Hi All,

Have all of you made firm decisions on whether to use cloth or disposable diapers for your babies? I hear that by using cloth diapers we reduce the chance of diaper rashes and that is so appealing. I also hear that there is a facility available called \";Diaper Service\"; where they come by every week and drop off about 80 cleaned cloth diapers at our homes. These diapers go through a highly sanitized cleaning process.
The other option is to use cloth and wash at home, but how can we put dirty diapers in our washer/dryer?
The third ofcourse is disposable diapers, the easiest.....

What are your opinions?

Suni momTo2 replied. Hi Suni,
Good question. This is something we all have a dilema about.
Everyone else has already stated the pros and cons of each one. I can only tell you what I learnt from experience.(I have a 22 month old son)
I did use disposal diapers initially .. then I switched to cloth diapers when he was about 2 months old. Even then I did use disposal diapers at night.
I live in the northeast and my son was born in Nov. Even though the house is heated it is still not that warm. We need to wear full pants and shirts to keep warm. So I was not comfortable keeping my son in just a cloth diaper and a shirt. I thought he was too cold. New borns cannot regulate their body temperature very well and you should not set the temperature in the house very high either. It drys the air and is not good even for adults.
Anyway this was my reasoning behind my decision. Yes he did have diaper rash but that was probably because he pooped a lot and had a lot of gas.
After the 2 months I used cloth diapers during the day. I would have a bucket of water with dettol in it. I used 2 diapers .. one I used as a cover over the plastic sheet .. which can be quite cold in winter. If he just peed the I would just toss both the diapers in the dettol water. If he pooped then I would pre-rinse it the toilet and toss it in the dettol water. You would be amazed at the number of diapers the babies go through .. I would have about 25-30 diapers everyday .. so I could wash it using the small load setting on my washer.
BTW. if you are planning on breastfeeding, the poop is usually always semi-solid and not firm.

The dispering service is a good idea . Usually you don't even have to rinse the dirty diapers. My husband didn't like the idea because you share the diapers. Evan though it is sanitized very thouroughly he didn't like the idea.

Hope this helps. sumana replied. Hi Suni,

Last year one of my friend delivered her baby.Since her parents came from India , she asked them to bring cloth diapers.And if I remember right , she could not go past 2 days with the cloth diapers.It seems she not only had to wash the diapers but also the blankets underneath.And moreover if the carpets are stained (even though u take extreme caution and use 2 rubber sheets , blankets etc)it would smell and cleaning would take some effort.
Even though you have parents to help with the baby, I think using the cloth diapers is a time consuming.
Instead what you can do is....use disposable diapers, after the baby pees or poos , take the soiled diaper , clean the baby and let him/her be aired for 10 -15 mins before putting on a new diaper.This way your work is less at the same time the baby's delcate skin is also aired properly from time to time.
Hope this helps

Take Care,
Sumana Reena replied. Hi everyone,

Here is a bit of my wisdom on this subject.

In the initial days, I plan to use the cloth diaper cuz the newborn's skin is extremely sensitive at this time. The first 2-3 days stool would stain the diaper completely..so these diapers can be thrown away. After this, like Anu says, prewash the diaper in the toilet and then wash in detergent and dettol. For the nights I wud keep a tub of water and detergent/dettol beside my bed and keep disposing the cloth diaper in them and wash later in the morning.

But if you ask me, cloth diapers are best for the newborn's skin. I've bought some already..the ones u get in India are of a good quality muslin cloth and are very airy too. If your parents are coming from India you can ask them to bring it for you. Get the square ones so u can make enuf layers to soak the pee in the diaper itself.

Try using disposables only if you are taking ur child out.

Take care,
Reena Anu replied. Manvi, You are right. We will not be in a position to wash diapers in middle of the night. Probably we can use both types of diapers. We can use disposable diapers during night times and times when we go out. During day time we can try cloth diapers. Also like in India, we can just tie the cloth diapers around him during daytime. But we can do this only till 3 or 4 months. Once he starts moving around in the house, it might be difficult. I am thinking of cloth diapers because reduced diaper rash and his skin can get some air. Not sure what to use.. There is so much involved with cloth diapers. In this case, disposable seems to be
pretty easy ..... Probably we can do one more thing. We can use complete disposable diapers till 6months old, by then we will know how many diapers we need to change during night and plan accordingly..

Confused again.

Girls, please shed some light in this with your ideas.

Anu. Manvi replied. this alot bcos the cloth diapers appealed to me.It's just that ultimately i wasn't sure with a fulltime baby to feed&our health if i would really dilligently wash the cloth diapers.Like at nite if he soiled like 4-6 diapers wld u get up&wash it the way Anu described bcos leaving it till morning may not be healthy.Also i guess we have to build a load of soiled diapers to wash each time&that may not be hygenic.
Also i was thinking since i will be at home i plan to let the baby sleep nangu without a diaper when i can for brief intervals to just let his skin out there breathe freely.
Hence planning a rubber sheet from india for those times.
Also the cloth diaper cleaning service cost wise may work out just the same as disposable diapers.
Girls any more thots let me know!! Anu replied. Hi Suni,

What a coincedence. When I was out for lunch today, one of my collegue left a 100 new born diapers at my desk. Surprised to see daiper question in the forum at the same time.

I was advised by one of my colleague that I use disposable diapers at the beginning. Because babies will have loose motions at the beginning. Later (after a month or two when the stool forms a shape) she asked me to try cloth diapers as they are cheaper and reduces the chance of diaper rashes. I am going to take her advice and see how that works. I am planning to use disposable diapers up to two months. After that I will try cloth diapers. If we use cloth diapers and want to wash at home, we need to pre-wash them in toilet (let stool fall into toilet by pouring some water on diaper) and then put them in washer/dryer. Anyway after two months, it will be my mom's term :), I will be back to work.

We can try all the options and decide whichever works better for us.

Anu.