There are many different kinds of diapers to choose from. Most people go with disposables and don't think much more about the other option - cloth diapers. There are many types of cloth diapers to fit your needs. The style I have been going with has been pocket diapers. I am genuinely surprised at how easy it has been.
Why Am I Pocket Diapering?
For me, the main reason is to save money. Yes, it does cost more up front to purchase the diapers, but in the end you save a lot of money. It is nice not going to the store all the time to buy box fulls of disposables. Another reason is that disposables contain chemicals and things that I don't want touching my baby's skin for years.
What Are Pocket Diapers?
Pocket diapers consist of a waterproof diaper cover that has a fleece pocket in which absorbent inserts are stuffed into. Pocket diapers are great because the fleece barrier keeps the wet inserts off your baby's skin so there is little to no diaper rash. The fleece barrier also keeps your inserts from becoming stained. They come in one-size, with a bunch of snaps on them so that they can be sized to fit a newborn all the way up to a 40 pound child. They also sell them with Velcro, if you prefer.
What You Will Need
You will need enough pocket diapers to get you through about 2 days or more - for me that is about 16. A better amount would be 20 or more, but 16 works. You will also need something to put the used diapers in before they all get washed. I chose to go with a wet bag which has a waterproof lining inside, a cloth outer layer, and a zipper. You may need to buy extra inserts to help prevent leaks if your baby is a heavy wetter.
How It Works
Before your baby eats food, it is super easy - all you do is take the diaper off your baby and toss it directly into the wetbag. That's it! No need to wash the solids off. I use Thirsties brand pocket diapers, so there is no need to remove the inserts since they agitate out of the cover on their own.
If your baby has started eating food, you will need to dump the solids into the toilet before putting the diaper in the wetbag - but still, that is easy.
I wash the diapers when I have about 3 clean diapers left - that gives me enough time to wash them and dry them before I run out.
Wash Day
When you are ready to wash them, all you do is dump all the diapers out of the wetbag and into the washer, as well as the wetbag. You will definitely want your washer to do a prewash cycle. It is best to use hot water. With my high efficiency washer, I also choose "water plus" to give it more water, "soil level high" so it cleans them a little better than normal, and "high spin speed" to get even more water out which makes for drying them quicker. A normal amount of detergent is sufficient.
Once the washer is done, it is time for drying. Only the inserts can be dried in a dryer. The covers and wetbag will need to be hang dried. This is because the dryer will ruin the plastic waterproof layer of the covers and wetbag over time.
I use an outdoor clothesline whenever possible to dry all pieces, which dries everything pretty fast.
Do not worry about stains, they will eventually wash out over time, and hanging them in the sun helps dramatically.
Brands
There are many brands to choose from. Since I like to support American business, I chose Thirsties, which are made in the USA. You can expect to pay about $19 for one Thirsties pocket diaper, which includes the cover and 2 inserts. If you don't care about American made, you can pay far less than that. There are many sites that specifically sell cloth diapers or you can check out Amazon. Look at reviews of different brands to read people's opinions on them.
Tips!
- Don't worry about stains, they will eventually get clean over some wash cycles.
- To get stains out of the fleece faster, simply hang them in the sun (yes, this actually does work!)
- If you have a heavy wetter, simply add an extra insert to absorb more urine
- Use the purest laundry detergent you can, free of dyes, perfumes etc.
Important Don'ts
- Never use bleach on any of the pieces
- Never dry the covers or wetbag in the dryer
- Never use fabric softener
- Never use diaper creams which can clog the diaper's fibers and make it non absorbent
Note: I was not asked or paid by Thirsties to write this article. All opinions are my own. :)
Haha! I also just posted about cloth diapering today! I use the pocket diapers and LOVE them too. Thanks for posting! I upvoted!
What a coincidence! Thank you so much, I appreciate it. :)
Interesting read about these new fangled things, will resteemit for others to learn about them. I used cloth diapers and we had diaper pins and plastic outer pants to hold it all in at night ;-) Yes it ages me a lot :-)
Thanks weetree! Yea, glad there are pocket diapers now, I am really liking them. I don't think I would have liked the diaper pin/plastic outer pants system too much. Thanks for resteeming!
Now days the safety police aka child protective services would have nailed us for child endangerment... ;-)
Thanks for the resteem. I was not following so I would have not seen this post. I am going to share this with my baby sis. who just had here first baby.
Thank you! Aww, congrats to your sister for her first baby!!
Cloth-diapering high-five! We make our own washing detergent, and that seems to be as gentle as we can get. The sturdy little things are more than a year old and still going strong!
I use the white tri-fold cloth diapers you can buy at any box store as my extra insert for the night. You know the old-fashioned ones that need diaper pins and rubber pants? They are PERFECT for adding an extra layer for naps.
That's a great point - using the tri-folds as the extra insert. It's amazing how sturdy cloth diapers are considering just how many times they are washed!
Resteemit to share with others, great info
Thanks!!
Congratulations @ministeading! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPI would say I enjoyed this - except I'm too glad to be done with diapers to really enjoy reading about them now! However, I upvoted because I would like to see more parenting and child related posts on Steemit and look forward to following you!
As my babies got older, I found it hard to keep them dry at night. I loved a good fleece cover, with little cuffs around the legs (like dancing bear , though I imagine there are other brands). I still believe that bought be some hours of sleep.
lol! I was struggling with the diapers leaking all the time which frustrated me. Luckily we happened to be at the thrift store one day and there were 12 gDiaper inserts for only .50 each! 3 inserts does the trick now. :) Thanks for upvoting and stopping by. Take care, Ashley. :)
Very well written and after having four babies in cloth diapers I MUST agree that pocket style diapers are a real life saver. Easy for older siblings and Daddy friendly! LOL I also bought mamkoala diapers on amazon this time round like $6 each! They are amazing and a few Flip covers. Oh I love talking diapers...I'm a big dork! Hope yall have a blessed day, can't wait to hang out again sometime.
I love pocket diapers! We tried regular cloth diapers with Belle, and we had to stop because the diaper rash was horrible from it. I never knew about pocket diapers until last year when we started looking into cloth diapers again. $6 each is a great deal! It's too bad the USA ones are so much more expensive. :( Yea, we should set up another live chat sometime. :)
they sure dont make diapers like they used to when my kids were little they were just coming out with neat diapers. if i had these i never would have used disposables. I still used cloth during the day. Im going to share this with my son and daughter inlaw