Cloth Diapering, It's the Environmental Science Major In Me
- Sophia
- Aug 2, 2021
- 6 min read
I don't remember how I first learned about cloth diapering but let me tell you, there are so many benefits to it. State the obvious, it's better for the environment and for your baby. It's chemical free, and softer on their netherlands. Stella would fuss every time we did a diaper change before her umbilical cord came off when we had her in disposables, but now she never fuses during them. We also haven't had any incidents of severe diaper rash since we switched to cloth diapers. Sometimes we'll have a mild case, but one dose of Diaper Balm and it's all fixed up. Another benefit, with Stella she only pees at night so I don't get up and change her diapers at night. I did for the first few weeks, but it just ended up waking her fully up and then she'd have trouble falling back asleep. With cloth diapers I can just use two inserts in the pocket, and it soaks up all the urine overnight. I change her before bed around 10 and then in the morning Jakob changes her when he gets up for work around 7. Cloth diapering is alway much cheaper in the long run. Upfront, yes it's pretty expensive, but it pays for itself over the first two months!
My wash routine is as follows: I do an "express" wash with half the amount of detergent I use in a full load. After the initial express wash I do a regular wash with the full amount of detergent. I always wash in cold, select the heavily soiled option, and select the stain booster option. I don't know what the stain booster option does but it sounds promising. Some websites reccomend doing the regular cycle in hot water but some say it's not necesary. I also do the highest spin cycle. I put the amount of detergent recommended for "medium or heavily soiled loads." (I use Seventh Generation right now.). After they come out of the washer, I always check to make sure they're all clean, but since I've been diligent about making sure they're all spread out equally in the washer I haven't had any issues with ones not getting clean. I put the inserts and reusable wipes in the dryer on "casual" low heat and the shells I hang in the sun to dry and be sun bleached. After a few hours out in the sun the shells are back to white. The only downside to cloth diapers is having to stuff the inserts in the pockets after washing them, but I just do it while watching tv. I use solid colors for nighttime with two inserts and patterned for daytime use with one insert. I find it helps to have an identifier for nighttime versus daytime. I did recently realize that if you have hard water extra rinses buids up minerals in your diapers and makes them less absorbant so I'm going to be testing my water and adjusting accordingly. I also learned that if you have a washer without an agitator it relies on the clothes rubbing on each other to get clean. If I have a small load after the initial express wash, which gets out the pee and poop, I add towels to make the load larger for the full wash. Next time we buy a washer I'll probbaly get the agitator kind because I don't like having to worry about the load size.
When I was pregnant and telling Jakob about cloth diapers he was not on board. He was concerned about the smell and having poop in our washer. It only took him a week of using them to be convinced they were a better option. Stella is exclusively breastfed and for that reason her poop doesn't smell bad, I even think it smells good, but Jakob says I'm weird for that. The only thing that really smells "bad" is the urine, but it doesn't even really smell like adult-pee. I've never had an issue with anything left over in the washer.
I have about 40 diapers, and it seems to be a good number. Give or take the ratio is 10 nighttime diapers and 30 daytime ones. I wash every other day, but I found I have enough to go three days if I don't have time. I keep them in a wet bag between uses that hangs on one of those over the door hangers. You can't smell anything outside the wet bag, and it just smells like a dirty gym bag when you put your nose near the opening. I used to zip it shut but I read that venetlation is important so I've been leaving it open for the last week and it hasn't been emitting an odor, although I don't know if this would work for a formula fed baby or when she starts eating solids. I wash the dirty bag with the diapers and put it in the dryer. I have two, so I can use the second one while washing the first. I also have a small wet bag that I use in the diaper bag. I keep the clean diapers in a decorative box in the top shelf of our rolling cart. Since at any given time at least 1/4 of them are in the wash I can usually stuff them all in.
So, I'm sure you caught the reusable wipes mention back there. Yes, you read that right. I have a spray bottle I put the solution in, it comes in tiny cubes. I fill the spray bottle up with hot water, swirl it around and it's ready to go. I've found the trick to getting the perfect amount of solution on the wipe without solution splashing everywhere is to fold the reusable wipe in fourths, put the nozzle right up against the wipe, and spray about halfway. This soaks the wipe but doesn't waste solution. I haven't gotten Jakob on board with the reusable wipes yet completely but sometimes he uses them. I buy him "Honest" wipes. The reusable wipes especially came in handy on the road trip because when I changed her in the car, I didn't have to worry about a trash can, everything just went in the wet bag.
When I went home to Ohio my mom was great about the cloth diapers! She changed them, washed them for me, put them out to dry, did everything like I do… except for one thing. This woman used OXYCLEAN on my cloth diapers. 1. I don’t use any type of chemical stain remover 2. I certainly don’t put them on her cloth diapers! She got diaper rash right after that and I swear it was because of that. She hasn’t had diaper rash in a while. My sister (who the whole trip kept telling me how water is a chemical) changed them but she was freaked out I didn’t rinse them out. You don’t have to rinse them out because breastfed poop is water soluble, so it all comes out in the wash. Plus, they’re not solid. She was not happy about the cloth diapers in the washer. Her exact words were, “you’re not putting your shitty diapers in our washer!” Jakob’s mom also let us wash them at her house. I’m thankful everyone’s so supportive of this.
I did recently have an issue with some mold on two of my cloth diapers. I think the cause was a missed wet bag wash. One of the wet bags went almost a week without a wash and I believe the mold started in there and transferred to a few of the cloth diapers. I changed my routine to include the initial express wash, am making sure I have a full load, and don't do an extra rinse anymore. I'm also testing my water to see how "hard" it is to see if I need to add water softner. To get rid of the mold I did a wash with 2/3 cup of bleach to kill it. Bleach is the only thing that will kill the mold. I washed all of the diapers, both wet bags, all of the inserts, and all of the wipes just to be sure any spores that transferred were killed. If I make anymore changes to my wash routine I will post an update.
Here is what I bought for my cloth diaper/reusable wipe journey. I also have two ECO cloth diapers, but I don't like how their insert isn't removable. It's a pain to dry.
Cloth Diapers:
(^^That's the diaper bag wet bag I use)
Wet bags:
Reusable wipes:
(I like these ones better^^)
Wipe solution:
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