I had similar concerns as you with regard to skin sensitivity and environment. I was also doing full time daycare. None of the daycares that we considered allowed for cloth diapers. And then there seems to be no agreement on which is worse for the environment--water usage or landfill usage. Anyway, we ended up choosing Bambo nature disposable diapers because they got good usability reviews and also environmental reviews. No regrets. My sensitive skinned child has never had a diaper rash in over a year (we also rarely use diaper ointment) and the absorbency is superb, with no leaking (even overnight) except once when we realized it was time to size up. They are more expensive, and you have to plan ahead (thanks Amazon subscribe and save).

Our VA daycare was cool with cloth as well. We brought in a wet bag and they placed the dirty diapers in it daily. Unless it's a requirement of your licensing, do make sure you ask them NOT to bag the cloth diapers individually.

We moved to disposables at daycare eventually because it was just easier, and then off of cloth by the time she was a year old, but it was really nice to have support from daycare.

our dc daycare was totally fine with us doing cloth diapers (and the teachers never treated us like we were crazy, as somebody above described). we brought in a trash can with a foot pedal and a lid, and every day they'd send the dirty diapers home to us in a trash bag. we could have used a wet bag in the trash can, but it just never worked out that way. i'm pretty sure dc regulations have provisions for cloth diapers at daycare.

we mostly used disposable wipes at daycare and cloth wipes at home. i actually loved the cloth wipes more than the disposable ones. the brand we used had a nice texture so they cleaned better than the disposable wipes. and it was so much easier to just throw the cloth wipe in the wet bag with the cloth diapers at home than to separate out the disposable wipe into a trash can.

fwiw, we probably started the cloth diapers around 6 weeks.

i also had a few friends that did as others described above - cloth on evenings/weekends, and disposable at daycare/with babysitters. it's not all or nothing.

Anonymous wrote:We have used a combo since the beginning. Mostly cloth at home, disposables overnight, on outings, and at daycare. We did cloth at daycare for a while, but a few of my favorites didn’t make it home, and they provide disposables, so we just went with that. DS is almost 2 and I expect we will sell our diapers (collector prints) for a decent price soon. Worth the investment, even if we are only about 50% cloth at this point. It’s not all or nothing. We also use a combo of cloth wipes / disposables, and we do use diaper liners.

This is us with a current 14 month old. On five lists for daycares and none allow cloth diapering. We're in a nanny share and went with disposable to make our nanny's life easier and ours during the week. But we used them maybe 50/50 when on maternity leave and now when DS is hanging out at home, he's often in a cloth diaper. I hate changing poopy ones now that DS has for real poops so DH does that (yay!), but pee diapers are a breeze and newborn poop diapers, especially breastfed poop, are really easy to clean. If you think you'll do a combo, don't make a huge investment. We registered for prefolds with cute covers but they didn't work well for our DS and were a hassle for us (YMMV) so we resold them. We ended up getting some infant sized all in ones which were great for the first few months (DS was very small). Then we graduated to pocket diapers and since we aren't doing full-time cloth diapering, we got generic ones on Amazon (Alva I believe, 6 for $30 I believe) along with a couple of bum genius ones we bought at a local store. Both wash up amazingly well, I'm surprised. We use them frequently on the weekends and weekday evenings. I think they'd be even better if we bought better inserts (more absorbent), but since we don't use them all the time we have stuck with what they came with. We never used reusable wipes so can't comment on that.

Anonymous wrote:I think if you decide to invest in cloth diapers you should stick with it - in the long run it's much cheaper and better for the environment but to only do for the first 4 months would not save you much money because of the upfront cost and the fact that newborns don't fit one size diapers well right away - so you're either buying a separate newborn or prefold stash or using some sposies mixed in at the beginning.

Can't speak for DC, but we have used 3 different daycare centers in MD that all allowed cloth diapers (though we were the first family in any of them to actually use them) - they required we bring a clean zippered wet bag each day and they would rill up the wet/poopy diaper and tie it in a plastic bag then put that inside the bag (not my preference but workable).

We always used flushable disposable wipes at daycare and any diaper changes not in the baby's room, it was just easier for us.

There is no such thing as a flushable wipe.

We have used a combo since the beginning. Mostly cloth at home, disposables overnight, on outings, and at daycare. We did cloth at daycare for a while, but a few of my favorites didn’t make it home, and they provide disposables, so we just went with that. DS is almost 2 and I expect we will sell our diapers (collector prints) for a decent price soon. Worth the investment, even if we are only about 50% cloth at this point. It’s not all or nothing. We also use a combo of cloth wipes / disposables, and we do use diaper liners.

We did disposable wipes, cloth at home and disposables out of the house.

I also have friends who have sent disposables to day care care, and use cloth on the weekends/evenings at home.

I've cloth diapered three kids (the last one is mostly in disposables because 3 kids!). I stayed home with them so no opinion on the daycare part. IMO you should give it a shot. Money wise, if you do a small stash of good quality prefolds and covers, it'll be worth it for 4 months.

Most newborns require special sizing cloth diapers anyway because they're so little, so you'd have to get them a different stash by the time they are 3, 4 months regardless of whether you stop.

Anonymous wrote:I think if you decide to invest in cloth diapers you should stick with it - in the long run it's much cheaper and better for the environment but to only do for the first 4 months would not save you much money because of the upfront cost and the fact that newborns don't fit one size diapers well right away - so you're either buying a separate newborn or prefold stash or using some sposies mixed in at the beginning.

Can't speak for DC, but we have used 3 different daycare centers in MD that all allowed cloth diapers (though we were the first family in any of them to actually use them) - they required we bring a clean zippered wet bag each day and they would rill up the wet/poopy diaper and tie it in a plastic bag then put that inside the bag (not my preference but workable).

We always used flushable disposable wipes at daycare and any diaper changes not in the baby's room, it was just easier for us.

I should have added - don't be surprised if you get some pushback from teachers even after the Director has agreed that you can bring your cloth diapers. The first week my DD was in a new daycare the staff were MAD with me because they insisted they COULD NOT accept/use what we provided, even after their boss (owner/director) had told me we could. It was just communication and something new/scary. I LOVE these teachers two years later, they were not prepared for it and are very accustomed to going by the book ( they just weren't aware what the book said - ha)

I think if you decide to invest in cloth diapers you should stick with it - in the long run it's much cheaper and better for the environment but to only do for the first 4 months would not save you much money because of the upfront cost and the fact that newborns don't fit one size diapers well right away - so you're either buying a separate newborn or prefold stash or using some sposies mixed in at the beginning.

Can't speak for DC, but we have used 3 different daycare centers in MD that all allowed cloth diapers (though we were the first family in any of them to actually use them) - they required we bring a clean zippered wet bag each day and they would rill up the wet/poopy diaper and tie it in a plastic bag then put that inside the bag (not my preference but workable).

We always used flushable disposable wipes at daycare and any diaper changes not in the baby's room, it was just easier for us.

How far along are you? Are you on wait lists for specific daycares? I'd look into the daycares you're on waitlists at before deciding if you want to do cloth.

I don't think it's worth it just for maternity leave if you can't do it at daycare too.

Either way, I would not do cloth wipes - even if you do cloth diaper. Is this your first baby? Disposable wipes are a GIFT FROM THE HEAVENS.

We cloth diaper - her daycare here in DC allows it. They struggle with appropriate fit sometimes, so I bought some cheapish velcro (hook and look/aplix) cloth diapers (pockets and all-in-ones) and those seem to be the most foolproof. I send a wet bag with her everyday and take home the dirties each night. We use cloth wipes at home, but disposable wipes at day care. Have found cloth wipes with cloth diapers to be the easiest (at home). The brands we love are - Rumparooz pockets ($$), Nicki's Diapers/Imagine AIOs/pockets (for daycare), and Grovia cloth wipes. The companies are always having sales, so I always bought them discounted. Earth Day is usually a good time for sales. I've also bought several high quality diapers off of BST facebook groups and highly recommend that route for more cost savings. Happy to answer any questions.

My kids have been at 3 daycares between the two of them and none of them have allowed cloth diapers.

As for cloth wipes, I would not personally. It’s just a gross hassle. Do you really want to be washing poopy cloths every day or having same sit around?

I'll be on maternity leave for about four months, before (presumably) transitioning my baby to full-time daycare. Is it worth cloth diapering (in terms of environment, cloth) for just those four months or when at home? Reasons I'm considering cloth: skin sensitivity, environment (not adding to landfills, I realize there's energy used in washing).

Also, for wipes, should I look into cloth wipes even if we decide to use disposable diapers?

Finally, do DC daycares allow cloth diapers if the parents supply a wet bag and other supplies?

Thanks to those who have been there, done this!