Cloth diapering can save you so much money! And there are a lot of different diapers! When you first start researching cloth diapers it can seem overwhelming and even expensive. There are a lot of products that make cloth easier (like a diaper sprayer, all-in-one diapers, etc.) but all that is not necessary. Determining which diapers and what supplies you need depends on your lifestyle, how much work you're will to do and how much you can spend. After a lot of trial and error, I finally have a diaper stash that works great for us!
Saving money was on of the most important factor for us. We also don't have a washer or dryer, so the diapers had to be easy to hand wash.
My Stash
Diapers-
1. Econobum covers and Rock-A-Bye-Booty cover- PUL waterproof covers. These hold the flat diapers on and keep pee from getting every where :)
2. Good flats and cheap flats- Flats are a big, square piece of cotton. Some people fold and wrap them on their baby. I choose to fold them and lay them in a the cover (my daughter is way too squirmy to try to fold them on her). My "good flats" are bigger and thicker than my cheaper Gerber flats. I also have several flats that I made.
3. Doublers- To help soak up pee, I made a bunch of doublers. They are just a small rectangle piece of cotton (I sewed about 5 layers together from old shirts I had). Microfiber is also a wonderful absorber and inexpensive, you can find microfiber towels at places like Walmart)
4. Fleece Liners- I lay fleece on top of the flat (closest to baby's butt). It helps keep moisture off of her. I found an old fleece blanket and cut it into strips.
5. I also have about 9 bumgenius 4.0. I use for quick diapers changes or while out and about. I stuff them with the flats. I found that the big inserts that BG 4.0s come with are too hard to hand wash and dry. I also found that the flats and inserts soaked her pee better. Looking back now, I wish I just bought more covers and flats, instead of BG 4.0s.
Supplies-
1. Cloth Wipes- I use cheap washcloths cut in half.
2. Wipe Solution and spray bottle- Water and a little bit of castile soap. There are so many easy-to-make wipe solutions online! I wouldn't recommend castile for sensitive babies, but it works fine for my daughter :)
3. Wetbags- I have one for diapers at home and a small one for on-the-go.
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| Yes, i use a gigantic bottle :) I only fill it half way but I like the way it sprays. |
Cleaning Supplies- especially for hand washing :D
1. Bucket
2. Detergent and/or Original Blue Dawn
3. Gloves
4. Wonderwash- obviously, not necessary but we found it worth the money! It cuts wash time down a lot!
5. Clothes line or Drying rack- We don't have a porch or yard, so I hung string in our bedroom. Works great all year.
Stuffing and folding:
For most diapers, I fold one good flat with an insert. For overnight diapers, I add an extra cheap flat.
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| Lay out flat and insert |
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| Fold bottom half (since I have a girl, this works because most of the fabric ends up in front) |
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| Keep folding sides over. Add fleece liner. |
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| Place in an adorable cover |
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| Finished product! |
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| Put it on an extra cute baby |
Cleaning:
I store dirty diapers in a wetbag until it's time to clean. I wash diapers once a day.
Here's how I do it :)
1. In the bathtub, I rinse and wring everything in the running (cold) water.
2. Put everything in Wonderwash, which is in the tub.
3. Fill bucket with cool water and a tiny bit of soap (detergent or dawn- yes, I usually use dawn. I haven't had any issues using it and I feel like it gets my diapers the cleanest).
4. Pour the soapy water into Wonderwash.
5. Put the lid on and spin for a couple minutes. If you don't have a Wonderwash, I've seen people just fill up a big bucket or the tub and stir everything around. If you do this, I would imagine you would need to squeeze your diapers a lot to get the water and soap through them.
6. Pour out all the water and diapers into tub.
7. Fill up bucket with water, pour into empty Wonderwash and drain it to get out the left over soap.
8. Rinse and wring out diapers in running water to get all (well, most) the suds out.
9. Put diapers back into Wonderwash.
10. Fill bucket with hot water and pour into Wonderwash. (steps 9 and 10 without a Wonderwash- just refill bathtub with hot water)
11. Spin a couple minutes and then pour everything out.
12. Rinse with running water and wring again.
13. Hang up to dry!
Wow, that sounds like a lot! It's really not bad! It takes about 20 minutes all together.
Some tips to make things go smoother:
- For poop diapers: I plop the poop into the toilet. (Which you are also supposed to do with disposables, in case you didn't know)
- For extra gross poop diapers- I use a glove, dunk and swirl in the toilet.
- You can stop at any step, you don't have to do it all at once. If a baby needs to eat or someone needs attention, you can leave it all in the tub.
- I don't wait anymore than 2 days between washes. Otherwise the load gets too big to do all at once.
- Sometimes, I will rinse all the diapers, add a little soap in the bucket and let the diapers sit for the day. Then, when I have time at night, I will finish washing.
- I keep a baby gate in the bathroom doorway, that way I can see/hear the kids but don't have to worry about them getting to the bucket of water.
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| You could always just get your kids to wash for you :) |
Happy diapering!! I really hope I didn't scare anyone away with my stash and washing system :) It's really easy and simple once you get in a routine.
Please let me know if you have any questions!More baby and diaper pictures :)
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| Back in the old "Snappi and Origami Fold" days! |
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| Ok, lets be honest. This is how my kids spend most of the day. :) |
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