8 tips for cloth diapering
I no longer own any cloth diapers.
After almost eight years of cloth diapering my three little ones, the youngest is officially potty trained. HURRAY!
Cloth diapering actually came pretty easy to me. It always just made sense to me. Use, wash, repeat. No trips to the store, one-time investment, use for multiple children.
However, while the big-picture decision to cloth diaper was a no-brainer, there was definitely a steep learning curve and several bumbles along the way. There are literally thousands of guides to cloth diapering on the internet, so I’m not going to rewrite one of them here. Instead, I’m going to give my eight biggest tips for cloth diapering. One for each year!
one // All-in-one diapers (AIOs) are a great starting place, but they are less versatile and don’t last as long as other diaper options. With my oldest, Willa, I registered for exclusively cloth diapers. I got bumgenius newborn diapers and a set of 12 bumgenius AIOs. They worked great and I loved them! But, I’d gotten one pocket diaper for free with one of my bumgenius orders, and found myself gravitating towards it when we had babysitters or wanted to stuff the diaper with extra cloth for nighttime. By the time my second baby came, I wanted more pocket diapers. But pocket diapers need to be stuffed, and when you’re sleep-deprived and swimming in laundry, that’s a lot. Enter: diaper covers. Just lay the cloth inside the cover, and you’re done. By the time I had my third baby I was using mostly diaper covers with cloth, and a few pockets.
two // Do not use too much detergent. Less is more! I completely whiffed on this one. The first time I cloth diapered I used way too much detergent and ended up with terrible build-up in my diapers. This means the soap is lodged in your diapers and so they can’t absorb the pee. I had to wash those first AIOs I had a bagillion times to get the build-up out and that ruined the elastic. I gave them away to someone who knew how to sew, and got new diapers for my second baby. This was a big fail, as ideally cloth diapers should last for multiple babies. Don’t use too much soap! Less is more! Just a teaspoon or so, depending on the soap.
three // Babies get diaper rash. Statement of the obvious, right? It is, but I think often parents think one type of diaper is more likely to give them a rash than others. This may be true (it probably is; you know your baby!) but I think it’s good to just accept that your baby will have some rashes and carry on with the cloth. That said, I recommend using diapers of natural fibers (cotton, usually). And there might be bits of time when you need to use some disposables, but don’t give up on the cloth. Change is the only constant and everything is a phase. I recommend a cloth-friendly cream for daily use. There’s a good list here, and I like this one.
four // Use what you have or what’s cheap. The cloth diaper options these days are extensive. It’s a huge market. There are tons of cute patterns and fancy buttons etc. etc. It’s easy to drop hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of dollars on new cloth diapers. But I don’t recommend that! If you get diaper covers, you can use a variety of cloth inside to absorb your child’s pee and poop. We used cotton towels that we already had, and I also bought some 100% cotton flour sack towels from WalMart. At less than $1 per towel they’re much cheaper than what you’ll find from the cloth diaper companies.
five // It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. So often people make a decision that they’re going to use cloth diapers OR disposable diapers. While I would obviously encourage you to use cloth diapers, replacing even a small number of disposables with cloth will save you money and help the earth.
six // You can travel with cloth! I shied away from traveling with cloth diapers for a long time. It just seemed like disposables were what you should use “on the road.” But eventually I realized that it’s not that hard to bring the cloth along. If your destination has a washing machine that you and your host are comfortable with you using, you’re all set. Or, if it’s a short trip (such as a long weekend camping), just bring a wet bag for the dirties and bring them home with you. I always figure it’s better to lug home laundry than trash!
seven // You do not need disposable swim diapers OR a special cloth diaper for swimming. Just use one of your diaper covers! Or even an all-in-one diaper. You’re going for containment not absorbency. Any tight fitting undergarment will do. These are one type of diaper we can definitely keep out of the landfill.
eight // It’s not easy, but nothing is with parenting… Oftentimes people will remark that cloth diapering is hard, or not as easy as disposables. I would respectfully disagree. Meeting a baby’s needs takes time and energy and diapers don’t change themselves. Any way you slice it, you’re parenting.
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Did you cloth diaper? What would be your biggest tip?