Cloth Diapering 101

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October 18, 2012 by Sarah

I’m not sure how or when I decided that we would use cloth diapers, but I do know now that I absolutely love it. For me, the main reason is environmental. Each time I wash a load, it’s pretty satisfying to know that a big stack of diapers aren’t being sent to the dump to linger for a long, long time.

I don’t have a lot of friends who use cloth diapers, so when we decided to do it, I had to do all my research on my own. I browsed a whole host of websites and after some trial and error, came up with a system that works for us. Here’s how we do it.

The Diapers

We use a combination of One Size Bum Genius 4.0 (18 diapers) and One Size FuzziBunz (6). I personally would prefer all Bum Genius. I like the ease in adjusting the sizing and I also love that there’s a flap to cover where the insert goes in. I’ve had problems with FuzziBunz leaking and snaps breaking. But I have them, so I use them and change them more often.

We also tried traditional pre-folds with Thirsty covers and snappies. They didn’t end up working at all for us. Since our baby is a heavy wetter, we were needing to wake her up from naps to change her. Not cool. Also, they’re definitely more involved and my husband preferred the easier to use and modern diapers.

Tips: Try out a few different diapers to see what works. I started out with 8 FuzziBunz, 8 BumGenius, and the whole set of pre-folds (a pro is that they’re a lot cheaper). Also, always buy them on sale! About once or twice a year, Fuzzibunz has a buy 6 get 2 free that I got on Amazon and CottonBabies.com frequently has buy 2, get 1 sales for BumGenius, with free shipping!

Changing Time

In our continued effort to go green, we use a homemade diaper spray and reusable wipes. I did a post about it here. We do use disposable wipes on the go and also for ridiculously messy diapers.

Wet diapers go directly into the diaper pail (always removing the inserts) but poopy ones need some extra love. Before Gianna started on solid foods, we just used rubber gloves, dunked them in clean toilet water, and rung them out. Once solid foods happened, we’ve been able to mostly get away with using a toothbrush to scoot the poop into the toilet bowl.

Diaper Pail

I absolutely love our Dekor Diaper Pail that we just got from a co-worker. We have the regular size, but I recommended getting the extra large since towards the end, we’re always trying to stuff them in. This thing keeps all odors out, you don’t even know it’s there.

We line the pail with Planet Wise reusable diaper pail liners. We have two to rotate and throw them in the wash right with the diapers!

Cleaning

I wash our diapers every 2-3 days max, this usually means about 18 diapers each load. Just empty out the pail liner straight into the washing machine and toss the liner in as well, inside out.

First, I run a short, cold rinse cycle. Second, I do a regular wash on hot with Charlies Soap  and Biokleen bleach. Lastly, I do one last short, cold rinse.

I always let the diapers air dry, preferably outside in the sun for natural bleaching power, on a clothes drying rack. The whole load fits.

On the Go

Don’t be afraid of cloth diapering on the go! There are definitely lots of times when we’ve just taken disposables with us, but more times that we’ve brought cloth. We’ve also taken them on short trips with us!

I have 2 Kushies wet bags, which are great to stuff the wet diapers and wipes into and deal with them when you get home. I also have a FuzziBunz hanging diaper pail that I got after sending back diapers with broken snaps. It’s actually pretty handy for traveling.

I’ll probably be updating this page in the upcoming years. Any questions are welcome! I love talking about the wonderful world of cloth diapers.


3 comments »

  1. Mindy says:

    We used cloth diapers with my sister! But we had the old-fashioned ones that were pretty messy…..

  2. […] it’s so easy to toss them into them. Can I also express my deep fondness for this diaper pail once again? It’s awesome and totally keeps the odors […]

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