Cloth Diapers?

[Unregistered]

I am years out from opening a home daycare/home daycare facility. I do not see much about diapers in my state regs. I was considering offering a cloth diapering service for, say, 2.50 or so a week and just wash with a bit of bleach to kill off any germs. I'm a huge advocate for green living so I *want* to, but these are my concerns

1.) yeast. I don't know if bleach in every load will kill it off (I realize bleach will weaken diapers; but, I have always used a capful or so regularly for stripping and sanitizing since I had multiple kids in diapers at a time).

2.) sending them home in MY cloth diapers and them getting lost/tossed out (and those are pricey!!!)

3.) lack of regs meaning its up to the inspector/could I enlist a diaper service?

anyone have any insight on this?

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I actually do offer a cloth diaper program for $.50 a day...so $2.50/week.

I use prefolds and covers and bleach. I also NEVER send the diapers home. I launder them myself and the .50 covers basically the cost of laundering supplies. I did it because 1. I LOVE cloth diapers and 2. I got tired of parents complaining about their diapered kid using diapers. So, instead of them complaining over me using .25/each disposable diapers I offered this. I actually haven't had anyone use them in over a year now. But, about 1.5 years ago I had 3 kids in them at the same time.

[Unregistered]

I actually do offer a cloth diaper program for $.50 a day...so $2.50/week.

I use prefolds and covers and bleach. I also NEVER send the diapers home. I launder them myself and the .50 covers basically the cost of laundering supplies. I did it because 1. I LOVE cloth diapers and 2. I got tired of parents complaining about their diapered kid using diapers. So, instead of them complaining over me using .25/each disposable diapers I offered this. I actually haven't had anyone use them in over a year now. But, about 1.5 years ago I had 3 kids in them at the same time.

Did you have parents supply a "going home disposable" stash?

[nannyde]

I do 2.50 a day. I did a time study on it before I priced it and then calculated utilities and detergent. It came to about twelve minutes a day per kid and a buck a day for water, electricity, and soap.

I priced it at 10$ an hour.

The labor included every aspect of the work that I would not have with paper diapers and one additional change per day than the average breastfed baby.

[Soccermom]

I do 2.50 a day. I did a time study on it before I priced it and then calculated utilities and detergent. It came to about twelve minutes a day per kid and a buck a day for water, electricity, and soap.

I priced it at 10$ an hour.

The labor included every aspect of the work that I would not have with paper diapers and one additional change per day than the average breastfed baby.

I think 2.50 a day sounds pretty reasonable considering the amount of extra work cloth diapers require.

I had a DCG in cloth diapers once and it was awful! The little one got so messy and I always ended up with poo all over my hands. I ended up terming for other reasons but was SO glad to be done with the cloth diapers.

I am a fan of green living though, so I think it is great that you are willing to offer the service but, trust me, you have to make it financially worthwhile for yourself because it is a lot more costly and time consuming for you.

I don't think 12.50$ per week is too much to ask considering the parents won't need to provide their own diapers.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Did you have parents supply a "going home disposable" stash?

Yes. 5 disposables per week.

[nannyde]

I require parents to supply the cloth diapers. I have them give me 15 to keep here. Whatever diaper they bring the child in goes into my stock so I don't need go home diapers.

[melilley]

I also require parents to bring the diapers. They also have to supply a bag and I send it home for them to launder. I honestly would never have time to do my own family's laundry, let alone other children.

[jack_attack]

I personally cloth diaper my baby. The laundry is... a lot... and that's for one! Think long & hard about if you really want the extra work! Also - keep in mind that if you're cloth diapering you need special diaper rash ointment...

[Thriftylady]

I would check with the licensing agent for sure. When I was in Kansas, we were not allowed to even rinse them off to remove the solid matter. We had to bag them as soon as they came off and send them home. If you were allowed to, I may charge a bit more for it you have to factor in the costs of water, electric and soap.

[Dilley Beans]

I think 2.50 a day sounds pretty reasonable considering the amount of extra work cloth diapers require.

I had a DCG in cloth diapers once and it was awful! The little one got so messy and I always ended up with poo all over my hands. I ended up terming for other reasons but was SO glad to be done with the cloth diapers.

I am a fan of green living though, so I think it is great that you are willing to offer the service but, trust me, you have to make it financially worthwhile for yourself because it is a lot more costly and time consuming for you.

I don't think 12.50$ per week is too much to ask considering the parents won't need to provide their own diapers.

If you were getting poop on your hands, etc. you probably weren't getting them on right. They should go on and come off just like paper nappies. I have CD'd my daughter for 18m and have far less issues with CDs and messes than anyone I know with paper nappies blowing out. That or the type of diaper wasn't a good fit for you. Next time, require them to be all-in-ones or pockets and have the DCPs show you how to properly use them on day 1. Then if you have issues, let her know what your issues are. CDing parents love to share their knowledge about CDing.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

If you were getting poop on your hands, etc. you probably weren't getting them on right. They should go on and come off just like paper nappies. I have CD'd my daughter for 18m and have far less issues with CDs and messes than anyone I know with paper nappies blowing out. That or the type of diaper wasn't a good fit for you. Next time, require them to be all-in-ones or pockets and have the DCPs show you how to properly use them on day 1. Then if you have issues, let her know what your issues are. CDing parents love to share their knowledge about CDing.

Very true. My daughter is cloth diapered in church nursery and they have no issues. I use velcro with them and it is easy.