Cloth Diapering for Beginners: Our Routine and Recommended Products

If you’ve known me for a while, you might be surprised that our family uses cloth diapers. I’m actually surprised too. My mom is a germaphobe, and in her house, cleanliness > reusability. But as I was researching how many disposable diapers a baby goes through and how much they cost, I wanted to look for another way. Not to mention how much I hated the idea of a stinky, overflowing trash bin, full of plastic that will take 500 years to decompose. Diving into cloth diapering took many hours of research. I definitely had my doubts. But 9 months in, we are still cloth diapering AND infant potty training! If you’re considering cloth diapers or you’re just super curious about how we do it, read on!

Cloth Diaper Styles: Flats and Covers

Did you know there’s like a million different types of cloth diapers? One of the hardest parts of being a new mom is figuring out what baby stuff you actually need. The same is true for cloth diapers! There’s so many different types. You can get an all-in-one diaper, which is essentially the same as a disposable except it gets washed and reused. There’s also the pocket type; it has a cover with a pocket that you insert an absorbent cloth into. However, I chose to go with the most cost-efficient option: flats and covers.

Flats are literally just flat pieces of cloth. You could use them as a rag or burp cloth; they’re pretty multipurpose. When you want to use them as a diaper, you fold them up like origami and pin it with a special cloth diaper pin around your baby. This is the cloth that will absorb/catch baby’s waste. However, you don’t want it to soak through and dirty their clothes (or you). Waterproof covers wrap around the cloth to keep that from happening. When you need to change a diaper, you open the cover and take off the flat. Fold up a new flat, pin it around baby, and you can use the same cover!

Beginner Cloth Diapering Starter Pack: Everything You Need to Start Cloth Diapering with Flats and Covers

• 24 Osocozy brand flats
• 5 Thirsties brand waterproof covers (velcro style)
• 30 cloth wipes
• 1 garbage bin with lid
• 2 waterproof, machine washable cloth diaper pail liners
• 1 spray bottle with homemade wipe spray
• 3 cloth diaper pins (snappi brand)
• Tide powder detergent

There’s tons of reviews online about the best brands for cloth diaper flats and covers. Everyone is looking for the best absorbency and no leaks. I spent hours reading reviews, and here’s what I came up with. Apparently Green Mountain Diapers has the best flats. However, they were kind of expensive. Instead, I ended up registering for a recommended brand on Amazon and they’re working just fine for me!

For the covers, I registered for Thirsties hook and loop (aka velcro). Apparently people really like the Thirsties brand but often get the covers with snap buttons. The velcro ones function fasten just like disposable diapers, so I thought they’d be easier for my husband and other family members to learn. The covers also can be adjusted to three different size lengths, which means they can be used for a long time. Jemma used size one up until six months. We’re on size two now and still going strong!

For the wipes, you can really use any old cloth cut into squares. I ordered some on Amazon and was gifted some by my friend/colleague Kavita (thank you!). Kavita also taught me how to make a diaper wipe spray – just 1 part witch hazel to 3 parts water and a drop or two of dish soap if needed.

Just a note on the detergent: some detergents reportedly leave a residue on the cloth and make it less absorbent. Tide powder detergent is popular on the internet for diaper washing, and it’s worked great for us.

Our Flats and Covers Cloth Diaper Routine

Jemma wears cloth diapers during the day while we are at home, but she wears disposables at night or when we take her out. About every other day, we wash the cloth diapers in our washing machine. We chose this over a cloth diaper service for two reasons:

1. It’s cheaper.
2. We have a washer and dryer in our house (no laundromat or apartment complex shared laundry).
3. I’m not afraid Seattle is going to run out of water like California.

We dump the dirty cloth wipes, flats, and any dirty covers into the lined diaper pail throughout the day. An exclusively breastfed baby has poop that is water soluble and will completely wash away in the laundry. Once Jemma started solids, the poop had to be dumped in the toilet first before going in the laundry. HOWEVER, we are also infant potty training. Jemma has been pooping in a potty pretty consistently since turning 8 months old, so her diapers are good to go in the laundry. On laundry days, we take the entire waterproof pail liner and dump the whole thing into the laundry machine. Run a rinse cycle first. Then, put in the laundry detergent and run a wash cycle with hot water. After that, everything goes into the dryer on low heat. That’s it! They’re ready for a new day of diapering!

Pros, Cons, Regrets of Cloth Diapering?

Pros:

• Save money.
• Help the environment.
• Flats can be repurposed.
• Covers last a long time as the baby grows.
• Cute cover styles.
• Baby can feel when she pees (good for infant potty training).

Cons:

• More laundry.
• Diapers need changing more frequently.
• Dealing with semi-solid poop that can’t go in the laundry.
• Extra step of folding the flat for diaper changes.

Regrets:

• None.

I’m so happy with cloth diapering. No regrets here! Yes, it’s a little more work to do laundry and fold a flat for every change, but it’s honestly not so bad. If infant potty training wasn’t going so well for us, maybe I would feel differently. Of course, I can’t speak for other families, but I really think cloth diapering is a great option to save money and be environmentally conscious (unless you are in the middle of a draught). Do you have questions about cloth diapering? Thinking about it for your own family? Let me know so I can unleash the full cloth diapering evangelist in me!

For more information on cloth diapering for beginners, check out my friend Grace’s posts on Cloth Diapering 101 and 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Cloth Diapering.