Advice on cloth diapers ???

[suzydominguez]

Last week, I got a phone call inquiring about my home daycare. After answering a few questions, mom told me that her son uses cloth diapers and if I accepted them. I was not prepared to answer her because in all 13 years of daycare, I never cared for a child who used them. They all used disposable ones.:huh:

We will be meeting this thursday and I wanted to know if anyone could give me any advice or experiences on cloth diapers. I am sure it will be brought up and I would like to be prepared this time around:laugh: Thank you

[nschildcare]

I used cloth on my kids so it wasn't such a big deal for me. They are really quite simple to use and not a lot of work. I actually prefer them to disposable so that parents take home the stinky dipes and I don't have to put them in my garbage.

Some things to consider, though:
*I require a wetbag with a zipper to contain smells. Even still, the bag is sometimes stinky.
*To wash the diapers (which you will not be doing), you need to shake the solids (poo) off first. I don't do this as a rule. I don't have time and not my job imho. I just stick everything, wipes included, in the bag.
*I would ask for regular wipes (not cloth). Unless you have time to wet cloths before each change.

You can't leave a child in cloth for too long before it leaks. So, if you have a solid napper of 3 hours, this would be pushing a cloth diaper to capacity. After cleaning out pack n plays too many times I now request disposables for naps for kids 18+ months. Not a big deal throughout the day. We generally don't have leaks. If the diapers are leaking, there is not enough absorbency and the parent needs to sort that out. If they are using pocket diapers, this is as simple as adding in another soaker.

If you have never used cloth before, and you are open to it, I would offer a trial period so if you aren't comfortable you can opt out.

[suzydominguez]

Thank you nschildcare for your reply. I have never used cloth diapers and every time I thought about it, I remember the ones my mom use to where back in the days, with those huge steel pins. I have been on-line too and the idea of using a disposable one for naps is a good idea. I will give it a try like you said, It doesn't seem too complicated. As long as she doesn't expect me to wash them.

[Dreamalittledream]

I too used them for my own children; however have never had any DCKs who used them. I would be more than happy to take any who use them; to be honest, I cringe every time I put a bag of diapers in our garbage bin....at how many diapers we all add to landfill daily.
They are very easy to deal with; once you get in the swing of things. With being fortunate to get our cloth diapers second hand and 2 boys...it saved us so much money!
A tip for nap time...you can always simply put 2 cloth diapers on, one over the other...or, often parents will have covers (I used to use one at nighttime for mine).

[Busy ECE mommy]

I have a daycare child using them, and I find them a nuisance. These ones have disposable liners that look like Bounce dryer sheets as well as a cloth pad for parents to wash. The parents told me to put the liners in the toilet after a bowel movement, but my low flush toilets get clogged with them. I have to put a mushy chunk of feces in the garbage can, which I find unhygenic, and the smell is terrible in the garbage, because there is nothing to wrap it in like you would with a disposable. Lot of leaking, and I find this child prone to yeast infections even with 5-6 changes a day.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I've never had any child in cloth before but I find it is becoming more popular so I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I know a mom who cloth diapers but she has said that when her son goes to daycare she will most likely buy disposables for the dcp. In the last centre I worked at, a parent asked about cloth diapers and I am pretty sure she was told no, for sanitary reasons. However, that was in a centre with a lot more children than a hdc.

[mickyc]

I was going to use cloth with my daughter but quickly switched to disposable. I didn't like them.

I had a parent ask me about doing cloth at daycare. My answer was NO. Of course she tried to assure me how easy it was etc. It isn't something I was prepared to do. I don't have space for a bag with their child's dirty diapers and I am not running upstairs every time to put the diapers in a pail outside either. Disposable all the way here!

[superfun]

If all I had to do differently was put them into a bag for the parents, I would give it a try. I hate to think about all the diapers that get thrown out. I always wished I had done that for my own kids.

[gravy_train]

One of my families uses cloth diapers and it is great! They provide a wet bag and stuff the liners into the diaper and have them ready to go for me. It is zero extra work compared to disposable. I don't flush anything unless it's a very solid poop and falls off the diaper easily. Just tell the family that you are happy to use disposables but that the diapers must be snapped up, lined, and anything else that needs to be done so they are ready to go. Tell them that you need a clean wet bag for everyday and that they must take the old one home. Tell them that you will out the dirty diapers in the wetbav but you don't clean them. Good luck with your interview!

[happy@home]

I have one family using cloth diapers. They cause no more work then a disposable. The family sends them in with the cloth liner already in. I change the diaper, put it in the wet bag and send it home. They do leak sometimes, once a week or so but other then that they are great!

[sunnydays]

I have had many cloth diaper kids in my daycare and I LOVE them! In the beginning I was dumping and flushing the liners as well, but I did find they clogged my toilet and it was extra work. So I changed my policy and it is now no more work than disposables and I get to send them home at the end of the day so they don't add to my gigantic pail of stiny diapers. I have almost never had a problem with leaking at naptime and I have never seen a need for disposables at naptime. I did have one child who was using the diaper service ones and they leaked a bit, but all of the others I have had have been fine as long as parents take care of them properly. If they start leaking then the parents have to add absorbency. If you do a lot of outings, this is really the only time there is much of a difference because you have to have a wetbag with you and carry the dirty diaper back home. Otherwise, I would love it if all my dck's wore cloth! I am okay with cloth wipes as well...I just wet a pile of them in the morning and put them in a wipes box and then use them the same as I would regular wipes.

[Spixie33]

I had a call like this a few months ago. The mom wanted to meet with me about daycare and asked about my policy on cloth diapers. I had never really given it much thought so I did a lot of research online and on this forum...wrote a whole policy on cloth diapers and waited for the interview.

The lady stood me up.

To this day I don't know if it was just another daycare calling me to see whether I had a policy on cloth diapers or whether the mom was a total flake.

In retrospect...I am relieved I never had to go the cloth diaper route yet. There are a lot of things to consider. Good luck with your decision

[Secondtimearound]

I used cloth for my first 4 children !!! Loved them !!!! By the time the 5 th came I went with disposable ! I don't know if I would be ok with them in my dayhome , but prob would if asked !!!

[suzydominguez]

Thanks everyone for your reply's. Feedback was very, very helpful. I feel very confident :D Hopefully, she will be reasonable and do her part. Wish me Luck !!

[tabbu]

You gave me a great idea...as the boy I am taking care of is on cloth diaper and specially during nap times (max 2 hrs) the pack and play gets wet and it needs cleaning often. I think the parents should be ready to provide disposable diapers during nap times if I were to ask. Thank you..

[daycarewhisperer]

I offer a cloth diaper service for $2.50 per day. I love them.

[Rachael]

Wow, cloth diapering is HUGE here - and we wouldn't get away with it being an additional charge. Speaking to other providers we all accept cloth diaper and most of us have 50% of our kids in them. It's rarer NOT to have a cloth diapered child in the mix than it is to have them.

Most of us require a wet bag for the worn diapers. And that is either stored in the child's cubby or outside on the deck (carer dependant). Most of us don't dump and flush. We seem to all treat the cloth diapers the same way we would disposables, in the sense it's used, content wrapped and that's as far as we go with the care of the diapers.

Most carer's prefer them as it means less in the garbage and here, we have strict limits about the volume of garbage we can put out on collection days. Personally I don't like them but won't refuse them.

For me, I admit to unfair biased against them due to one child who just smelled of urine all the time. From the day he came, this aroma lingered around him. Changing him, it was 10 times worse. He's clean diapers looked spotless but his diaper bag, his spare clothes, everything held this smell, Couldn't wait to toilet train him. It's only ever been the one child but it has deterred me.

The other thing I don't like is the snaps - might sound petty but I have arthritis very mildly in my hands so the cloth diapers make that more painful. Yes, I know velcro cloth diapers are available but no one seems to wear those and parents seem reluctant to have special diapers for day care and others at home.

[mickyc]

For myself I say no to cloth diapers. I don't have room for bags of cloth diapers nor do I want the smell and possibility of leaking, not that disposables are foolproof. Disposables only here. I know I have missed out on some families because of it but so be it.

[Montisanto]

Is there any use of diaper pail? I've read in this source (https://cutelittledarling.co m/best-diaper-pail/) that some families use this as a number one spot in their houses. I think I'd put one.

[Artsand crafts]

I only have one DCK with cloth diapers who usually had runny/lose stools. It was a nightmare. She leaked some times. I have to disinfect the whole area every time. After that, I just told the parents that they could still be doing the cloth diapers at home and disposables just for daycare hours. I had a couple of families that did this. The smell of old pee during diaper change was also a turn off. I guess the disposable diapers adsorb odors too.

[EphramNil]

Hi. Its very simple.
The cloth diapers are
equipped with buttons or comfortable Velcro, elastic
ribbons for comfort facilities. A feces Just rinse with a shower head all
in the toilet. You need to have an extra diaper
for a shift and a plastic bag or a special bag for
dirty diapers. I saw these diapers and baby gear reviewed by Top-Mom.com (https://top-mom.com/)

[Norawa]

Maybe this article will be able to help https://www.babylist.com/hello-baby/best-cloth-diapers