Washing Cloth diapers
Written by Diaper Diva
I have avoided this section of advice till now. To be honest…I’m still going to avoid it.
What I have found through talking with people & reading endless websites & blogs and forum posts & stickies on the topic is that it just depends. It depends on whether you have hard or soft water, what type of washer you have, whether or not your baby has sensitive skin, what level your at in “eco-consciousness”, what type of diapers…well, you get the picture.
Everyone has a system & I doubt many are alike. Unfortunately, looks like it’s trial & error folks.
MOST agree (though not all on any of these points!):
- you only need a 1/4 of the amt. of detergent than what the box/bottle says
- use bleach either sparingly or never (please use it if baby had yeast or a bacterial rash)
- pocket diapers are notorious for being picky about detergent types (many apparently cause repelling).
Beyond that, my only word of advice: Start bare-bones. Pre-rinse (if you desire, apparently plenty don’t & they’re fine), wash with only detergent (no second rinse) & then dry. If that works, ignore everything else you read & stick with it. You will be much happier, I promise. If not, change one thing at a time until you find wash nirvana.
I’m not even going to tell you my “system” (yes, it’s changed since that first post) so as not to mislead you into thinking there is a “right” way. I am however, more than happy to help you trouble-shoot if lurking on forums isn’t working for you.
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Sisterhood of the Traveling Diapers
Written by Diaper Diva
I apologize for the excessive downtime dear Diaper readers. During the last few weeks we have sold our house, packed up said house, visited family over the holiday, moved to a new state and unpacked the new house. It has been a wild ride. We’ve only been in the new house for a week and a half, but it’s feeling more and more like home.
During the trip with all the traveling, I decided to (yet again) use diaper girl & myself as guinea pigs. Since all the visiting travel was to family members’ houses, I decided to travel with cloth (for a week & 1/2). I had a tally going but lost it in transit, however the rough estimate is that we used about 5 disposable diapers on diaper girl & 3 on diaper boy. Diaper boy (who just turned 3 last week) actually complained a couple times when putting a disposable on him (remember he only wears diapers to bed now), “I don’t want the paper diaper mama, I just like cloth diapers”. That’s my boy.
I wanted to do 100% cloth but I chickened out when it came time to head to the airport. I was flying solo with the two kids (diaper dad drove to the new place ahead of us) and needed the carry-on bag as small as humanly possible. So starting the night before (and whenever someone was babysitting for me) the kids wore “paper diapers”.
Anyhow, traveling with the diapers was really not that big a deal. I had one small suitcase dedicated to diapers (including my wipes warmer & hanging pails) & since I had a “home-base” at each location, it was a breeze. An etiquette tip for you though: some people may not like the idea of soiled diapers in their washing machine. Be sure to check with your host to make sure they don’t mind diaper laundry. If they do you can either gently explain the process & how you’re not dropping loads of poo into the washer or you can just let it go and use disposables to help keep relationships intact. No sense causing tension over something as silly as diapers.
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Written by Diaper Diva
So by this point you have hopefully sat down & figured out what your criteria for a diapering system is. Congratulations, you’re on your way to building your “stash”. Once you decide on type (Flats, Prefolds, Fitted, AIO, Pocket & Any mix therein), you can begin looking for your brand of choice. My favorite sites for diaper reviews:
The Diaper Jungle
The Diaper Pin
Again, this may take some time, reading the reviews, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to take time to figure out what you’re looking for. This is particularly important if you decide to go the “one-size” route. You don’t want to be stuck with 30 diapers you hate. Sure, you can sell them, but that’s another hassle in & of itself. So suck it up, do a little reading & once you make your decision, stop reading!! Much like marriage, once you’re committed it’s best to not even wonder….you might end up straying & will never be satisfied. Unless of course you decide on a “hodge-podge” stash…a little bit of everything. Those crazy swingers…. Of course if you get your diapers & discover for example that your child is allergic to fleece (pretty rare) & you have 24 Fuzzi Bunz sitting in your drawer…You have my permission to dump those bad boys like a bad habit & re-stash asap.
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Written by Diaper Diva
I cannot believe I almost forgot my beloved One-Size diapers!! Nearly all cloth diapering styles have a one-size option. These Can fall into a few different categories. They’re convenient & cost-effective (you buy one set for all of diaper-hood). If you have more than one child in cloth, they can use the same diapers! Diaper boy & girl have been using the same dipes for well over a year now (it was pretty funny putting my 20 month old & 2 week old to bed in matching diapers) & it has been wonderful! No sorting by size when I’m folding. They’re all the same thing, so it doesn’t matter which dresser it goes in.
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Cloth Diapering for the Fashion Concious
Written by Diaper Diva
Everyone….well, most everyone wants to dress their babies cute. Of course, cute is in the eye of the beholder; some like lace & poofy sleeved dresses on their little girls. I like brown pants with pink cammo shirts. When diaper boy was a baby I was a little more particular about his clothing. He almost never wore overalls & rarely if ever sweatpants in public. Not sure what happened, but I’m much less particular with diaper girl. She’s been known to leave the house in slippers & M.C. Hammer-esque pants on more than one occasion.
Cloth diapers can seem daunting for those who hover on the “obsessive” side of “cool” for their kids. What about the “big booty”? Can cool clothes fit over cloth? Will he/she ever wear jeans again??
Yes. Not only can you have your cute, but you can kiss it too.
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Diaper Rash Problems & Chemical Aversion
Written by Diaper Diva
Disposable diapers have been implicated by cloth diapering proponents for everything from chronic diaper rash, to male infertility, even to asthma! For some the problems are due to chemicals, others are due to the non-existent air-flow (which btw won’t be helped much in PUL covers)…. My opinion? Well…I’m not entirely sure. The arguments do make sense (some more than others), but I’m not 100% on board. But that’s not why we’re here folks. Let’s talk about diapering options for the chemically sensitive & rash-prone.
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Cloth Diapering To Save The World
Written by Diaper Diva
Ok that *might* be a little overzealous, but you get my drift. You’re in it to save some landfill space, cut down on the production of dioxins…really, the cloth vs. disposable diaper politics can be pretty confusing. For our purposes, I’m going to assume you agree that cloth diapers are the greenest option in diaper choice.
I do think that all cloth options are preferable to disposable, but if you’re really hard-core environment-friendly, yesterday’s discussion of enviro-concious choices covered the bases pretty well.
The only thing I could really add to that would be organic diapers. These are not the most pocket-book friendly option in many cases, but seeing as how cotton is one of the world’s most pesticide intensive crops, your choice may not be as silly as some may think.
It may or may not make a difference to your baby’s skin (some say yes, some say no), but it clearly makes a difference in run-off polution…not to mention the health of farm workers. So if your wallet can take it, “go organic”.
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Cloth Diapering to Save Money Pt. 2
Written by Diaper Diva
Ok, I realize I was supposed to take one day per general category, but due to my inability to be brief…the cost category has been extended.
I had two more thoughts on how to be frugal in your cloth diapering. They also just so happen to be “uber-green”.
The first secret: Make your own. If you have access to a sewing machine, you can make diapers out of fabric just lying around your house (or the local Goodwill….or your friends houses…or the closets of people off freecycle). There are a number of websites that have free patterns for home-made cloth diapers & covers. Here’s a few I like:
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Cloth Diapering to Save Money Pt. 1
Written by Diaper Diva
So…you’re frugal. Perhaps you’re like my dad & it’s just sort of this genetically inherited hobby, or perhaps you’re really in dire straights in the $ department. Regardless you’re in it to save money. Do all cloth diapers save you money over disposables? Well, that depends. It depends on what type of cloth diapers you’re going to use, what kind of covers, and even how many children you plan to diaper (the more kids you use your cloth on, the more you’re saving).
A little “googling” will bring you to a number of cost comparison charts (that one’s my favorite). It’s a good idea to take a look at these to get a feel for what you’re into.
Ok, so the skinny on the frugality: If you’re buying diapers The cheapest, yet effective way to go:
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How to choose a Cloth Diaper Game Plan
Written by Diaper Diva
Prefolds (snappi/pins/wrap), Contoured, Fitted, AIO, Pocket, Wool, PUL, Fleece, Flannel, Polyester, Snaps, Velcro……the list goes on. How can DIAPERS be this complicated?? Can’t you just go to Target & pick up some gerbers?
Sure, but where’s the fun (& high performance…*bias*…) in that?
If you’re new to cloth and are on board with the idea, but a bit overwhelmed on which route to go, I’m going to spend the next week here with you. While I don’t know everything, I’ve stalked my share of forums enough to THINK I know everything…. The most common advice is to buy one or two of a bunch of different types to try & see what you like.
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