Dear Friends,
Here is my long saga of geekiness about cloth diapering. This is geared at people starting from scratch, as I know you are.
Types of Cloth Diapers
There are many types of cloth diapers with lots of abbreviations. The three main
types, as I see it, are:
·
All in one diapers – these include the absorbent part
and the cover in one unit (AIO, AI2 – all in one, all in two)
·
Pocket diapers – stuff an absorbent insert into
a pocket in the outer cover (such as gdiapers)
·
Prefolds and covers – absorbent part and cover
are completely separate (sometimes
shortened to PF)
Type that we use:
We went for prefolds and covers mostly because it is the
most cost effective choice. The laundry
wear and tear and the dry time involved in the all in one diapers was also a
concern for me. Also, I just like things
to be simple. There are so many brands (WAHM = work at home mom made) and
options, I just wanted something straightforward.
Cost
Our cost: We had a gift of $400 to be spent on cloth
diapers. We spent over $200 on prefolds
in multiple sizes, including 24 in each of the two smallest sizes for a full
rotation in these early months. We spent
$20 on a liner, $30 on cloth wipes, $40 on wet bags (for the diaper bag), and
probably $70-80 on covers for the first two sizes.
In retrospect, I would not buy as many different sizes of
diapers, especially the newborn size. I would have bought two pail liners to
start. Many diapers and covers can be
purchased used (I love diaperswappers.com and various Facebook swap groups) for
significantly less. I have purchased a
few covers used, but opted to go brand new on the prefolds. I figure the actual
diapers have a lifespan, and I don’t mind paying to get the full life out of
it. I keep an eye out for “Seconds” by
following my favorite prefold seller on facebook. I got over 60% off that way.
Types of Covers
There are three basic materials for covers: Plastic (PUL),
Fleece, and Wool. Here’s a chart full of
my opinions:
|
Type
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
|
Plastic / PUL
|
- Totally waterproof
- Smooth – clothes slide
over
- Cute prints
- The types with gussets
trap any poo-splosions
|
- Can really trap the
wetness, can cause rashiness
- Velcro can lose
stickiness if not cared for correctly
|
|
Fleece
|
- Breathable – seems more
comfortable for DD’s skin
- Water repellent – the wetness
does not press through the fleece
- Support WAHM shops on
Etsy to buy them
- Cute colors and prints
- Great to use at home
|
- Can’t layer pants over
them, they will wick moisture through
- Can’t use while sitting
for long periods (car seat, baby carrier, stroller) because of the
wicking factor
- Finding the right fit
can be a little tricky, since the least expensive are pull ons with
little adjustability
|
|
Wool
|
- Natural fibers are
great!
- Very water repellent
- Cute colors and prints
- Can buy commercially or
on sites like Etsy
- Seems very comfortable for baby
- Great to use at home
|
- Similar wicking
properties to fleece – difficult to use out of the house because of
wicking
- Require very careful
care to wash – must hand wash and lanolinize.
-
|
Laundry
·
Don’t do a search for cloth diapering and
laundry unless you have a full work day to sort through the madness. There are
a BAJILLION MILLION ways of running diaper laundry. If you stick with cotton, it is quite simple:
o
Rinse on cold
o
Full wash on hot with half of the soap box
recommended amount
o
Rinse on cold
Other Laundry Concerns:
- The major concern with laundry and cloth
diapering is that the detergent will leave a residue behind in your diapers,
which causes them to be less absorbent and also to stink. Hence, the second rinse and the reduced
amount of detergent.
- Choice of detergent does matter, because some
have more residue causing stuff than others. We’ve used All Free and Clear
powder with no problems. Here is a nice chart of laundry detergent choices.
- Don’t use dryer sheets at all.
- You’re also supposed to occasionally (1x/month?)
use either bleach, bac-out, and/or oxyclean to sanitize. If diapers start to get stinky just after getting peed in, it is time to sanitize! We didn't have to do this often until well after a year of age.
- This is my basic guideline for laundry: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/washing-diapers.htm
- Regarding poop: exclusively breastfed baby poop
is water soluble and totally fine in the wash.
The reason for the first rinse is to get the poop and pee out of there
so the detergent can work. So, you're clear to just dump into the washer for the first six months. After solids are introduced poop consistency
will change and will require being knocked off into the toilet before putting
the dirty diaper in the diaper pail. They make flushable diaper liners to help with this.
Getting Started
I have purchased 95% of my cloth diapering stuff from this
site, because I think the owner is truthful and invested and I learned so much
from browsing her (very amateur looking!) site.
This is a nice place to start:
Our stash and process
and randomness
- We have 24 diapers, and we do laundry every 36 hours or so –
essentially it is a daily task. The more
diapers you have in your rotation, the less frequently you have to do laundry,
but everything I have read says going more than two days leaves a hella stink
that you don’t want. Even the end of
that 36 hours is quite fragrant, and our 13 gallon garbage can is about 2/3
full.
- We have 4 covers that we use regularly and 2 others that will
work in a pinch. When the diaper is just
pee, we can reuse the cover that was just on it (or not, sometimes it needs to
air out a bit on the changing table). If
the cover gets poop on it, it just gets tossed into the laundry with the
diapers, no big deal. Just can’t forget
to take them out before moving to dryer.
A couple of our covers are getting stains on them, but I hear that the
sun is the secret weapon.
- I experimented with a fleece “doubler” – basically a
rectangle of fleece, which purports to keep the skin a little dryer, for
overnights (once I didn’t need to change her after every feeding). They worked awesome for about a month, then
BAM, the diaper smelled like strong ammonia one morning. There are lots of ways to combat the stink,
but – my cotton diapers have never stunk like that. So I think I am going to
retire the synthetics and just stick to cotton.
- A quick note on clothing: the cloth diapered butt is
bootylicious. It’s just bigger. When DD was in 3 month tops she was in 6 month
pants with the legs rolled up. There are
some cute pants designed for cloth diaper booties, but … who has time to look
those up? Not me. Lots of dresses and BabyLegs for us!
I hope this helps you! Please feel free to ask questions here or on email or FB. Good luck getting it worked out!
XOXO
Jessie
