The Scoop on Poop - Cloth Diapering Tales

Even before I found out I was pregnant with our first, I was determined to do cloth diapering. Not because I wanted to save the world by ‘going green’ but more because I wanted to save money and use something on the babies that had no harsh chemicals. Cloth diapering is a lot of trial and error and I certainly have made a lot of mistakes over the 2.5 years I have been cloth diapering but I hope you can learn from my experiences!

First of all, although I loved the idea of cloth diapering, the prices of cloth diapers were intimidating, to say the least. One baby store I went to even suggested that my baby shower should have a cloth diaper theme and everyone should contribute money towards getting cloth diapers. Say what?!! I wanted all kinds of stuff from Babies R Us - I had to choose between that and cloth diapers? Fortunately, I knew enough to start scouring the internet and I came across shopdiaper.com a company based in China that sold cloth diapers for less than 1/4 of the price that I could get them for here. At first, I was skeptical of the quality of the diapers and afraid of criticism about buying foreign. However, when I started looking at where the diapers in the baby stores were made it was most often in China, Taiwan or India. The ones made in the USA or Canada were so expensive that I figured I was only going to be able to afford 5 at the most! Most Cloth Diapering mamas were telling me I needed at least 50.

I placed a small order with ShopDiaper.com to see if the quality of the diapers were good. They had a lot of great reviews but I am a skeptic. They arrived about 45 days after I ordered them...good thing I ordered them when I was only 3 months pregnant! I was very pleased with the quality of the diapers and promptly ordered more. At the time, they had a sale on and it was only $4 per diaper - a far cry from the ones I had seen for $20-$30 per diaper! I ordered the cloth inserts on eBay and again got them for much less than what they were in the stores. Please don’t misunderstand me, I buy local whenever possible and try to support Canadian industry but when there is such a price gap on an item that I need, it really is not an option to buy local.

It has been 2.5 years using my cloth diapers on 2 babies and they are still going strong. The liners are still absorbent and the elastic on the diapers themselves are still in great condition. I think it has a lot with how they are washed/dried. Here is my advice for washing/drying cloth diapers. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and really did not like the idea of ‘stripping the diapers’ since it involved bleach and very hot water which wears out your diapers quickly.

How I wash the diapers:

I fill the washing machine half full with warm water- I select the medium sized load setting on my washing machine which is a top loading machine.

I use a heaping Tablespoon of Nelly’s Laundry Detergent https://www.nelliesallnatural.com/ in the load and leave the lid open...when it finishes agitating it will stop and not go to the next cycle since the lid is open. This allows the diapers to soak in the solution and breaks down the grease and pee in the diapers. After a couple hours (you can even leave them like this overnight) you can close the lid and they will drain and go to the next load. I let them go through the cold rinse cycle and then I go back and do the cold rinse cycle again but this time, I add 1 Cup of White Vinegar and a few drops of whatever essential oil I feel like ( I use either Cloves, Bergamot, Lavender or Lemon). Although it might be tempting to skip the middle rinse, it makes a HUGE difference in the cleanliness and smell of the diapers.

I never dry the diapers in a dryer as this can weaken the elastics and wear out the diapers faster. I always hang them to dry. I have found in the past when I used a liquid detergent like Purex or liquid fabric softeners that not only did it give my babies a rash, it also left a film that eventually needed to be stripped since the liners were not holding liquid anymore.

As for the poopy diapers which people ask me about from time to time...I will dump the poop on the toilet and rinse the diaper in the laundry sink or tub. If the poop is stubborn I will use my washboard to scrub it and I use Buncha Farmers Stain Remover bar to get the poop stain out. http://www.bunchafarmers.com/store/c7/All_Natural_Stain_Remover_Bar.html

At first, it may sound like a lot of work but I have gotten so used to the diaper washing routine that it goes quite quickly these days! I also love that I have never had to strip the diapers since using this method - the Nelly’s and the Vinegar gently strips the diapers in each load.

My diapers, liner and diaper cover (green)

Pocket Diapers are great because you can put anywhere from 1-3 liners inside. I use the extra liners at night in case they do a heavy pee.

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The pocket diapers can be adjusted to fit a smaller baby but I bought some smaller newborn sized diapers to start and switched to the One-Size when they were about 3 months.

My 2 year old wearing a cloth diaper, she is almost potty trained but wears one at night or when we go out just in case.

What’s your experience with Cloth Diapers? Please feel free to leave me a comment below!