Diapers Q&A - Cloth Diapers and Twins?

Cloth Diapers and Twins?

My best friend is pregnant with twins. She recently started looking at cloth diapers to save her money compared to disposables. Please let me know if cloth diapers with twins is the most economical over disposables - by economical I mean in both time and money (diapers, water, soap, electricity, covers, etc.) We do not have any services in town or even nearby to consider. Also, what would she need to start out? How much would it cost up front? How long does an average diaper last before it needs replaced? Do cloth diapers fit all sizes? With twins they'll probaby be smaller than average. And any other info you think might help. Mind you I don't care if she wants to use disposables or cloth - I just want more information from people that actually use them. Thanks in advance. We live in Illinois (no, not Chicago) - so she could line dry in the summer.

Public Comments

Cloth diapers are an ecologically sound investment - but it depends to a degree on where you live. If you are in a sunny climate, where the diapers can be dried outdoors, they they are very good. The sunlight kills any germs or bacteria and keeps the diapers sweet. The average diaper lasts a couple of years - usually until the toddler is toilet trained. Cloth diapers generally come only in one size, but you can fold them in a variety of ways. As your friend is having twins, and they likely will be smaller, she might want to buy some diaper material and make a batch of smaller diapers to start off with, then move to the regular size once the babies have reached 6 or 7 pounds. To begin with, she will need about two dozen diapers for each child and she'll want to get some plastic pants to put on top of the diapers when she takes the babies out. You sound like a very good friend - will you be a godmother to one of the twins?
Twins aren't always smaller than average. I use Popolini (a Europe brand, I know there's an equivalent in the US, but I can't remember... but they're the kind that grow with the kid using snaps) and I would highly recommend a system like that. They do and don't save time and money. with twins, I am sure she'll spend every other day in the laundry room. I would say she would need a good 40 to start out. I have 24 for my son and that's perfect. I also have about 4 covers in each size for him, so I would double that for her as well. It would cost around $12 a diaper, $15 per cover up front. Seems like a bit, but well worth it. If she plans on using these until they're potty trained (which you can!) then she's DEFINITELY saving money. AND THEN if she has more kids later... nothing left to buy! I have a friend that used the same cloth diapers on 3 kids, so I am sure they'll last a while. There are other reasons she should choose cloth diapers though. Diaper rash is at minimum. Disposables cause horrible rash. (I have actually seen this on my son!) as the wetness stays right there. With cloth you can wic it away with a fleece liner. Landfills are FULL of diapers that don't decompose very fast at all. You never have to run out for "emergency diapers" at 2AM! That's probably the best! She can check out the link below if she's still not completely sure! Hope I was helpful!
You can buy cloth diapers that have velcro on them like a disposible. These would be the easiest for her to use. THey are very expensive though. Cushies that I had were $60.00 for 6. I live in Canada. I would hang them to dry (after putting them in the dryer for a few minutes. With my son, the first size lasted 9 months, then he was too big. WIth his sister, they only fit for 6 months. But twins will be on the smaller side (likely.) I would think, she would need about 40 diapers if she is doing laundry often. And yes, I think that it is more economical to have cloth with all things considered. She may want to use disposible at night, as they hold more and baby is less likely to wake up.
Its hard to put a price on time, really. It is also hard to put a price on the water, electrical, etc because it varies so widely from place to place and it varies depending on the machine you have and how you wash cloth diapers (wet pail vs dry pail, washing every day vs once a week etc, type of diaper etc). Cloth diapers often survive through more than one child and many moms find they can buy second-hand and then resell most of them for basically what they paid. Maybe with 10% being too stained or damaged to be re-sold. How many she would need, the initial start up cost, and sizing depends on the type of diapers. Some diapers are more or less one size fits all (though toddlers often need a larger size). Some are very size dependant. All-in-one diapers are more expensive but some find them easier to use. A diaper that has many parts is often cheaper and you often need fewer pieces. Like you might go through 12 diapers in a day but only 2-3 diaper covers, and maybe only 1-2 doublers during the night/naps. Also if you sew cloth diapers can cost practically nothing as you can make them out of old blankets and sweaters, etc. I really recommend yahoo groups, and there are some great ones for cloth diapering. I can't recommend any in particular as I didn't end up doing cloth diapers (I didn't have a dryer when my son was born and right now my basement is trashed due to renos) http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=cloth+diaper
Cloth diapers, especially if she washes them herself, are generally cheaper than disposable, but there will be more up-front cost. Cost depends on many factors. Can she line-dry, at least part of the year? Does she want to use prefolds or all-in-ones? Prefolds are pre-made cloth diapers, with a heavier layer in the middle, that need to be folded and held on the baby with a diaper wrap. This option is generally cheaper, and prefolds come in different sizes (newborn, baby, toddler). She won't need to use a fresh diaper wrap with every diaper change, so she'll need more prefolds than wraps. All-in-ones are just what they sound like - the diaper and wrap are combined, so you change and wash the whole thing at each change. There are many different types and options, but they do tend to be more expensive than prefolds. Will she buy new or used? Does she plan on having more children, so she can use them more than once (most cloth diapers will last for many years, depending on care)? Expect the child to be in diapers, at least part-time, for at least 2-4 years (perhaps shorter for cloth than for disposable). Expect to go through anywhere from 6 -12 diapers a day for a newborn, so double this for twins. How many total cloth she will need depends on how often she wants to do laundry. She'll probably want to wash at least twice a week to avoid stinky diaper pails. Most cloth diapering websites have guidelines on how many to purchase and many offer discounts on packages. Her twins may or may not be small; if she carries to term, they'll be as big as any other baby. And newborns grow fast, so she won't want to spend a lot of money on diapers they'll only wear for a few weeks. Newborn twins are an amazing amount of work, so unless she'll have lots of help in the early weeks, washing diapers is probably one more thing she won't have time to do. She might consider disposables for the first few weeks, then switching to cloth once their out of the newborn sizes. They'll stay in the baby sizes of cloth diapers for much longer, so she'll have less to buy. We cloth diapered our twins from birth, but we also had a diaper service at first. They were average-sized babies, and grew out of the newborn prefolds in about 6 weeks. They were in the regular sized prefolds for a long time, and finally in toddler-sized while potty training.
This sounds more economical (money, time, etc) than disposables to me. I will make suggestions based on the needs for 2 babies (so a little less than double what you'd need for one, so she's still doing laundry around as frequently as with one, not more frequently). "What would she need to start out?" * 5 dozen fitted OR flat cloth diapers (ranging from "preemie" to "small" if fitted, just "small" if flat) * 2-3 dozen waterproof covers (ranging from "preemie" to "small") * 6 dozen wipes (if she's going cloth on those too, not a bad idea) * 2 large covered pails - one "dry" for pee diapers, one "wet" (with a solution of vinegar/borax/baking soda/whatever her choice) for poo diapers "How much would it cost up front?" As for cost, that can be a many varied thing... If she's good at sewing, or has a good friend or friends who are (nudge nudge lol) there are great, easy, free patterns online... you can get diaper materials on the cheap at thrift stores (old flannel sheets are great!) or fairly cheap at fabric stores... I did this for my son and managed to spend around $24 total on his diaper stash of 2 1/2 dozen fitted diapers... You can also look on eBay for diapers used, they are still in good condition and will be alot cheaper than brand-new. Around $1-$7 bucks a pop is fairly cheap and about what you'll find on eBay. If you buy brand-new, name-brand they can cost up to $24 or better for a single diaper... So say she does the home-made version... I'd say it costs $.75 to make each diaper, just to be generous... and with 5 dozen at $.75 that's... $45 for all her cloth diapers... and then covers... I went ahead and bought those myself, but they can be made for a little more apiece, like $1.25 each, and needing 3 dozen... $45 for her covers... So around $100 to cloth-diaper home-made style. eBay prices to fully cloth-diaper and cover could be around (average of $5 per diaper and cover, for 8 dozen total...) $480 for that... but probably a little more, cause it is bidding, and there is shipping and all that... Say $600 to eBay cloth diaper. Now brand-new diapers, saying each diaper/cover costs (roughly $14 each... for 8 dozen total) $1,344 to new cloth-diaper. Then around 6 months she'd probably need to get more sizes, so after 6 months she'd spend about half what she spent the first time (you don't need as many as the babies get older) then again at a year she'd spend a little more... maybe again at a year and a half... Cloth diapering home-made for 2 years: $400 TOPS eBay for 2 years: $1,800 most likely brand-new for 2 years: $2,200 around there. My favorite part of your question was: "How long does an average diaper last before it needs replaced?" Good news!! I used cloth with my son... They didn't wear out, he just outgrew them... They are in a box right now, about to be busted out for the next baby, which means... he/she will be diapered for next to nothing... Or if she doesn't have any more babies, she can turn around and sell her diapers on eBay for a pretty good return for her investment. Alot more than you can say for disposables, which are just that, thrown away money... "Do cloth diapers fit all sizes?" Yes absolutely, from "preemie" to "newborn" to "small" to "xxLarge" or sized by month, you can find/fold/make diapers in all sizes. As for other info... Here are some FANTASTICAL links. http://www.hersweetbaby.com/ natural baby products, organic baby products, cloth diapers and supplies, etc. http://www.thestork.biz/truths.html a little statistics on "which are better: cloth vs. disposies" http://www.diaperjungle.com/ a cloth-diapering COMMUNITY hooray where moms buy, trade, swap, etc... reviews... http://www.clothdiaperinfo.com/ http://www.diaperpin.com/ http://www.myclothdiaper.com/