What's better... Cloth or disposable?

[sinceiwassmall]

Long term and taking into account washing costs etc aand this is based on a real baby from birth to around 4 the cost of disposables is slightly less

Honestly, this is absolutely ridiculous. I have never seen anyone else make this claim or even try to. The savings with cloth diapers is in the hundreds to thousands of dollars. I’m saying this as a cloth diapering parent of 3 kids over 7 years. Cost wasn’t the main point but It sure was a nice bonus. We really liked using them and we saved thousands. The cost of the extra loads of laundry involved when you already have a baby is so negligible it’s hard to calculate it.

This isn’t meant as an argument for wearing cloth as an adult, but there is no comparison on cost.

and as daft as it sounds the environmental cost of disposables is also slightly less (just a few%) and as more and more plaaces are starting to recycle incontinence waste from both infants and adults that will start to havae significant impacts.

This isn’t true either. The life cycle analysis research that said it was true it was funded by, guess who, the diaper companies and included all sorts of manipulative assumptions.

And the only recycling projects I know of are heavily subsidized small-scale pilot projects that are best described as public relations, not environmental change — because real, widespread collection and recycling of used diapers is financially and logistically impractical.

Again, go ahead and make your own choices for your own reasons, but this kind of claim is greenwashing and not valid.

 

[Deleted member 5614]

Disposables only for me.

* As a 24/7 wearer with a busy life involving lots of travel, the time overhead of dealing with cloth and the logistics to ensure a supply while on the move would be excessive.
* I do two or three messes a day and when away from home it would be near impossible to deal with them in cloth nappies. Disposable liners are a help but they don't always catch everything and the nappies still need sanitizing promptly.
* Aesthetically I much prefer disposables in many ways, from the unpacking and unfolding, to the feel of wearing, to the sensation when using them, right up to the sound of peeling the tapes off, which symbolises needing a change more than anything else.

I know cloth has some significant advantages in theory, but for me they are not realistic.

 

[LittleLeeInDiapers]

i wear both!

 

[Lilditie]

If you’re worried about diaper covers being uncomfortable why not locate ones that work well for you before making the additional financial commitment of cloth diapers? I’ve had good luck with Haian vinyl pants with enclosed elastics, Haian PEVA pants, also with enclosed elastics, baby-pants.com PEVA pants with exposed elastics, and protexmedical.com vinyl pants with enclosed elastics. The first three are the best for the money in my opinion and the last one is just soft, smooth, and kind of cuddly for a change. Most of them will leave minor red marks on my skin when worn 24/7, but not anything painful.

Thank you I will look into those. What about for the cloth diaper itself? I was looking at a pull up style but was thinking that would take away from the experience. Hell I don't even remember how to put one on. Probably a youtube video on it. lol

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Thank you I will look into those. What about for the cloth diaper itself? I was looking at a pull up style but was thinking that would take away from the experience. Hell I don't even remember how to put one on. Probably a youtube video on it. lol

It takes practice, cloth diapers are a lit-tle bit of a challenge. Just lay still, legs open, take your time, suck your tummy in and get it good an' snuggy-snug in the legs & waist. And use cute adult ducky diaper pins!

Oh...and be careful about diaper rash. It's not fun to get.

 

[nwm]

and get it good an' snuggy-snug in the legs & waist. And use cute adult ducky diaper pins!

Well, to a good point, but not too snug. Had quite a few put on too tight - ended up bending diaper pins just from moving! - And I do MEAN bent! - Would not even reach the head of the pin to lock it!

Oh...and be careful about diaper rash. It's not fun to get.

No need for the reminder here!

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Well, to a good point, but not too snug. Had quite a few put on too tight - ended up bending diaper pins just from moving! - And I do MEAN bent! - Would not even reach the head of the pin to lock it!

Did you use regular baby diaper pins or the adult-sized jumbo diaper pins? I got several pair of jumbo diaper pins, from regular head (white, yellow, green & purple), two pair of Hello Kitty and two pair of my favs: jumbo yellow ducky diaper pins! Wearing a cloth diaper is super-fun with diaper pins like those...and plastic pants!

 

[Deleted member 56273]

Disposables for extra security during daytime and overnight.

 

[Zeke]

Thank you I will look into those. What about for the cloth diaper itself? I was looking at a pull up style but was thinking that would take away from the experience. Hell I don't even remember how to put one on. Probably a youtube video on it. lol

Personally I prefer contour diapers which I supplement with soakers. The 4/10/4 ply, Contour ll, gauze diapers that I get from AdultClothDiaper.com come with a 10 ply soaker. Most nights I add a folded terry bath towel as a soaker with a folded terry hand towel for a liner to make cleanup easier for my fecal IC. I do have gauze and Birdseye prefolds that I wear by themselves on occasion, just for variety, or add as as soaker instead of the terry bath towel. This is the big advantage of a cloth diaper, you can add or remove padding as necessary to fit your requirements. You can customize your diapers to fit just about any situation that you may encounter. When I change I thoroughly rinse out my diapers and soakers in my shower, hang them over a shower chair to drain and then store them in a large plastic tote for laundry. This is what’s known as a dry pail system. Laundry can be a problem if not done properly. Laundry detergent can build up in the fibers of the diaper resulting in ammonia being produced when you wet them. Not over using detergent and adding a second rinse cycle will eliminate this. Another problem that I have is hard water, lime in particular, which holds detergent residue in the cotton fibers. For me the easiest, cheapest, and quickest way to deal with this was to add a couple of cups of white vinegar to my rinse cycle. Vinegar makes my diapers very soft by both removing the lime and by fluffing the cotton fibers making them softer and more absorbent. I hope cloth works as well for you as they do for me and that I’ve saved you some of the mistakes that I made while refining my “system”. Cloth diapers have saved me a lot of money along with allowing me to deal affectively with my IC. With a little adapting for your personal requirements I’m sure that they’ll do well for you too.

 

[nwm]

Did you use regular baby diaper pins or the adult-sized jumbo diaper pins? I got several pair of jumbo diaper pins, from regular head (white, yellow, green & purple), two pair of Hello Kitty and two pair of my favs: jumbo yellow ducky diaper pins! Wearing a cloth diaper is super-fun with diaper pins like those...and plastic pants!

They are not HUGE - but I would say reasonable, and are listed as an Adult Diaper pin - same place we got the diapers themselves from. -
https://www.adultclothdiaper.com/ADULT-DIAPERING-ACCESSORIES/DIAPER-PINS
The plastic head ones (various colors), have not tried the "jumbo" ones yet. Even so, they are not that easy to bend. (Tried to bend a few back, manage to get it good enough to latch - but not really straight and really didn't trust how well it was latched.)

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

They are not HUGE - but I would say reasonable, and are listed as an Adult Diaper pin - same place we got the diapers themselves from. -
https://www.adultclothdiaper.com/ADULT-DIAPERING-ACCESSORIES/DIAPER-PINS
The plastic head ones (various colors), have not tried the "jumbo" ones yet. Even so, they are not that easy to bend. (Tried to bend a few back, manage to get it good enough to latch - but not really straight and really didn't trust how well it was latched.)

The jumbos I found were on eBay from an AB/DL seller, almost 4 inches long, very heavy gauge steel and offered with various-colored plain heads, Hello Kitty heads and various-colored ducky heads.

They were made especially for cloth adult diapers and Adult Babies...you'd know if you held one. I cloth-diapered up tightly with them once, one pin per side, tried to pop them...almost herniated myself!

 

[nwm]

The jumbos I found were on eBay from an AB/DL seller, almost 4 inches long, very heavy gauge steel and offered with various-colored plain heads, Hello Kitty heads and various-colored ducky heads.

They were made especially for cloth adult diapers and Adult Babies...you'd know if you held one. I cloth-diapered up tightly with them once, one pin per side, tried to pop them...almost herniated myself!

4 inches! - No wonder only one per side! (The ones we have got different colors and designs on the head to - duck, bear, bunny, ex. - just hard to see that in those pics.)
But that long and you don't feel the metal push in to your skin? (That is another issue with these if they are too tight.).

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

4 inches! - No wonder only one per side! (The ones we have got different colors and designs on the head to - duck, bear, bunny, ex. - just hard to see that in those pics.)
But that long and you don't feel the metal push in to your skin? (That is another issue with these if they are too tight.).

When it comes to cloth, I use two flat diapers for the outer and a wide soaker in the middle. I don't feel the diaper pins' metal much on my hip area...it's pretty comfy there.

 

[Lyric]

Cloth or disposable is purely a matter of personal choice and preference. I only wear cloth prefolds and cloth inserts including contour inserts, along with plastic pants of various colors and designs. But that's soley because I grew up wearing cloth diapers and feel in love with them, rubber pants and diaper pins. i use 2 three inch pins per side for snug fit and I prefer my ducky head pins. I just ordered the Euroflex Comfort High Waist plastic pants from Changing Times. I haven't tried them before so i'll let you know what i think.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

As long as it's a diaper and it fits me with no discomfort, I'm happy!

 

[Zeke]

Did you use regular baby diaper pins or the adult-sized jumbo diaper pins? I got several pair of jumbo diaper pins, from regular head (white, yellow, green & purple), two pair of Hello Kitty and two pair of my favs: jumbo yellow ducky diaper pins! Wearing a cloth diaper is super-fun with diaper pins like those...and plastic pants!

Nearly 6 months ago I started using Snappis. Before that I was using 3” stainless steel safety pins that I would get 50 in a package from Amazon, but I like the Snappis better. By maintaining tension I don’t have the trouble, that I had with pins, of my diaper loosening when wet. I didn’t think that I would like them this much, but I haven’t used a pin in half a year. Never say never!

 

[Cottontail]

Honestly, this is absolutely ridiculous. I have never seen anyone else make this claim or even try to. The savings with cloth diapers is in the hundreds to thousands of dollars. I’m saying this as a cloth diapering parent of 3 kids over 7 years. Cost wasn’t the main point but It sure was a nice bonus. We really liked using them and we saved thousands. The cost of the extra loads of laundry involved when you already have a baby is so negligible it’s hard to calculate it.

This isn’t meant as an argument for wearing cloth as an adult, but there is no comparison on cost.

Agreed. We diapered our kids in (mostly) cloth also, and that was about ten years ago, so it's not exactly ancient history. I'm not sure what sort of math leads to the conclusion that cloth is similar to disposables in terms of cost. It's not. You'll spend $1.00-1.50 on electricity and water every 3-4 days to wash a single child's cloth diapers. In the same time, you can burn through $10 of Pampers or Huggies easily. Been there. That difference adds up very quickly, and after a few months, a child's cloth diaper stash is paid for.

...but if you're the type who buys a latte from Starbucks every day, then you probably wouldn't care.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

...but if you're the type who buys a latte from Starbucks every day, then you probably wouldn't care.

Not entirely true. Most Starbuckaholics I know run cloth.

 

[12srepaid]

I understand that cloth diapers might be better, but I still like disposable diapers better.