Cloth Diapering for Beginners – III

Ohai. First things first. I cannot believe the number of people who have texted me since my last post. Thank you so much for all the love and encouragement, yougaiz. This last post on cloth diapering (for now) will cover the remaining basic aspects of cloth diapering like how to care for them, wash routine, etc.

I am just going to cover them all in bullet points (I feel like I am writing an exam. Heh).

1. Maintaining your cloth diapers (your baby’s, I mean)  is not very tough if you care for them well. There are just a few things that you need to keep in mind –

• No using your diaper rash cream, use lots coconut oil or cloth diaper friendly creams instead. I use coconut oil liberally during every diaper change and have never had the need to use anything else. We have not really had any rashes either. A little redness once in a while, yes, especially when we have not been in a position to change diapers every 2-3 hours during the day but nothing more than that. *touchwood*
• Do not use detergents with additives, softeners, etc. I use Tide Original. You can use any detergent with similar ingredients.
• Rinse overnight diapers soon after you remove them. This will help in curtailing the ammonia smell (that sometimes is strong enough to make you faint. Trust me!) till you do your diaper laundry.
• Rinse poopy diapers at the earliest instance. Easier to deal with the mess when it’s not too late.

2. Your wash cycle makes a difference. I do a pre wash in my machine (whichever is the shortest cycle option your machine offers) followed by a proper almost 1.5hr long wash cycle with warm water. I do diaper laundry every 2-3 days. So I prefer hand rinsing my diapers before I throw it in the pail. Try and decide what works best for you.

3. You do not need to buy all the accessories that are available in the market to cloth diaper. I did not invest in a ‘diaper pail’. Instead I alternate between a large bucket with a lid, a large wetbag and a closed laundry basket to store dirty diapers till laundry day. They have all worked well for us, without any stinky issues. I also do not have anything like a Spray Pal. I have made do without it.

4. Facebook is your friend. Join local/countrywide cloth diapering groups, chat groups of brands etc.

People from such local groups may be in a better position to help you in case you face any issue since they would be more aware of the kind of water, washing machine functions (mainly because a lot of functions vary from country to country), help you with contacts of local vendors etc. You will also get to socialize with fellow cloth diapering mamas and maybe make some good friends too, I did (you know who you are.<3).

5. Do not blindly invest in a brand without trying it on your child. The fit of a diaper varies from child to child. What worked for someone may not work for you. Instead, get one or two diapers from a brand you want to try and invest more later on depending on how it works for you.

6. Don’t shy away from buying preloved diapers. Some people find it gross, but as long you wash them thoroughly before use (or strip the diapers if you *really* want to, will do a separate post about stripping diapers later). It’s a good way to decide if a brand works for you without paying a bomb.

7. The sun is your best friend when it comes to poop stains.

8. Spend time prepping diapers. I know all you want to do is get those adorable diapers on the bum, but diapers work so much better when prepped well. Especially the ones with natural fabrics. The more you wash them before use, the better they get.

Okay, I think I am done for now. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to drop a comment. I will try my best to give you a solution.

Leaving you with this utterly cute Spongebob bum while I work on the next post.

That’s an old cotton tee used as a flat. Awesome or what? Here’s how you do it.

Ta!