As we prepared for our first child late last year we tried our best to start him off on an environmentally friendly existence. When buying for him I repeated to myself: “less is more” and “quality over quantity”.
We also had the best intentions with diapering, hoping to use gDiapers with the flushable inserts. We got set up with a few gPants and flushable liners. After our little peanut grew to 9 lbs and could fit into the smallest gDiaper, we gave them a try. I was extremely disappointed in how they performed. Almost every time I changed his diaper it was because the gDiaper leaked or he had a BM and the cloth cover of the diaper was soiled. It got to the point where I was changing his entire outfit with each diaper change. I didn’t have that many outfits to go through and I didn’t have the time to soak and scrub soiled onesizes. Recovering from a C-section and trying to figure out how to breastfeed was enough to worry about! We quickly switched to disposables and sold the gDiaper stuff to a second hand shop. I thought my attempt at eco-diapering was over, but then I went to a LaLeche Legue meeting. Many of the mothers there were cloth diapering their babies. I asked around and found out that cloth diapering had come a long way since my grandparents were in cloth nappies. The fabrics and options were abundant! I learned all I needed to know about cloth diapering by talking with these mothers, I am so thankful I found them!
First let’s get the facts straight: Cloth diapering is surprisingly easy and much cheaper than paper diapers. For each year your child is in paper diapers, you can spend between $1000-$3000 depending on what brands, etc you buy. Children generally don’t fully potty train until age 2 1/2 and those training pants are expensive! So for each child you can easily spend $3000 on paper diapers, wipes, and diaper pail accessories/liners by the time they wear “big boy/girl pants”. What stops most people (me included) from even considering cloth diapers is that we think it either can’t work or don’t know anyone who uses them, someone to bounce questions off and just show you how to get started! I recommend reading about Cloth Diapering 101 if you want to know all the options. Also, go to a LaLeche meeting in your area and you might find a cloth diapering mother to talk to. Or search for a cloth diapering specialty store in your area, the employees are likely to be extremely helpful. A lot has changed in how parents today cloth diaper. I hadn’t realized that safety pins were a thing of the past, as most parents use “snappies” for diaper closure, which are amazing!
After much research, I decided to try a couple different methods to see what actually worked for our family.
Pre-folds with Polyurethane laminate (PUL) covers. This style of cloth diapering turned out to be the best option for our little one. In this method you use prefolds, which come in 3 sizes (Premie, Infant and Premium), and waterproof PUL covers over the prefolds. I found that I needed between 3-4 PUL covers. We simply wiped down the inside of the cover and let it air dry in between diapers, swapping it out with a fresh one. Where more than 2 PUL covers comes in handy is incase poo does get on the PUL cover and you need to wash it, or to have an extra one in the diaper bag. For diaper closure we used snappies. This system is by far the cheapest option and my baby rarely had a blowout where I had to change an outfit. The pre-folds soak up everything and work better than paper diapers! My little one seemed to be very content wearing a soft cotton diaper rather than a plastic and paper diaper.
Thirsties Diaper Cover
The brand of PUL covers that worked best for us were the Flip cover and the Thirsties cover. The Flip was nice because it had elastic around the legs holes, but not super tight. (We also tried Marvel’s PUL cover by Kissas but the leg elastic was very tight and always left marks on my baby’s legs.) Flip also had the adjustable snaps so the cover is a one size, fitting babies 8-40 pounds. This defiantly saved us money not having to re-buy covers as baby grows. Thirsties covers were nice because they were relatively inexpensive, had a medium amount of leg elastic and came in either aplex or snap closure. The aplex was nice for easy on and off. I would recommend getting the small sizes in aplex (so dad and grandparents can diaper baby easily) and then the larger sizes in snaps as your child gets older and figures out how to open velcro. The only downside to the aplex was the tendency for it to adhere to other items in the wash, which can be annoying.
Prefolds versus Fitted/Contours. There are many different fitted diapers on the market, all designed to get rid of the extra “bulk” of a prefold and make diapering even more streamlined. I gave 2 different fitted styles a try.
Kissa's Cotton Fleece Fitted
Kissas Cotton Fleece Fitted Diaper features snaps for closure and elastic around the legs. A liner is sewn into the body of the diaper. Of all the fitted styles, this was hands down the best at absorbing everything, containing poo and keeping baby dry. The only downside is they come in two sizes, so after baby is about 15 pounds, she probably will need to graduate to the larger size. They also cost $10, which is hard to swallow when you can get 3-4 prefolds for that price.
Bumpkin’s Cotton Contour was the next attempt. I got four of these for half off at my local cloth diapering shop, otherwise I probably would not have purchased them at $11 each. These actually were very soft and absorbant. They have a little gather around the legs, but I found that poo did sometimes find it’s way out, where a prefold would have done a better job. I was frustrated with this diaper because there isn’t enough fabric to wrap around baby’s middle to close it with a snappie. I started using these when my son was about 13 pounds, so they probably would have fit his middle better when he was smaller. However, these are supposed to be a one size fits all! I solved the problem by using two snappies, one for each side of the diaper. I plan on sewing some more cotton fabric onto the sides to extend the reach of the diaper so I only need one snappie to close.
Pocket All-In-One diapers. This method uses a washable diaper with a pocket where you place 1-2 liners for absorbancy. The
outside of the diaper is waterproof and the part that touches baby’s bottom is usually fleece, which keeps moisture from touching baby’s skin. Most AIO diapers come in a one size fits all, with snaps to make the diaper different sizes as baby grows. The only brand we tried in this style was Fuzzibuns. I bought just one to see how it went. This option didn’t appeal to me because each diaper cost $20 and the entire diaper needed to be washed with each use. My son also got his first diaper rash the first time he wore the Fuzzibuns. I decided instead to go with natural fibers of the cloth prefolds. We keep our one Fuzzibuns in the diaper bag just incase. :)
Wool Soaker Pants
Side note on Wool: I heard wonderful things about how wool covers were much better than PUL covers. They absorb and wick moisture naturally using the Lanolin in the fibers to neutralize urine. Care for Wool is very easy, requiring a wash every week or more with wool wash and lanolizing every 2-3 weeks. I gave the Little Beetles soaker shorts a try, getting them second hand and hardly used from a friend for half price. I found too many things to compain about with wool for use on small babies. First, if poo did find it’s way out of the diaper, it would get on the wool around the legs and was very difficult to soak out. (I think wool is great when handling pee, but not poo.) This would put the wool pants out of commission while they soaked and air dried for a day. Also, the wool was very bulky and added too much bulk between baby’s legs to the point where he couldn’t move around very well. It was like putting his butt in a straight jacket. I did like how dry it kept him though and how comfortable and soft the Merino wool was. My plan is to attempt wool again once he is eating solids and doesn’t have runny yellow breast milk poo anymore. At that age he will also be big enough where there will be more room between his legs for a little more diaper bulk. I am going to knit my own shorts or pants for night time diapering and sew on a cotton waistband like these.
What we learned:
1) When using a cloth diapering system you need 20-30 diapers for each size, be they prefolds, pockets, or All-In-One styles on hand to get you through a couple days. You really only want to be doing a load of diapers every 2-3 days. If you have too many diapers, your diaper bin will start smelling the longer you wait to wash. If you go with an All-In-One like Fuzzibuns at $20/diaper, this would mean investing $600 in just AIO diapers. If you go with prefolds and PUL covers, it will cost about $120 to get 24 prefolds in your baby’s first size plus 4 PUL covers. If you get One Size fits all PUL covers like Flip or Marvels, you don’t need to buy these again. Prefolds cost about $2-3 each, depending on size and if you buy them in a store or on amazon.com.
2) Supplies: The cheapest option is to go with 20-30 prefolds in each size and 3-4 PUL covers. When buying covers, I recommend getting 3 one size fits all like the Flip or Marvels in addition to one or two “sized” covers like the Thirsties brand, which can be nice for a better fit. You’ll also want to get a wetbag for dirty diapers at home and a couple wetbags for the diaper bag when you are out and about. At least 3 snappies will go a long way. I have a handful of cotton/hemp blend inserts for heavy night wetting that I just lay in the Flip covers.. One other item we use sometimes are fleece liners. It acts as a dry barrier between the wet diaper and baby’s skin. It can prevent diaper rashes, especially at night, or help your baby heal when he has a rash. On the rare occasion when baby has a rash, we just apply some lanolin (Lansinoh brand) to his rash and use the fleece liner and it clears up within 2 diaper changes. Since you will be doing a load of diapers every 2-3 days, you may as well get reusable cloth wipes as well. They go in the wash with the diapers, we have about 40. Some parents have a little bowl of water by the diaper station to wet the wipe before use, some people choose to use a spritzer. Either method works. After using the fleece liners I just bought fleece from the fabric store and cut strips to size instead of buying them special. If you are handy with a sewing machine you can make your own wipes as well. Just make sure your material is 100% cotton, double it up if you need to and do a zigzag stitch and go over it again with a straight stitch, or use a serger for better edges.
3) How it works: with prefolds and covers, you simply wipe the cover after use if it is not soiled and let it air dry. If it is soiled with stool, throw it in the dirty bag or soak and air dry if you’ll be needing that cover again before diaper laundry day. Swap out the air drying cover for a clean cover for baby’s next diaper. Down the road you will want to consider getting a diaper sprayer to
This is what a infant sized prefold looks like with the snappies. A PUL or Wool cover goes over the prefold.
attached to your toilet water line. You can use it to spray solids from the diaper into the toilet and give the dirty diaper a quick rinse before it goes into your wetbag. This isn’t necessary until your baby is eating solids (or is drinking formula). Breastfed babies have a soft stool that soaks into the diaper and cleans out very easily.
Every 2-3 days you do a load of laundry for just diapers. This is a great reason to have just the right amount of diapers because you only want to fill your washing machine half full, but run it as a full load. First rinse the diapers in cold water, letting them soak for a few hours if you can. Then wash the diapers on a long cycle with the hot wash/cold rinse option. Add the soap as you start this cycle. You do need to make sure you are using a 100% biodegradable detergent with no fabric softeners or optical brighteners. The best brands for this are Country Save or Mountain Green ‘Free and Clear’. You want to use only 1-2 Tablespoons per load. As you get accustomed to washing diapers, peek in on the laundry when it is on the rinse cycle. Check to make sure there aren’t suds in the last rinse. If there is, you are using too much soap. Be sure to rinse the diapers until there is no soap, as this can irritate your baby’s skin and cause the diapers to absorbe poorly. To save energy you can certainly line dry, and this is even recommended once in awhile, as the sun acts as a natural bleach and can help fade out any stubborn stains. Never ever ever bleach your diapers. Read more about washing here.
Where to buy? Diapers.com was a great resource for many of the products I wanted to use. The best resource was the local cloth diapering store where I could see all the different options, touch the fabrics, and size items out on my baby. Amazon also carries many cloth diapering products at discount prices. Where I saved the most money was buying second hand from ladies I met at LaLeche league. But wherever you buy, you will be saving loads of money over your child’s diapering years. If you find your first child so much fun you decide to go for #2, 3, etc, all their diapering costs will be free! So if you have 3 kids, all in cloth diapers, you spend maybe $400-700 total on cloth diapers from infancy through training pants. That potentially saves you $9,000 to NOT paper diaper 3 children. Yikes!
In short, cloth diapering is important for three reasons:
1) Your child’s bum is healthier and happier when more naturally cared for
2) You save thousands of dollars per child
3) You also get to green the planet while you save money.
Oh, and if you get bit by the cloth diapering bug like me, you start to feel very proud of yourself for doing something outside the box. You may even start to take pride in caring for your cloth diapers and enjoy how cute those little diaper covers are on your little one. And don’t forget the babylegs! They are way better than pants and so much cuter and easier to pull off baby than silly pants! If you are crafty, you can make your own baby legs out of ladies knee high socks and save some cash!
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