Cloth Diapering Step-by-Step

You can have a great product and the best intentions but if you cannot make it work - well, it just won't work. This is how I tackled my pursuit of cloth diapering. I needed to create a "system" that would make it efficient and as easy as possible. Knowing me, if it's a huge headache, I'll stop and go back to what's easy or what I know. There is so much to learn about cloth diapering these days - NO THIS IS NOT YOUR MOM'S DIAPERS!!! There is terminology to learn and different options to weigh. You won't learn this by watching what your parents have done and you cannot just walk to the nearest Walmart or Target and buy a starter kit. Why? Well that's another subject. Personally it reeks of a conspiracy. Maybe the disposable diaper companies are paying off all the discount stores to NOT carry cloth. But I tell you NOW, cloth is the BEST!!!!

The System (My System)
What I mean by system is how you will streamline, diapering, rinsing, storing, cleaning and folding. At daycare, grandma/grandpa, vacations etc. Let me try to sum it up here. I use bunGenius diapers so this is specific to pocket diapers.

1. Purchasing: Check out my other blog on Cloth Diaper Brands. It includes information on terminology and links to how to fold to put on your baby as well as links to websites that sell Cloth Diapers.

2. Rinsing: There is a spray hose that Cotton babies sells that attaches to the toilet. You only need to rinse the poopy diapers.The breast fed baby poop rinses off pretty easily but you will still see a yellow stain until they are washed. No biggy. We installed one and it works good. I still end up using the shower more often though, with the nozel on hard because the hot water seems to rinse the poop off better. Not sure your bathroom setup but either the toilet or the shower will work.

3. Where does the diaper go then - Bucket or Diaper Pale? Get a diaper pale or a trash can with a lid and put it wherever you plan on rinsing the diapers. That way you don't have to carry them off to the laundry room until you are ready. Keep a diaper pale or a trash can with a lid by the changing table too and when you change a pee-pee diaper it just goes in the pale. I always remove the insert first so it's ready to wash. The pee-pee trash bucket doesn't smell as long as the lid is closed. You can get tablets that go in the diaper pale that help eliminate the odor and when you go to wash they go in with the diapers and actually help clean them too. There are also "wet bags" sold in different sizes that you can line the diaper pale with. It can go into the wash along with the diapers and saves money over plastic.

4. Washing: For one child in cloth we wash diapers about every other day. Now that we have twice as many diapers we will probably wash every 3rd day. I put it on "whitest whites" setting on our machine with an extra rinse cylce. It washes them in hot with a cold water rinse. I use one scoop of Oxyclean for babies (without perfumes or dyes) and I think it's Tide Free and Clear - also without perfumes/dyes or additives. DON'T USE FABRIC SOFTENER!! I also use Dreft stain remover spray on the poopy yellow ones. There is a product I still need to buy called Bac-out. It removes the bacteria on the diapers that may cause them to smell and is environmentally safe. You can use vinegar in the wash as well, to remove the smell - distilled white vinegar I've been told smells the least and it doesn't make your diapers smell. If you have a super good machine with the super hot temperature that kills the bacteria and sanitizes the diapers then that is great too. We could have gotten that model for a few $100 more but didn't think we'd need it.

5. Drying: Our machine takes forever to dry but that's because our dryer vent hose has a million angles and my husband is going to fix that this weekend. Normally the pocket diapers dry pretty quickly because you've removed the insert. That is why I don't like the all in ones - they are so thick they take forever to dry. I've also read that hanging the diapers to dry in the sun removes stains as well. So far there is no stain that I haven't been able to remove so these diapers clean up well!! And they stay looking new too.

6. Stuffing: I stuff the diapers and fold them up when I do the rest of the laundry so they are ready when I need them. Don't want to be stuffing when I have a squirmy baby on the changing table!

7. Daycare and Grandma/Grandpa: Bring a diaper bag with up to 5 diapers (per child) depending on how long they will have them. Tell them to just put the dirty ones in a plastic bag and you can rinse them if need be when you get them. Show them how they work if they haven't ever done them before - they are super easy. No more difficult than disposables if you've stuffed them already.

8. Liners: They make disposable/biodegradable liners on a role like toilet paper that you can line the diaper with if you want to. That way when they poop you just remove the liner with the poop and avoid having to rinse. I didn't see this working well with breastmilk-poop because it is so runny. But when he is on solids and has a more solid poop this will probably be nice and I may be able to avoid rinsing all together!!! It's $8 or less for a roll.

DO NOT:
Use diaper rash ointment! I guess it is difficult to get that out of the diapers. I found something somewhere for diaper rash that is ok with cloth and I don't remember what it is. I have used diaper rash ointment sparingly and with a liner a couple of times and that worked ok. Just as long as it doesn't get on the cloth.

I hope all this helps!