Cloth Diapers- Just the Basics

Cloth diapers are not scary. I repeat, cloth diapers are NOT scary. I promise.

When Eric and I announced that we planned to cloth diaper Teddy, the majority of responses were negative. People literally laughed in our faces.

We were told on more than one occasion:

• “Just wait until he starts having blowouts”
• “You’ll change your mind when you are actually changing diapers”
• “You just think you want to cloth diaper now”
• “You have no idea how much laundry you will be doing.”
• … you get the idea

You would be surprised at how many people are surprised when I tell them I’m not actually wrapping my baby’s butt in a rag and clothespinning it together. I’m not even joking. I have found, in the case of cloth diapers, that every person who had a negative opinion on the subject had not actually cloth diapered themselves. They were told and/or felt that it would be inconvenient and messy, and thus perpetuated the misinformed opinion that it is ‘old school.’ But, the truth is, I love patting that soft little diaper butt, and the patterns on the cloth diapers are simply adorable. The absorbent material on the inside is soft and fluffy. The shell on the outside is waterproof and durable. When I am old and potentially diapered myself, I hope to have cloth diapers. Friends and family who spend time with us and observe diaper changes tend to be very interested and impressed with how easy and modern the diapers are these days. I laugh as I write that, because even our most experienced and battle hardened child bearing relatives tended to avoid changing Teddy’s diaper until we showed them just how easy it was to snap the buttons together and voila! Baby successfully diapered.

NOW, I will admit the process of learning what the hell a cloth diaper even is can be quite a challenge. There are many different ways to cloth diaper a baby, and Eric and I only truly understood the differences after taking a cloth diapering class at one of our favorite baby stores. The ‘aha!’ moment was when she actually showed us the diapers. We left the class, looked at each other, and said “wow this is so much easier than we thought!” See how you can learn a lot when you have an open mind? I do recommend going to your closest baby store that sells cloth diapers and check out the different types for yourself. I promise it will make a lot more sense. There are probably YouTube videos out there for that same purpose as well, and you don’t even have to leave your home for that. 

Different Ways to Cloth Diaper

All-in-ones- 

This is the most similar to a traditional disposable diaper. The whole inside of the diaper is soft and absorbent, it is all one piece. The outside of the diaper is a waterproof shell. When Teddy pees or poops in the diaper, I take the diaper off and chunk the whole thing into our diaper pail next to the changing station. If we are not home, I chunk the whole diaper into a wet bag, zip that baby up, and transfer the diapers to the diaper pail when we make it home. This is the more expensive way of cloth diapering your baby, because the diapers tend to cost more. As far as sizing, there is newborn and one-size-fits-all. I’ll link those below. Theo grew out of his newborns around 2 months old and has been in his other size since then- he’s almost 1 year old to give you a reference.

Here are links to some examples of our favorites:

1. 5-pack Thirsties newborn bundle
2. 5-pack Thirsties one size bundle
3. Grey, one size, Thirsties
4. Wild animals, one size, Thirsties
5. Woodland animals, one size, Thirsties
6. Grovia diapers (click the image below to explore their diapers!) During Theo’s newborn stage, their all-in-one newborn diapers were the absolute best!

 

Shells–

This is most similar to the ‘old school’ way of doing things, and it is a cheaper method. This is a two-part system. You have the shell of the diaper (waterproof), and you have the absorbent piece which is a rectangular piece of cloth AKA prefold. The diaper shell is basically like a swim diaper, in fact you can use it for just that. Anyway, you fold the prefold like a hot dog, tuck it inside the diaper shell, and then put it on your baby. This is a cool way of diapering your baby, because as long as the shell is clean after they pee/poop, you can simply replace the soggy prefold with a clean one and continue using it. I simply pull out the soiled prefold, toss it into our diaper pail (or wet bag), and as just mentioned, replace it with a clean prefold. Instead of using prefolds (which are reusable), you can use a disposable insert that you toss in the trash after it is soiled. You still generate waste that way, but far less waste than using a full-blown disposable diaper. As far as sizing, Thirsties has size 1 (6-18 pounds) and size 2 (18-40 pounds).

Here are links to some examples of our favorites:

1. Bundle of 6, gender neutral , size 1, Thirsties
2. Woodland animals, size 1, Thirsties
3. Aqua, size 1, Thirsties
4. Black, size 1, Thirsties
5. Bundle of 6, gender neutral, size 2, Thirsties
6. Rainbow, size 2, Thirsties
7. Aqua, size 2, Thirsties
8. Grovia (Click on the cute baby below to check out their diapers on their site! Their covers are amazing!)

Options for prefolds (the absorbent piece that goes inside the shells):

1. Humble Bebe Prefolds 12-pack
2. Gerber Organic 10-pack

Pro Tip: Lay a diaper liner ON TOP of the diaper (like inside it obviously). It feels like a dryer sheet. After they poop, just peel the liner off into the toilet with the poop, and flush all of it! We are still using the same roll of liners after 1 year, they really last!

Pocket insert-

These are like all-in-ones, but you stuff a prefold-like insert into the pocket inside the diaper. The inserts are usually reusable. When the baby pees/poops, you put the whole diaper in the dirty laundry as you would an all-in-one diaper. I didn’t use this kind personally.

Pro tip: Use a reusable diaper pail liner. When it’s time to wash diapers, throw the liner in with the diapers and wash in the same load.

One more thing… it sounds crazy but, we use cloth wipes too! I mix 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil into 2 cups of hot water in a sealed tupperware container. Place a dozen cloth wipes into the container, they will absorb the water with the coconut oil. Easiest way to clean up a poopy butt! The wipes go into the diaper pail with the diapers and get washed in the same load.

BENEFITS

• Cost savings! On average, it’s estimated you will spend approximately $1000 per year on one baby buying disposable diapers. If you cloth diaper your baby full-time, it will cost you about $500 (cost of modern diapers range from $15-$24 each; I calculated about $20 X 24 to estimate $500). This is an investment up front, but there are ways that you can create a diaper fund just like you would a disposable diaper fund and have people contribute money towards your diapers. In fact, that’s exactly what Eric and I did, so all of our diapers were effectively bought for us. We were able to go into the baby store, pick out all the diapers and accessories we wanted and then they went on layaway while people helped make payments towards the total cost of everything. 
• You can use the diapers for your second baby. By using the diapers on a second child, your return on investment is even more significant. 
• Less waste. On average, it’s estimated 1 baby will use 7,000-9,000 diapers (from birth to being potty-trained) which is roughly 3.2 million tons of waste in the landfills. If you cloth diaper your baby full-time, you will only need about 24 diapers. If you estimate a baby goes through 8-12 diapers in a day, then you would have to do laundry every 2 days to keep up with 24 diapers. We have a little more than that here, so I do diaper laundry about every 3 days.  
• Less waste. Diapers live in landfills for 500 years. Louder for the ones in the back. DIAPERS LIVE IN LANDFILLS FOR 500 YEARS. Sure, you can argue that there is still environmental cost towards manufacturing cloth diapers, but the overall footprint and long-term benefit of cloth diapering your baby far outweigh the cons. 
• Environment protection. The billions of diapers currently in landfills create a hazardous and toxic threat to our water and soil supply as they decompose and leak chemicals. 
• Teddy is very aware when he has a soiled diaper. People have told us that babies are easier to potty train, because they are more aware when they are wet!
• Fewer diaper rashes
• They look freaking adorable 

CONS

• If you don’t like laundry, maybe this method wouldn’t be for you. However, in the defense of cloth diapers, it’s quite simple. I throw a load of diapers in about every 2-3 days with the reusable bag that I line the diaper pail with. Run the washer on a heavy-duty cycle. Toss them in the dryer when they are finished. Fold and place back in drawer, ready to go for the next blowout! We like to put them on a clothesline in our backyard and let the sun bleach out the stains.  
• You have to purchase all your diapers up front, so it is an investment. 

Overall, we’ve had a super awesome experience with cloth diapering. I definitely plan to cloth diaper all of my babies! Let me know if you need any help figuring these suckers out!

P.S. We love our retractable clothesline! It’s great for hanging diapers out to bleach, but also great for hanging out clothes as well. I enjoy ‘The Little House On The Prairie’ vibe, and then it easily retracts to put it away when we are done!

Click here to read about how moms can prepare for The Fourth Trimester.

Other diapering posts that may interest you include:

All-in-One Cloth Diapers

Cloth Diaper Shells (2-Part System)

Are you interested in cloth diapering your baby? Let me know what questions you have below! And, don't forget... share this post with a momma who is interested in cloth diapering <3