Cloth Diapering

One of my big “causes” is the landfill problem.  I could get onto my soapbox right now and start preaching away about the amount of waste we produce and what it’s doing to our planet… but don’t worry, that’s for another post.  I only mention it because I’m writing about cloth diapering for my beautiful friend, Abby.  She and her husband are about to welcome their first baby and they have decided to cloth diaper her.  As usual, I’ve offered unsolicited advice, even though I’m no expert.  I thought I’d just lay out the routine we do with Alice and hope it helps.

Most of my stash (collection of cloth diapers and paraphernalia) came from a Facebook garage sale!  The woman who sold it to me had the process down to a science, so I didn’t have to think much about how many of this or that I needed.  She gave me about 20 pockets (waterproof diaper covers that can be stuffed with absorbent inserts and used much like disposables)

and 30 microfiber inserts (insert: an absorbent something that you stuff into a pocket diaper.  It can be bamboo, charcoal, hemp, cotton, or microfiber).

A friend from church also gave me about 20 prefolds (a flat piece of cloth that has been folded into a rectangle and sewn into layers to use as a diaper- see this video for folding techniques),

2 snappies (a stretchy holder thingy for fastening prefolds (see the above video)),

and 4 covers (a waterproof  layer that goes over a prefold or insert so that baby’s clothes don’t get soaked).

If you’d like to build your stash for even less money, you could choose to purchase flats (just a large square of fabric that can be folded into a diaper or used as a pocket insert)

or even FSTs (flour sack towel.  You can fold it just like a flat or use it as a pocket insert)

instead of prefolds and do the folding for yourself!  

When Alice was a newborn, we used the nb sized prefolds with covers and snappies.  We didn’t have many that were small enough, so we did supplement our routine with disposables when I couldn’t keep up with the laundry.  As she got bigger, we had the option of using the larger prefolds with covers, or stuffing our pocket diapers and using those.  We do both.  If we choose the pockets, we stuff them with 1 prefold and 1 microfiber insert.  It’s a little bulky, but it keeps her from soaking through. Update: We have been doing only a prefold OR two microfiber inserts, not one of each, and it's much less bulky.

There are countless books, articles, and online support groups geared toward helping cloth mommas diaper their children because finding a routine that works can be difficult!  I, blessedly, have yet to have major trouble with my routine.  I use a diaper pail with a wet bag (basically a trash bag made out of polyurethane laminate that can be washed with your diapers) to keep Alice’s dirties until washing day.  I wash every 2 or 3 days depending on my schedule.  There’s no need to spray poo off before washing yet because we still have that liquid, ebf (exclusively breastfed) poo that can go straight into the wash, but we have a sprayer attached to the toilet for when we start solids.  I run a heavy duty wash with a prewash and extra rinse.  Though there are several schools of thought on the subject, I choose to add detergent to both the prewash and main wash.  Update: I was getting detergent stains on my clothes from the extra, undissolved soap in the machine. I ran a tub clean cycle and did some more research. I now use only about a teaspoon of powdered soap only in the main wash. It not only works fine, but my diapers seem more absorbent, maybe because the soap was building up before. My dryer uses dehumidifying technology instead of heat, so I have no problem throwing everything in.  If you have something different, however, you may want to be careful with your PUL and elastic.  Don’t stretch them when they’re warm from the dryer or they’ll lose their shape and elasticity, then you have leak problems.

Just a couple more things.  Don’t ever use fabric softener on your cloth.  It makes moisture repel instead of absorb.  Same thing goes for standard diaper cream.  They make special, cloth safe creams, or you can try coconut oil, but if you’re like me, you’ll find that you never need it.  Cloth is so gentle on the baby bum!  There is a footnote on this, but it merits a mention here, too: DO NOT USE MICROFIBER AGAINST BABY’S SKIN.  It will draw all the moisture out and leave an angry red rash.  Finally, I recommend using cloth wipes in tandem with cloth diapers.  It’s pretty easy to throw them in the same wet bag/wash with everything else, you’ll save more money, and you’ll decrease your waste even more!

Was this helpful?  Have some ideas I missed?  Leave me a comment below!