We are 100% Paper/Disposable Free!!

[SunflowerMama]

My last family is finally on board with me using cloth diapers for their LO. So we are now 100% cloth diapers, cloth wipes and no paper towels!! It feels so great not to throw away all those diapers and use all those paper towels!

I also had an unannounced inspection yesterday and she was totally fine with all the cloth. Passed with not one citation. Yeah!!

[Lilbutterflie]

Yay! So happy for you. (o:

[Blackcat31]

That is awesome Sunflowermomma!!

I learned aneat baby wipe trick a few years ago that I thought I would share;

You take a roll of paper towel and cut it in half so that you get two short rolls.
Place one half in a round rubbermaid type container and fill it with a mixture of water and any type of baby wash you prefer. The recipe said to use Johnson's baby wash (lavender scent was recommended)
Let the roll soak up the liquid.
Pour off any excess.
You can cut an "X" shape hole in the center of the container lid and pull the beginning of the paper towel through the hole.

Ta Da!~ Now you have gentle and eco friendly baby wipes at a fraction of the cost.

[SunflowerMama]

That is awesome Sunflowermomma!!

I learned aneat baby wipe trick a few years ago that I thought I would share;

You take a roll of paper towel and cut it in half so that you get two short rolls.
Place one half in a round rubbermaid type container and fill it with a mixture of water and Jany type of baby wash you prefer. The recipe said to use Johnson's baby wash (lavender scent was recommended)
Let the roll soak up the liquid.
Pour off any excess.
You can cut an "X" shape hole in the center of the container lid and pull the beginning of the paper towel through the hole.

Ta Da!~ Now you have gentle and eco friendly baby wipes at a fraction of the cost.

That's a great idea! I just buy the little baby wash cloths and do a simliar solution in a used wipes container. I fill it with this solution and just soak the wipes until I need them. I use it to wash the kids faces and for diaper changes.

1 tbs. Favorite baby bath wash (squeeze into bottom)
1 cup warm water (squish with my hand)
1 tbs. olive oil (pour in)
few drops of Tea Tree oil

[Abigail]

SunflowerMomma--do you wash all the cloth diapers? Is their a specific kind you use? Do you give the parents a supply for at home or do they only do this at daycare? Do you store all the diapers in the same diaper pail? Wet pail or dry pail? LOL, lots of questions sorry. I want to CD my children in the future, but wonder how you do it with all the Daycare kids.

If you watch youtube they have many videos on how to make the half paper towel rolls too. I think I would use baby wash clothes (4 for $1 I think)...they're small and thin and fit nicely in an empty baby wipes container. I'll be using Huggies wipes on Daycare kids, so I hope they work well in this type of container as well If I am going to use CD it wouldn't make sense to have a garbage can for wet and poopy wipes. It is just easier to throw the cloth wipe into the pail along with the diaper and inserts.

[SunflowerMama]

SunflowerMomma--do you wash all the cloth diapers? Is their a specific kind you use? Do you give the parents a supply for at home or do they only do this at daycare? Do you store all the diapers in the same diaper pail? Wet pail or dry pail? LOL, lots of questions sorry. I want to CD my children in the future, but wonder how you do it with all the Daycare kids.

I'd love to answer your questions!!

1) I do wash all the diapers here. Usually every other day.
2) I go the cheap route...just basic prefolds with snappi fasteners and Thirsties covers.
3) I don't give them a supply for home and all still use disposables at home. I have a stash of eco friendly disposables so right before pickup I put them in those to go home in.
4) I use just a hanging wetbag for the diapers.

Most of the parents really appreciate it...others not so much but I'm ok with that.

[renodeb]

I use Cd to but I havent quite bought enough to go 100% cloth, parents all love it and way less disposable waste I have to wash alot b/c my stash isnt up where I want it yet. I use the AIOens sometimes with an extra linerd epending on the child. I send them home in a sposie though. Haven t heard of many providers using cd. Good for you.
Debbie

[MG&Lsmom]

That is awesome. We are a CDing family too. But my dcks are not. I can just about handle the laundry of my 1 in diapers. But I've often thought about offering it as a perk. Especially for infants who go through so many in a day.

[nannyde]

That's awesome.

I've done cloth diapers before and been fairly successful. I had a lot of issues with my staff assistant sending the kids out the door with them in the afternoon and that got expensive really fast.

I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could find customers to pay for it (staff time, hard costs of diapers, and cleaning). I wonder too about getting the parents to send them in clothing to fit with the extra bulk of the cloth.

[SunflowerMama]

That's awesome.
I wonder too about getting the parents to send them in clothing to fit with the extra bulk of the cloth.

I just went to the thrift store and grabbed a few skirts for the girls and sweatpants for the boys. When they arrive I just put their jeans back in their bags . Before pick-up the sposies go on and the jeans back on.

[nannyde]

I just went to the thrift store and grabbed a few skirts for the girls and sweatpants for the boys. When they arrive I just put their jeans back in their bags . Before pick-up the sposies go on and the jeans back on.

That's what I was thinking. I would have to figure the staff time in undressing and redressing twice a day plus the cost of the clothing they wear each day. I pay a staff assistant so the hard cost of this time would be pretty easy to calculate.

I think it would be wildly popular as long as it is free. I already have so much built into my fees that I don't think there is a market for adding the expense on top of what I'm charging.

I would do it in a heartbeat if there was money in it. Finding clients that like it would be very easy. Finding ones to pay for it... that's another kettle o fish.

For a long time I had a "cloth diaper fee" in my policies for both the parents providing the diapers and for me providing them. I had parents requesting to use cloth diapers here but did not want to pay the fee for managing them. Even with them providing the diapers the staff time to deal with the cloth is substantially more than managing paper diapers. I found it less confrontational to say NO right off the bat then to say YES but with a fee. The parents who use them and would provide them don't really realize the maintence difference between a kid in paper and a kid in cloth.

I had one client tell me she called twelve day cares and JUST asked about cloth and was told no twelve times. She REALLY didn't get why. I spent the time and explained to her how it worked and why everyone just says NO off the bat and she really GOT it. I offered her the service for a fee but the fee I would have to charge would BE the cost of the actual diapers. It was up to them and they decided on paper.

Time and money as always. I don't think there is a single center in my area that does cloth services. It used to be more common but Centers really GET the staff time issue with them whether the parent provides them or not.

I'm open to going all cloth all the time. Just got to find clients who really believe in the environmental benefits and will put their money into it.

[SilverSabre25]

Some day in the future I'd like to offer CDing to everyone. I've got a huge stash of prefolds...I just need to build the stash of snappis and covers that I like (they're pricey...). My plan is to have the families provide me with 20 sposies a month (for one a day five days a week) and then at the last change of the day put everyone in one of their own sposies. They'll come in sposies and leave in sposies, but be in cloth while here.

Nanny, I'm curious...if the family supplies and launders the cloth diapers, how is it more expensive and how does it take more time? I'm really curious. I have had two families using Bumgenius (LOVE THOSE...won't afford them for my own kids though, ) pockets/AIOs and they use the flushable liners to catch the poop so it's really no tougher than a sposie. I'm just curious about your take on it.

[nannyde]

Nanny, I'm curious...if the family supplies and launders the cloth diapers, how is it more expensive and how does it take more time? I'm really curious. I have had two families using Bumgenius (LOVE THOSE...won't afford them for my own kids though, ) pockets/AIOs and they use the flushable liners to catch the poop so it's really no tougher than a sposie. I'm just curious about your take on it.

I wouldn't allow anything to be flushed first of all. I have a fifty year old house and have to protect the plumbing.

I don't have anything I pass back and forth daily with the parents built into my fees. I receive paper diapers either once or twice a month for each child and they are stocked in their bags in the kids cubby in my storage room. Wipes come in once a month or so and they go into a common storage and each pack is used as necessary.

The time I spend managing the stocking of the diapers and the handling of the diapers after changing is just a few minutes total per day for all of the kids.

Receiving and returning diapers would take staff time. I usually have about six kids in diapers at a time so separating each kids diapers into separate containers or bags each day and fetching these at departure time and giving that to the parents each day would take a lot of staff time.

When we change paper diapers the used diapers go into a common sack and it is tossed two to three times a day. There isn't any sorting or removing any liners or removing bm. It all goes in the same bag and is tossed into a close outdoor garbage bin. Easy peezy.

You also have the issue of leaks and total clothing changes that are way more common in cloth diapers than in paper diapers. I only allow diapers that I don't have leaking issues with. Adding the plastic underpants on top of the diapers takes time also to put on and to remove and change if they become soiled. Clothing changes are expensive in staff time. Cleaning the equipment that has been soiled is also expensive.

I also have expensive playpens for the kids to sleep in. I can NOT have diaper leaking in my playpens. It's easier to get new day care kids than it is to replace the equipment.

I would need about three dollars a day to cover the total costs which would add about fifteen dollars a week. That would be IF the parents brought the diapers. It would be more if I did the purchasing and cleaning of the diapers. Maybe a dollar more per day for that. It would be enough to cover the costs and give me a bit of profit for managing it. It would not be enough to cover even one playpen cleaning after a leak or blow thru.

There's a reason most centers and home child cares don't do cloth. Just think about it. If it were anwhere near easy and conveinient EVERY day care would do it.

It's about time and money. Each individual piece of managing them isn't hard it's just time. Paper is WAY easier to manage especially if you have a system where the time it takes to bring the supplies in and disposing of the diapers is a couple of minutes per month and you have quality paper diapers to work with.

[SilverSabre25]

Thanks, I was just curious about your take on it. You have interesting viewpoints. I don't always agree 100%, but they are interesting food for thought.

FWIW, the AIOs such as BumGenius, I've never had a leak in a year of having them used by kiddos in my daycare. They are called "All In One" for a reason too--no covers/plastic pants needed. Not trying to change your mind or anything, just saying.

[SunflowerMama]

Personally for me I'm ok with a little additional cost upfront (stash of diapers and covers bought at minimal cost used, used clothing to go over the diapers...very minimal cost, and eco disposables for going home). I have 8 kids but most days only 2 or 3 that are in diapers (so granted definitely not as many in diapers as most people). Because I cloth diapered my twins for 3 years the time it takes me to change a cloth diaper (even a prefold and cover) versus a disposable is about the same. The way my station is setup everything is in the same location (washer/dryer, bathroom, wetbag) so I'm not doing anything more with the cloth diaper than I would a disposable. So therefore it doesn't take any additional time for me and with the cost being upfront I'm actually saving myself and/or my parents money because I/they aren't purchasing disposables or wipes for the 50 hrs/week they are in my care. You can purchase a stash of diapers for about $200-$300 and typically a family will spend $3,000 on disposables.

The bottom line for me is that regardless of any additional cost or time I am, at the end of the day, the one that is ultimately responsible for the amount of waste and trash leaving my house on a daily or weekly basis. So I will always strive to continue to find ways to reduce that waste even if it involves a little extra $$ upfront.