Caring for Your Cloth

The aspect of cloth that many people find most daunting: washing.

It's really not that complicated, but first things first. Let's talk about prepping.

If you buy a new diaper, it will need to be prepped. This is the process used to remove oils and anything else that may be on the diaper that would repel liquid and therefore cause a leak.

There are a couple of different ways to prep new diapers depending on what they are and how much effort you want to put in.

Boiling Prep


That's right. One of the easiest ways to prep your diapers is to cook them. This will only work on diapers that do not have the waterproof polyurethane laminate (PUL) or plastic snaps. This means mostly flats, prefolds, and inserts. Basically, you bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a drop of dish detergent, add the prefolds, and boil for 10-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After that, remove with tongs and put them through a wash cycle, dry, and done!

There's a nice picture tutorial here: Boiling Prefolds

Wash/Dry Prep


This method isn't a problem either. Simply run the diapers through 3-5 wash and dry cycles. If your diaper has PUL, you may need to run it through a hot dryer cycle to seal the laminate. Many diapers aren't  at their maximum absorbency until their tenth wash! If I just have one new diaper, I just keep tossing it in with the rest of my diaper wash a few times before I use it rather than prep it alone.

Cleaning Diapers

The cleaning process is not at all complicated as some people worry. It's just four or five steps. If your baby still has those mostly liquid, breastfed poops, just toss the whole thing in your wetbag. If your baby has firmer, solid food poops you can invest in a diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet or just dunk the diaper and swirl it around a little. If both of those make you squeamish, you can get disposable liners that just lift out and get flushed.

Once you're ready to wash, just empty the wet bag into the machine, then toss it in too. Run a cold rinse cycle, then wash on hot. You can buy special cloth diaper soap like Rockin' Green or you can use a conventional free and clear detergent. A lot of people use Tide. We use Seventh Generation since that's what we use for our laundry anyway. Just use about half the amount you would use normally in that case. Finally, run one more warm rinse.

There are a few options to dry. Line drying is great because the sun acts as a natural bleach to get out any stains. Plus you're not using the energy of the dryer. If you do use a dryer, dry anything with PUL on low heat. Some items, like thick fitteds for example, may need an extra half cycle.

Remember, you can get diaper detergent and a ton of other eco-friendly parenting supplies at EcoMom for the special MamaSource deal of $20 for $40 worth of goods!

Stripping


Sometimes a good wash just can't get rid of the funk. This is when you need to strip. I could write out all the information, but a really good break down can be found on Zany Zebra

A Challenge

Speaking of washing diapers, apparently diapers have been in the news lately because some families find that they can't afford disposables for their babies, so they are actually reusing disposables. In order to show the world that there is a better solution Dirty Diaper Laundry is hosting their Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge. Basically, you commit to using only flats and hand washing them for a week. It's an inexpensive solution!

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

Finally, don't forget tomorrow is The Great Cloth Diaper Change! Let's set a new world record for the most cloth diaper changes at once. If you're in the Tampa Bay area, we hope to see you at Great Explorations for the change and the Baby Expo that follows! There's more info on their Facebook page.

What's the Big Deal with Cloth?

There are generally a few well-known reasons to cloth diaper:

1. Better for the Environment
2. Less Expensive
3. Better for Baby

However, any of these points can be debated (just ask my husband).

The amount of disposable diapers used by one baby.

1. Environment - You throw away a lot of diapers using disposables. A LOT. That's all waste just sitting in a landfill somewhere for possibly 500 years or so. Billions of diapers are thrown away each year, and they're ALL still out there. Personally, this was a big factor for me once I started changing diapers and watching the pail fill up so quickly.

The other side of this point, though, is the amount of water and energy needed to clean and dry the diapers. Washing cloth is a multi-step process, so a lot of water is used each time. My husband and I both read the article Should My Baby Wear Huggies on Slate and came away with different opinions on the author's conclusions.

2. Cost - Cloth diapers can save you quite a bit in the long run. This is for several reasons. First, while there is a larger up front investment, it is still smaller than what you will pay for disposables over the course of the diaper-wearing stage. You can use the same diapers for multiple children, and there is even a large market for pre-loved diapers on sites like Diaper Swappers. Almost all of our diapers came pre-owned, but that's actually not so bad because it saves you both money AND the prep work. Additionally, many people say that children potty train earlier in cloth than in disposables, so you don't need diapers for quite as long.

The flip side here is that some people forget the cost of washing the diapers on your water and electric bills. It seems unlikely to me though that this cost is higher than cloth considering all the factors mentioned above.

3. Baby - Most cloth advocates say that their babies rarely get diaper rash and as I mentioned before, potty train at a younger age. Also, for our boy babies, cloth diapers maintain a lower temperature which is thought to be better for fertility in the future.

Some of my husbands other concerns were:

- Gross - Some diapers, like prefolds, get very wet, and once babies are eating solids you do have to dunk and swirl the diapers in the toilet to get the poop off. For exclusively breastfed babies, though, the diaper just goes in with the rest of them. Ultimately, it's not that icky, and you should wash your hands after you change a diaper anyway.

- Too much work - The idea of all the washing can seem daunting at first, but it's just a little laundry. Plus, in my house, I do most of the laundry anyway, so I knew I was taking on that responsibility from the get go. If you're really stressed by it, there is probably a diaper service nearby that will do it for you.

These are just a few of the reasons to use cloth. What are your concerns? If you already use cloth, what did you discover that was different from what you anticipated?