Cloth Diaper Resources

Gidget posted on October 13, 2008 18:28

Have you noticed how adorable cloth diapers have become? These are not the cloth diapers that our moms and grandmas used. Not only are they environmentally- (and wallet-) friendly, they also are way cuter on a little tush than a disposable in my opinion. :) There are lots of brands out there and the information that one comes across when trying to get started can be simply overwhelming! So if you're thinking about making the switch to cloth, I wanted to offer my own few cents on the subject.

I've personally been using cloth/hybrid diapers about half the time for several months now. I wish I'd started sooner! Here are all my tips on cloth diapering...

We use cloth (Bum Genius and Fuzzi Bunz) or hybrid diapers (gDiapers) as much as possible during the day when at home. We use disposables at night and when we go out, most of the time.

I love gDiapers best because they are easy (flushable insert) and less bulky than the cloth dipes. But due to the expense of the liners, I use them less frequently. What I do like to do though, is use 2 BumGenius diaper doublers (each pocket diaper always comes with one of these) or one homemade liner in them.

If the Chiquita only peed in a cloth diaper, I often toss the liner in the pail and then re-use the diaper with 2 doublers or 1 homemade liner. The BumGeniuses are excellent at wicking away moisture & odor so they can easily be used again! (I do usually use the reused ones for naps just in case they smell a teensy bit peeish).

I insist on using these awesome flushable liners in all cloth diapers (Chiquita is a very sporadic pooper- you never know when she’ll strike) for easier clean-up. I order them from diapers.com where you can get free shipping if you spend $49. Refer me on your first order for a discount! My referral code is: NIBE4523.

For those times when a messy poop goes off the flushable liner, you can make (or buy) an awesome diaper sprayer ~ use my husband's handy and popular DIY tutorial.

In our bathroom upstairs, we keep a simple rubbermaid trash can from Home Depot with a washable Swaddlebees waterproof liner bag (I have 2 of these to switch out).

I do laundry about 2-3 times a week. Here’s my method: 1. dump in all diapers & liner bag; 2. short, cold rinse cycle with a scoop of Borax and/or baking soda; 3. Hot/cold cycle: hot wash with Dreft + scoop of baby Oxi Clean, then cold rinse; 4. hang dry in sun (for natural stain-lightening). Never use fabric softener on diapers. The plastic liners that go in the gDiapers I hand wash and hang dry, unless they get poopy, then I throw them in with the rest of the diaper load.

With poopy cloth/hybrid diapers I use these flushable wipes. I don’t use these with disposables because they’re just not that great. But it works good with cloth because then you don’t have to worry about baggin’ up poopy wipes to throw away.