Cloth Diaper FAQ

So I have received a few emails asking questions about my cloth diaper routine. I LOVE this! But it gets to be a hassle to type out, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on here. And also post some affiliate links in case you choose to buy.

You can find the bones of the info you need with a simple google search, so I'm not going to get in to how many you need, how to store, etc, but I will go over my personal preferences.

I use all kinds of diapers. When P was a newborn I preferred Green Mountain organic prefolds with a Thirsties cover. (Prefolds are a GREAT value but they don't wick away as well as other types, so older babies begin to find them irritating in my experience). I had about 16 prefolds and 6 covers. I switched her to a different type when she grew out of the Small size diapers (so we used newborn size and small size prefolds. I think I had about a dozen and a half of each). Now I mainly Bum Genius Elementals with Snaps, they're organic and they're pretty expensive ($24ish/diaper - though I do my VERY best to buy on sale) so my entire stash isn't made up of these. I also really like Kawaii Heavy Duty diapers with Aplix (about $8/diaper)- these are the most disposable-like diaper type, and the easiest for babysitters, grandparents, etc., and AlvaBaby and SunBaby diapers (otherwise known as China Cheapies, which run somewhere between $4 and $8). I've had my "cheapies" the longest and I've only had trouble with one. In fact, at this point, they're my go-to for when P will be wearing a diaper the longest, because I double stuff it for extra absorbency. Now, people are going to ding me here for encouraging folks to buy diapers from China, and yeah, yeah, labor laws and all that, but I'm typing this on a Chinese computer listing to my China-made TV. So... Diapers aren't going to change the world. Also, most American companies outsource at this point, and I'm not sinking $40 in to a diaper. I'm just a bad global citizen. I blogged more about diapers here.

I have enough diapers to get through about 5 days without washing, but I choose to wash every 3-4 days. Here's how:

When I wash, I do a rinse cycle (it's Quick Wash on my Whirlpool Cabrio) with a scoop of Nellie's Washing Soda for booster. Then I do a cycle on the Whites setting with Tide Free and Gentile liquid to the #2 or #3 line. After I've done the rinse, I toss in a load of towels or something with the diapers if I need to. My washer has a HUGE drum that can accommodate all this and since the nasties are all washed off, I feel confident throwing in whatever else needs to be cleaned. Then I just put the diapers on a drying rack or tumble on low. It's really that easy! I know we're trained to think it's so hard and that we have to use specific detergents but it's simply not true. I have been at this for 10 months so far and haven't had a lick of trouble.

Yes, you do have to change cloth a bit more often, max every 3 hours (except at night, but I don't CD at night yet), but honestly, you should probably be changing your baby that often anyway.

Full Disclosure, I have probably spent about $475 total on my cloth diapers. That said, I have made some of it back. When I was trying to decide which "models" I like best, I bought a few of every type that appealed to me. When I decided what I did and didn't like, I got on Facebook to some buy/sell/trade sites or on eBay and sold what I didn't like. The way the higher priced diapers retain their value is ridiculous. I sold some used prefolds that P didn't like for MORE than what I paid for them new. People either don't' do their research or .. well, people just don't do their research.

Now I know some people cloth diaper to save some money, and I'm sure I have/will in the long run, but I'm not entirely sure I have yet. But I do feel REALLY good about P's carbon footprint! And I'm not going to get into the ridiculous chemicals that are in disposables (because I do still use them when they're convenient so I choose to turn away from such information. HA!). But really, I'm doing laundry anyway, so cloth is just one more load for what has turned out to be a real benefit for our family.