Cloth Diapering | Back to Basics

When you think of cloth diapers, you may think of the old folding, pinning and rubber pants. Well, along with many other things that have changed for the better over time, so have cloth diapers. Cloth diapers have been redone for the better, they resemble disposable as far as the shape and how easy they are to fasten.

A lot of people choose to cloth diaper for financial reasons. You save a tremendous amount of money from infancy all the way through potty training. The average cost to cloth is $250-$1000 (one time payment) compared to the average cost of disposables at $1300-$1800 (PER CHILD). The savings is the main reason I chose to switch to cloth.

Environmental reasons can be another factor when choosing to cloth. It is estimated that approximately 20 billion diapers are thrown into landfills every year.  Every baby using disposable diapers consumes 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum, and 20 pounds of chlorine every year!  All of this will take 250-500 years to fully decompose. These reasons combined with chemicals in disposables giving babies rashes may leave you searching for a chemical free cloth diaper.

When you make the choice to use cloth diapers it can get very overwhelming with all the different styles, brands, prices, and the lingo. I would like to tell you that it’s not as overwhelming as it may seem. Whatever your reasons, I hope to help you understand some of lingo before starting.

Let’s start with the styles of cloth diapers:

Prefolds with a cover diaper– These consist of a waterproof cover and a pre-folded cloth diaper. The diaper is bleached or unbleached. The diaper is folded and placed on your baby and then the cover is placed on top and held in place with snaps or a velcro closure. These diapers are the cheapest way to go.  

Pocket style diaper– Pocket diapers are a two piece system consisting of a waterproof diaper cover with a super soft micro fleece lined pocket built-in. The built-in pocket holds the insert made of micro fiber or bamboo. The insert wicks moisture away from baby’s skin. After washing and cleaning these diapers you stuff the insert into the pocket before placing the diaper on your baby. 

All-In-One Diaper (AIO)– These diapers are the simplest to use, and usually cost the most. AIO have the absorbent pad built into the diaper. Some people find that these take longer to dry because they are thicker then the other styles.         All-In-Two (AI2)– These are very similar to the AIO diaper, except the absorbent pad is fastened with a snap to the inside of the diaper

Sizing:      Perfect fit diapers– Are less bulky on baby, they come in newborn, small, medium, and large. These you purchase each size as baby grows.            

One Size Diaper (OS)– Normally these fit babies from 8-35+ pounds. These diapers have rows of snaps to allow you to adjust the size of the diaper allowing it to grow with your baby.

Some of the lingo is often shortened as followed: AIO=All in One AI2=All in Two CD=Cloth Diaper OS=One Size PF/PFD=Prefold OBV=Organic Bamboo Velour OBF=Organic Bamboo Fleece MF=Microfiber PUL=Polyurethane Laminate

Cloth diapering isn’t as scary as people think it is. The most common and dreaded topic asked about is the dreaded, “How do you deal with the poop!?!?”.  Well don’t give up because of the scary poop issue. With the micro fleece inside the diaper the poop usually just rolls off right into the toilet.

For the stubborn ones that don’t roll off… no worries! The diaper sprayer will come to the rescue!

This is a hose that hooks up to the bottom of your toilet tank and has a sprayer head on it which allows you to spray it right off into the toilet. As many people think and worry about touching any nastiness, there is none of that happening.

I hope this help you understand they differences in styles between diapers, and hope you give it a try. If you are willing to give it an honest try, chances are you WILL get hooked, and with all the amazing colors and prints out there I must warn you… it IS addicting!