Great Excrementations - Part Two

This is the second in a two part post about cloth diapers. In the first post I addressed some common concerns about cloth diapering and this post will be more of a cloth diapering user guide.

Which cloth diaper to choose

One of the hardest parts about cloth diapering is figuring out what type of diapering system to use. There are so many options now that weren't even there a few years ago. Here's a list of the different types of cloth diapering systems available:

Prefolds are pretty much the most basic type of cloth diaper on the market today. Contrary to what their name says, these diapers are not pre-folded, they are a rectangular diaper that have a thicker section of fabric in the middle for optimum absorbency. They can be folded a number of ways to suit your baby and come in different sizes as well. They require the use of a water-resistant shell as they are usually made of unbleached cotton or other non-synthetic fabrics like hemp. Prefolds are pretty bulky (at least they are on Daphne) so they're not my first choice for daytime use, but we do use them at night 'cause they're super absorbent and leak a lot less.

When using prefolds you can put them on your baby and fasten them with these little rubber-teethed fasteners called "Snappis" (i.e. the modern safety pin) and apply the shell over top. You can also place a folded prefold into a shell and do it all up as one diaper.

Prefolds are the most affordable option by a long shot. There's a small learning curve with them as you'll need to figure out how to fold and fasten them, but for their price they can't be beat!

Fitted diapers closely resemble the shape of disposable diapers. They come in a variety of fabrics from organic cotton to hemp to bamboo and almost always do up with snaps. Like prefolds, fitted diapers require water-resistant shells. A benefit to both of these systems is that you can buy shells to accommodate your baby's size and body type.

Pocket diapers are my personal favourite. Like prefolds and fitted diapers, pocket diapers are a two-piece system. As the name implies, a pocket diapering system consists of a waterproof shell that is stuffed with an absorbent insert. These inserts are usually microfiber but hemp inserts are becoming more and more popular. What I love about these is that they're super easy to use and their absorbency is customizable depending on how many and what type of inserts you use. They are also great for your dryer as the shells do better line-dried (we dry ours on a rack inside). They usually do up with snaps or velcro (I haven't decided which I prefer).

All-in-one diapers are as close to disposable diapers as you can get. The shell and inner absorbent layer are sewn together to make one super easy to use diaper. As with all luxuries, these bad boys come with a pretty high price tag although they are still cheaper than disposables. If you want the convenience of an all-in-one without the price, consider a pocket diapering system. You can pre-stuff you pocket diapers so when it comes time to putting them on your baby, you only have one step to complete.

Hybrid diapers are probably the newest cloth diapering systems available. They are pretty much a prefold system, but you have the option of using a biodegradable insert with your shell. They are great for travelling and I suppose they're pretty good to the environment as the inserts are flushable and the shells can be thrown in with your regular laundry.

One-size diapers can be fitted, pocket or all-in-one diapers. These diapers are adjustable in size (usually using snaps) so that you can use them from birth to potty training. They are remarkably affordable as you don't need to buy more cloth diapers as your baby gets older. Like all cloth diapering systems, they are super high quality, but will probably need to have their elastics and/or snaps replaced if you're planning on using them for more than one child.

There is no one diapering system that is best; it all depends on you. If you recall from my previous post, the three major concerns with cloth diaper are cost, ease of use and environmental impact. An easy way to pick a system would be to identify which on of the three concerns matters most to you. For cost, prefolds are your best bet, followed by one-size diapers if you're okay with a higher upfront cost. For ease of use, pocket or all-in-ones are the way to go and for environmental concerns a hybrid system is probably best. Fitted diapers are kind of in no man's land, they're not super cheap, they aren't as easy to use as pockets or all-in-ones and they aren't as environmentally friendly as hybrids (keep in mind that all cloth diapers are environmentally friendly). Fitted diapers are, however, a great choice! They are usually made with really high quality fabrics (great for babies with sensitive skin), they are really absorbent and they fit great. Don't discount fitted diapers, many people swear by them.

Extras

There are few extras to consider for you baby's bottom, some regardless of whether or not you're using cloth diapers.

Cloth wipes. If you're not interested in switching to cloth diapers, have you considered at least using cloth wipes? They're way cheaper than buying the disposable wipes and you can control what chemicals you're wiping your baby with. The method that we love best is to use our wipes warmer (the one made for cloth wipes) as a water warmer (we make a wipes solution from a Canadian brand called Wipe Cubes by Monkey Doodlez). We don't presoak our wipes as we found they get that standing water stinkiness. Instead we keep the wipes next to the warmer and whenever we need to wipe we just dip the cloth wipe into the warm water. We wash our wipes with our diapers, but I guess you could throw them in with your laundry (assuming of course, that you've pre-rinsed the ones with poop on them).

Inserts/doublers are used to add extra absorbency to your diapers. Inserts are what come with your pocket diapers and additional ones can be purchased if needed. Doublers are pretty much the same thing, but may come in different sizes and shapes (this is all brand specific). Usually additional inserts or doublers are used at night when you need extra absorbency or for any other time when you know there's going to be a long stretch before the next diaper change opportunity.

Liners are generally used as diaper protectors and are highly recommended if you have a formula fed baby or have started your baby on solids. They are a thin rectangular piece of biodegradable fabric that's flushable or you can buy reusable fleece ones as well. They are placed on top of the diaper to serve as the first point of contact for poop. They make disposing of it very handy. Just pick up the liner, drop it into the toilet and flush. Conversely, you can shake the poop off of your reusable liner. They're great because they greatly reduce stains (Daphne's 9 months now and she doesn't have a single stain on her diapers).

Diaper creams tend to cause cloth diapers to wick (at least the fleece ones) making them less absorbent. We rarely need to use diaper cream as cloth diapers are fantastic at keeping babies' bottoms looking and feeling great! If you don't believe me, ask the ER nurse who helped us out a couple nights ago. She asked if we used cloth diapers all the time, and when we told her we did, she said "Her bottom looks great!" This is not to say that Daphne (or any other cloth diapered baby for that matter) never gets diaper rash, she does, but it's usually not as bad and goes away fairly quickly. When we do need something to put on her we use a Canadian diaper salve called Bum Bum Balm. It works great, is all natural and doesn't contain any ingredients that affect the effectiveness of cloth diapers.

Caring for cloth diapers

When using cloth you also need to decide if you want to use a wet or dry storage system (for dirty diapers that is). We chose to use dry as it seemed easier and less stinky than a wet system (I hate the smell of standing water). Anyway, with a wet pail system, you would put your diapers into a pail that is filled with water and let them presoak until laundry day. With a dry pail system, you put your diapers into a dry pail or wet bag (a waterproof, zippered bag) or both (we put our wet bag into a pail that has a lid to cut down on the smell). Once laundry day comes you would presoak your diapers in the washer. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, I think this one boils down to personal preference.

As for washing cloth diapers, it's pretty straightforward. You would run a rinse/presoak cycle on your washer with cold water. Then you would wash your diapers using hot water. Once the wash cycle is done, you can either line dry or machine dry everything. If you're using diapers with shells, line drying those will prolong their lifespan. If you happen to get stains on your diapers, a commonly suggested solution is to leave them in the sun to bleach out (we haven't had any stains yet, so I can't comment on the effectiveness of this method).

Finally, it's over!


So that's it, folks! It took me longer to write this than I expected (my next post will explain why), but I hope you've found the information somewhat useful. If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a note and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

TTFN.