My Cloth Diaper Journey: 5 Essential Tips

by rociolaca

Thinking on Trying Cloth Diapering? 

Try These 5 Easy Steps To Get Started

It’s no news that cloth diapering have been around for ever, and in the rush of the modern world, who would want to spend time washing poopy diapers?

Well, I have some good news for you, that might consider giving it a shot and cloth diapering is now easier than ever! Yes, thanks to some innovative mamas out there and technology, cloth diapers now resemble more to disposable ones, not only in use but absorbency.

Here are some benefits that will might get you convinced.

 Benefits of Cloth Diapering

Baby skin will thank you! Certainly, cloth diapers are soft against your baby’s skin. They are free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers. I haven’t yet so far, seen a rash on my baby’s skin and with good diaper care, she will be able to use the same stash, for another good 8 months.

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) – a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. For more info visit realdiapers.com

Environmentally conscious – We are in the times of an alarming accelerated Global Warming, so we have to be extremely conscious on what we consume. Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill and is estimated that a disposable diaper takes about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone. 

Cheaper in the long run – before my baby was born, I spent around $350 dollars on buying all the essentials for cloth diapering. I will mention them below, however, so far I still have everything in good condition and she is about to hit her 4 month mark. (Update- It’s been a year now and still using the same stash of cloth diapers, yaii!).

That being said, according to realdiapers.org, if the average cost of a month’s worth of disposables is $62.50 dlls and a baby uses around 2500 – 3000 diapers a year, that means that by the time she leaves diapers I have spent around $1,500 dlls.

 

1 – Pick The Type of Diapers You Would Like To Try

There are many different types of cloth diapers out there, here the most popular and the ones I’ve tried are:

  • Pre-folds with Cover
  • Pocket diaper
  • All in one

The ones that I started using with my new born baby were the pre-folds with permeable cover. I bought a stash of OsoCozy brand click here and a set of Snappi Cloth Diaper Fasteners.

The reason I loved these diapers, was because they fitted perfectly for a little newborn baby, also, material is soft for their delicate skin. Since they do not pee a lot, these are perfect for that stage of age. Along with those, I bought two Thirsties Duo Wrap Cloth Diaper Cover.

You can later on, when they outgrow them, use this cloth pre-folds as liner and poop catchers when you change your baby.

 

Once she outgrew the pre-folds, I bought 1 set of the Mama Koala diapers brand and one set of Alvababy brand. These two brands are super affordable to start with and they include six diapers with their cotton inserts.

I also bought two all-in-one BumGenius diapers brand, to see what the differences were. It’s virtually the same concept as the pocket diaper except the inserts are attached to the diaper itself. The only down side to the all-in-one is when there is poop, I found it bit more challenging to clean as the layers of the inserts are on the way, where the pocket diapers you can take them apart and spray them separately. Also, the all-in-one are pricier.

In total I have somewhere around 24 cloth diapers that I cycle thru in 4 days. Which takes me to the next point, washing routing.

 

Mama Koala Brand

Update – Here are the Amazon links to the cloth diapers I’ve tried so far for a great price and loved up until now (My baby is now 13 months old!) Check out the reviews as well 😉

2 – Establish a Washing and Storage Routine

Find a washing routine that will best fit your schedule, you are already washing clothes anyway,  so chances are you will end up in the laundry room at least once a week. Below the basic things that you need to start with your washing routing:   Consider buying a pail or regular trash can you can use with a reusable wet bag. I use a regular white plastic trashcan and use this large wet bag. You will be collecting your wet diapers there until the laundry day. I usually go up to 4 days with roughly 24 diapers.   A toilet sprayer is a life changing item in the cloth diapering world! Great investment to make this a less disgusting task, as cleaning poop is no joke. You can also use this as  a toilet bidet for yourself,  after delivery you will find this extremely useful (More info below).   Eco-friedly laundry detergent, these detergents contains way less chemicals to none, than any other popular laundry detergents out there. I specifically use the Costco brand.    You will also need a drying rack instead if using the dryer. This will not only save energy, but it will increase the life of your diapers. Also, I found out that since the inserts are made of thick cotton or bamboo cloth, they would come out still humid from the dryer.    Pick a place to store them that will be fast and efficient to store them at. I chose a wheeled three level cart that i found at Walmart for around $25 bucks at the time, see picture below. You can also find at Home Goods, Target , Amazon and Ikea. I liked the idea of having them mobile, as I move around the house with the baby a lot. Always leave diapers ready to go (with inserts inside preferably) this will feel very close to disposables as you go through day and specially at night.    

3 – Pick Natural Fiber Material For Your Inserts

It is true that natural fibers such a bamboo are way more absorbent than the ones made by cotton. I have tested 3 different types of inserts. The ones that come default with your new set f cloth diapers (which are cotton mostly), and 2 different brands of bamboo inserts, which I will add below. Hands down bamboo has done a better job holding the liquid!

I purchased 2 different brands to try so far:

Update – Here are some of the inserts that I have included on my stash about my baby’s 6 month mark, specifically the carbon ones, incredibly absorbent!

4 – Buy a Toilet Sprayer, No Kidding!

As you submerge into your cloth diaper washing routine, you will soon find out that washing a pooped diaper is definitely not fun, but it is important to discard the poop in the toilet. As a matter of fact, even the instructions on a disposable diaper package advice that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system.

There are many sprayers now on the market, so you can pick and choose. The sprayer that I recommend is the SprayMate, as it comes as a set. I know it is a bit pricey but it’s 100% worth the money if you are serious about cloth diapering.

I promise you will not regret it :). After spraying a pooped diaper, I just hang it out in the sun and the stain is gone within a couple of hours. Use the sun as a natural bleacher. 

 

5 – Use Re-usable Wipes, Here’s My Best Hack

Ok you guys! so I started using disposable wipes, and I still do for cleaning poop, however, I noticed that I was going through so many wipes a day and not really using them 100%.

I bought a set of 15 flannel reusable wipes and they have saved me so many wipes so far. I use this only when baby pees and then just wash them with the diapers. Some people like to mix their own baby wipes solution, which is great, I do however, like to keep it simple and use only water.

 

My best hack is using the perineal sprayer bottle that I was given at the hospital. You obviously clean it thoroughly, and when it is time to use a wipe, spray the wipe to make it wet and voila! you have the most natural baby wipe ever. This way, the water is not stagnant for days and the wipes will last longer as they are stored dried. I have included below some options for you to scout around along with the Amazon prices.

FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail