cloth diaper q&a

I get a lot of questions when people find out that we're cloth diapering.  Here are a few of the most asked.

Q. WHY?!
A. Why not?  Cloth diapering will save us a ton of money, it's better for the environment, they're super cute and it's different... I like to be different.

Q. How did you save money?  Those things are expensive!
A.  Well, yeah.  I can see how they wouldn't be cost effective depending on the kind of diaper you use.  We use a hybrid system and it has saved us a lot of money.

Q. But you're doing so much more laundry, isn't that costing you a lot?
A. No.  We're not doing that much more laundry.  About 2 extra loads a week, so it's really not that much.  I'll get more into my laundry routine later.  If you pay for garbage service, you could be saving money this way, too.  Locally, you pay for garbage service, then you pay for each bag of garbage.  Washing diapers can save you in this aspect, too.

Q. Isn't it dirty?
A. Yup.  But isn't changing any diaper?

Q. How do you wash your diapers?
A. This starts with my changing routine.  We use hybrids during the day, so when I change a diaper, I roll up the wipe and put it in the insert.  If the shell is soiled, I unsnap it, but leave it in the cover, then fold the cover and put it in the pail.  We use pockets at night, so I pull the inserts out of these and unsnap them, if needed.  I try to set these back in the diaper, so less mess spreads within the pail.  The Thirsties don't require removal of the inserts, they agitate out in the wash.
On laundry day, I fill the machine up with warm water (make sure you're using enough water for your load) and a little bit of purex free & clear, I dump the entire pail (and pail liner) into the wash and do a cycle on regular or gentile, or somewhere in between.  You do not need to use detergent and some people use cold water for this.  The way I see it, the first "rinse" is to get the solids off the diapers so the next cycle can clean them.  Bodily stuff disolves better in warm (body temperature) water and a little bit of extra cleaning power can't be too bad, so that's why I do it the way I do.  Then, I do an extra heavy wash with hot water (cold rinse) and I use Charlie's Soap for this cycle.  Lastly, I do a last gentile wash with cold water.  This step rinses out the soap.  I put all my inserts in the dryer, unless they're really stained, then I sun them, and I hang all the covers to try.  I never put covers in the dryer, but I don't like the feel of the inserts unless they've been in the dryer.  Just my preference.

Q. How many diapers do you need?
A. This depends on you and your situation.  If you use AIO, pocket diapers or covers with prefolds, then you'll need more diapers than if you use a hybrid system.  To determine how many diapers you need, I use this simple formula.  How many diaper changes do you plan on for one day?  I think you should plan on changing a diaper every 2 hours during daytime hours.  Brooke's "daytime" hours are usually from 6am to 8pm.  14 hours/2=7 diaper changes.  Use the same formula for nighttime. Brooke wakes up twice after we put her down, so we needed 3 nighttime diapers per night.  I wanted to do laundry every 3 days and I wanted enough diapers to cover laundry day and then one extra day.  If you don't mind doing laundry more often, you can get away with less diapers.  If you're using a hybrid system, the suggested ratio is 3 soakers for every 1 shell.  You can figure out what you need using that formula and then adjust from there, if need be.

Q. Why do you have so many different brands?!
A. Do you only buy one brand of clothes?  Groceries?  Shoes?  If you're using all pockets, AIOs or covers and prefolds then you can mix and match all you want since they're all really the same.  You can use rumparooz inserts in a thristies diaper, or whatever.  It doesn't matter which diaper your baby currently has on and which diaper you're going to put on next since they are one use only diapers.  If you're using a hybrid system, you'll want to pick one and stick with it since it can be cumbersome to try to separate the two brands and deal with running out of one kind of soaker or shells but having to go out.  You get it.

Q. Aren't they bulky?  Both on your baby and in the diaper bag?
A. Yeah, they are.  But it's worth it and it really doesn't cause any trouble.

Q. If I'm going to cloth diaper, should I also use cloth wipes?
A. Yes!  I didn't think about this until I had my first poopy cloth diaper then I was all like, "hey, what should I do with all these gross wipes?"  If you are going to cloth diaper, you will want to use cloth wipes.  It's just easier in every way.

Q. How do you prep and store your cloth wipes?
A. This is really personal.  You can pre-moisten your wipes with plain water or with a solution and store them in a regular container or a wipe warmer or you can store them dry and use a spray at the table.  I dampen them, fold them and use an old disposable wipe container and it works really well for us.

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll make sure I answer them in an upcoming post!