Diapers - can your baby go diaperless?

The latest podcast - bit late for me as I'm not planning on having any more, but then there's all the future grandchildren to think of...

Here's the blurb...

"Paul Wheaton talks to Kelly Ware about eco-mom-ing, and going diaperless. They talk about telling when your infant is about to go pee or poop. They talk about peeing in the sink. Kelly talks about knowing when to pee at night. Chaya from pantryparatus.com asks some questons. Chaya says kids that use cloth diapers are easier to potty-train overall, but she explains she used one disposable diaper per night so they slept better. Kelly talks about some psychological dynamics that go on with potty-training, positive and negative. They mention about pee being good for the soil. They talk about diaper pollution. Paul mentions the third ethic. Paul talks about Wal-Mart, and who has funded all of the anti-Wal-Mart campaigns. Chaya talks about fertility later in life and diaper chemicals. She also talks about a chemical in mainstream diapers that used to cause toxic shock syndrome in tampons. Another woman shares about her experiences using cloth diapers in a daycare."

I normally listen to every single podcast but I'm going to fess up to skipping the diaper and electric tractor podcasts.

But I do have 2 cents to put in on diapers.

For the parent that works outside of the home I just don't see how they can fit in time for cloth diapers. If it were me I would concentrate on quality food (not prepared baby food) and just go with disposable diapers.

For the parent who is working at home - that was me - cloth diapers were a life saver. We did not have money for disposables. If I had bought disposable diapers we would not have had money for ANYTHING else; we were just scraping by as it was. And I keep hearing people say how expensive cloth diapers are -- huh? It is a square cloth. You buy a pack of 12 or so. You never buy them again.

O.k. I am done with diapers -- like 32 years ago

"Diaper-free" is a bit of a misnomer, as most families who practice elimination communication DO use diapers, but they're a backup. This was mentioned in the podcast.
I did this with baby #2, and would have done it with the 1st one if I had it to do over again. It actually was really easy.
I disagree with the previous poster about cloth diapers being too much work for parents who work outside the home. If you own a washer and dryer and don't fold them, it only takes a few minutes of hands-on time to wash them. I was a stay-at-home mom with the 1st one, but back to teaching part-time with the second, and used fewer disposables for her. Of course, that was the one who was using the potty from 3 days old, and had no poopy diapers after 6 months, but I still washed diapers or training pants at least a couple of times a week. I don't see where the supposed hard work comes in.
Anyway, my experience with EC was great, and while it's not for everyone, I'd highly recommend it to new parents. In my book, it sure beats diaper rash and a ton (literally) of trash in a landfill.

It's been a long time since I had to do a nappie but when my son was a baby (18 years ago) I folded tons of cloth diapers. My Yugoslav friends showed me how to fold a cloth square diaper differently for a boy or a girl baby. Boys need more cloth folds at the front and girls need the thickest part between their legs. Anyhooo... I will try to find an explanation or a video tutorial on the proper diaper origami-ing that they showed me.

I used cloth diapers exclusively 'til my son was about 9 or 10 months old. When he was 10 months or so I just couldn't handle the adult sized poops he was doing. I got him sitting on his potty and 'practising' for his new diaper free lifestyle. We read the book "Once upon a Potty" about a million times to get him excited about potty training. Don't make pooping 'dirty' or disgusting, just get your kid excited about graduating to a potty instead of diapers. I have to stress that you don't punish a child for pooping in his pants. Don't make it a battle! Just use encouragement .... and let them run around pant less (at home) if that makes it easier.

The Chinese train in crotchless pants and get the kids trained en masse. The baby potty training starts really early in China. The group goes to potty together. I've heard that the daycare workers whistle or sing to encourage all the kiddies to pee and poop together. Sounds weird, I know.

My advice? Let your kid go diaperless (weather permitting) as much as possible and notice your child's cues.

Diaper/Nappy Folding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gasWvBJEDlU&feature=fvwrel

During the warm half of the year we're outdoors much of the time and our kids were nekid (*gasp*) so no diaper during the day. I think they learn to control faster that way.

They are born with the ability to control bowel and bladder functions. Adults just don't often realize it.
Going diaperless keeps them aware of those sensations.

we did diaper-free with our 2 boys. You learn real fast that they give signs when they need to go, and you just stick them on a potty. It is a learning process for both the parents and the child, but after the first 2-3weeks, you become a pro.

http://www.velacreations.com/nodiapers.html

People don't realize how much water gets used with cloth diapers, it is definitely not an environmentally friendly method, IMO.

Abe Connally wrote:People don't realize how much water gets used with cloth diapers, it is definitely not an environmentally friendly method, IMO.

+1,000,000!!! From a purely personal economic view, disposables were cheaper for us when you factored in the cost of washing.

Doing the diaper-free method takes 110% commitment by the parent for the first few weeks. It is just like trying to house-train a dog, you have to watch for the signs ALL THE TIME and MOVE FAST when you see them.

we live on rainwater catchment, so cloth diapers fail the affordability test with us...

Ironic. I'm doing this right now. My hubby and I both work - I'm almost full time again. The question was - go shopping for diapers and fill up a land fill or buy and just keep up atih laundry. Even with our really small machine, we have been keeping them going. There are now fancy cloth diapers that keep butts dry (in my opinion) better thant the disposables. So far, the cloth is more reliable and easier than the disposables. We do love diaper free time. There's nothing as cute as a nudist baby. Being summer it helps our nude model. When she starts moving more, we'll probably have to keep the nappy on, but by then we are hoping diaper rash will be less common and we will be more aware of when to expect events (in order to prevent rash).
So far here's what I think:

-Plain old cloth placed on a water-proof mattress pad is great for the nudist lying down.
-Cloth and cover would be great for the day, when you can immediately replace the used ones (and that little butt is on the move across the living room floor)
-Fancy ones with non-absorbent, soft material against the skin and a highly absorbent soaker pad for at night - when your want that but on something besides a waterproof matress pad or for long trips.

Get the one-sized diapers so you don't have to buy more as the baby grows. Infant-sized cloth diapers can be changed do diaper liners as the babe grows.

I wouldn't get one-size diapers for an EC'd baby. They're bulky on a newborn and the larger sizes are likely not needed. Size 0 fitteds were fine on my daughter until about 8 months, and by then she was pretty much done with diapers anyway.

I don't know what EC means. Can you explain? What I do know is my little one started out on the widest setting in many of her diapers and we are moving towards making the leg gaskets wider. The fuzzibunz Elite one-size is also just about as thick as a disposable, but nothing beats the thinness of nude Anyway, I guess every kid is different

EC (as I mentioned in a previous post) stands for elimination communication: observing and responding to a baby's signals that they need to go potty. Did you listen to the podcast referred to in the OP? That's what it's about. Not just leaving the diaper off sometimes to let the baby's skin get some air, but putting them on the potty from early on, rather than expecting them to eliminate in diapers.

Thank you for clarifying what it stands for, I had seen the term, but didn't make the connection. Unfortunately, between work and home life, I have not had the opportunity to listen to the podcast. I just thought that I could give 2 cents about the cloth diaper issue, since I'm going through it right now. As for trying to go without diapers completely, my husband and I follow a philosophy that our daughter is too young for that yet- she's just beginning to support her own head. However, in the future, we do want to try diaper-free or diaper as back-up...in appropriate locations. Renting an apartment with carpeted floors and two parents working might make us re-consider that. Anyway, I would love to listen to the podcast, but may only have time by the time it's too late. Just thought someone might benefit from my current experiences on the diaper thing anyway.

our first son was going in the potty when he was a few days old. Our second son had his first poop in a toilet. They are never too young, but you definitely have to hold their head and support them. The best way, for us, was to turn them so that they face away from you. Hold them by their thighs, and they naturally form a sitting position against your body. If you raise the thighs up a bit, then they can't fall forward.

Abe, that's how we held them too. I agree that they are never too young. Many people seem to think infant pottying is somehow forcing them to grow up too soon, which couldn't be further from the truth. Heck, I nursed mine past their 4th birthdays, I just don't consider sitting in their own waste a necessary part of being a baby. Also, while they're never too young, they can be too old. After about 3-5 months they've become "diaper-trained" and it's harder to get them using the potty. That's why my 1st one was in diapers until 2 1/2-I didn't try EC until she was about 8 months old, and by that time she was used to diapers and confused when I tried to put her on the potty.

We have plentiful water, so washing cloth diapers isn't a problem. It really doesn't take much time. When my twins were tiny I used disposable, and hauling heavy stinky bags to the dump was unpleasant expensive work.

At night the cloth gives them rashes, so I use compostables. Whenever the bag gets full, I dig a hole and plant it. THe wood pulp based stuff inside holds a lot of water, so I figure it is like little hugelkultur. I don't bury them anywhere near our well, just in case.

During the day at home they are ususally nudie-toots on the bottom. It does help them understand the mechanics much better. As a preschool teaher I can vouch for the idea that cloth diapered kids tend to train faster. Kids in disposable "training pants" take the longest. What a racket!

I can't imagine the amount of time I would have had to invest had I gone the route of EC. Even as the stay-at-home mom that I was, I wouldn't have had anywhere near the time needed to commit to such a thing.

The closest I got in the diaper-less department, was sending my kids outside (bare-bottomed) to play... something I did regularly when I was toilet training them. Otherwise, I used diapers 99% of the time (cloth diapers), so expense was never an issue.