My daughter just turned one year old, which is significant because she has made her first journey around the sun. It is also significant because it means I have made it a full year of cloth diapering, something I wasn't sure I would be able to do when I bought all the supplies just before she was born.
Today I want to talk about cloth diapering. I was so inspired by other moms who were cloth diapering and as someone who is always looking for ways to lessen my impact on the environment, I decided I wanted to give cloth diapering a go.
When we told people we were cloth diapering I was surprised how many people thought I would be using a service that would wash my cloth diapers for me, I was definitely planning on doing it on my own (and very capable thank you very much). I also got a few less than ideal remarks about how it was a stinky job to do and I kind of let that get me down since it was often said with a judgmental tone.
I really wanted to cloth diaper and I knew I could do it, so I clung to the words my mom said when I told her about my decision. She told me, "that's amazing, you are really living your values." As a words of affirmation kind of girl, I so appreciated her cheering me on and her recognition of who I was as a person and belief in me and my values.
Now that I have cloth diapered for a year, I wanted to write this post to cheer on anyone who is dabbling with the idea of cloth diapering, as well as share some tips from my own experience. Honestly cloth diapering has been so much more simple and easy than I anticipated. I am so glad I decided to go for it. Here is all that I have learned and want to share with you!
1| We used bumGenius Freetime diapers. I ultimately decided to go with these because they looked like the easiest option (and I'm all about that!) The liners are sewn into the diaper so there is no stuffing involved. You just fold the flaps and are all ready. I also loved the snap buttons and they way you can use these diapers the whole time you are cloth diapering. I did not cloth diaper my first child and I have not noticed any more leaking or diaper rash with these cloth diapers than I did when I was using disposable diapers. It still happens occasionally, but it has not increased.
I'll mention here that I also use cloth wipes that I spray with a combination of water and just a bit of baby soap. It works great!
Okay now that we have the brand we use let's get to the ways I make cloth diapering easy.
2 | The 80% rule. I'll be honest, I just made up this rule for myself. It's not really a rule as much as a goal. I want to use cloth diapers at least 80% of the time. What does that mean for me? Well I still use some disposable diapers. The two occasions I use disposable diapers is when we are traveling and at night.
The thing is you want to wash your diapers every 2-3 days, so when we travel it would be super hard to make sure that happens. If we are traveling for more than an overnight or weekend trip, I go ahead and just use disposable diapers. It makes the trip so much easier and it is just one less thing I have to worry about. When we do travel I make sure I wash all of my cloth diapers before we leave and have them drying. I don't want to leave any wet diapers in a bag for the duration of time we are gone. This means I will go through a few disposable diapers before we head out the door since I will be laundering all the wet diapers at that time.
I also use disposable diapers at night. This started when my baby started sleeping longer through the night and when changing her diaper in the middle of the night lead to her waking up. I found if she slept a long time the diaper would leak. And if I changed her diaper I was risking her being awake for a middle of the night party with me. So I went ahead and got disposable diapers which seemed to be able to last a bit longer.
Other than those two times I am using cloth diapers. I figure I am using cloth diapers about 80% of the time or more, and I feel really good about that. I live by the question if everyone in the world made the change I did, would it make a big improvement? If the answer is yes I'll make that change. If everyone in the world cloth diapered 80% of the time, obviously there would be SO much less waste, and I truly believe it would be better for our environment, so I do my best to apply that to my life.
3 | I have found that laundering cloth diapers has been so much more simple than I expected. I exclusively breastfed my baby for the first six months, and since breastfed baby poop is water soluble, all I had to do was throw the diaper, poop and all, into the wash and let the machine and soap do the work. After we started introducing solids we now have to dispose of the poop in the toilet, but that has been quite easy for us too.
Basically my laundering schedule looks like taking a full wet bag of diapers every two to three days and throwing them in the laundry. I do I rinse cycle. Then I add detergent and do a hot water wash cycle followed by one more rinse cycle. To finish I hang the diapers and cloth wipes up to dry.
When I first started cloth diapering I use to fold and button all of my diapers so they would look perfect all lined up in a drawer. After a few months of that I started just folding the diapers but not buttoning them. After a few month of that I started to just toss the diapers in the drawer and fold them as I needed them. Every way worked!
4 | My last tip/advice or maybe it is just a parting thought is that cloth diapering has been a really lovely experience for me. I want to take a moment to connect cloth diapering to sonderity (which is living in the richness of life).
When I used disposable diapers, I literally just consumed the product and then got rid of it. I didn't think too much about any part of the process. The diaper was just a diaper, it had a job to do, and two hours later it was in the trash.
As I have cloth diapered I have felt like it has been a reminder to me of what I value and how much I appreciate Mother Earth. You see I have to change diapers probably 8+ times a day, and each time I reach for the cloth diaper and prepare it for use, I am reminded why I decided to cloth diaper. I am reminded that I am thankful for our earth and that I am doing what I can to take care of it. I am reminded that I value reducing my waste. I am reminded that I love this earth and want to keep it lovely for my children.
Those reminders make me feel good. They bring a depth of experience to my life. Something simple and common holds a reminder of what I deeply value. It has been an unexpected experience for me. But it has made this decision to cloth diaper so much more valuable than I initially expected.
I hope these tips and advice are helpful to you. I hope if you are thinking about cloth diapering I have been able to give you some inspiration to go for it. I believe in you and your ability to do it. And I really believe that like me, you may experience unexpected benefits.
If you have any other questions about cloth diapering, please leave them in the comments below. I'd love to help in any way I can!
Mallory
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