Our Cloth Diaper stash and routine + answers to FAQ
Hi everyone! This is a blog post that I know many of you were longing to read. Ever since I first started posting about cloth diapers on Instagram (and I don’t even do it often), lots of questions started pouring in and many friends showed interest in knowing more about our routine and how we got into it in the first place. Well, it was me (Rita) who first introduced the idea in our household, after falling in love with how simple and logical Mango Island Mama (@ellenfisher on Instagram) made it seem in her YouTube videos. We love following her journey ever since they were a little family of three, just like we are now, and today they’re waiting on their fourth baby to join the family.
That was how and when I started to learn more about cloth diapering, even though we were far from having a baby ourselves. It resonated with me and I instantly knew I’d want to do it with our future children, for a few reasons: 1. it is obviously better for our planet; 2. it is better for the baby, who won’t be exposed to the chemicals present in disposables; and 3. it is better for our wallets – with a fraction of the money you’d spend on disposables for one single baby, you will gather a stash of cloth diapers that can be used up to four babies.
Thankfully, it took no effort from me whatsoever to convince André to get on board with the idea. I would not have taken a no for an answer anyway – hah! He was actually very impressed with how simple modern cloth diapers have become and he was the one who took care of the washing and prepping for the first few weeks after baby Simão was born. What a super papa!
Before we head into describing what we bought and how we use it, let me remind you this isn’t a failproof formula – there isn’t one. What works for us might not work for the next family and that is fine, that’s just how unpredictable life with a baby is. Nonetheless we hope you enjoy this blog post and find it inspiring and informative!
Our Cloth Diaper Stash (Newborn to Toddler size)
Initially, we thought we’d only start cloth diapering our boy a couple of months into our journey of parenthood. But after reading so many mamas’ stories with newborn babies on cloth diapers since day 1 on a couple of Facebook groups (these are SO SO helpful, do join if you’re into cloth diapers – Clean Cloth Nappies, Fluff Love and CD Science, Cloth Diapering Mamas and The Nappy Lady Pregnancy, Baby & Parenting), we were confident enough to do it from the start. However, we couldn’t trust we’d be able to use our birth-to-potty/onesize diapers from the get go (and we weren’t). From the day he was born up until around 6-7 weeks of age, we used a combination of the cloth diapers we invested in and environmentally friendly disposables by Bambo Nature. This allowed us to warm up to our routine without having the pressure of never being able to skip laundry day.
There are few types of diapers to choose from – pockets, all-in-ones, prefolds, onesize, fitteds. We got more than what we needed because we were so enthusiastic about it, this being our first time around (and SO MANY cute diapers to choose from), but the investment really does pay off in the long run. Please note, you don’t need all of this to get started; some people opt to not buy newborn cloth diapers because these will usually only fit for a couple of months, at most. This was what we got because we were very excited about cloth diapering our baby boy and because we wanted to try out a few different brands. We would also love to have more children in the future, and we will be able to use these very products with them too. Here’s a detailed round-up of the diapers and accessories in our stash:
3 BumGenius Littles Newborn V2 (his very first diaper fresh out of mama’s belly was one of these!)
9 SmartBottoms BornSmart AIO diapers (we LOVED these)
18 Baba and Boo Newborn pocket diapers (LOVED these also – they are fairly bigger than the usual newborn diapers and only started fitting properly when Simão was about 2 months old)
5 Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch size 1 + 2 Blueberry Capri Newborn Mini covers
5 Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch size 2 + 2 Blueberry Capri Onesize covers (this is such a good diaper all around. We planned on using them exclusively as nighttime diapers but they’re very practical to use at any time)
20 BumGenius V5 pocket diapers (very versatile and started fitting our boy from around 8 weeks)
3 SmartBottoms Smart One 3.1 AIO diapers (very absorbent and slim fitting)
3 Baba and Boo One Size Pocket diapers (gifted by a dear friend – so soft and comfortable)
7 Bambino Miosolo diapers, 1 Bambino Miosoft diaper and 5 Bambino Mioboosts (all of these, apart from one of the miosolos, were kindly gifted to us by the actual brand)
1 pack of five Little Lamb Triple Bamboo Boosters
3 Hemp Babies Little Weeds Nappy Boosters (VERY absorbent but makes diapers very chunky)
4 Baba and Boo Charcoal Boosters and 4 Baba and Boo Hemp Boosters (our favourites)
15 Baba and Boo fleece liners
6 BumGenius StayDry liners
Other accessories include 2 small and 2 large wetbags, from BumGenius and SmartBottoms, a Tots Bots lockable diaper bucket (and two mesh bags for said bucket), a wipes warmer from Prince Lionheart and an assortment of cloth wipes from Cheeky Wipes and their respective container.
Answers to frequently asked questions
How many diapers do you need?
That depends on how often you plan to wash your diapers. It is usually recommended to wash every 2 days, in which case you will need somewhere between 20-30 diapers.
How much is the initial investment?
This also depends on how often you plan to wash your diapers (you will need fewer diapers if you plan to wash frequently and more diapers if you plan to wash every 4-5 days) and what type and brands you go for. There is plenty to choose from and the prices can vary from around 10€ to +30€ per diaper. We spent close to 1000€, but we got more than what is strictly necessary and we picked a few pricey ones (such as the SmartBottoms – which are well worth their price tag, by the way). The most affordable diapers we’ve used are the Baba and Boo ones – and they happen to be amongst our favourites too!
What is our washing routine?
Washing diapers is not difficult in the slightest. It’s different than washing regular clothes and you may want to print out an instruction sheet and keep it near your washing machine for the first few weeks. Eventually, you get used to it and it becomes a part of your routine. We unstuff our diapers as soon as we take them off our baby’s bum and store them in our diaper bucket in the laundry room (we don’t even lock the bucket and it doesn’t smell). On washing day, we take the mesh bag full of diapers and put it inside the washing machine – we keep it open so the diapers will tumble out into the drum – and run a quick, cold cycle with no detergent and no softener (never use softeners when washing cloth diapers). This cycle will dissolve all the pees and poos and discard that dirty water before actually washing the fabrics. Then, we run a long cycle on 40-60ºC with about 1/3 cup of detergent (Skip Active Clean powder). We air dry our diapers but many parents opt to tumble dry theirs, in case you were wondering if that can be done. It’s important to mention that for optimal washing you should keep your washing machine 2/3 full to ensure proper agitation. Our washing machine is fairly small (5 kg) and 10-12 diapers and a few cloth wipes is more than enough, but you can bulk up the load for the second, long cycle with hand towels, muslins, baby clothes, etc.
How do you deal with poos?
First off, let me start by saying that the dreaded poopsplosions up the baby’s back have NEVER happened to us while using cloth diapers (they did happen with disposables!). We had a few leaks down the legs during the first weeks because our bub had skinny cricket legs and not even the newborn diapers would fit properly. But once he chunked up, that stopped being an issue and every single poo, no matter how massive, was contained. Newborn poop is completely water soluble so we didn’t have to take any extra steps with the soiled diapers at first. We just put those in the washing machine as described above and we’d be done with it. Now that we’ve started our BLW journey with Simão, his poos have become a bit nastier and they need to be scraped off the diapers before going in the washing machine. We sometimes use disposable liners, which allow us to simply discard that layer and not have to go through any other step when it comes to poopie diapers.
How do we deal with dirty diapers when we’re out and about?
We just unstuff them as we normally do and store them in a small wetbag which we carry in our diaper bag. When we get home, everything goes into the diaper bucket in the laundry room and we follow our steps as usual.
What do we use for nighttime, and does it actually last the night?
Disclaimer: nighttime is still a struggle for us, because Simão isn’t very fond of sleeping – only now, at 7 months, is he showing slight signs of improvement. For this very reason, he nurses A LOT during the night and pees a lot. We bedshare (safely, of course) and breastsleep, and while Simão sleeps mostly on his back, he also sleeps on his side. When he pees while laying on his side, we sometimes get pee leaks out the waist. But this happens with disposables just as much as with cloth diapers, and we’ve tried it all. That being said, our nearly leak free combination for nightime diapers is a BumGenius V5 pocket diaper stuffed with a BumGenius microfibre insert and a super absorbent Baba and Boo hemp booster. This lasts us +10 hours!
How did you convince your partner?
I didn’t have to, which was wonderful! André was just as quick to become excited about cloth diapering as I was. If that’s not the case for you, I’d recommend that you do your research and assure your partner that cloth diapering is easy, healthy for the baby and planet, and SUPER affordable. I mean, why would you spend 3000€ on disposables when you can spend as little as 300€ on cute cloth diapers? You would always have to deal with baby pee and poo anyway.
Cloth diapers and kindergarten: how will it work?
We both work from home so we’re not making plans of putting our baby in kindergarten anytime soon. However, I know this is an issue for many parents, as some kindergartens will simply refuse to take up cloth diapering. We recommend that you speak with someone from your chosen kindergarten and work together to come up with a routine that is simple for them to follow. Taking a few AIOs (all-in-one diapers) and a wetbag to kindergarten will mean that your baby’s diapers won’t go in the trash, they’ll simply be put somewhere else and then taken home again to wash.
What is our ultimate favourite?
It’s really hard to pick just one, as we’ve had a positive experience with every single diaper we’ve tried. Some will work better for nighttime, others are more practical for our close relatives to use and others feel and look really great. But if we’re really to pick our top choices, mama loves the Baba and Boo pockets and papa loves the Bambino Miosolos.
Where did we purchase our diapers?
We gathered most of our stash from three different online stores: The Nappy Lady, Ecological Kids and Baba and Boo.