Originally Posted by
NZquilter
I have to admit, I'm considering cloth diaper myself. With Baby number two on the way and my eldest being only 17 months, I don't know how I'm going to like paying (or justifying) the cost of two. My DH wants to spare me the work of cloth diapers, which is sweet of him. I'm nervous about the toilet spraying part...
Many moms in my small town use cloth diapers, so at least I wouldn't feel like an alian hanging cloth diaper out on the clothes line!
Being an old-school cloth diaperer, I don't have any advice for you related to today's modern cloth diapers, but one word of advice, keep it simple.
Honestly, I think the old-fashioned two-piece cloth diaper method is still the best, you know, the method where both diaper and pull-on waterproof pants are used. Even if you were to go with pre-folds instead of the fold-up flats, pre-folds would wash-up more efficiently and dry much faster than modern thick and bulky cloth diapers, and pre-folds are a fraction of the price of that of modern cloth diapers.
With pre-folds, I wouldn't even consider doing the toilet spray thing. Just dunk up and down in the toilet a few times, wring, and toss into a plastic pail until wash day, and dry on an outdoor line when you can. Even pins are no biggie once you do it a few times. I was changing baby siblings cloth diapers (with pins) at age 8, and if I could do it back then, you absolutely, positively could do it.
With your situation, you'd save a bundle, you really would. Two kids in diapers equates to a huge expense when using disposables, but with cloth all you'd be looking at would be laundry costs, which add up to nothing more than a few pennies per load. Astronomical savings... savings you could apply towards so many other things.
If I were a mom today, I'd go back to the old-fashioned standby's I used on my kids when they were babies, complete with safety pins and diaper pail. The whole nine yards. Rubber pants, too.