Let me start by saying, I love CDing! It’s *usually* no more difficult than ‘sposies and the benefits outweigh the difficulty (IMO anyway).
If you google image, “Cloth Diaper Tree,” you’ll see the different types of diapers. I tried to put the picture in here, but it wasn’t happening.
Here are some things that you NEED:
- A baby...or animal...or husband. Something or someone to CD!
- Diapers
- Inserts
- Somewhere to store dirty diapers
- Detergent for your diapers
That’s pretty much all you NEED. However, depending on what type of diaper you use, you could need more. I’m going to assume that the people I’m writing this for are all using pockets, because that seems to be the most common and one of the easier ones to deal with. If that is your case, then those three (or four, depending on your detergent preference) items are all you truly need.
* The detergent is debatable and I’ve seen some people use their “normal” run of the mill detergent, but I personally prefer the brand linked above.
But! Wait there’s more!
These are things that you WANT:
- Extra inserts for doubling or doublers
- Diaper sprayer
- Wet bag
- Bac-Out
Here’s the deal with the items that you want: before you buy a ton of extra inserts/doublers, wait until you order all of your diapers. BumGenius sent me like three or four extra inserts and if memory serves, so did FuzziBumz. I could have that completely wrong, but I do know that I have a crap ton more inserts than diapers that I didn’t buy extra. Also, you can buy prefolds or flats to use as inserts or even make your own.
I don’t know what people did before diaper sprayers. I mean, yeah, I do...but you get that point. People just dunked the diapers in the toilet or whatever, but I’m a little too squeamish for that. The diaper sprayer is AWESOME for the runny poop until it turns solid and you can just dump it into the toilet. It did take some getting used to and I did spray the walls and myself a few times. It’s also pretty fantastic to spray on your bum (think bidet) after you have the baby. Be careful with that though, no one wants to pressure wash their vagina, especially when a baby just came out of it.
I use Bac-Out on poopy diapers after I have sprayed the major poop off. I have yet to have a stain by using this.
The wet bag is important for use outside of the house. It’s compact and fits into your diaper bag pretty easily even when it has a few dirty diapers in it. The one linked is the exact one that I have and it seems pretty legit thus far. You can also use it at home (if you get the large one) instead of a diaper pail. Which leads me to my next topic....
Things that AREN’T necessary:
- A special diaper pail
- Super expensive diapers
I was asking Steve if there were any other things that we have that aren’t necessary and he said that he thought that the diaper pail that we have is pretty rad and I shouldn’t sway people from it. I just think that we probably could have not spent $35 (I got it on sale from Target.com for $25) and gotten a trash can with a sealing lid. You DO need somewhere to store dirty diapers that has a sealing lid. It doesn’t matter what medium you use, you don’t want to smell one or two day old diapers. The wet bag zips up, so that works too. I would also recommend not going longer than two days between washes, because they do get pretty rank. I don’t even think I have enough diapers to go longer than that anyway.
As far as actual diaper cost goes, you can get some pretty cheap diapers. Before I knew about Sunbaby and ALVA baby, I bought FuzziBunz, BumGenius, Rumparooz, and Blueberry. I like them all and FB is by far the least bulky diapers that I have, but as far as cost efficiency...not so bueno.
I think we’ve spent around $400 total on all of our diapers and accessories. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more. The Charlie’s Soap Powder I use on all of our laundry, so that eliminates buying different detergents and it really does last a long time. I’m actually about to buy the 1000 load bucket of it and I’ll see just how long that lasts.
There are things that when it comes time to use, you have to be careful about, such as diaper rash cream. If you use rash cream with MOST diapers, you void the warranty. I personally don’t think I’ll ever use/need the warranty on any of my diapers (especially the super cheap ones, who cares?), but you have to also be careful about leaks. Some rash creams create a barrier between baby and diaper, which will in turn give you lots of leaks. I use California Baby Rash Cream probably once a day for preventive measures and it works well. I also have Earth Mama Angel Baby bottom balm, but I think I like the Cali Baby better. It’s more of a cream versus a jelly.
One last thing and then I’ll shut my mouth: washing, drying, and sunning your diapers. When I wash my diapers, I run a cold rinse first, followed by a normal cold/cold cycle. I put the detergent directly on the diapers even though I have a front load washer per the instructions on the container. I run my diapers and inserts through the dryer on low heat and occasionally air dry the diapers themselves and dry the inserts. If a diaper gets a hard to get out stain, you can lay it outside (after it comes out of the wash) to sun it and the stain should come out.
*It seems everyone washes their diapers differently. You just have to figure out what works for you and use that method. I don’t do a cold rinse every time, because sometimes I need diapers ASAP and I don’t have time to wait for a 30 minutes extra rinse. When I do have time, I do a rinse before and an extra wash cycle. It’s really in what you prefer.
And that’s all, folks! I’m sure I probably missed a few things and if anyone reads this that has more expert advice, please feel free to add on. I’ve only been doing this for a few months, so I’m still in the learning phase of things. We also use cloth wipes too, but that’ll have to wait for another day. Chase is waking up from his nap and we gotsta get ready to go to the market and get some coffee!
