Cloth Diapering - It's a Snap!

When I had my son 4 years ago, I thought of cloth diapering as the ancient practice that my Grandmother had to partake in so that her children had something to wear when they excreted themselves. I imagined all white linens that had to be hand washed, hung to dry, and were impossible to safety pin without sticking yourself  or your baby. Then a friend of mine introduced me to cloth diapering in the 20th century, and I was sold!

I began researching cloth diapers while pregnant with my daughter last year and have since become what I would like to think of myself as a knowledgeable amateur on the topic. I was at first overwhelmed with the differences between fitted, all-in-one, pocket, and prefold, but with a little online blog searching and visiting a local mommy store that sold cloth diapers, it soon began to make sense.

Types of diapers

A basic cloth diaper consists of an absorbent layer and a cover that work together to prevent leaking. Some diapers are one size and fit children up to 35 pounds, while other companies have two to three sizes that allow you to tailor specifically to the size of your baby throughout their diapering months. Fitted, all-in-one, and pocket diapers are all vary similar with a few key differences. All-in-one diapers require the least amount of thought because the absorbent layer and the cover are all built together (all-in-one). Although the most expensive, they only require you to wash, dry, and put away. I decided not to go with this particular type of diaper because of the drying time involved. After washing your diapers, it is recommended that the covers be air dried, which means the whole diaper is to be air dried with the all-in-one style. Because the absorbent layer is built in, you can imagine it takes a while for this diaper to dry when hung, which seemed to be a common complaint when I was reading the reviews. A fitted diaper is basically the absorbent layer built as an entire diaper and the covers are purchased separately to prevent leaking and add some color (some are even built to add more layers of absorbency). This means that the covers can be hung to dry in a small amount of time and the fitted diaper can be thrown in the dryer so that your washing/drying is significantly less time consuming than an all-in-one diaper. Because there are two pieces to the diaper, this also means you are buying fitted diapers and covers separately, which I found to be expensive. The plus for this diaper is it covers the entire diaper area of your baby with an absorbent layer, so leak prevention is amazing. These can also be purchased and added under the covers you might already have if you have pocket diapers and need a newborn size until they grow into them. If you couldn't already tell, I went with the pocket diaper. A pocket diaper is purchased with a cover and inserts included, so one price that is the cheapest of the three types of diapers. This diaper has a pocket sewn into the middle that allows you to insert the absorbent layer into the diaper yourself, allowing you to add as much or as little as needed, but also requiring the most work. Like the fitted diaper, the covers are air dried and the inserts are thrown into the dryer. The inserts are the same size as what is built into an all-in-one diaper, so the absorbency would be the same in the two, but the inserts do not cover the entire diaper area as a fitted  diaper does, so leaking can happen. Each of my pocket diapers came  with a newborn insert and a one-size insert to use at my leisure, so I began my baby on a newborn insert, then a one-size insert, and now I double up the newborn and one-size insert at 6 months old for added protection. All types of inserts exist out there that you can either add to your diaper or use in place  of the inserts that came with your diaper if you find that you like one better than another. After every wash/dry, I have to place the inserts into my covers before I can put the diaper on my baby so as I said before, this requires more time. Because of the price and because I liked the drying time, this was the best choice for me, and I just make adding my inserts part of my routine to laundry day.

Another question to ask yourself is snaps or hook and loop?

Snap

Hook and Loop

 

 

Your one size diapers include snaps vertically no matter what style of diaper you buy, so both types that I purchased have three sets of snaps to shorten or lengthen the diaper. The biggest difference I find between the two is the fit. My diapers did not fit my daughter around the thighs until she was a month old and only the hook and loop would tighten enough in the right places that she could begin wearing her cloth diapers. Another pro is that these are the closest to a disposable diaper when it comes to the quicker diaper change and most foolproof when your friend or relative wants to help with a diaper change. The only drawback is the hook and loop style tends to wear out quicker (or so the reviews say), which I have yet to see 6 months in. The snap closures are easy enough to use, but do take a little longer and take some time to figure out as far as fit and where to snap. It took me a few months of counting snaps to get used to where the middle of the diaper was finally!

Laundering Diapers

Besides choosing the best diaper for you and your baby, the hardest part of learning to cloth diaper is to figure out how you wash and dry them and what to do when you have a poopy diaper. The first part is easy - washing and drying instructions are included with your cloth diapers which tells you how to prep your diapers before first use as well as how to wash them once you begin using them. The instructions are usually the same - wash first in cold  with no detergent, then in hot with a detergent specific to cloth diapers, and add an extra rinse at the end. Covers are to be air dried and inserts are to be dried on low or medium, depending on the brand (I usually just do two drying cycles on low just to be safe). Poopy diapers require no major prep work or getting your hands dirty - SERIOUSLY! My daughter is exclusively breastfed and up until we began introducing her to rice cereal a month ago, her stools were always thin and runny (even if they were messy!). As you can see by the picture below, sometimes the diaper was completely covered with poop, and yet I never had to dunk it in the toilet or spray it with anything.

Before

After

 One thing that the included instructions did not explain was what type of wash cycle to wash the diapers in. I learned the hard way that a delicate cycle is definitely not the way to go. A delicate cycle does not oscillate the way a regular cycle does, so I was having trouble getting all of the gunk out of the elastic sides of the diaper. Once I switched both the cold and hot cycles to regular, the problem was fixed and my diapers came out as clean as you see in the second picture. The other thing I want to mention is cloth diapers can be bleached once a month with 1/4 cup bleach added to the cycle. The above pictures were a normal cycle with no bleaching just to give you an idea of how these covers wash. The opening on the right hand side is the pocket that the inserts go in and although the inserts tend to discolor slightly compared to the covers, the bleaching once a month usually takes care of this and the inserts are covered while on my baby anyways.

Now that my daughter is almost 6 months old, her stools are getting thicker and heavier since she began rice cereal and baby food. The thicker stools I treat the same as before with no prep, dunking, or rinsing. For the stools that are solid enough to stick together, I just use a wipe to pick it up out of the diaper and flush it down the toilet. So far, I have had no leftovers after the wash cycle that I have had to be concerned with. Laundering poopy diapers was what I was most scared of and yet it's been a piece of cake!

What about laundry detergent? After reading reviews and looking around, I went with Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent. Created by a mom with cloth diapers, this detergent lasts me 2 months and costs anywhere from $13.95 - $15.95 a bag and even comes in a variety of fun, natural scents. Based on evidence such as my pictures above, I would say this product is doing its job perfectly!

Conclusions

Overall, I have loved cloth diapering my daughter. I read recommendations that in order to launder diapers every other day, you should have 24 diapers total. Now that she is 6 months old, I launder every second or third day and still have 3-6 diapers remaining by the time all of my washing and drying is done. My initial investment was $339.00 and I chose BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers. For the first month, we bought disposable diapers for my daughter until she fit into her cloth diapers (we could have gone with a newborn fitted diaper or newborn all-in-one diaper, but I didn't feel that the price was worth using a diaper that she would grow out of in a couple of months) and we were spending $10 a week on disposable diapers to give you an idea of our savings over the next couple of years. For our investment of $339, we potentially would be spending over $1,000 for two years of disposable diapering. As a chary (or frugal) mother of two, I have found that this was best idea ever introduced to me!!


I ordered all of my diapers and detergent from The Green Nursery website. They have a huge online store and I was able to save on a bundled package of BumGenius diapers, which I couldn't find cheaper anywhere else. Shipping came quickly and they even have a reward point system so that you can save on future purchases. Click the link below to visit their store!
thegreennursery.com