I've found myself defending cloth diapers more and more since I participated in Kim Rosa's Flats and Handwashing Challenge over at her blog, Dirty Diaper Laundry. I'm not certain why, but it just comes up in coversation so much more these days, or perhaps I'm just more sensitive to it? Perhaps.
So I thought a post might be in order to talk about this crazy cloth diapering thing I do!
Samuel wears cloth diapers, first off. He doesn't wear them all of the time, and when he does wear them he doesn't wear a certain kind, folded in a certain way or necessarily washed in a certain detergent, because I try as much as possible not to, you know, subscribe to 'parenting philosophies', which I think are hooey.
Anyway.
We try. We have probably just over three dozen diapers, some purchased, some gifted, some second hand and some brand new. We have probably about a dozen covers, four of which are in circulation right now. We have a few snappis, which I never use. That's about it. Our diapers are prefolds and flats (both actual flat diapers and things that fill in for flat diapers, such as recieving blankets), about four GroVia inserts (essentially pad-shaped prefolds with snaps on them) and a solitary fitted diaper. The covers we're using right now are GroVia covers, but we've used a vairety of different brands in the past. When Samuel isn't wearing a cloth diaper he is usually wearing a disposable. This happens, not very frequently, but it happens. Sometimes it's just because I know we'll be in the car a long time and I want to keep him comfortable, sometimes it's because he's been gassy all day and I know an 'explosion' is due, and sometimes it's because I don't have any dry covers and he can't just run around naked. They're a convenience tool, and I use them sparingly, but I'm not ashamed to use them, anymore than I'm ashamed to pull out the frozen store lasagna from the freezer on a night I can't face cooking!
I fold all of my flats into a 'pad fold' and all of my prefolds into thirds. I don't use fancy folds, I don't pin or snappi the diaper on, I just fold it up, tuck it into the cover, and pop it on. That's it. If he's going to sleep in the diaper I double them up, or I fold a prefold inside of a flat. That's the only variation.
When I change him I toss the dirty diaper into a cloth bag that hangs...somewhere. It moves around the house. Generally you can find it in the bathroom, but sometimes it appears in my bedroom, where most of the changing happens, or hanging on the back door knob. Anyhow, that's where they go. If it's a bowel movement, and it's 'solid-ish', I dump it into the toilet first and then put it into the bag. If it isn't 'solid-ish' I don't do anything special.
I wash my diapers every day. After Samuel is in bed I gather up the diapers (which sometimes are a bit hidden in the diaper bag, still in the bedroom because they didn't make it to the cloth bag, maybe in the bathroom after a bath, etc.) and once I've got all of the dirty ones and the covers I toss them all into the washer, cloth diaper bag included, and run a hot wash without soap. After the first cycle I add regular laundry, if I have some to wash, and I run a second cycle with soap.
A note on washing: I've heard that you need to use special soap, and I have purchased said special soap. Enzyme free, dye free, perfume free, plant based, eco-friendly, etc. etc. And I've used it, and my diapers have not stunk or done any of the other things diapers are apparently notorious for doing. They have continued to soak up pee just fine. I have also used cheap, store brand, water lily scented, enzyme-ridden detergent, and my diapers have worked just fine. I have bleached them, which makes some people faint, and my diapers have worked just fine. I have tumble dried them on high, washed them in hot water, scrubbed them, washed them with other clothing, not rinsed them, forgotten them for days on end in a plastic bag in my diaper carrier, and in short done everything you're told not to do with your diapers, and my diapers are just fine. They don't smell, they absorb pee. That's all they need to do.
After the second wash I hang my diapers on the back staircase of my apartment building on a line. I keep the two staircase windows open and the cross breeze dries them pretty quickly. In the morning I go out the back door and gather them up. I fold the flats as I put them away so I don't have to try and do it with a squirmy baby. And then I put them in the drawer and walk away. That's my entire routine. If I have a lot of diapers to dry for some reason I may bring out my drying rack and set it up in the bathroom.
We also use cloth wipes, mostly. My husband really doesn't like to use them so he has containers of dollar-store wipes scattered around his life at all times, but I use cloth wipes because Samuel doesn't squeal as much when I change him if the cloths are warm! Also, I feel like he gets cleaner. The wipes I use are baby face cloths, and I treat them exactly as I do my diapers.
Samuel occasionally gets a small diaper rash, just a tiny bit. I clear it up by letting him run around naked for an hour and that always does it. If for some reason it isn't significantly better after that, I put a bit on Peneten on him and put him in a disposable until his next change, and then we go back to cloth.
For us cloth diapers are fast, they aren't difficult or complicated in any way. They don't take me forever to wash or any longer than any other diaper to get on or off. I use a plastic bag in my diaper bag to hold the dirty diapers from our outings, and that's the only difference between cloth and dispoable when we're out. I don't really think about them all that much, certainly not as much as it seems like some people do! I don't have a 'stash', I don't use cutesy names likes 'sposies' or 'fluff' or whatever the latest thing is. (I also don't call my stomach a 'tummy' or say 'nums' for food or anything like that!) I am not obsessed with having certain patterns or using only one brand. It has to absorb pee, not leak and smell nice. It has to clean easily. It's good if it doesn't stain a lot but I'm not picky. Samuel certainly doesn't care one way or another, and I'm not even certain that David could tell you different types of cloth diapers beside what we use.
I'm disheartened to see blogs that go on and ON about cloth diapers, tossing out terms that I'm certain no new parent or parent-to-be understands: AIOs, fleece doublers, pocket style...what ARE these things, I'm betting they think. And then they turn away from it all because it looks difficult, time consuming, and expensive. A single diaper cover can be over $20. A wool cover is even more - I've seen them in the high $30 range before. For one cover. And the lists of 'approved' detergents and special instructions; the expensive bags to carry them in and accessories to use with them and adjustments you can make, materials lists and natural fibres vs. man-made fibres and so on and so on. No one wants to just take a piece of fabric, fold it up and tuck it into a cover and put it on the baby. That's too simple, there must be something 'wrong' with it.
So that's it, that's how we use cloth diapers.
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