How We Do It: Cloth Diapering

We started cloth diapering a little late in the game- we didn't get our first cloth until our little guy was three months old. With all the craziness of being in the NICU and then finally adjusting to being home, I didn't want to add anything else to our routine until we were all settled. But when I finally got started, I was hooked! And like anyone who is overly passionate about a small area of their life, I wanted to share it with you! So- cloth diapering... this is how we do it!

I totally went against all the cloth diapering wisdom out there and got all one kind of diaper. We went with pocket diapers that came with microfiber inserts, and we got 25 of them. Boom. Done. I'm an all or nothing kind of girl and I didn't want to mess around with a bunch of different types and brands-- I just got what I thought would work, and that was it.

All in all it cost about $250. So far, I have not regretted defying the cloth diaper powers that be.

I could have saved some money by going with a cheaper brand or buying used, but I liked that these diapers were made in the US, and I wanted to buy new. There's nothing wrong with used cloth diapers, but I wasn't going to take the time to strip and sanitize diapers with a three month old, and since we do hope that God blesses us with another little one someday, I wanted diapers that had a better chance of still being in pretty good shape for the next baby.

I suppose the best place to start the tour is at our changing table. We don't have a nursery- the baby sleeps in our room, and the changing table sits next to our closet. The biggest issue with not having a nursery was that we didn't really have much storage space for the baby's clothes and things, so we put together a changing table-storage combo.

This thing used to be a desk, but Trevor added a couple of shelves, and then we added some wooden drawers to hold and organize clothes.

The diaper hamper sits next to the changing table. It has lots of vent holes in the sides and top, and I've never had an issue with smell. The few times I've used a wet bag instead, the diapers get so smelly after a couple days! I think the air flow makes a big difference. I also like that this hamper is just plastic- so if it gets nasty (hasn't yet), I can easily wash it out.

I made the cute name banner while our little guy was in the NICU- it hung outside our hospital room door.

We have a cushy mat on the surface, and I like putting a receiving blanket down for spit up incidents. The rolled up receiving blanket also helps keep my little wiggler on the table (I always have a hand on him, but he's SO STRONG that he makes mama nervous!)

So, this bag is from Thirty-One-- I got it with my Super Swap It Pocket that I use in my diaper bag as a baby shower gift. It holds all my diaper stuff.

The main pocket is used to hold stuffed, ready to go diapers. I can fit most of my stash (25 diapers) in this bag- the few diapers that don't fit inside get stacked on top.

I started using cloth wipes, too- just a couple old t-shirts of Trevor's cut into small-ish sort-of-rectangles. I keep them in one of the pockets of the bag. The nice thing about these is that I just wash them along with my cloth diapers, and if there's a particularly gross incident, I can throw the wipe away without a second thought. They were free, after all. I keep my wipes dry until right before I use them.

The spray bottle has water and a couple drops of baby shampoo in it-- I use that as my wipe solution. I just spray the cloth wipe, and then clean up the baby bum.

I did try spraying his bum and then wiping, but he was NOT IMPRESSED, and let me know it!

Baby has had a bit of a cold, so I've been keeping my nose sucker right by the changing table, too, along with his diaper cream.

I also have a book light on the changing table- pretty handy for late night diapers, especially since the baby sleeps in our room and I try not to wake up my hubby for 3 am changes. We've really lucked out, though, and little E typically sleeps from 11 pm until about 8 am... so we don't have many late night diaper changes, anyway (or I would probably get an actual lamp for this corner).

Speaking of nighttime-- since our guy is such a champion sleeper, we had to have a solution for overnight diapers. He sleeps so well that he started wetting through his outfits AND swaddles at night- and he'd just keep on sleeping even though he was soaked. Right now, using two inserts in his overnight diapers is working great, but in the future we might have to look into getting more absorbent inserts, like bamboo or hemp. A diaper with two inserts on such a tiny bum makes him look pretty darn adorably fluffy!

The thing I was most nervous about was washing diapers. 

There are like ninety thousand wash routines and rules online, and I was pretty intimidated by all the different options out there. It sounded really complicated.

But really, diapers are just laundry! I've been doing laundry since I was in middle school, so it's really not so scary. Honestly.

Our wash routine is really very simple. It might be a little different than someone else's, because of water hardness and types of wash machines- but again, it's just laundry.

Typically, I do rinse out poopy diapers before they go in the wash. Yeah, breastfed baby poop is totally water soluble and it's not necessary to rinse, but it does help prevent stains a little, it starts the cleaning process a little earlier, and I don't mind doing it. I don't rinse diapers that are just wet. All the diapers, rinsed or not, go into the hamper.



On wash day (which is usually twice a week or so), I dump all the diapers into the wash machine. The pocket diapers I use have openings on each side, so the inserts come out by themselves in the wash- I don't need to separate inserts from covers with this kind.

I start out with a prewash- just a little bit of laundry detergent, along with a "normal" wash cycle- a warm wash and cold rinse.

After that's done, I pull the diapers from the sides of the drum (so they're not plastered up against the edges of my machine). I usually "bulk" the main wash load by adding dirty burp cloths, receiving blankets, wash cloths bibs, or baby clothes. Then I add a normal amount of detergent for the size load I have, and run it through again on "heavy," again with a warm wash and cold rinse.

Before the main wash- bulking the load with receiving blankets

I don't dry my covers, just the inserts-- and I hang the covers up to line dry on their own. The inserts dry pretty fast in the dryer, the covers take a couple hours to air dry.

Eventually, I stuff the inserts back into the covers so they're ready to go again!

We're using cloth about 95% of the time, now-- with the exception of a couple emergency disposables I keep in my diaper bag, and the occasional "whoops, I should have washed diapers yesterday." All the disposables we're using were given to us as gifts, so we haven't had to buy any sposies at all.

Our water and electric bills have remained completely the same as before we started cloth, and we haven't had any diaper rashes at all.

And of course, this guy looks pretty darn cute in his cloth...

All in all, we're really enjoying this cloth diapering stuff (well, as much as you can really enjoy human waste... I mean, it's not ice cream or the beach....), and I think we'll keep it up for a while!

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