Not your Grandmother's Cloth Diapers!

I find that many people get a little grossed out by cloth diapering, when they first hear about it. To be honest, so was I before I started using them.


My first vision was big, flat, soft pieces of fabric folded and wrapped around my baby and then plastic pants pulled on over them and lots of leaks and accidents. WAS I EVER WRONG! ! ! There are some folks who still prefer prefolds and diaper covers, but what in the world is all of this! ! ! (The prefolds above are newborn size, dyed butter yellow for style :-) I use them as part of my night time inserts for Darling Daughter's super soaking nights.)

The diapers we use on our darling daughter are mostly used. (I know, another something that sounds really gross, but not really! I washed them and made sure they were clean for my baby.) LOL. We use mostly two types of diapers now, they were all "donated" to us by a friend who lives on the east coast and whose little girl didn't need them any more.

I would like to give you a little information about the cloth diapering world, as it stands today!

OPTIONS - OPTIONS - OPTIONS

Wow! Today a mom has a choice as to whether she wants to use diapers that require a cover or a diaper that includes the cover. We choose to use diapers with a waterproof outer layer. This gives us the simplicity of the disposable diaper with the reusability of a cloth diaper.

Next question, once a mom knows whether she wants to use a separate cover, is how quickly do you want them to dry? Personally, with the cost of fuel and electricity going up, this is very important to me!

We have a couple of All In Ones (AIO's) that were given to us as a gift. They are nice, but take a little longer to dry than the Pocket Diapers that we choose to use. I use pocket diapers which means they are made of two layers with a pocket to put a stuffer/insert/soaker into. (all words used to describe the thing that absorbs all the pee) Pockets bring up more choices.

Here are three options for stuffing my pocket diapers. The traditional prefolds that do a very nice job of absorbing liquids, the microfiber car towel, that is available from your wholesale store, (Costco, Sam's, Walmart, etc.) The prefolds and car towels are folded in thirds and then inserted into the diaper before putting the diaper on the child. (Much easier this way.) The other option is to use an insert. We use inserts from "Cotton Babies", they came with the diaper lot, and some hemp/microfiber inserts that I made as well. ( You will notice that the Cotton Baby inserts have funny little snaps - these are to fold the insert over and snap it to make it shorter to use in smaller diapers.) The car towels need to be washed a few times to get them ready to absorb.

NEVER USE ANY FABRIC SOFTENER ON ANY OF YOUR DIAPERS OR COMPONENTS! ! ! This causes them to become water repellent - NOT a choice of most cloth diapering families. LOL

There are some other options out there as well. All in two's that are a hybrid of the pocket/AIO in that you add an absorption layer of some sort inside the diaper, not in a pocket. Some of these inserts snap into the diaper. There are other options, but I am getting way too long winded here.

One great thing I have learned is that if a diaper comes out of the washer with a little staining of any kind on it, you hang it on the clothes line and a miracle happens... The stain disappears! ! ! Woo Hoo! ! !

God Bless!