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Everything to Know About Starting Cloth Diapers

Everything to Know About Starting Cloth Diapers

Why Cloth diapers?

Everyone thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to do cloth diapers. Well, I think everyone who uses disposables is crazy. Have you seen the prices of those things? It’s insane! I don’t see how anyone can afford them. My husband and I personally feel like they are a luxury.

People think (for some reason) that doing cloth diapers is the expensive path. Initially, yeah it may seem that way. Even though, to date, I’ve spent roughly $70 on all my cloth diapering needs (some of which I don’t even use) and I’ve successfully been cloth diapering for about four months. We used disposable at first for two reasons:

  1. We received a huge amount from the baby shower.
  2. The adjustable “one size fits all” diapers I bought to grow with him were far far too big and wouldn’t adjust that small.

My husband (the king of all skeptists) was deeply concerned about the cloth decision and had a little bit of time adjusting and figuring it out at first (mostly because he’s a man and has to figure out things on his own instead of listening. You know) but even he’s a believer now.

My Meme (grandmother) took to them easily, as the ones they have these days are a breeze compared to what she had to use on her children (my mom and uncle). When I told her about my decision she told me,

“Ya know Nanna (this is what my family calls me), when mine were little, everyone used cloth. No one could afford disposable.”

I feel like people these days are confused about what they can afford, but that’s a whole different blog post. So why did I decide to embark on this cloth diaper adventure?

  1. I’m frugal. Diapers are expensive.
  2. If the zombie apocalypse strikes and there’s a baby in my midst, I will know how to accommodate.
  3. The landfills and the Earth and that stuff. Go Green! Whoo!
  4. Some chemicals in disposables that I’m not comfortable with.
  5. To lead by example.

The Supplies you need for cloth diapers

So like I was saying, $70.

  • I spent $30 on a pack of six assorted colored diapers. All of which came with inserts (that I don’t use unless I’m running behind on laundry) from Amazon.
  • $10 on three without the inserts that I got from a lady on a Facebook yard sale group. (They were never used even though I’m confident enough in my laundering skills that I would have taken them anyway)
  • $10 on two more diapers because they had dinosaurs and captain America on them. WHAT?! Yeah he needed those(from Amazon).
  • $10 on some extra bamboo inserts from Amazon. (That I don’t use)
  • $10 on a pack of flats which is what I recommend using. (From Wal-mart)

So we’ve got, all together, 11 diapers and 25-odd + something I dunno I’m not gonna go count them, flats to use instead of the inserts. The flats come in a pack of 10 generally but there are packs of more and less depending on what you want.

They also come in either flats (which I use) or the fancy ones, prefolds. The fancy ones are thicker in the middle. Like I said, the flats are sufficient and what I use. They’re about $10 roughly. I got two packs from my shower. So three packs all together.

Oh and I spent $2 on a diaper cover just to see what kind of quality it would be before I bought more. Yeah, there’s a reason it was $2. So roughly $72, plus or minus some tax and shipping and handling.

A lot of things you read out there will tell you that you need all this extra stuff, i.e. special laundry detergent, a sprayer thing attached to your toilet (which also comes with it’s own extra accessories), a diaper pail etc. What I use for maintaining my diapers:

  1. A $5 garbage can with a lid. (To hold the dirties in between washes)
  2. A small mesh laundry bag to put in said garbage can to hold said dirties. ($5 came in a pack of two)
  3. Gain Free and Clear laundry detergent. (Which I would have bought anyway)
  4. A wet-bag for when we leave the house in cloth. (you can get one of these for $5-$10 on Amazon in any kind of design or colour you want.)

So even after maintenance fees, (not including detergent you’re probably already buying or electrical fees for the washer because who really maths electrical usage?) You’ve spent about $85 to diaper your child for their entire non-potty trained life.

Of course, you can go even cheaper than that if you want. For example, my advice would be to skip out on the inserts and just use flats. I’ve personally found that inserts are more prone to leakage than flats or prefolds.

The only time I’ve ever had a prefold leak is when it wasn’t put inside the diaper properly. And there are places other than Amazon where you can get diapers for cheaper than what I did. (Like this place.) However I can not vouch for their product quality or ethics.

But if you do decide the Amazon route is best for you this is my favourite brand and I’ve never had an issue with them and I’ll never use another.

Getting cloth diapers on the kid

Alright, now that we’ve got all of our supplies, how do I use these things? You might ask. Well I’m gonna tell ya!

Take your flats and fold them like so.

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Lay them inside your diaper just as such:

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Lay baby on diaper and buckle him/her in accordingly.

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TA-DA! Baby’s ready to go.

If we could just take a moment to catch our breath and let everyone know how awesome this is. Click below please and tell your friends!

Bedtime Routine when cloth diapering

But what if I’m putting baby to sleep for the night? Is it any different? I’m glad you asked! Now during the day, the method above is perfectly acceptable.

However, at night, baby tends to go longer stretches without a diaper change. I would recommend using either two pre folds stacked, or a flat paired with an insert with the flat on top like so:

diaperssdsdlgn

I heard that. “But you said I didn’t need the inserts!” But what I said was I don’t use them and I don’t like them.

You see, even the best put together diaper can leak, therefore I was using a crib liner underneath my son at night which was insulating him too much and he was sweating really really badly so instead we use disposable at night.

I hate it, but it’s what’s practical for us. You have to find what works for you and my son not overheating is what works for us.

Care Instructions for cloth diapers

What about washing them now? Does that require any special tending to? Another great question! Some people say to wash the diapers and the inserts separately. I’m not sure why and to be honest, who has time for that?

Personally, I wash the diapers together with the inserts together with his clothes. Yep. I wash EVERYTHING all at once and I’ve never had a single problem in doing so.

But that’s with a newborn, exclusively breastfed baby. Once you start solids, though, do not, I repeat do not wash the diapers with anything else.

  • Wash with hot water
  • Heavy duty
  • Double rinse
  • Gain free and clear detergent
  • I add a small scoop of baking soda
  • Hang dry

What?! Now I have to hang them outside? Ewhhhh. No. You don’t. You can totally throw them in the dryer and be done with it. Buuutttt hanging them out to dry is going to prevent them from staining. Or, get the stains out anyway.

With what they go through whilst being strapped to your baby’s booty and all, they’re going to stain a bit. However, with hanging them out to dry, the sun is going to bleach them better than any bleach you can buy. FOR FREE, both chemically and monetarily.

Don’t you just love that word? Free. And without deteriorating them like the harsh chemicals do.

Leaving the house in cloth diapers

Going out in public isn’t difficult either. Do as you normally would, but instead of packing disposables into your bag, you pack cloth ones in your wet bag like such:

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Most of them have a front “dry” pocket for fresh things.

I’ve also heard people talking about how you have to change cloth more frequently than disposable because cloth holds less.

For one, I hope your changing your baby on a fairly regular basis anyway. Just because the diaper isn’t “full” to the brim doesn’t mean it’s not uncomfortable and this leads to diaper rash.

But I’m not going to lecture you on parenting. Instead, I’m going to offer my experience in that I feel like (when we do use disposable for whatever reason) I’m changing a disposable diaper waaaayyyy more often than I do the cloth. I dunno why.

I’m sure he’s not messing them up any more or less often. But wet disposable diapers seem to bother him and cloth doesn’t. Which I’ve also heard the opposite on that.

People claim that the wetness of the cloth bothers them because they can feel it more. I dunno. All I can tell you is I change a cloth diaper every hour and a half or so whereas I change a disposable at least every 45 minutes.

The End! It’s really super simple and I dunno why people stress over it. My mom still freaks out a little bit at the mention of them. I dunno. If you have any questions I’d be more than happy to answer them! Contact me however you see fit.

Best vibes always,

S.S.Blake

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Savannah Shea Blake Profile picture

S.S.Blake; Spiritual Life Coach, Yoga + Meditation Teacher and Founder of Earth and Water

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12 comments

  1. This is great! I do have a question about what you got from WalMart. Were they prefolds or flats? What you had today were flats. Their flats are great, but the Gerber birds eye prefolds just aren’t very absorbant.

    1. They are the Gerber flats. Maybe my little man doesn’t wet them much or maybe I just change him often enough. I can’t really tell you but they’ve always worked wonderfully for me and I’ll never use anything else!

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