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Cloth Diapers at Daycare?

As most of you know, I'm a full time stay-at-home mom (maid, cook, nanny, chauffeur, doctor and dog walker) and a part-time blogger. I know that many of you, however, probably work outside of the home, and I can honestly tell you, I have a lot of days where I wish I did too.  Being a stay at home isn't all sticky tables, runny noses, laundry stains, dirty dishes and poopy diapers-- it can be fun at times fun too and my moods often switch from bliss to stress in five to ten minute increments. I do love the fact that using cloth diapers means that no matter how many poopy diapers we have in one day, I just throw my Thirsties in the wash. Yesterday I had Cooper at the gym where I often go to do a light workout and get some writing done. The daycare is great. He's been going since he was six weeks old and he's happy to get out of the house. I call it my office and it even has WiFi. I get two hours of daycare daily with our membership and it's been my lifesaver. I always bring Cooper in his cloth diapers and I bring two extras. I change his diaper before we leave and toss the soiled one in the wet-bag and the extra back into the diaper bag. Since I'm always there, the daycare ladies have become quite familiar with Cooper's cloth diaper booty--but not because they've ever changed him--they're not "allowed" to so if he, or any other baby poops, they go and find his or her mother or father in the gym---yes, even if you're running at 6.0 on the treadmill or right in the middle of an oh-so-relaxing "Child's pose" in a yoga class--and silently beckon with a crooked finger and an apologetic smile that says "I'm not a bit sorry that I don't have to change your child's poopy diaper for you." The last time I was there, one of the daycare workers, an elderly lady of whom I'm quite fond, commented on how "fancy" Cooper's Thirsties were. She said that she had bought some cloth diapers for her grand-baby but that her daughter-in-law doesn't use them because the baby goes to daycare while she's at work and that they're not allowed. This got me thinking--is cloth diapering done mainly by stay-at-home moms? I have a hard time believing that there aren't lots and lots of cloth-diapering families that have both parents working outside of the home. So tell me, if your child goes to a daycare, whether it's in someone's home or at a center, do you bring your cloth diapers and if so, is it more work for you or for the caregivers since they don't have access to all of your accessories, not to mention your diaper pail? Working moms, tell us how you do it!
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58 comments

  • We use cloth diaper with our daycare provider. It was the first question I asked when I was touring different ones. All of them said they would give it a try. We use gDiapers during the day and thirsties covers and prefolds at night. Once I showed them how to use them they had no problem. I leave a spare wetbag there. (In case I forget it one day) Then I have 2 more that I rotate between. Also one day when I forgot the wet bag they still used the cloth diapers and not my spare disposables. They just used a large plastic bag as a wet bag. It was so nice! When I get home I have to pull them out and take them apart but it’s not so bad.

    Elizabeth Baxter on
  • Cloth isn’t allowed at any daycares around here except the in-home places… but we figured that any cloth diapering we did was an improvement over full-time disposables!

    Leah on
  • After having 8 kids, I have finally found cloth diapers. I am so excited to use the new all in one cloth. After searching many companies, I almost went with gdiapers because they were readily available at stores. But luckily I found Thirsties, which are made in the next town over from where I live! I love that they are local and made in the USA, plus they are much more affordable than other cloth diapers! Hopefully I will stick with it and not give up!

    Theresa Ciardella on
  • No problem at our home-based daycare. We mostly send Bumgenius Elementals, which they find easier than the prefolds and covers some other kids use. There have been a few “user errors” but nothing major. I never asked, but if the poop is solid they flush it for me. They love my Planetwise hanging wet/dry bag versus the flimsy drawstring bag another family sends!

    Melissa on
  • My son is in undies now but he did cloth at 3 different center daycares over 1.5 years. (we moved and then didn’t like the first one agter move). State Rules don’t make it easy on daycares to use cloth. The first 2 just followed the rules I gave them. The most recently (a place that we LOVE) was newly opened and trying extra hard to meet all the state laws. It was very tough, one state rep would give a different answer than the first — sometime undermining what the first one said. There was a lot left to interpretation. Exactly what we had to bring changed almost daily to meet the requirements – I also had to get a doctors note!

    In the end it was the dr’s note combined with a bag in a flip top pail (they provided the pail), and individually wrapped dirty diapers in small wet bags (or plastic bags — but I supplied the wet bags). Also nothing could be reused after soiled — annoying because we used gro via or covers and prefolds – all about reused so I had to buy a few more covers to get by. Luckily my son was 2 so not as many changes in a day. If/when I do it over I will probably buy daycare specific one-use diapers it was too stressful adapting my system and we only did it 3 days a week!

    Sierra on

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