Cloth Diaper 101
Aluna is currently 11 months, and we are holding strong with our Cloth Diapering game! It was super overwhelming to figure out what kind of cloth diapers to get and to decide if we were even able to do it long term. Here are a few things to consider if you’re thinking about cloth diapering:
Are you going to wash them yourself or going to use a service? There are cloth diapering services that pick up and wash the diapers for you. Ultimately, the most expensive option, but great if you can afford it!
If you’re going to wash them yourself, do you have some place you can let them air-dry? We live in Los Angeles, and it’s so nice to be able to let them dry in the sun!
Are other caregivers comfortable with cloth diapering? If not, would you be comfortable doing a hybrid situation where you still have disposables on hand for those situations? We travel with disposables and usually bring disposables when we are out and about.
Consider looking on FB Marketplace or another local re-selling site for a “Cloth Diaper Lot”. You’ll be able to try out a few different types without having to invest in a ton right away. If you’re concerned with hygiene, you can always bleach or sanitize them!
2 Week Aluna with a Velcro Diaper
1 Month Aluna with a Snap Diaper
Aluna with my favorite print of a Nora’s Nursery Snap Pocket Diaper
Here is my experience:
Types of Cloth Diapers: We bought a few “diaper lots” from families so that we could try different styles, and I’m glad we did. I thought I would be more fond of a certain brand/type based on some of the reviews that I read, but I ended up liking a different type.
After trying a few, we have landed on Nora’s Nursery Snap / Pocket Diapers because the patterns are cute and have worked great!
Pocket Diapers: These have a “diaper shell” with pocket that you put inserts into, which is what is what absorbs potty :) What’s nice about this, is you can put more than 1 insert in some or a different type of material liner. We would put extra liners in for bed time, so that we wouldn’t have any issues leaking. These are what we have used the most out of all the ones that we tried.
Pocket diapers are easier to clean because the inserts can be separated from the diaper and get a good wash. They also dry way easier because diaper shell is thinner and can air dry easily, and the inserts can go straight into the dryer.
Snap: These are great because you are able to size them to fit your baby as they grow. The only downfall is that once your baby hates being on their back and doesn’t want to every lay down, you are basically chasing them around trying to snap them!
Velcro Diapers: There aren’t a ton of brands that are doing Velcro diapers, but I believe Bum Genius still has them. While these are more convenient than snapping, you will probably have to be buy more of these as your babies grow! We have a few of the XS / S ones from when she was first born, but we only used them for 3-4 months.
Cleaning, Changing & Maintenance : I did not go with a service, I decided to clean and maintain them myself! Nic (dad!) and our nanny have been so awesome with helping in this process. We also have disposables on hand at all times: for friends that visit and help or for when we are on the road! We always bring disposables when we travel, so we are only doing cloth diapering at home. We feel this is a good happy medium!
CHANGING: Ok, everyone always asks, what do you do about the POOP?! We use disposable liners that are easy to throw into the trash. Some people will literally will dump the poop in the toilet! We also have two trash cans: the Ubbi Pail for trash/disposables and the Dekor Pail + Reusable Liners for the Diapers. We dump the poop & liner in the Ubbi then put the diaper in the Dekor.
I’ll be real, the clean up when baby poops, is not pretty. We have bought disposable gloves to throw on for poop clean ups lol
WASHING:
I put all the diapers with the liners still inside the diapers straight into the washing machine.
PREWASH: I speed wash on COLD and add Baby Dreft Detergent + Lysol Sanitizer then make sure the EXTRA RINSE cycle is on.
WASH: I wash on HOT on REGULAR or HEAVY and add a splash more of detergent.
The Sanitizer seems to be enough for our regular cycle, but we have previously done a bleach soak to the used Diapers we purchased. If you find that your baby is getting yeast infections, you may need to do a bleach soak!
DRYING:
I take all the liners out of the diapers and put in the dryer. You can dry these normal. I noticed some of the bamboo liners need a second dry because they are so thick and absorbent.
The shell of the diapers, I lay out to dry in the sun. They usually dry within a couple hours and are ready to be stuffed. If we have a cloudy day or I wash them later in the day, I lay them out on our drying rack inside and they’re usually good over night.
STUFFING:
Once everything is dry, I stuff them while I am playing with Aluna or while I am watching TV. It’s an easy thing and therapeutic thing to do for me.
Nora’s Nursery comes with really great liners already, but we always put an extra liner in them. Aluna always looks so cute with an extra poofy butt :)
How many do you need?: This really depends on how often you want to wash the diapers. We typically wash Aluna’s diapers every 2-3 days. Each day, we go through about 6-8. We have about 25 pairs, and it’s been more than enough! Keep in mind that the diaper pail will probably only fit about 10-12 diapers, so if you only want to do laundry every 4-5 days, you may have stinky diapers sitting out in the liner
Since Aluna has been born, I have had one big box of Size 1 and Size 2 diapers, and I have never had to buy disposable diapers unless we are traveling. They do take a lot of work and maintenance, but It feels really good to be able to use them! Hope this entry helps :)