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Oh and the only real help my husband does with the diaper laundry is to press start after the 1st wash haS finished. I wouldn't trust him lol.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't. To get the easy to use diapers you pay more up front, and you don't see a huge cost savings until the second kid, just like you said, assuming you aren't set on using expensive organic disposable diapers, in which case the cost savings are greater. Before we started cloth I bought disposables in bulk and used the cheapest brand I could find, so the cost savings for me wasn't that extreme. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate, and honestly, as much as I love cloth, for me it wouldn't be worth the time investment.

ETA: My husband does literally none of the cd laundry, so lacking his help isn't really the issue for me...also, the less frequently you wash, the more diapers you need...it would be easy to completely eliminate any cost savings by buying enough diapers to wash less than 3-4 times per week.

I work FT out of the home and do all of the laundry, including diapers. I think you would be able to do it. I always run diapers after she is in bed.

Have you looked for a diaper service in your area? If you really want to cloth diaper, that would be a good option for you because you would have no washing to do. The cost in my city is comparable to buying disposables every week ($24/week for 80 diapers, which is similar to what you use for newborns), and you would only have to buy covers for the diapers.

you have a lot on your plate so do what is best for you. I bought freetimes used and we saw payback at the 9 month mark.

Cloth diaper laundry is nowhere near as intimidating as it seems. I wash 2-3 times a week and can throw them in after work and have them in the dryer easily before i go to bed at 8:30/9

Also thought I'd add my dh changes 1-2 diapers a day if that so I do 98% of the work. We have a diaper sprayer and my kid poops multiple times a day and so we just spray off and move on.

My biggest suggestion about cloth diapers is to do disposables when they're a newborn, and then do rental trial of a few types/brands of diapers. I was so excited about CDing before DS got here, and it just became a total fail for us.

I wanted to make things easier on myself, so in my head that meant cutting down on poopy blowouts. And I heard those happen a lot with newborns, so I got mostly diapers that work for <20 pounds. And I hated them :(. And then I was scared to get any more because I didn't want to hate those kind too. Plus we dealt with thrush diaper rash for weeks (needed rx cream that's not CD friendly).

And as it turned out, we never had a blowout when he was tiny. I didn't realize that he'd be pooping so often and that we'd be changing his diaper so often, there was never really enough for a blowout.

We got so used to disposables and I was so hesitant to spend more money on more diapers that might not work, we just decided to do disposables only. It's tough in the beginning with a newborn and the thought of adding one more thing to stay on top of was just beyond me. So that's why my advice is disposables and then a trial once LO is big enough for one-size diapers.

I've been cloth diapering for about a year now. We use Bumgenius freetimes that i purchased either during cottonbabies second sale ($12-13 each) or from Buy Buy Baby with coupons ($15-16 each) we have 34 diapers and i wash about half every other day to ensure that i have at least 6 to send to the daycare the next day. I could probably get away with less easily. but by the time I go down to start a load the previous one is dry on the line and ready to come upstairs

Our laundry is in the basement which is the biggest pain in the ass part of CD. I get home from work and go upstairs to grab the dirty diaper pail then go down 2 flights to the basement to run the pre wash which takes 30 min to run. Then i go back downstairs to run the heavy duty hot cycle which takes 45-60 mins then back down to hang them on the line. I would have a much easier time if laundry was on the main floor or upstairs.

As far as energy usage i didnt see a difference in my water bill.... that actually increased when we started incorporating a daily bath into the bedtime routine. I dont put the diapers in the dryer so my electric bill didnt change.

As far as the poop, EBF poop was super easy and i just sprayed it with bac-out and in the machine it went. Solids poop we use a liner (bummis brand) with every change and its super easy to clean up and just toss that.

I tried to pick up a diaper here and there through out my pregnancy and used gift money for the rest since no one had the guts to purchase them off my registry. We used disposables for 10 weeks before she fit in the freetimes. Occasionally we do use disposables (vacation, staying at my mom's house, really bad rash, stomach bugs) and i always leave an emergency pack at the daycare.

A big box at target is $20 for about 90 diapers (#3) thats one BG Freetime MSRP and those 90 diapers might last us 2 weeks. I could probably sell my cloth for $10-12 each right now if we decided we were going to be one and done.

What about a diaper service?

After full time in cloth (BG AIOs), i calculated a break even point versus disposables. We did it part time (using disposables at daycare) and broke even after a year. Cost is not my reason for using cloth, though.

I haven't noticed a utility cost difference. It's very very minor.

@macintosh: About not having to go out to buy diapers, we just use Amazon Mom/subscribe and save and order the occasional extra box of Earth's Best when he changed sizes and have never had to run out for diapers! My concern about the poop might have been specific to our LO's formula - he's on Alimentum which leaves poop that needs to be sprayed endlessly so we used fleece liners because I cared about stains and my sanity.

CDing was super easy from month 1-6 with BF baby poop. after that, it was spraying, which my DH did and then we had fit issues starting at 15 months, so we did part time CDing and then fully disposables until we started potty training. in your situation, i would do disposables and order through s&s or target pickup!

also, I haven't CD a newborn yet, but my toddler's poops have yet to stain and I credit my wash routine - tide

I have not CD but did consider it. Just wanted to add the link that @Seattlemom: added for the cost comparison was, in my opinion, inaccurate. We have used disposable since day one and in their break down you are paying like .40 cents per diaper! There are always sales or the store brand diapers, and depending on what you use I would think a more accurate amount would be around $2500- ish not $3600. I tend to shop sales and stock up and wont pay more than .25 cents per diaper, so roughly $2250 per year with their estimate.

I would say the laundry isn't very much work for me. EBF I just through the entire poopy diaper in the wash and it washes right out. I choose to use the flushable liners so I can just flush the whole thing right down the toilet.

I just do the diaper laundry 2x per week on average. There's really no work on the laundry (2 cycles with an extra rinse at the end) other than hanging them to dry and stuffing the ones with inserts. I machine dry our inserts and wetbag but you could airdry those if you wanted to. I washed 3x a week with ebf poop. Basically I do them after she goes to bed, 2 cycles take about 2 hr total to run. I hang them before bed and run the dryer for any inserts and wetbag. 4.0s are completely dry by morning and the freetimes take either until that night or the mext morning to be 100% dry.

I use BG 4.0s and Freetimes. I liked 4.0s for the newborn stage (we started when she was 1 mo- 9.5 lbs) because the freetimes seemed so bulky then and she didn't need all that extra absorption. Freetimes are nice now (9.5 mo) because I don't have to stuff them. But the freetimes take longer to dry.

I have 30 diapers but I would say you only need about 20 really. I just have the extra so I can rotate them a bit to reduce wear (hoping to use with the next kid).

So all you need to start is 20 diapers (if you do AIO or pocket route) and a large wetbag! I do disposable wipes. Also have to make sure to buy diaper cream compatible with cloth diapers otherwise you need to use a liner.

You go through a LOT of diapers with a newborn but as they get out of the 0-3mo stage your diaper quantity should reduce.

I use disposables when we travel so I probably haven't really saved any money yet but I am planning on using these for the 2nd one. I need to add up my costs and see!

I haven't noticed anything as far as utility increases.

I am huge on cloth diapering and it definitely saves you money, but I would NOT do it for cost-savings alone. If you're not in it for anything else- environmental, health, cute-factor etc, I probably wouldn't recommend it.