Comments | blaueteufelin: ISO cloth diapering wisdom

blaueteufelin

ISO cloth diapering wisdom

Oct 13, 2008 19:07

Ok, so I'm in the cloth diapering comm on LJ and I've read a bunch of stuff on cloth diapering, but I'm still not exactly sure what to get for our initial stash. There's just such a glut of information and options out there that it's hard to sift through all of it and decide on something for ourselves. I'd love to have any advice on how to get ( Read more... )

cloth diapering, life, baby

Comments 9

alovelyblue October 14 2008, 00:48:06 UTC

So much advice, so few hands to type... Emma in one hand. :)

Shirt & quick: yes, good amount. I have a hanging dry pail, goodmama, love it. Large for home (get 2) and medium for outings. I wouldn't recommend a wet pail. Some of my fav links:

http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/clothdiaperlaundry
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

Will try to write more later sans Emma..

blaueteufelin October 14 2008, 02:32:49 UTC

I had come across the first site before but it wasn't one of the guides I had really looked at yet . . . I didn't realize it was so systematic and clear! Yay. All the other ones I've seen have been a bit disorganized. Thanks for the links!

coleoptera October 14 2008, 01:36:41 UTC

There's a lot of good how-tos for this out there, which go through all the different kinds and ways to cloth diaper. I was really amused by the guy practicing with his first ever and when he realized he had to kind that required actual diaper pins, freaked out and went with painter's tape (he provided a photo which made me laugh and yet think, that's got to be the best way to do it ever!).

With anything that does end up getting flushed, you're going to want to take a look at how your plumbing works and what it can really handle.

You might want to grab just a couple of premade baby wipes (the little travel packages maybe) for emergency work when you're out.

Do you not have your own w/d or hookups? It might be we could help find you some secondhand washers or something. If only I'd known last week...ours died fantastically fast but I could have fixed it with some time.

blaueteufelin October 14 2008, 01:44:24 UTC

Yea, I've looked through the how-tos. There are just a lot of options out there and I just need someone to tell me what to pick ;) I don't do well with too wide a range of choices.

There's no place in our apt. to hook up a w/d, and I'm pretty sure that would be against the terms of our lease anyway. We'll just have to make do.

lizzabette October 14 2008, 13:45:44 UTC

The majority of apartments in the Boston area do not have laundry hook-ups. You either have laundry in your apartment supplied by the landlord, laundry in the building that you likely have to pay for, or have to make use of a laundromat.

Since MA requires that landlords pay for water and not tenants, it's really not in the landlord's interest to offer laundry in individual apartments if there's a laundromat a block away. Larger buildings may have laundry in the building for all tenants if there isn't a laundromat nearby, but it'd almost certainly be paid laundry and would still be communal.

Out in the suburbs and Western Mass, it's easier to find laundry in units, but of all the people I know in Boston, I can only say I know one set of roommates who have laundry in unit.

blakdove October 14 2008, 03:55:17 UTC

Obviously I have no idea how well these work, but I really like this site's ideas for making diapers from used clothes.

lizzabette October 14 2008, 13:39:19 UTC

I have an info. sheet from Diaper Lab that gives a great overview ( ... )

blaueteufelin October 14 2008, 14:46:54 UTC

I'm pretty sure mostly prefolds and pockets will be best for us, at least for a newborn stash. It's mostly all the different brands that get me feeling overwhelmed with options ;) I just want someone to tell me, this is good for X, or this worked super for us, etc.

alovelyblue also suggested hanging bags instead of a pail. I've added a few to our registry now.

Yea, I have the diaperlab address and all, I just don't know when David or I will be able to get out there in the next few weeks since we're usually both busy during her store hours. I'd definitely like to have a copy of the handout if you can make one - or even better, a PDF, if you can scan it in. That would be great, thanks!

daysprings October 14 2008, 16:18:21 UTC

Um, I can't help much with this, since we use bumGenius 3.0s from Cotton Babies, not prefolds/covers/etc. My one piece of advice is to use disposables till the meconium phase is OVER. It's only for a day or two, and it's not worth the aggravation of trying to get meconium out of cloth diapers. ick.