Musings on cloth diapers

Mandy and I decided early on into pregnancy that we wanted to do cloth diapers, mainly for environmental reasons. There's a significant cost outlay at the start compared to disposables, but you make it up over the life of the diapers.

Researching cloth diapers seemed a bit daunting at first. There are a number of options nowadays and we quickly were overwhelmed. So we decided to go to a seminar put on by New & Green, which turned out to be a good idea. They went through some of the available options and had a number of diapers on hand to view and and get a sense of what was involved.

We ended up deciding on using the basic 'prefolds'. They're square/rectangular pieces of cotton which are thinner on two sides with a thicker strip down the middle (the fabric is folded and sewn in the middle, hence the name 'prefolds'). Along with the prefolds, we use a waterproof diaper cover. The cloth diapers don't have the absorbancy chemicals like disposables do, so once a diaper is wet it spreads throughout the whole diaper, so a cover is definitely needed.

Early on with Quinn, however, we got into the swing of newborn disposables. Partly, that was because it was what we used at the hospital and we had snagged a few for home use. But also, it was because the newborn disposables have a notch for the cord stump and the more bulky cloth diapers would probably have irritated the stump somewhat.

Once the stump fell off, we switched over to cloth and so far we haven't looked back. And I'm pleased that, so far, it is less work/hassle than I expected it might be (we'll see once the poops thicken up I guess). Order of operations is to have a waterproof bag next to the change table. At change time, the dirty diaper and washcloths go in the bag. Once the bag is full, it's hauled downstairs and turned inside out, emptying everything into the washer, including the bag. First, the diapers are run through a 'wash & spin' cycle which does a 20 minute cold water cycle. Then, we do a 'sanitize' cycle using hot water with an extra wash and extra rinse (2 hrs, 20 mins). After that, it's into the dryer for 1 hour.

Having a new washer/dryer makes it easy with all the wash/dry selections available. We were a bit worried with using a front loading washer as they are designed nowadays to use as little water as possible, which is definitely not what you want when washing dirty diapers. However, we haven't had any problems yet when using the extra wash/rinse settings.

Approx supply counts:

• 30 pre-folds
• 7 diaper covers (probably more than we really need, but it's nice to have choice)
• 2 Snappis (cloth diaper fasteners - much better replacement for safety pins)
  
• 25 washcloths dedicated to diaper duty (could maybe use a few more)
• 1 peri bottle for washing Quinn during diaper change
• 1 spray bottle for diaper wash solution
• 1 change table
• 1 washer/dryer
• 2 waterproof diaper bags (definitely need more than one)
• 1 small waterproof diaper bag (for when we're on the road)
• 1 bum balm for any diaper rash
• 1 Quinn