Let me start this blog post by saying I just think the title is really fun. This is not a post to shame anyone who does not use cloth diapers. Nor is it a post to get you to use cloth diapers. I just get asked about them a lot so I figured I’d do a post that explains how we do it!
We use cloth diapers during the day only. Because Lily is a heavy wetter we use disposables at nighttime. Eventually I think we are going to look into using fitted diapers at night, but that’s still a little ways down the road for us. We also use disposables when we are traveling overnight or longer. I’ll also go ahead and add that I sometimes use them during the day if I’m feeling too lazy to get the diapers out of the dryer downstairs 🙂
Anyway, here are the things we use for our cloth diapering set up.
A trash can.
We have this in the bathroom and this is what we use to hold our dirty cloth diapers!
Wet bags.
We have two large bags that go in the trash can, and two small zippered wet bags that go with us in the diaper bag! These all go right in the wash with the diapers! We have two of each so that when one is being washed, we still have one available.
Cotton wipes.
We have our own cloth wipes that we use when we are using the diapers. I used to make my own solution, but something was making them smelly after a day or so. I don’t think it was the actual solution, but something in the way I was storing them. Anyway, now we use a spray bottle if we feel like we need to wipe after a wet diaper, and for poopy diapers we just get the cloths wet in the sink before we change her.
Pocket diapers.
We have roughly 33 pocket diapers, and 60ish inserts. Pocket diapers have a shell, with a pocket that you stuff the insert into. We use the Kawaii Baby brand of diapers and we really like them. We have the older model with the snap buttons, and some of the newer version with the velcro. I like them both a lot!
Sprayer on the toilet.
There seems to be some misconception that you are washing diapers that are just loaded up with poop. That’s not true, haha. How gross would that be?! You only have to clean the poopy diapers before sticking them in the wet bag. We installed a sprayer on our toilet and use a SprayPal shield (we got it on amazon) to clean the diapers before putting them in the bag. I also spray shout on the soiled diapers after they’ve been cleaned to help prevent stains from setting.
I have gotten the majority of our supplies from Amazon, theluvyourbaby.com, and kellyscloset.com. I bought the first round of diapers used from a friend of ours and it was awesome.
Reasons I love using cloth diapers:
- I do like that it’s more environmentally friendly, even though we still use disposables at night.
- We spend WAY less money on diapers and wipes. Maybe $50 every couple of months.
- Our water bill before we had Lily was between $20 and $22. Since doing the diapers our bill is $20-$28. So, it didn’t really add much to our utilities.
- It’s not actually as much extra work as I thought it was going to be. I wash her diapers every 3-4 days, and it’s not any more laundry than what I’m already doing for the three of us!
- There’s a great resource on facebook for cloth diaper everything and it’s been so handy to be a part of! It helps you figure out what settings to use depending on the brand of washer and dryer, and is great for answering any questions you might have! They even do “fit checks” to help troubleshoot any issues with the diapers!
- I think Lily looks so darn cute with a little cloth diaper butt!
Well, that’s been our experience with cloth diapers thus far! I hope this was helpful to someone!
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