A cloth diapering primer

A dear friend who is expecting her first wrote and asked me to give her some idea of the usability of Cloth Diapers, especially for babies with sensitive skin (my little whitey kids definitely have sensitive skin! Haha.)

I am a HUGE supporter of cloth diapering. Not being particularly interested in the environmental reasons for CDing (although I think it's a nice added benefit that they are environmentally responsible) I look at them as a really beneficial for parents and children, particularly because they force us to "give" of ourselves just a little bit more, which is a healthy by-product of parenting that-- if taken the right way-- will grow parents into better people. Among other things, kids who are CDed tend to be potty trained earlier (YAY!) and tend to be changed more (YAY!) than non-Cloth diapered kids.

Let's look at the cost first. Cloth diapers are expensive, that's for sure. But I can tell you that we once did the math and determined that we would save around $3000 per kid if we exclusively cloth diapered. Amazing! That's like, a whole vacation. Of course, in our family that $3000 turned into about $2000 because we part time cloth diaper, part time disposable diaper. But even so.... we were able to get the kids some clothes, participate in events we normally couldn't have, etc. So yay!

Secondly, let's look at their practicality. In our house, we designate one area of a closet the Diaper closet. We finish laundering them and stack them: shells, liners, wipes, and extra inserts. I keep a box of pre-stuffed diapers for daytime use on the first shelf and keep refilling it. That way if I'm in a hurry, I don't have to do any work, they are just ready to go. When I finish laundering them, I just make a quick pile and I'm ready to go. The older kids actually do the piling for me! It's not as quick and easy as disposable diapering, I'll be honest. But it's a good kind of work- and it helps the kids learn to participate in the household chores etc. And it really isn't THAT much more work. For us, the amount of money we save makes it worth it.

I used cloth wipes for a while too, but it turns out that in our house, wet paper wipes are easier. Of course, that's because I didn't have enough money to buy a LOT of wipes, and I found that I was using too many. If I had the cash to get the cloth wipes, I would do that too and it was easy enough. You just need a lot of them.

You can even make your own wipe lotion:
1/4 c. baby wash

1/4 c. baby oil

1/4 c. baby lotion

Two c. hot tap water
in an airtight container or spray bottle.

OK, onto styles and types. There are literally dozens of styles of CDs available out there, so I'm not going to waste my time writing about ones that don't work for us. We found that AIOs and Pocket diapers were the most useful, and now almost exclusively use Pocket Diapers. This is a diaper that has an external "shell" and an insert that fits into a pocket. You can stuff them extra for naps and if you choose to use them for nighttime.

They look something like this:



Of all the brands that exist out there, I can't say that one is definitely better than the other. They mostly look the same and seem to do the same types of things. We use a brand called bumgenius because they are the most popular, thus we are able to find them discounted etc. But we also have a variety of other types we use, some of which were homemade and others of which store bought. We also like a brand called Happy Heineez. And one which I can no longer find called Jamtotz.

We recommend getting a one size diaper as opposed to fitted diapers because kids grow so fast that the expense just doesn't make sense. I have a closet full of one size diapers, some of which I inherited and others of which I bought. They have gone through at least three kids and are holding up GREAT! They may not be as "shiny and new" looking as they once were, but they certainly look clean and function well. The only thing I've had to replace has been the inserts that had already been through three + babies. Not a big deal!


How we do it:

When it's time to diaper a kid, we stuff an insert (or two, if it's naptime or we're going for a long drive :P) into the pocket and snap it on.
A note on sizing: One sizes usually work on kids 3 months and older. Before then, the kids tend to be too small for them to be not BULKY, although I HAVE successfully diapered a newborn in cloth diaps using small size diapers and thinner inserts. Needless to say, if you want to CD the easy, minimal-thinking-and-spending way, just plan on using disposables til the kid hits 3 mos. Fold up the used diaper and stick it in a diaper pail or diaper bag. At the end of the day or two, unfold them all, spray them down (I do this in the sink using the nozzle, but you can do it in toilet using an awesome attachment that connects to your toilet tank that you can buy from cottonbabies.com)

We wash them in hot water with detergent that is made for sensitive skin first, then again in cold water. Then you can hang them out to dry (that's best for absorbency) or run them through your dryer on medium/low heat. That's it!
Because my kids have sensitive skin, we don't use regular detergent and we don't use fabric softener. After about four/five months of daily use, they start to smell-- not BAD-- but not totally "fresh." So you run them through with a bit of baking soda and they are good as new.
In order to protect their sensitive skin, I also change them frequently (never letting three hours go by without a change) and make sure they are getting lots of "air time." :P
I don't use diaper cream because it can affect the absorbency of the diapers. But I haven't needed to unless I forgot to change someone for a while. :P

ACTUAL washing instructions usually look something like this:
When you first get your diapers,you should wash the diapers before wearing.Wash both the diapers and insert after each use.When wet,separate insert and cover and store in a dry diaper pail.Do not soak.If soiled,simply knock solids into toilet.Small solids stuck to the inner layer will dissolve in the wash.Use a mini-shower toilet attachment to rinse off soiled diapers over the toilet (optional).First, run a cold rinse or soak cycle with no detergent.Second,run a hot cycle with detergent lower than 40C.Do not use bleach.Third,if your hot wash is not automatically followed by a cold rinse,run a cold rinse cycle.This step only necessary with a particularly dirty load.Tumble dry the diapers in dryer on low or hang to dry.Never dry on high heat.

Now, at night, it has been my personal experience that the diapers leak. No matter what I do, despite all the info out there that cloths don't leak. Because I didn't have enough money to buy wool soakers (which are a type of wool pants you can make or buy to put over the kid that wicks the wetness away from them and absorbs it so that the bed doesn't wet either) I decided long ago to disposable diap at night. And that works GREAT for our family. It also helps to make sure I don't give fluids right at bedtime, of course.

A long time ago, a dear friend sent me a box of her used diapers to try. I was hooked from then on, and can say that it gets kind of addicting-- wierdly enough those of us who cloth diaper become so into cloth diapering that we get kind of crazy about it. I even use cloth menstrual pads when I'm actually menstruating (haha-- I have been pregnant or nursing for the better part of the last five years. :P) I recommend asking someone if they have a couple cloth diapers you can borrow to try it out. If you like it, go for it! If not, you didn't lose a thing. YES, they seem really expensive, but I have to tell you--- disposables are insanely expensive, and all you do is throw them away. I have successfully used the same cloth diapers for ALL my kids. Because I have irish triplets, my kids are in diapers at the same time, so they just borrow each other's. It's awesome that I don't have to worry about making sure I am using the right sizes... for moms with more than one kid in diapers this is a godsend!

One more note- on daycare situations. Most non-mom people really don't like using cloth diapers. So if you are going to use them, make sure you get at least SOME pocket diapers and prestuff them for the person, so that the experience is somewhat similar to disposable diapering for them. usually if you show them, they will get onboard.
Get an additional small waterproof diaper laundering bag so you can stick dirty diapers in your diaper bag without stinking the thing up.
With my girls... this was great. BUT my son is a notorious "wet pooper" (he rarely makes solid poops) so when I'm on the go with him I use disposables because I don't have the ability to rinse his diapers off and I can't just dump the poop in the toilet.
If your child is the same way, you may find that you use disposables more than cloth for that reason.

That's it! If you're a new mom and reading this, the idea of poop types might be overwhelming and turn you off of cloth diapering, but I will say this: You're a mom. You're going to get poop on your hands. Heck, some days you will actually be telling your kids not to touch or -- gasp-- even EAT poop. So get used to it now. It's not going to happen all the time, but when it does, it's going to be fine. And if you cloth diaper, you will find that you don't have to deal with stinky diapers hanging around your trash can and that it's so much fun that diapering will be less of a drudgery and more of a game. So try it-- even if you think you probably won't like it.
It's good for baby, it's good for the environment, it's good for your finances, it's good for your parenting. What have you got to lose?

If you have any questions at all, feel free to comment.