Are You Willing To Do Cloth Diapers For DC Families?

[youretooloud]

I had a prospective family tell me they wanted to do cloth. I had no problem with it. Until they told me it would be the old fashioned pin kind. No way, nu uh, not gonna do it. One wrong move (on my part or a kicking, rolling baby) and it's my rear. I'll pass.

I don't like the pins either.

I love prefolds in a cover. (GOOD prefolds, not Gerber) http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/workhorse.htm These are good, and cheap, but still require a cover unless you don't mind a little wetness.

http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm <--good inexpensive prefolds.

Awesome covers. http://www.cottonbabies.com/index.php?cPath=139

But, they make some REALLLLY cute diapers that are more expensive. Some diapers cost as much as $40 a piece!

http://shop.thegoodmama.com/category_s/20.htm <--Cute, but YIKES!

[Country Kids]

Have any of you ever noticed that the ones that have been in cloth diapers seem to potty train earlier and easier. I know I had all four of mine in cloth and they all potty trained so easy. My one son actually was potty trained at 18 months! With the disposable and then pull-ups it seems to take forever to potty train these days.

[ammama]

I CD'd my last child, and will do it this time around also. I've had 2 dck's in cloth, and don't mind it at all. There are no regs here for cloth diapers specifically, other than following regular diaper changing hand washing routines and having a secure area to store dirty diapers. I will dump bm's if they are solid enough to do it easily, otherwise, right in the bag they go. Parents must provide a zippered waterproof bag to store them in, which goes home everyday, and the bag is hung in the changing area out of reach.

[PitterPatter]

Have any of you ever noticed that the ones that have been in cloth diapers seem to potty train earlier and easier. I know I had all four of mine in cloth and they all potty trained so easy. My one son actually was potty trained at 18 months! With the disposable and then pull-ups it seems to take forever to potty train these days.

Really? I may have to see about changing. I have a 4 yr old girl still in diapers. Shes new so I don't know what the deal really is but I don't think she is being worked with at home and when she keeps changing daycares it's harder. She's been out for a few weeks because DCM is off work due to an injury. I am hoping when she gets back she is trained. With Mom and Dad being there 24/7 it shouldn't be a problem.

I had my son potty trained at 16 months no lie!! He went for almost a whole week with no accidents. In underwear and just reverted slowly back to diapers. Oddest thing I have ever seen! A couple months later he was trained for good but I never did understand exactly why he reverted. My Mom says because he got lazy and it was easier and more satisflying to get the extra attention. I doubt that attention played a role because he had ALL of my attention those days. I was a stay at home Mom, no daycare, and Hubby lived here then as well.

[Mom_of_two]

Yep. I have a DCB who is 15 mo in cloth, started here at 4 mo. They use a variety, Fuzzy Bunz with the plastic snaps are my fave. they also provide some disposable and disposable wipes to have on hand if I ever need. Takes a little extra time, but no big deal. I watch three plus my two kids so with five total it might be easier than someone watching eight or something!

[nannyde]

Yes

The fee is three dollars per day.

[My Daycare]

Regs here are opposite from others...

"A toilet shall be easily accessible so that the contents of reusable diapers may be disposed of before placing the diapers in the diaper pail. Disposable diapers and their contents shall be disposed of in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions."

I might consider it after the parents show me how.

[PeanutsGalore]

I did offer it with my first client because I did it with my own son, but I had to stop offering it to future clients. The screamer was intolerant to any dampness at all and had a recurring diaper rash that only appeared when she used cloth. Her mom still used cloth on her anyway, whenever she could, despite her husband asking her to stop. I always used 'sposies on her here, but when she did come in with cloth, her mom asked me to use a special liner to be put into the diaper to help wick away the moisture from the skin, as well as another special liner to catch that yucky solid food poo. That doesn't work out well for my schedule--that's a five-component diaper to put together while there's a wriggling baby fighting with you on the table. And then you still have to get it on them, and repeat 6 times/day!

For those of you who use cloth, how do you keep things sanitary and keep from spending half the day doing diaper changes with the whole cloth process when the parent can't afford the all-in-ones? Multiple babies in cloth means they all have to have separate bags stored somewhere. I can't figure that one out--I have absolutely no floor space that my toddlers can't get to, and my house is small so no matter where I leave the bags, I smell the poo, so I have to drop diapers bags outside after every change and fetch them again before the next one. I can't imagine doing cloth diapers on multiple kids until I have a new bathroom added to the house and build it specifically with daycare in mind.

How do you do it? Where do you store all those dirty bags all day? Do the kids get into it?

[nannyde]

For those of you who use cloth, how do you keep things sanitary and keep from spending half the day doing diaper changes with the whole cloth process when the parent can't afford the all-in-ones? Multiple babies in cloth means they all have to have separate bags stored somewhere. I can't figure that one out-
How do you do it?

I charge a fee for it. If you make 15 dollars a week for it then it's worth it to do the extra work.

When you have cloth discussions you get such a wide range of responses: It's VERY easy to do... no problem... no leaks... no extra work... simple to sort... simple to manage... To my experience of: more changes per day, leakage, clothing changes, bedding cleaning, sorting and returning to parents, conference time to manage, takes up real estate in the room etc.

It's not hard work to manage them ... it's just work. As long as I get paid for the time I don't mind doing it.

[youretooloud]

For those of you who use cloth, how do you keep things sanitary and keep from spending half the day doing diaper changes with the whole cloth process when the parent can't afford the all-in-ones? Multiple babies in cloth means they all have to have separate bags stored somewhere. I can't figure that one out--I have absolutely no floor space that my toddlers can't get to, and my house is small so no matter where I leave the bags, I smell the poo, so I have to drop diapers bags outside after every change and fetch them again before the next one. I can't imagine doing cloth diapers on multiple kids until I have a new bathroom added to the house and build it specifically with daycare in mind.

How do you do it? Where do you store all those dirty bags all day? Do the kids get into it?

I have a plastic bucket with a snap on lid. (rubbermaid file box) and It just sits on the floor. But, I have a bathroom with a gate right next to my changer. So, I can set the diaper pails over the gate if I need to. I also have enough floor space. The kids mess with the disposable pail a lot more than the cloth pail. The disposable pail has a button on the top, so I need to move that one out of reach.

We use covers with a prefold in them. I just take the wet prefold out, stick a new one in, and close it and go. It doesn't take any more time than a disposable for us... but, there's probably a learning curve, so at first it might take more time.

I've never used an All in One, or a Pocket, so I don't know how those would be.

[PeanutsGalore]

I charge a fee for it. If you make 15 dollars a week for it then it's worth it to do the extra work.

When you have cloth discussions you get such a wide range of responses: It's VERY easy to do... no problem... no leaks... no extra work... simple to sort... simple to manage... To my experience of: more changes per day, leakage, clothing changes, bedding cleaning, sorting and returning to parents, conference time to manage, takes up real estate in the room etc.

It's not hard work to manage them ... it's just work. As long as I get paid for the time I don't mind doing it.

See, I don't mind the work. I'd do it for no additional fee because I want to support cloth diapering, I just can't stand smelling poo all day, and there's no way in heck I'm going to let my son play with it or chase after him all day to keep him out of it. I just have to save more money so I can afford to add a real bathroom to my house!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Have one girl in cloth diapers, my first one. Dreaded it at first, was worried about leaks, but its totally easy. Yes, regs say they cannot be rinsed out here and must be in a sealed container. Mom provided the container and lots of daipers. Easy as pie!

[cheerfuldom]

If the parents have the right style and the right fit for their kid, there is no leaks. To me its not any extra work whatsover. The diapers do need to come ready to use so liners need to be layed in already, stuffable diapers or pockets need to be stuffed already, etc. I don't find that its extra diaper changes at all but I also check every kid every hour anyway. I don't let kids sit in their filth or what till a disposable is about to fall off. Parents can even get hanging bags to hang over a door or from a hook if you have storage issues. As long as moms supply everything and its ready to use, I don't find even a single downside to doing this. I have minimal diaper trash with only two in disposables right now, everyone else potty trained or in cloth. My older daughter trained before two years including nights and naps. The younger starting going on the potty at 16 months old and thats after a couple months of holding her back because I did not have trainers for her and didn't believe that she was actually ready yet. I love cloth diapering and wish more parents would try it. With 3 kids in less than 4 years, we have saved a fortune! Plus you can get a better variety of reusable swim diapers and trainers so thats even more.

[dEHmom]

my last dcg came with both disposables and cloth. they preferred the cloth, but if they were running low, or if she hadn't had her poop yet when they dropped off, then they put her in disposables.

this is similar if not the same to what they had, and i liked them.



however, i found they were a lot bulkier, and so trying to get a little pair of jeans on and stuff was a lot harder. i bagged them and sent them home.

[squareone]

I prefer disposables for daycare kids but I will accept cloth. I've had kids in care that used cloth diapers. The only thing I will be responsible for is putting the soiled diaper in the waterproof bag. If the process is any more involved than that, I would tell the family it won't be a good fit.

I will NOT do cloth wipes though!