First off, I am definitely not an expert at cloth diapers, nor is this post going to be anything new or earth shattering. There are tons of cloth diaper how to posts and cloth diaper reviews to be found elsewhere. There are blogs devoted solely to cloth diapering. This is merely a post on what and how we do cloth diapers. When people find out we cloth diaper, tons of questions inevitably follow. Here's the low down on our cloth diapering system.
I knew I wanted to cloth diaper, but wasn't sure my husband would be on board. Since Aiden is with dad several days a week and also with my mom and sister during the week while I'm at work, I wanted a diaper system that would be easy for everyone to use. After reading a ton of information on cloth diapers and many, many reviews, I opted for GroVia diapers. Many people have a stash that consists of a variety of diapers. Because I wanted my husband on board, things needed to be easy with limited instruction/thought process involved, so I chose to just buy one brand. Some people would tell you this is a no no, but it works for us.
I chose the GroVia system because of excellent reviews, flexibility and ease of use. Our hybrid diapers have inserts that snap in and out of the diaper cover. The diaper cover only needs to be changed when it is wet or soiled. With the hybrids we can also use a disposable insert, which is handy for travel. I registered for some stuff on amazon and have purchased from amazon, diapers.com and in bulk from BumRite diapers.
Our cloth diaper stash consists of:
4 GroVia all in ones in snaps
12 GroVia hybrid shells (covers) in snaps
20 GroVia hybrid soakers (inserts)
2 GroVia Stay Dry soakers
2 GroVia boosters
3 Kissaluv cotton doublers
GroVia biosoakers
Cloth diaper accessories:
2 planet wise diaper pail liners
2 planet wise wet/dry bags
GroVia diaper liners
Tiny Bubbles detergent
We also use cloth wipes:
1 Prince Lionheart Warmies Wipes Warmer plus reusable wipes
20 BabyKicks reusable wipes
I prefer the BabyKicks wipes to the ones that came with the warmer. I make my own solution for the warmer using water, olive or grapeseed oil and baby soap (we use either Burt's Bees or California Baby). I roll the wipes, stack in the wipe warmer and poor the solution over the top. I replace wipes and add solution every couple of days. The wipes stay wet and warm. Cloth wipes clean much better and more efficiently than disposable wipes and Aiden prefers them to cold disposable wipes.
We have a garbage pail in Aiden's bedroom that we put a diaper pail cover in. Dirty diapers and wipes go into the pail. With breast milk, poop is water soluble, so the whole diaper went in the wash without any rinsing or pre-cleaning. Now that we have started some solids, the solid poops get dumped in the toilet (or if we use a liner the liner plus poop) and flushed. Every two (or sometimes three) days, I collect the diaper pail bag and dump it in the wash. Cloth diapers require special detergents that do not contain harsh chemicals or enzymes. I've decided to use the tiny bubbles detergent for my diapers. My wash routine is to run a soak cycle with cold water and a small amount of detergent. I sometimes add vinegar to this cycle as well. I follow the soak cycle with a heavy load cycle with warm water and a full scoop of detergent. Lastly, I run a cold rinse cycle. Usually, I run the first two cycles at night, setting the heavy load to run while I go to bed and run a rinse when I get up in the morning. I hang all my covers, all in ones and any stained inserts on the line to dry in the sun. Stains are gone after an hour or so in the sun. Unstained inserts and wipes go in the dryer.
We've had to do some trial and error with the night time diaper routine. Aiden is a heavy wetter and we often have leaks during the night. Lately, what has been working best is to use a stay dry insert with a kissaluv booster folded in half towards the front of the diaper. Our night time routine has changed over time.
All and all, I am very happy with our choice in cloth diapers and do not find them to be difficult or time consuming, as many people assume them to be. I feel good about not exposing Aiden to unnecessary chemicals and love that we aren't generating the large amount of trash that come with disposable diapers. Plus, Aiden looks awfully cute in the fun colors and prints of our diapers.
