hi ,

We are expecting our first child in another 2 weeks. I am confused about using diapers.
Few questions regarding diapers and appreciate all the help from u moms

1. If i use cloth diapers , should i buy the pre folded diapers( available in babiesrus)

2. This may sound silly - how do we clean or wash the cloth diapers. Being in USA not sure how all the washing etc can be done.

3. what are the others things needed to use cloth diapers (like pins etc)

4. if we deicde to use diaposable diapers, which comapany is good.

5. what is the use of diaper wipes. Will cotton cloth and hot water work instead of wipes ?

Thanks for ur time lakshmi replied. Thank u all very much for all the responses, really appreciate it.
The replies are very informative for first moms like me.

Will try pampers first and see how it goes.

Thank u once again.. supriyasanoj replied. I agree with all of them.i have 2 small kids and both of them are in diapers.disposable diapers are best.my doctor adviced me to wash the babys bottom with water as we do it in india to prevent diaper rash.but i always have wipes in my diaper bag so i can use them when i go out.i will wash my kids off in the bath room sink or tub and pat the water dry and leave thm without diaper for few minutes,then apply baby lotion or vasiline.in the begining baby will be very small so you can warm up the room and take her diaper off and keep the paper napkins under her bottom and play with her for sometime.i used to do this atleast 2 hrs a day.so they get enoug air circulation to prevent diaper rash.
we are living in a single family home.so i kept a separate trash can in our garage and dispose the diapers off there.because after 2 kids we were tired by ther refils of diaper ginie.
so best of luck. nisha replied. hi, drs in US advises not to use pwder before baby. baby skin doesnt need any pwder. instead of pwder, if you want to use, use pure cornstarch.
using pwder in private area of baby is harmful. i dont know how and all. but when my baby had his first rashes, first line that my dr told was stop using pwder if i m using and use vaseline. dry the bottom properly, and apply lite vaseline,nothing works best than that.
also, thinking about cheap but hygine, i found that using plastic bags makes trast smell very bad. having a baby at home with a smelly trash bag isnt hygine. So go for any diaper ginie or diaper champ that does not require refills, but uses any trash bag. i used both but i liked diaper champ as there are no hazzles of buying the refills, also its not smelly at all,also holds a lot of diapers.
about wipes, i liked pampers. and about dipers, i liked pampers baby dry. baby dry keep baby really dry.
take care. Nikki replied. Dear Lakshmi,

If you do decide to go with disposable diapers, you don't necessarily need to buy the Diaper Genie. To me, that is a luxury item only. You can use the plastic bags you get at the grocery store and discount stores for the dirty diapers. All you need to do is put the diaper in there and tie the handles so that the smell won't get out. The reason I'm giving you suggestions on how to cut costs is because children are very expensive. Another reason I would suggest going with disposable diapers is because you will be very tired and you need the time that your baby sleeps to have a nap yourself instead of doing more work. Enjoy your baby. If you are constantly tired, you will get impatient and then feel bad about being impatient. Make things easy on yourself and try to be organized. When there is clutter, we tend to get more stressed out, and the baby can feel that. When the baby feels that you're stressed out, he/she will feel uncomfortable and cry more...so, for this reason, you should try to make things easy on yourself instead of making more work with disposable diapers. These are things based on my own experience with my children.... Nikki replied. Dear Lakshmi,

I am the mother of 3 children...(all of whom are in diapers). From my experience, disposable diapers are the way to go. Firstly, if I were you, I would invest in a membership with a wholesale club like Sam's Club or Costco. I like Sam's Club because they carry Pampers and Huggies. I buy Pampers Swaddlers for my 1 month old and Huggies size 6 for my 2 and 3 year old. I agree with Hetal about Pampers Swaddlers in the beginning. They are very soft and absorbent, and they smell pretty good (like baby powder). I recommend these in the beginning, but as your child's skin gets a little tougher, like 6 months old and older, you can use Huggies or Pampers Baby Dry. These are not as expensive as Pampers Cruisers.

As far as wipes, you will soon find that wipes are going to be your best friend. Personally, I use Huggies Natural Care (fragrance free) wipes with all of my children at every change because they are fragrance-free and I found that they are thicker than Pampers brand wipes, which makes changes a lot cleaner. Besides, again, they are less expensive. I also find these in bulk at Sam's Club. I don't, however, use these wipes on my 1 month old's face, but I did start using them on the faces of my children when they were 1.

Since I would always hang out in my living room with the babies, I kept a small diaper bag with diapers, a travel case of wipes, and powder together with a towel, (a raggedy one...maybe a color that you don't like) to change the child on.

As far as what to put on the skin after you wipe your child....I always use powder with cornstarch (Johnson's brand). I found that this works the best for preventing diaper rash. A&D ointment and Vaseline and other creams actually made my kids break out because when you use that, the skin can't breath, so they get heat rash. I know doctors and nurses will give you a hard time if they see you use powder, but it's all in the way you use it. Don't shake the canister upwards, rather, shake it pointing down away from the baby's face, or shake some powder into your hand and smooth it on the baby's private area and change the baby as soon as he/she is wet or pooped.

I hope this helped, if you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me at nmancera at hotmail dot com.
Hetal replied. hi lakshmi,
using cloth diaper is good for baby and does infant potty training, but a big work for mom...i tried for a week then i gave up, it was too tiriing for me to take care of everything,with 6 people in house from india to take care of and having csection...
newys,
try buying the gerber ones, i used the folded ones, not the prefolded one,,there are diffrerent types depnding on age of baby, i used infant one.
this is wat i used to do,,there i pwder call oxyclean for baby, i use to put that in hot water bucket, and keep thorwing diapers in that,,at the endof the day or half day, i will wear those disposable gloves and drain those soiled diapers and put the to washing machine with hot water setting with some dreft.even if the load was small, i use to wash it in large setting to give it a really good rince with lots of water !
i used cloth pins available by gerbers in walmart.and a plastic underwear whenever we went out..but i never used it because generally we arent allowed to go out with newborns :))
it was too tiring so i started using huggies and then tried all pampers,,finally my baby was good in pampers baby dry(now) and before 5 months, she was good with swaddlers.
diaper wipes clean the poop nicely,,are good for little refreshing wipe for baby..i liked pampers as they can be used for wiping baby body, face too.
also a friend of mine had triplets :) and using expensive wipes was too much for her 3 babiees,,she cut all of her old cloths and made little square pieces of each,after getting one small pack of outside wipes to know the size of wipe :) and then she used to keep a bowl of warm water next to crib, whenever her babies pooped, she will dip that cloth in it, and wipe baby butts with that..and then she kept a daiper champ which uses any trash bags and kept collecting those wipes in that..it sound funny to me but i know she saved hundreds $$$ :)) and even if you dont get time in washing them, throwing them is not much a big deal as they were old clothes :)),,she used to throw them many times :))
if u want to wash, wash like you did for cloth diapers.
so njoy, good luck for your delivery..
do let me know how was your delivery :)) & hows your bundle of joy.
Regards.