Cloth Diapering Info

It is sort of hard to weed through the information and figure out exactly how many diapers you will need and which types you will like. It sort of takes some getting used to in the beginning but then you catch on quickly.


How many will you need?

Babies nurse a lot in the early months and they eliminate very frequently – like every 20 minutes they can go pee and they poo about 5 times a day until 3-5 months. We were diligent about changing Jonah’s diapers and were using around 12-14 a day with a diaper service.



Most people typically recommend 2-3 dozen diapers depending on how frequently you want to do washing. I have 28 diapers and I wash just about every other day – we switched to using our own cloth prefold diapers a year ago because they are thicker and washing them didn’t seem like a big deal.



If you use prefolds then you will need to purchase covers as well, about 4-6 covers should be enough, you let them air out in-between uses and don’t need to wash them until they are soiled or smell. We also used a Snappi (http://www.snappi.co.za/) which helps contain poop and holds the diaper on better than just the cover – but you can just use the cover.



We recommend doing a little elimination communication because it was really nice to not have to contend with that many poopy diapers – he just went in the toilet or potty. (infant potty learning - http://www.timl.com/ipt/)



Diaper Care

To keep your diapers clean and smelling nice, mostly you just have to do an extra rinse cycle when washing diapers and then just follow the care instructions for the type of diaper you are using (for hot or warm water requirements).

Breastfed baby poo doesn’t smell that much and you don’t have to do anything special to the diapers, you can just keep them in a bucket with water until you are ready to wash – or even just toss them in the pail/bag with the other wet diapers.

Usually you will have the best results with a more ecological washing powder – no perfumes or softeners as they can cause irritation and make the diapers less absorbent.



Some Popular Diaper Brands

http://www.bumgenius.com/one-size.php

http://www.kissaluvs.com/

http://www.mother-ease.com/

http://www.blueberrydiapers.com/


Links

http://www.thediaperhyena.com/

http://www.diaperpin.com/home.asp

http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/diapers/diapers.html

http://www.diaperpages.com/index.php - example photos using prefold diapers

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=221 – discussion forum

Happy pottying at 10 months old

I just wanted to give another update. Our little one is now 10 1/2 months old now and we're still pottying part-time.

His recent thing to not want to go potty, even if it looks like he has to go (little boy's penises stick out a little when they are full); he arches his back and doesn't want to do it. One thing that helped was to change how I set him down on the seat (toilet seat insert), instead of draping him backward into the seat to sit him down by holding him under the thighs and setting him down more exactly.

The other thing he introduced over the past week which seems to be working better as well is to bring him into the bathroom and then asking him if he has to go. I'll let him crawl over to the toilet and then he tries to help set his little seat on (either I help lift the seat up with him if if it is on the floor or else he wiggles it if it is already on the toilet). I then undress him while he stands and he will go pretty agreeably. Yeah!

The problem with this was putting him back together again with the
prefold diaper and Snappi -- you can't really Snappi well while they are standing, at least in my experience. After reading something in the Sears Baby Book I decided to try out using diaper pins. I can unpin one leg and get him undone and then just have to slide that leg back through and repin when he's done. The cover I can do okay while he is standing. Pants of course are a different story --stretchy or snapped are better than ones that need a lot of pulling to get up.

The other exciting thing was that my parents are visiting and my dad pottied the baby while I was out the other day. That's the first time anyone other than my partner or I have tried to do it.

Hoping you are having happy potty experiences as well.

Cloth Diapering & Elimination Communication Links

I've been bookmarking diapering sites for a while and now that we have the baby on the way we're committed to not using disposables. I was a cloth diapered baby so it's nice I can ask my mother for background information on frequency of changes, quantity, etc. -- though things have changed a lot from the early 70's.

Cloth Diapering -- by Teachingmama
A well rounded site with links to other great diapering sites and resources.

Diaper Pages -- Karen's Cloth Diapering Site

Real Diaper Association

Diaper Pin - Cloth Diapers, Tip, Reviews and More

One Stop Diaper Shop -- sew your own

Kelly's Closet - Cloth diapers and accessories

Tiny Tush - Natural baby boutique

Katie's Kisses -- Cloth diapers and more

Full Moon Baby Gear -- Diapering and more

Kissaluvs

Fuzzibunz

Snappi -- diaper fasteners, covers and more

And if you are really wanting to get away from diapering there is always the Diaper Free angle:

DiaperFreeBaby -- information about elimination communication.