Cloth Diapers 101

Ok. Be prepared for a whole lot of information. I have several friends asking about cloth diapers and instead of many many converstations/e-mails/whatever saying the same thing, I'm going to blog and link. Please comment any questions you have! I'll try my best to answer them. I promise starting is the hardest part of cloth diapering. So here we go!

**Disclaimer: I'm primarily writing about what I do. And I'm constantly searching for better and more efficient ways to cloth. There are other and maybe better routines, etc. But this is what works for me and our family.**

Q: I'm lost in a sea of acronyms! Help!
A: CD- cloth diaper,
AIO- all in one,
AI2- all in two,
OS- one size,
NB- newborn,
BG- BumGenuis (brand),
PF- prefold,
MF- microfiber,
EUC- excellent used condition,
VGUC- very good used condition,
GUC- good used condition,
PPD- postage pre paid,
MMAO- make me an offer,
GM- GoodMama (brand),
GMD- Green Mountain Diapers (brand),
WAHM- work at home mom,
RnG- Rockin' Green laundry detergent,
CS- Charlie's Soap,
PUL- water-proof layer.

INSERTS- the part that absorbs urine you put in pockets or attach to AI2s,
WETBAG- a PUL lined bag that you put dirty diapers in,
LINERS- a piece you lay in the diaper right next to the baby's bum to catch poo or keep non-cloth safe diaper cream off the diaper,
SPRAYER- an attachment to a toilet used to spray off baby poo,
SNAPS- snap closures on diapers,
HOOK & LOOP- or velcro or aplix used to hold diapers closed,
ONE-SIZE- the diaper adijusts in rise to fit your baby at different weights.

Many acronyms are specific to the brand of diaper it is.

Onsize BumGenuis diapers at each size.

Snaps on left. Hook and loop on right. Both onesize.

Q: There are so many types! How do they work?
A: Cloth diapers break down into a few different catagories: Pockets, All-in-ones, prefolds, fitteds, wool, and covers.

A pocket diaper. The PUL is attached to microfleece.

Pockets are we use and what we prefer. It is a PUL cover attached to an absorbent liner like fleece or microsuede. It is open on one end and you put insert inside the "pocket" to absorb urine. You can adjust the absorbency and used different types of inserts as you see fit.

All-in-ones are the easiest diaper out there. It is literally one whole piece, no assembly required. You take it from the dryer to the baby, just like a disposable. These generally take longer to dry then other cloth diapers because of the thickness of the diaper and the lack of air being able to move through it as efficiently.

All-in-twos are similar to pockets except that the inserts snap to the inside of the diaper instead of being stuffed into the diaper- so the insert is right next to the baby's bum. They also have a PUL cover attached and I believe the cover can be reused a couple times.

Fitteds- These tend to be more trim on babies and don't include a water-proof layer.

Green Mountain Diapers newborn size prefold.

Prefolds- These look most like the mom and pop way of cloth diapering. Its a large piece of fabric that is folded and placed inside a water-proof cover. (sometimes Snappis are required to keep in place)

Here is a great link to explain prefolds more clearly and how you can fold it different ways: Green Mountain Diapers Prefolds

Wool- covers for diapers made out of wool. Longies are pants, shorties are shorts, skirts, etc.

Covers- Usually a PUL piece. It goes over prefolds and fitteds. Can be use multiple times before needing a wash since it does not come in contact with urine and poo... usually.


Q: What are the essentials that I need?
A: Diapers, a wet bag, cloth diaper safe detergent.


Q: What else will possibly I use?
A: Cloth diaper safe cream, cloth wipes, PUL-lined laundry bag, sprayer, liners.


Q: How many diapers do I need?

My storage drawers for the diapers.

A: We started out with 18 when my daughter was a newborn and washed every day. Now we have 27 and we wash every 3rd day. I think 20-30 is a good amount to have. Remember, the longer the diapers sit without a wash, the more of a stink you're going to get. More diapers = less washing =/= less stink.


Q: What is safe deteregent?
A: The ones I know work are Charlie's Soap (what we use) Rockin' Green, and Tide Free and Clear. There are others out there as well. Fabric softeners are a NO NO!


Q: What are cloth diaper safe rash creams?
A: We use California Baby and I also know Grandma El's is safe. As I find more, I'll add them here.


Q: Where can I get good deals?
A: I prefer to shop cottonbabies.com seconds sale and swaddlebees.com clearance sale. These are all new diapers that have a "flaw". I have yet to see what the flaw is on the diapers I purchased. I also endorse pootersdiapers.com and jackbenatural.com for their customer service and reasonable prices. Also, if you want to try out several types of cloth diapers and not get stuck with the ones you don't like, check out jilliansdrawers.com. Don't be scared to shop used!


Q: Ummm... poop. What do we do with that?
A: Breastfed baby poo can be thrown into the washer as is. It is completely water soluble and super super easy to clean. If it stains the diapers, put them out in the sun to bleach out! As you introduce solids poo becomes "peanut buttery" and is a little harder to deal with. Some people use a sprayer, some people dunk it in the toilet, some scrap it off with designated spatula, and some use flushable liners. We tend to use flushable liners or scrap with a piece of toilet paper. This stage doesn't last forever. Soon, the poos will be "plopable" because they are pretty solid and will fall right of the diaper into the toilet.

Here is a great poo plop video using disposable liners:

Sunning diaper on front sidewalk

Q: Stains and sanitation???
A: Meet your new best friend: the sun. Lay your diapers out in the sun for an hour for a good 'ol sun soak!

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WASHING

Here is what we do. Again, I'm constantly researching and trying different ways, but this works for us as of now.

Air drying

We pull the inserts out when we remove the soiled diaper and drop all of pieces into the hanging laundry bag. At wash time, we do a cold water pre-wash without any soap added to it. Then we do a hot water wash with an extra rinse and Charlie's Soap added to it. We try to air dry our covers as much as possible so the PUL and elastic doesn't break down as fast.

Stripping: I do one of two ways about once a month. It helps to deep clean the diapers and get rid of stink or repelling problems you may have.
1. A cold water pre-wash without any soap. A hot water wash with one cup of white vinegar to cut our hard water and a couple squirts of blue Dawn. We have an HE machine, so I'll add a few buckets of hot water to the machine after it fills so the diapers are completely flooded in the hot wash. A second hot water wash with out anything added. And 2-3 cold water quick rinses. If the weather allows, I sun dry all my covers and inserts.

Air drying

2. A cold water pre-wash without any soap. A hot water wash with 50 drops of grapefruit seed extract. A hot water wash with one cup of white vinegar to cut our hard water and Charlie's Soap. We have an HE machine, so I'll add a few buckets of hot water to the machine after it fills so the diapers are completely flooded in the hot washes. And 3-5 cold water quick rinses. If the weather allows, I sun dry all my covers and inserts.




MATERIALS

Microfiber inserts. Two different sizes by BumGenius.

Microfiber is what you will see the most of. It absorbs fast, but it doesn't absorb as much as natural fibers and it tends to hold stink/build-up more. Also, you cannot put microfiber right up against a baby bum.

Microfleece and microsuede are often used as liners in AIOs and pockets. They wick away moisture quick, but don't hold the moisture well.

Hemp and microfiber inserts inside a pocket diaper.

Hemp and bamboo (My preference for inserts for my heavy wetter) are natural fibers. They are slow soakers, but hold a lot of wet without leaking. Because of the slow absorbency, these need to be used with microfleece, microsuede, or microfiber. These tend to be more expensive.

Cotton is another natural fiber. I just started using cotton prefolds as inserts for our daughter. They hold more wet then microfiber and are faster absorbers than the hemp.




OUR CHANGING SET-UP

Our changing station.

There are many options for how you store your dirty diapers, some prefer wet storage and others dry storage. Wet storage is a bucket of water with a lid that you put the dirty diapers in to soak until you wash them. You would pour the whole bucket in the washer. We use dry storage. We have a hanging laundry bag that is lined with PUL right next to our changing table. We also keep a small trash can beside the changing table for non poopy liners and wipes. Other dry storage options are as simple as using a plastic trash can with a lid.



WHAT I HAVE

We use approximately 27 BumGenius 4.0 one size and Blueberry one size deluxe diapers. We prefer snaps over hook and loop and I'm working on converting our hook and loop over to snaps. For inserts we're using Green Mountain Diaper prefold in size newborn and small and also Pooters size large hemp inserts. We also have Kawaii microfiber inserts and Blueberry microfiber inserts. For overnight we use Babykicks bamboo pocket diapers with their hemp insert and an added Hemp Babies insert or two or we use a BumGenius diaper with a SuperDo insert. Our wet bags are a Vera Bradley Ditty bag and a Swaddlebees zippered wet bag. Both hold about 6-8 diapers at a time. Our nursery bag is a PUL-lined laundry bag by Vera Bradley. It can hold all our diapers and inserts at one time. I don't use cloth wipes. We wash with Charlie's Soap and use homemade wool dryer balls.



LINKS

Here are some of my favorite links when I got started with cloth diapering

*http://styleberryblog.com/an-accidental-passion-cloth-diapering-for-the-modern-mom
She has a great breakdown of her use of Fuzzibunz diapers and also includes videos of her changing table set-up and plopping poo.

* http://www.sewgirlyalterations.com/2010/12/17/cloth-diapers-pt-i-the-diapers/
Here is a write-up on Grovia diapers by another cloth mom I know. Thanks, Janice, for the link!

*https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?authkey=CL-Sw-kE&key=0AjWZwjykgONndEtZOXNkaHVXUzRGWEdoLVlQQmFMMGc&hl=en&authkey=CL-Sw-kE#gid=36
Here is a spreadsheet made by many moms reviewing cloth diapers. They discuss fit vs baby's build, absorbency, etc. It's great!

*http://www.ehow.com/how_5151381_make-wool-dryer-balls.html
Here is how to make wool dryer balls, if you're interested. They are totally cloth diaper friendly!

*http://awesomeclothdiapers.blogspot.com/
Another all about cloth diapering blog I found useful.