer (they are along the lines of a personal bidet that you can add to your existing toilet, so you don't have to swirl and swoosh in the commode, you can hose it down, but we never had one, I only ever dreamed of it). Here is one that seems easy enough to install/use: http://www.pottypail.com/ Never used it myself, but I often wished we had one...instead I had rubber gloves and a diaper pail we mixed nappi san (my MIL got us some, as she used it in Germany when she was there) but we also used Oxy clean (it is chemically the same stuff ) we'd mix hot water and a gallon or 2 to keep in the diaper pail, so they could soak. Oh, we also just use a free and clear types of detergent and stayed away from Dreft/other baby laundry soaps, as it's cheaper, and doesn't have the fragrance, and is just as mild on your baby's skin (if not more since it's free from the fragrance that the baby soap has). I will say that anecdotally speaking, our son never had diaper rash with the cloth (at least not before we introduced foods and hence supplementing w/formula in his cereal...and then were slowly learning about his dairy allergy in the early stages before it was full blown...once we figured it out, that rash stuff all went away fast when we did 'try to reintroduce dairy' ). We did switch to disposables when we were traveling, just to make things easier - if you have ever tried to change a baby in an airplane that had NO changing station in the bathroom -not that there is a lot of room in there anyway - you really want to be as fast as you can, and we just never were with cloth (even the cool pullup style/no elastic fleece covers I made...still tricky in a very tight space). We always tried to use the unbleached ones when we did, and they didn't really seem too much more expensive than others (maybe just a few bucks). It was also nice to have the 'sposies when we went camping, since you don't want to attract any more biting flies or bees than you really have to. LOL. I had a friend who did a mix of EC and cloth (I gave her most of our stash as our son was nearly done with PT when her daughter was born). I never heard of it until it was much later, but she seemed to have good success with it. I wished I had known about it sooner - our son had an interest and was very unhappy being wet at night so he'd wake up to have us take him to the potty when he was 18 mo's old (hooray for cloth!). We did have some backsliding (probably due to the milk allergy, since it looked less like a rash and more like a mild burn -it was raised, red and HOT wherever the BM was on his skin...it was dreadful, and he SCREAMED you could tell he was in pain - thankfully we worked it out so he could heal fast). That was our experience with it anyway. We also let him have a lot of bare bottom time, on towels of course, esp. when he had that going on, to heal and air-dry. I know that for us, it sure it coincided with milk intake, or it's that selective mom memory...but I'm sure we didn't need the creams and such unless it was after a reaction and even then only just pure vaseline was the only thing that didn't sting when we put it on the affected areas. Hope that all doesn't scare you - not everyone is blessed with a milk allergy to deal with... Overall you just have to make the decision that is right for you. Oh, if they don't end up phasing out resale shops and children's consignment type shops...you can also look for cloth diapers there as well. Good luck. Whatever you choose will be right for your family. Missie On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 1:22 PM, Jenn <jenny.wren76 wrote: > Oh yes, I'd definitely say that Elimination Communication is worth a read. > :-) > Jenn > > On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 1:01 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar > <jb wrote: >> Ahh... the diaper dilemma. Let me tell you that there is no clear cut >> solution. It's a debatable topic and no matter what you use you are >> doing harm to the environment. This issue was just covered by Bill Nye, >> the science guy on his show last week (called Stuff Happens an Planet >> Green - it's a GREAT weekly show about eco living). >> >> > -- http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/ ~~~~~(m-.-)m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hi Meera, We cloth diapered from the beginning with our son for a lot of reasons - they're reusable, I'd rather use extra water to wash diapers than extra landfill space to bury them and have them not biodegrade (unless they're subjected to sunlight constantly), and they're just so soft (so, likely more comfortable, breathe better, etc.) - and everyone we know was talking about having so many fewer (or no) rashes with cloth. We used just about every combo you can think of - pre-fold flats with covers of all kinds, pocket diapers with different doublers/inserts, and all-in-ones with liners at night. The ones that ended up working best for us were the most expensive, but they fit our son best and leaked least often, and were so easy to use: all-in-ones. But, for the most affordable option: pre-folds (we got unbleached ones for $12 for a dozen) and basic plastic covers (we got 3 in a pack for really cheap, maybe $1 or 2 per cover?). And some folks knit their own wool covers which is super nice and cute and warm and people seem to love those. (I'm allergic to wool, so we never went that route.) We also used the pre-folds as night-time liners in our all-in-ones later on, and we use them now for " nose wipes " when someone has a cold, so it's never a loss to buy those cheap, all-purpose dipes! You might also want to just get a couple of each kind of diaper you're interested in, and try them out. We did that and sort of started noticing " oh, the cutey rabbit with lettuce printed one leaks every single time " or " hey, another nighttime with no leaks, quick, go look in the diaper pail to see what one I just threw in there! We've found our nighttime dipe! " :-) (Maybe you still have time to register for some for baby showers? A lot of cloth diaper companies/WAHM sites have sampler deals where you get one or two of several different kinds.) We stopped diapering last year and I so miss folding those warm, little fuzzy diapers. :-) (Also, we got baby washcloths on clearance that we used as wipes, and some dirty diaper bags for when we were out, and just used a flip-top trash can for our diaper pail. We did a dry pail, and a multi-cycle wash with enzymatic cleanser, and never had any odor problems. Let me know if you want more details on how we did it - I've written it up several times and can easily send that over to you.) Best of luck and have fun! Lorraine On Behalf Of mdv Friday, January 09, 2009 9:52 AM need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers hi i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. thanks in advance meera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hi Meera, Freecycle, thrift shops and eBay are great ways to find used cloth diapers and covers. Robin --- On Fri, 1/9/09, mdv <mdvkpm wrote: mdv <mdvkpm need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers Friday, January 9, 2009, 11:51 AM hi i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. thanks in advance meera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I chose a diaper service for regular at home day time diapers (cheap... only about $15 per week). We use Bum Genius pocket diapers at night because they are very absorbant and they hold my heavy wetter all night. We also have G Diapers (a hybrid that has a reusable cloth cover with a flushable inner liner) for traveling. We keep one pack of unbleached disposables on hand just in case but don't use them very often. (Seventh Generation makes the best unbleached and they are available at Whole Foods and Babies r' Us. Whole Foods 365 brand is also unbleached and much less expensive.) If you'd like to buy used cloth diapers, check out www.diaperswappers.com. It's a site dedicated to cloth diaper users and you can ask questions, buy diapers, etc. Good Luck! , mdv <mdvkpm wrote: > > hi > > i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. > > thanks in advance > meera > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 I used two types of cloth diapers, and loved both for different reasons. I used Fuzzibunz (gotta love the name!)http://www.fuzzibunzstore.com/ and loved them for the first months. I really liked the convenience of this kind. Only one thing to unsnap! But as my kids got older they did not seem to work as well (ie leaking!). I had bought two kinds when my first one was born so I simply tried the other kind http://www.mother-ease.com/. These worked for me until my children were toilet trained (both were trained by the time the reached the 2 year birthday.) I did find it easier to use the disposible kind right after coming back from the hospital until the meconium, which is the tar-like black poop is done. I also had some difficulties with the learning curve and the diapers for child care providers. (With my first daughter we went through quite a few!) Overall I loved cloth diapers though. In the long run the price was unbeatable. I bought new and used for two children and will use again if we are blessed again. I really disliked the diaper rash that we experience with disposible--we tried it on a long trip. And I also had poop explosions with disposible! Laura Ballinger Morales ________________________________ robin koloms <rkoloms Friday, January 9, 2009 3:56:36 PM Re: need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers Hi Meera, Freecycle, thrift shops and eBay are great ways to find used cloth diapers and covers. Robin --- On Fri, 1/9/09, mdv <mdvkpm > wrote: mdv <mdvkpm > need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers @gro ups.com Friday, January 9, 2009, 11:51 AM hi i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. thanks in advance meera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Wow, I almost forgot that I made my own wipes too! I used baby wash cloths-got so many from the baby shower! I used a regular baby wipe container and put them in there with my premade solution. I also used at times a squeeze bottle and dry wash cloths. Just squeezed some on before using. Essential oils are expensive but a little goes a long way. Merely two drops is all you need, and still way cheaper than buying them. Recipe * 2 TBSP Baby Wash * 2 TBSP Baby Oil or Olive Oil or 1 TBSP Calendula Oil * 2 Drops Tea Tree Oil * 2 Cups Water (I always boiled first) Mix well in a spray bottle or your wipes box. Spritz on wipe before using if in spray bottle. Swish solution around over wipes if using a wipes box. Tea Tree Oil has lovely disinfectant properties along with its wonderful, clean smell. I would also add essential oils as needeed or desired. Optional add ins: * 2 Drops Lavender Oil (Please be sure to use only pure essential oils - don't use synthetic oils.) * 2 Drops Chamomile Oil * 1/4 Cup Aloe Vera Gel * 1 Vitamin E Cap I have also heard of people using paper towels and cutting roll into threes, removing centers and putting in solutions like above. But then you have to buy the paper towels consistently. Laura Ballinger Morales ________________________________ Lorraine <ldemi Friday, January 9, 2009 3:28:12 PM RE: need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers Hi Meera, We cloth diapered from the beginning with our son for a lot of reasons - they're reusable, I'd rather use extra water to wash diapers than extra landfill space to bury them and have them not biodegrade (unless they're subjected to sunlight constantly), and they're just so soft (so, likely more comfortable, breathe better, etc.) - and everyone we know was talking about having so many fewer (or no) rashes with cloth. We used just about every combo you can think of - pre-fold flats with covers of all kinds, pocket diapers with different doublers/inserts, and all-in-ones with liners at night. The ones that ended up working best for us were the most expensive, but they fit our son best and leaked least often, and were so easy to use: all-in-ones. But, for the most affordable option: pre-folds (we got unbleached ones for $12 for a dozen) and basic plastic covers (we got 3 in a pack for really cheap, maybe $1 or 2 per cover?). And some folks knit their own wool covers which is super nice and cute and warm and people seem to love those. (I'm allergic to wool, so we never went that route.) We also used the pre-folds as night-time liners in our all-in-ones later on, and we use them now for " nose wipes " when someone has a cold, so it's never a loss to buy those cheap, all-purpose dipes! You might also want to just get a couple of each kind of diaper you're interested in, and try them out. We did that and sort of started noticing " oh, the cutey rabbit with lettuce printed one leaks every single time " or " hey, another nighttime with no leaks, quick, go look in the diaper pail to see what one I just threw in there! We've found our nighttime dipe! " :-) (Maybe you still have time to register for some for baby showers? A lot of cloth diaper companies/WAHM sites have sampler deals where you get one or two of several different kinds.) We stopped diapering last year and I so miss folding those warm, little fuzzy diapers. :-) (Also, we got baby washcloths on clearance that we used as wipes, and some dirty diaper bags for when we were out, and just used a flip-top trash can for our diaper pail. We did a dry pail, and a multi-cycle wash with enzymatic cleanser, and never had any odor problems. Let me know if you want more details on how we did it - I've written it up several times and can easily send that over to you.) Best of luck and have fun! Lorraine @gro ups.com [@gro ups.com] On Behalf Of mdv Friday, January 09, 2009 9:52 AM @gro ups.com need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers hi i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for eco-friendly n not very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some suggestions. thanks in advance meera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 hi all thank u so... much for all of your suggestion. they r really helpful to me. thanks once again meera --- On Sat, 1/10/09, Laura Ballinger Morales <lballinger wrote: > Laura Ballinger Morales <lballinger > Re: need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers > > Saturday, January 10, 2009, 6:50 AM > Wow, I almost forgot that I made my own wipes too! I used > baby wash cloths-got so many from the baby shower! I used > a regular baby wipe container and put them in there with my > premade solution. I also used at times a squeeze bottle and > dry wash cloths. Just squeezed some on before using. > Essential oils are expensive but a little goes a long way. > Merely two drops is all you need, and still way cheaper than > buying them. > > Recipe > * 2 TBSP Baby Wash > * 2 TBSP Baby Oil or Olive Oil or 1 TBSP Calendula Oil > * 2 Drops Tea Tree Oil > * 2 Cups Water (I always boiled first) > Mix well in a spray bottle or your wipes box. Spritz on > wipe before using if in spray bottle. Swish solution around > over wipes if using a wipes box. Tea Tree Oil has lovely > disinfectant properties along with its wonderful, clean > smell. > I would also add essential oils as needeed or desired. > Optional add ins: > > * 2 Drops Lavender Oil (Please be sure to use only pure > essential oils - don't use synthetic oils.) > * 2 Drops Chamomile Oil > * 1/4 Cup Aloe Vera Gel > * 1 Vitamin E Cap > > I have also heard of people using paper towels and > cutting roll into threes, removing centers and putting in > solutions like above. But then you have to buy the paper > towels consistently. > Laura Ballinger Morales > > > > > ________________________________ > Lorraine <ldemi > > Friday, January 9, 2009 3:28:12 PM > RE: need sugg., for eco-friendly > diapers > > > Hi Meera, > We cloth diapered from the beginning with our son for a lot > of reasons - > they're reusable, I'd rather use extra water to > wash diapers than extra > landfill space to bury them and have them not biodegrade > (unless they're > subjected to sunlight constantly), and they're just so > soft (so, likely > more comfortable, breathe better, etc.) - and everyone we > know was > talking about having so many fewer (or no) rashes with > cloth. We used > just about every combo you can think of - pre-fold flats > with covers of > all kinds, pocket diapers with different doublers/inserts, > and > all-in-ones with liners at night. The ones that ended up > working best > for us were the most expensive, but they fit our son best > and leaked > least often, and were so easy to use: all-in-ones. But, for > the most > affordable option: pre-folds (we got unbleached ones for > $12 for a > dozen) and basic plastic covers (we got 3 in a pack for > really cheap, > maybe $1 or 2 per cover?). And some folks knit their own > wool covers > which is super nice and cute and warm and people seem to > love those. > (I'm allergic to wool, so we never went that route.) We > also used the > pre-folds as night-time liners in our all-in-ones later on, > and we use > them now for " nose wipes " when someone has a > cold, so it's never a loss > to buy those cheap, all-purpose dipes! > > You might also want to just get a couple of each kind of > diaper you're > interested in, and try them out. We did that and sort of > started > noticing " oh, the cutey rabbit with lettuce printed > one leaks every > single time " or " hey, another nighttime with no > leaks, quick, go look in > the diaper pail to see what one I just threw in there! > We've found our > nighttime dipe! " :-) (Maybe you still have time to > register for some > for baby showers? A lot of cloth diaper companies/WAHM > sites have > sampler deals where you get one or two of several different > kinds.) > > We stopped diapering last year and I so miss folding those > warm, little > fuzzy diapers. :-) (Also, we got baby washcloths on > clearance that we > used as wipes, and some dirty diaper bags for when we were > out, and just > used a flip-top trash can for our diaper pail. We did a dry > pail, and a > multi-cycle wash with enzymatic cleanser, and never had any > odor > problems. Let me know if you want more details on how we > did it - I've > written it up several times and can easily send that over > to you.) > Best of luck and have fun! > Lorraine > > > @gro ups.com > [@gro ups.com] On > Behalf Of mdv > Friday, January 09, 2009 9:52 AM > @gro ups.com > need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers > > hi > > i am expecting my baby in march. i am looking for > eco-friendly n not > very expensive or reuable diapers. so i need some > suggestions. > > thanks in advance > meera > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Yes, a very complicated topic. My daughter went to daycare and so we needed a disposable. We were happy with Nature's Babycare--unbleached and largely biodegradable. We also used g-diapers, and they worked well until she was about 18 months. Good luck. , " Jacqueline Bodnar " <jb wrote: > > Ahh... the diaper dilemma. Let me tell you that there is no clear cut > solution. It's a debatable topic and no matter what you use you are > doing harm to the environment. This issue was just covered by Bill Nye, > the science guy on his show last week (called Stuff Happens an Planet > Green - it's a GREAT weekly show about eco living). > > What he said I had heard several years back and several times over the > years. There is not one eco-friendly way to care for a baby's toileting > (unless you are going to do infant toilet training, which many parents > do, starting at birth - I wrote an article on it a couple of years ago). > > Anyway, Bill Nye said the same thing... That neither is better than the > other (cloth verse disposables). Both take a LOT of resources (including > cloth, which everyone THINKS is better, but really isn't because uses a > lot of water, which I believe he said equals out to 20 gallons per day, > as well as other resources). > > According to him, the only eco-friendly solution does not lie in > choosing cloth verse disposable. Rather, it lies in choosing unbleached. > He said if you go with disposables just choose unbleached and you are > making an eco-friendlier choice. However, I would imagine only natural > food stores carry the unbleached (I've never seen them at Target, > Walmart or any other place that carries diapering supplies) and they are > probably very expensive. > > I don't think non-expensive and eco-friendly go together in this area, > unfortunately. Someone needs to come up with an eco-friendly diaper that > parents can actually afford! Hint, hint! :-) > > Jacqueline > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 The most eco friendly and rewarding way we've found is to use the G diaper with cloth inserts and to do natural infant hygiene. Its sooooooo COOL! My husband, me and my Mom have been catching our little girls poo and pee since she was 2 weeks-we do miss some too although then you only need to wash a much smaller insert. We did this later on w our son as we hadn't found out of it until later and I'd definitely say it makes both of us happier and we get even more sleep making nightime quite a breeze. She wakes me only once or twice at 4months to pee and or poo to which I just sit up on the side of the bed for her to go in a bucket. I highly recommend reading Ingrid Bauers's Diaper Free baby. I really feel I can totally communicate with our little girl to take care of all her needs so she's really happy and us too! Nicolette Schumacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Oh I forgot too mention I use the G diapers when we're out at home we use a diaper belt and organic prefolds so we know if we've missed right away and they're super quick on and off eliminatinating diaper change struggles. You'd be amazed at how much money you save too. Its win win win! Nicolette Schumacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 I agree with everyone who has suggested elimination communication. We have used it happily with all three of our children. All three stopped peeing at night around six months and the boys were completely out of diapers by the time they turned 2 and our youngest is out of diapers at home at 16 mo. and we use cloth diapers depending on the situation while we are away from home. There are so many different cloth options out there and G diapers are cert. by Cradle to Cradle (no other diaper can say that) which looks at the entire life cycle of a product to see how sustainable it is and gentle on the earth. I should say that I also sell G diapers and some brands of cloth, but I've been using cloth since my oldest was born (almost nine years ago) before I had the business. I like that I can compost the wet G diapers. I also will wash the wet cloth diapers with our towels now that we never had any poopy diapers so I don't actually do any extra laundry. Good luck finding what works best with you and your family!!! Linda A Marketplace for a Better World (Cruelty-free, Environmentally-Conscious, and Fair Labor Products) http://triballife.net/ http://triballifeinc.blogspot.com/ My personal blogs: http://veganlinda.blogspot.com/ http://cucarfree.blogspot.com/ ________________________________ nams <nams Tuesday, January 13, 2009 5:48:43 PM Re: need sugg., for eco-friendly diapers Oh I forgot too mention I use the G diapers when we're out at home we use a diaper belt and organic prefolds so we know if we've missed right away and they're super quick on and off eliminatinating diaper change struggles. You'd be amazed at how much money you save too. Its win win win! Nicolette Schumacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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