Cloth diapering. It's honestly something I didn't plan on doing. I used to think, sure I'm all about keeping things natural but I'm not into that whole scene. I assumed it was a lot of extra work, gross, and just a little too crunchy for me. I didn't know anyone personally who had cloth diapered and it was a foreign concept to me. I remember talking to Dylan about it, expecting him to be relieved I wasn't delving into the idea, and I was shocked when he was the one on board! He said he knew a guy whose wife cloth diapered and he told Dylan how much money they saved. It was enough to make me look into it.
Fast forward, Layla is almost one (eeeeek!) and we've been cloth diapering 95% of the time since she turned 4 months. We like it, and love saving money even more! I've had a few mommies ask me about our cloth diapers & routine so I figured I'd make a quick post! I should note this is what has worked for us and might not be the perfect route for everyone!
Diapers:
First things first, we use Sunbaby Diapers. When I started looking at pocket cloth diapers, I was turned off to see how expensive a lot of diapers were. I started thinking, $20/diaper....I'm going to need a fair amount of them...what if I hate this? The last thing I wanted to do was spend hundreds of dollars building a cloth diaper stash and then realize I wasn't into it. I also didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars period! I came across another mommy blog who had nothing but great things to say about Sunbaby. Totally affordable, great reviews, and cute prints. Sold. Looking on their site right now I actually think their pricing has gone down even more, sa-weeeet!
In total, we have 24 diapers with the bamboo inserts. We spent under $200 for our entire stash. This is more than enough for us & has me doing a load of diapers every 3 days or so. Looking at their pricing now, I'd actually probably spring for a few extras. Layla goes through 6 diapers/day right now at almost 12 months. Obviously when she was younger we changed her more frequently, which was part of the reason we held off on going full time with cloth.
Sunbaby offers 3 types of inserts: Microfiber, Bamboo, and Blended. We have only purchased the Bamboo inserts and have been happy with zero issues. I think it comes down to personal preference & what people find works best for them.
You'll also want a wet bag, or I suggest two. We have these. Having two is great because you'll have a clean one on-hand while the other is in the wash.
Wash Method:
Detergent wise, we use Seventh Generation Free & Clear. It's the only one we've tried and have had great results. It's also what we use to wash Layla's clothes so it's kind of a two-in-one for us which is nice!
Here's an awesome chart that Sunbaby has under their FAQs section. It rates different brands as far as whats safe for cloth diapers and why!
We have an LG front-loading washer. To make running a load of diapers easier, I go ahead and pull the inserts out of the diapers when I'm doing a diaper change. Otherwise I'd have to be really hands on with some days old dirty diapers and I mean, sounds fun, but no thanks.
I throw all the dirty diapers + inserts in, along with the dirty wet bag.
I run two cycles:
First Cycle: Hot regular cycle WITH detergent + extra rinse
Second Cycle: Hot quick cycle WITHOUT detergent + extra rinse.
I do this to make sure the detergent is thoroughly rinsed so there isn't any build up.
If it's a really tough load (like I've been putting it off and there are some major dipes) I'll add a drop of Young Living Purification oil to help the diapers come out extra fresh!
Sunbaby suggests drying your inserts in the dryer but not your diapers. I know a lot of people like to line dry theirs but for us we don't have anywhere to hang a line. So, I have a drying rack that I drape the diapers on. It works just fine!
I would say 85% of our diapers come out totally lean and stain free. The few that come out stained (it's inevitable) we lay in the sunshine (or if it's nice and not too windy out, lay them flat outside) so that the sun can bleach out the stains. Seriously works like magic!
Cloth Diaper Safe Creams:
The only time Layla has ever had a diaper rash was when she was a few weeks old and she was wearing Pampers. Not hating on Pampers, we use their sensitive wipes, but Layla's skin just didn't agree with their diapers. However, we have California Baby Diaper Rash Cream and use it at night when she's going 12+ hours without a diaper change. We love it and it's just a bonus that it's cloth diaper safe.
If you're like me, my first thought about cloth diapering was...poop. Am I right? What do you do with it? Well the good news is, breastmilk poop is super easy and the least of your problems. You can throw the dirty diaper right in the washer, easy peasy. Once Layla started eating more and more solids, the more gross it started getting. I always heard to just "shake off the poop in the toilet". Friends, there was no shaking anything off. Everything became squished and stuck and messy. Trying to rinse them was no fun, so we decided to buy liners. Oh yeah mommas, so much better! I was honestly about to give up cloth diapering before we started using them. Now we just toss the poop, liner, and wipes all together in the diaper genie. Apparently you can flush them, but we decided not to. The choice is yours!
So, that's about it. Nothing crazy, nothing super overwhelming. Is cloth diapering for everyone? I would say no. I think there's a lot of moms who can be holier-than-thou about everything parent related, including cloth diapering. Gasp, the toxic chemicals of disposables! Not worrying about chemicals is great, love it, woo hoo, but honestly our main reason we decided to try cloth was to save money! It's honestly the biggest pay off, and totally worth a few extra loads of laundry.
I hope this maybe offered a little insight. :)
xo
