Cloth Diapering

*A note: I know… I’ve been MIA on my blog lately. Time seems to slip away so quickly right now and being off the computer more has been my most effective way to give quality time to my little ones. I’m not going anywhere just slowing down for a couple months. :)*

To Begin

A lot of people have asked me about my experiences with cloth diapering. And, I admit it, I love being a resource person, researching, and trying new things. So I’ll try to share here some of the things I’ve learned. This… adventure… is one that I never thought I’d be undertaking. I was always pretty sure that baby poop and pee belonged in the trash can and was more than happy to never see it again! But when I was a stay at home mom with my second baby (two years ago) I began to research it and changed my mind. I began to feel our money was being thrown away every month (yes, with the poop and pee) and it made me cringe. Now I’m cloth diapering two kids, my two year old, and my two month old! I know there are many other reasons people use cloth diapers but my main reason to start with was saving money. Anyway, if you’ve ever been curious about cloth diapering, or are seriously interested, read on!

From the beginning I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I came into it expecting a lot more leaking, laundry, and work plus the unpleasant task of dealing with the baby pee and poo after it sat awhile. Uck! What I found was that, with the right cloth diapers, my very heavy wetting baby was now sleeping at night instead of waking twice a night with pajamas and entire bed soaked. There was also less laundry and hassle than ever because I had no more poo blowouts. My baby’s constant diaper rash was gone completely! I ended up saving more money in the end than I expected because baby clothes didn’t get stained as often. After a few days of adjusting to folding and fitting, snappi-ing, and covering diapers it was easy. And saving $1000-2000/kid isn’t that awful either!

The Basics

To put it simply, when cloth diapering you need an absorbent layer and a waterproof layer. Some use an extra inner layer, a moisture barrier, that wicks wetness away from the baby’s skin so they don’t feel it as much. That 3rd layer is nice for night-time and trips but is not mandatory.

The absorbent layer is usually made from cotton, hemp, microfiber, or bamboo. I’ve used chinese cotton prefolds, fastened with a snappi (no pins for me!), mostly and have been very happy. They are easy to use, absorbent, and one of the least expensive options. Since you wrap it around the baby you can get a great custom fit, fold over any extra to where you need it, and get it snug around the thighs to prevent leaks. I always go for the premium size and folded them to fit even my little 9 lb couple week old baby. Though they are bulky on her I didn’t have to buy infant and later up-size to premiums.

For a waterproof layer (i.e. diaper cover) I use nylon pants, wraps made with a specially treated polyester, or 100% wool covers. Nylon pants are very affordable, breathable, and work very well. Adjustable wraps are also a good investment and fasten on almost like a disposable diaper so are a little more convenient, and usually cute. Wool is an awesome combination of waterproof and absorbent and only needs to be washed every 2 weeks or so. Wool naturally kills odors and bacteria and is breathable. I was skeptical at first but it really works well!

The absorbent and the optional moisture barrier layers need to be changed at each diaper change. But as long as the cover isn’t soiled, you can set it aside to let it dry, put another on the baby for this change, and then reuse the first cover with the next change. At the end of the day I put both of that day’s covers in the diaper pail/wet bag. This means you really need 2 covers a day plus an extra one or two depending on how well your absorbent layer holds in poo and how often the baby poos. I have about 30 prefolds and 11 covers currently for my two month old plus about 5 bumGenius (pocket diapers.) I wash them every 3 days. Later, when she goes through less, I’ll probably go to washing every 4 days. With pocket diapers like bumGenius (diaper cover and moisture barrier in one diaper that you stuff an absorbent insert into) and with all in one diapers (all three layers sewn together) the entire diaper has to be changed with each wash. These diapers are as easy as disposables to put on but are more expensive than other cloth diapering solutions.

There are a myriad of products out there that make cloth diapering easier, but the more convenient the higher the price is frequently. I have to confess to being somewhat pulled into the very cute diapers although, I know, they are really just poo catchers. 🙂

Product Recommendations
One of the least expensive diapering combos I use is Dappi nylon covers, Snappis, and prefolds. Though they are extremely affordable, they are very durable. The elastic is gentle, they are breathable which prevents rash, and if my memory serves me right in 2 years I’ve only had 2 times poo ever got out of the cover. You do have to size up with these, but they only cost $5 per 2 covers.

Econobum diaper covers are also very affordable and adjust to fit a lot of sizes so will grow with your baby. They do not fit my 36 lb 2 year old but barely anything does. When he became more active, the top of these gapped and let out wetness. They fit my newborn perfectly though and it looks like it will fit her for a very long time. The downside is that they are very thin. I make sure to only line dry them, but they are still wearing out quickly.

My other favorite is Thirsties covers. I’ve used both the older, non adjustable, and the new adjustable ones. They are a little bit more expensive than econobum but they have awesome leg gussets and waist elastic, fun colors, and very durable fabric. Beware the new size 1 runs very small.

I’ve used Bumgenius one size pocket diapers for nighttime and out of the house. They fit from 7-35 lbs, they keep the baby from feeling moisture, and you can put in whatever inserts you need for absorbency. They still work for my 2 year old. I’ve rarely had leaks with these but, even with an extra insert inside, they are not getting my 2 month old through the night. Neither would disposables though! Read on to figure out what I do now for nighttime.

Wool covers are my new favorites. I’ve sewn them from re-purposed wool fabrics or crocheted or knitted from new or re-purposed yarn. I bought one wool sweater for $1 from the thrift store and took it apart for yarn. Check out this blog post of mine to find out how to turn a sweater into yarn. I was able to make 3 covers from it. One of these covers I made super thick and put it on my 2 month old every night. Her jammas and bed stay dry all night when with any other diaper she was soaking through and I had to change her 2-3 times a night. Let me just say that I love my sleep and thus love this diaper. That’s a weird thing to say but I’m sticking to it. 🙂

Some patterns I’ve used:

Crochet:

Tickle Turdle Wrap 

Adirondack Babie Crochet Soaker

Easiest Crochet Wool Soaker (my awesome nighttime diaper)

Sewn:

Sewn diaper cover tutorial video (although I used 2 layers of wool fabric, used a wrap diaper that I have instead of a pattern, and made ties instead of using snaps)

Knit:

Flowerpot Tots DK Shorties and Longies

(edited to include my wood cover sewn from a sweater tutorial)

Easy Sew Wool Cover

To Break It Down

Do you really save money? Well, there is the cost of the extra laundering to consider. Each cloth diaper load has to go through 2 wash cycles, with detergent, and 1 extra rinse cycle then the dryer unless you can line dry them (which will help them last longer anyway.) And there are those super adorable super convenient cloth diapers and accessories that, well, it can be hard to resist getting sucked into spending an awful lot of money on cloth diapers. But the potential to save is definitely there!

Premium prefolds are about $2 each, so $60 for 30. 8 Dappi covers would cost $40. A Snappi is about $4. A diaper pail/wet bag and detergent are the only other things needed. You can easily start cloth diapering for about $100. That’s if you want to wash about every 3 days. If you wash every 2 days, you can start for less.

If you count on sizing up covers 3 times to cloth diaper, and getting new Snappis every 6 months like recommended, diapers can cost about $280 from start to finish. Contrast this with the cost of disposables. I spent about $50-75/month on disposables with my first child. If you do that for 2-3 years, it’s going to cost around $1200-$2100 per child. And I used cheap brands and bought in bulk back then (about 6 years ago.)

I’m now reusing for my new baby the prefolds, covers, and Bumgenius diapers I bought 2 years ago when I first started cloth diapering. They are getting a little worn but still work very well. I also had someone give me a lot of gently used covers and toddler sized prefolds for the 2 year old. So for now we’re really saving a lot.

Extra Details

• If using prefolds it’s important to prewash brand new ones to make them absorbent. They can need 5 or more washes before the first use.
• What do you do with the poop? Well, with breastfed babies the poop dissolves and washes out in the washing machine just fine, so leave the poop in the diaper. Easy! And, yes, it really washes out. I’m a very clean person and if it were not true I would not be cloth diapering! If the baby is formula fed or eating solid foods, the poop, as much of it as possible has to be washed out before laundering the diapers. They make diaper sprayers that make this easy. There are also disposable liners that lay in the diaper and catch (at least most of) the poop and then are thrown away. These liners helped me continue to cloth diaper through the beginning months of my last pregnancy and are not very expensive. When I started cloth diapering I had an awesome utility sink. But yes, now I swish poopy diapers in the toilet. *wrinkle nose.* It’s not any fun but, really, if you have a baby you’re going to be dealing with poop. Period. Whether you cloth diaper or not.
• Cloth diaper wipes save money and just really make sense when you are cloth diapering. At least when you’re cloth diapering a baby before it starts solids! You can make your own easily from receiving blankets or use baby washcloths or purchase them.
• You have to use certain detergents with cloth diapers or they won’t be absorbent, they’ll stink and they can cause rashes. A good detergent doesn’t have any fragrances, brighteners, enzymes, dyes, softeners, or bleach. I love Nellie’s Laundry Soda. It’s really nice for baby clothes too as it is good for sensitive skin. For quite a while I washed all our clothes in it and was very very happy with it. I know a lot of others that use Rockin’ Green and like it. There is a link to a very long list of good and bad detergents in the resources section below. And this is for real because I used to use All Free and Clear until my diapers suddenly stank horribly and gave the baby a painful rash. I “stripped” all the diapers by washing them very well with some original Dawn dish detergent and lots of rinses, and started using a good detergent. Problem solved.
• One thing I never have done is newborn cloth diapers. Financially, it doesn’t save to buy the fancy super tiny newborn diapers with a cord scoop because they grow out of them in a few weeks, my babies do anyway. I use a pack or two of disposables at least until the cord falls off.
• Stains! Stains do happen. Even when the diapers are completely clean they can have some staining. The miracle stain remover is the sun! If you lie a diaper wet from washing out in the sun your stain will disappear!

Resources

www.Cottonbabies.com is hands down my favorite website for info about cloth diapering and for buying cloth diapers. You can find info on how to fold, wash, and trouble-shoot cloth diapers and much more. All the products I mentioned above are available there cottonbabies and if you sign up to get their emails, you’ll get news of awesome sales and seconds diaper sales. They also have tons of reviews and ratings from customers so you can see what’s tried and true. Shipping is free. Now I sound like a commercial but really, they are awesome and the customer service is incredible as well. They have a blog and a recent, especially great, post is about how to cloth diaper your baby for almost no money. http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/2011/04/almost-free-diapers-how-to-diaper-your.htm

There are also websites like www.diaperswappers.com where you can buy, sell, and trade diapers with other people.

Diaper detergent chart:
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html You want one with all 4 stars ideally.

If you’re interested in wool diaper covers this is a great group with a lot of helpful files and links for making your own. Not to mention there’s an entire community of people that have been doing this and can answer all those little questions that come up. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wool_soaker_group/