OMG BABY!!!

[MIJB#19]

Congrats!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Thanks for all the congrats, folks!

I've now had approximately 19 hours of sleep in the past 5 days. Not horrible, but I basically didn't sleep at all last night (the first night home).

Little Samuel and Mom are doing well, and we'll probably have some more pictures at the link above soon.

As for diapers - right now we're using disposables and just throwing them in the trash as they don't smell (that comes later). Once things settle down, we'll be switching over to *gasp* cloth diapers. A move I resisted, sure, but my wife was adamant. So that'll be a whole new level of exciting.

Oh, and I've changed all but one diaper so far. And little Samuel's favorite sleeping position is on Daddy's chest while Daddy slumps in the couch watching Sportscenter. Each. And. Every. Sportscenter.

Using cloth diapers sounds really cool, until you try to do it. Good luck though, maybe it will be better for you. Got to watch the dog doesn't start digging for buried diapers, that could be a bad time.

[Telle]

We use cloth diapers, and it's really not a big deal. The only "yucky" part is putting them into the washer since you generally have to touch the soiled diapers a little. If the baby is breastfed you basically just take the diaper off and toss it in the diaper pal, just as you would with a disposable. Then once they start solids we used flushable liners.. so you just open the diaper over the toilet and the liner and poop fall off and then just toss the diaper into the pal.

We also used disposables during the meconium stage. That stuff will stain the cloth diapers something awful.

[flere-imsaho]

We have two sets of friends who have been using/used cloth diapers. Aside from environmental concerns, one of the big plusses is that apparently you can potty-train your kid a lot earlier. The reasoning is that since disposables are now so good at wicking the moisture away, kids don't really get the "discomfort" part of diapers. Whereas with cloth they're ready for the change.

We'll see.

Anyway, what's with this "flushable liner"? I don't think we have those - and I'm interested in learning more.

[JPhillips]

It's still hit and miss on potty training. My niece was in cloth diapers and they had the opposite effect. She was used to being wet and didn't care when she had accidents.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

It's still hit and miss on potty training. My niece was in cloth diapers and they had the opposite effect. She was used to being wet and didn't care when she had accidents.

Yep, that happens just as often. They now have disposable diapers that create the same 'wet' feeling, so that's available with both diaper options. I've had two different friends that both decided to do cloth diapers. Neither lasted more than a month.

[Fidatelo]

I've got some friends that went the cloth route, and the other benefit beyond environment is cost. The initial outlay is pretty large, but over the 2-3 years that they are in use you save a lot of money versus disposables. Plus if you have more than 1 kid you can probably re-use a lot of them for the next one, reducing the cost even more.

[Telle]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

We have two sets of friends who have been using/used cloth diapers. Aside from environmental concerns, one of the big plusses is that apparently you can potty-train your kid a lot earlier. The reasoning is that since disposables are now so good at wicking the moisture away, kids don't really get the "discomfort" part of diapers. Whereas with cloth they're ready for the change.

We'll see.

Anyway, what's with this "flushable liner"? I don't think we have those - and I'm interested in learning more.

We use these liners Diaper Liners, Flushable Diaper Liners - Diaperaps Diapers & Covers You just lay it on top of the diaper when you put it on the baby. If the baby wets it can go right in the wash with the diapers and will go through about three or four washings before it degrades to the point where you have to throw it out. If the baby poops then as i said you just take the soiled diaper to the bathroom, open it up over the toilet, and let the liner fall in with the poop. It might not get ALL of the poop but the rest will just come off in the wash.

What kind of cloth diapers are you using? What kind of covers? We're just using plain old prefolds with a snappi to hold them together, and then we have some Bummis and some MotherEase covers and prefer the MotherEase.

The main reason I wanted to go with cloth is because most everybody in my family has VERY sensitive skin. I actually get a diaper rash from disposable feminine products. And I figured if I can't go a week with that stuff against my skin, how are my babies supposed to go a couple of years? And so we went with cloth, and we hardly ever have to deal with diaper rash (not counting the fact that Aemon's butt with will get seriously sore if you don't get him out of a poopy diaper immediately.. but that's not something that a disposable diaper would help with anyways).

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Telle

What kind of cloth diapers are you using? What kind of covers? We're just using plain old prefolds with a snappi to hold them together, and then we have some Bummis and some MotherEase covers and prefer the MotherEase.

Thanks for the tips, Telle. We're mostly going to be using plain old prefolds with a snappi, though we have some, I think, FuzziBuns, which is like cloth with a plasticky outer shell.

We'll take a look at those liners, though.

[RomaGoth]

Congratulations!! It is the best thing in the world, being a new dad. Or an old dad for that matter.