Transitioning to Cloth Diapers

I'm forty and on my fourth child. I breastfed all of them -- a strange new idea twenty years ago for my oldest -- but otherwise I did things pretty traditionally for my first three. I always wondered, though, how hard it would really be to use cloth diapers instead of disposables.

I decided to try it for my new baby. Why not? Cloth is reusable, thus cheaper. It's not as hard on the environment as disposables are. And with my first three children, disposables seemed to cause a lot of diaper rash, no matter how dry I tried to keep them. Besides, this time I have a washing machine, something not available for my boys.

So I plunged into the cloth diaper world, thinking it couldn't be too hard. I bought a package of prefolds and a package of flat diapers, looked up how to fold them, and started using them.

Day 1: Leaks sprung

On the first day, I used regular old flat birdseye diapers, an inexpensive option. I regretted it within about an hour.

Apparently, my little girl has a bladder that takes up most of her body. While it was encouraging to know that her kidneys work fine and that she's getting plenty of breast milk, it was less than pleasant to find rivulets of urine leaking all over me while feeding her! I tried prefolds next, but they weren't a lot better.

Lesson learned: Don't even bother with plain diapers. Do some investigation into diaper covers or all-in-one diapers. Covers breathe nicely, but have a plastic coating that keep most of the wetness inside; you can continue using your cloth diapers underneath them. All-in-one diapers are fitted options that -- obviously -- include an absorbent inside and leak-resistant outside.

You'll quickly find out that diaper covers and all-in-ones are pricey. But if you wash diapers every day, you can get away with about ten or so, and compared to the cost of disposables over a year, you'll be getting away cheap.

Day 2: Less leaking with diaper covers, but still leakage

I chose diaper covers rather than all-in-ones, partly because they're quick to rinse out and reuse in the same day. Diaper covers, though they are pretty pricey, aren't a perfect solution. After spending upward of $15 each for my new covers, I found to my chagrin that they still leaked.

What are covers? Cloth diapers come in two basic types: the all-in-ones with the leakproof exterior and absorbent interior, and the multiparts, which are a cover, an interior absorbent section, and sometimes an additional soaker liner (looks a lot like a thin maxipad made of flannel or, sometimes, disposable material) for heavy wetters. I'm using multipart diapers -- Bummies on the outside, Gerber prefolds on the inside -- because it's a little cheaper overall. I can also get away with airing out the covers between wearings, while the all-in-ones would require washing each time.

Lesson learned: Pay close attention to how your liners fit the diaper. All the cloth should be inside the cover, and the thickest and most absorbent parts should be in the front (for boys) or in the middle/back (for girls). The baby should be changed at least every two hours to prevent leakage, which is a lot better for the baby anyway than sitting in a wet disposable.

Day 3: Washing Day: Bad Pilling of Cloth Diapers

One of the blessings of breastfeeding: the poop that comes out of the baby is easily water-soluble and doesn't stain. That's because breast milk is almost completely digested by the baby's system, while formula has a lot of leftovers.

This meant all I had to do when washing her diapers was toss them in the laundry, rinse through once, and then run a regular cycle. But a new problem cropped up: every single birdseye diaper I ran through developed a bad case of lint and pilling. There's nothing you can do about this but avoid buying Gerber diapers.

Lesson learned: I've been told that Chinese cotton prefolds are the best way to go as far as wear and avoiding the pilling problem. I'll try that the next time I buy diapers; for now, I'll have to work with what I've got. The sad thing: some old Gerbers I had left over from about a decade ago have no pilling problem whatsoever, and never did. What's up with that?

A couple of other things I've discovered: NO fabric softener should ever be used, as it ruins the absorbency of diapers. And running diapers through an extra rinse cycle gets rid of any detergent residue. The Gerber prefolds stopped shedding lint after about eight washes; the flat birdseye haven't stopped yet, umpteen washes later.

Day 4: Leakage Report

I think I have this mastered now. NO leaking since I started using my Gerber prefolds as the absorbent part of diapers. With using disposables overnight until I have this a little more under control, my little soaker stays dry all the time.

Lesson learned: I've discovered another advantage of cloth diapers. You can use the soiled diaper, if it's not soaked, to wipe off excess moisture and waste almost completely, something that's nearly impossible to do with a paper disposable. Follow this with a wipe dampened with just water, and you don't need baby wipes anymore either, except for the really really bad diaper that occasionally crops up. Try doing this with disposables -- it doesn't work.

Day 5: The Final Decision

In the end, cloth diapers are great -- but not perfect. They breathe better for the baby, and they seem to be better for her skin, but they will leak at some point, no matter what you do.

I finally settled on cloth diapers for most daytime uses, but disposables for nighttime, at least for now. This ensures that her bottom stays dry most of the time, but is also given more breathing room and less exposure to chemicals, saving her from the misery of diaper rash. Unlike my boys, whose bottoms were pretty red by the end of their first month, little Scarlett only turns red when she gets angry.