Cloth Diapering Cheaply

I get asked about cloth diapering from time to time. I’ve been using cloth diapers for over 3 years now and I am still enjoying it. My cloth diapering journey started here. I use cloth diapers for my children’s skin and overall health and because with 4 children it is thousands of dollars cheaper. And as a bonus, it’s so cute.

Using disposable diapers, wipes, and trainers cost an average of $2000 to $3000 per child in the US. However, you can have a good stash of cloth diapers for only $200 (if you don’t go crazy buying cute designer/boutique diapers or wool covers) and they will last you for all your kids. When you’re done, you can use them for rags, sell them and get some of your money back, or give them away. I have bought most of mine used or made them myself. When I’m done diapering all my children, I’m planning to sell them. My stash cost about $350 total and I expect to get at least half of that back … unless I give them to someone. I’d be happy to give them to someone I knew would appreciate and use them.

Another plus about cloth diaper is that babies in cloth diapers tend to potty train months (or even a year or more) ahead of babies in disposables, especially if you combine cloth diapering with EC (elimination communication). More about that in another post.

The cheapest way to cloth diaper is to use prefolds, snappis, and covers. GranolaBabies is my favourite cloth diapering store and believe me when I tell you I’ve seen them all. The owner, Giselle, is just wonderful and I love what she does to help people. I bought my prefolds there. (Note: These are not the same as the prefolds you see at Walmart or Target. They absorb several times more and they are much sturdier.)

There are a myriad of options when it comes to cloth diapering. This post is going to be about how to do it cheaply.

You will need three basic things. Four, if you value sanity.

• cloth diaper (flat or prefold diaper)
• snappi or diaper pins
• diaper cover
• flushable liners

Flats & Prefolds

I use both and this is what they look like. I put the prefold on top of the flat in the picture so you can see the size difference. The flat is basically a square piece of cloth. I made mine from hemp jersey that I tore into squares and serged around the edges. I like how they turned out. It cost me $70 to make 24 of them. I bought my prefolds new for $2.25 each with free shipping, so $54 for 24 of them. I enjoy fold and putting them away after the kids have gone to bed. I put liners in them so they’re all ready to use. These diapers can be used forever and ever. I even know one mother who uses the same diapers for her son that her mother used for her.

There are many ways of folding flats (click here and here and here for a start). I’ve settled on the origami fold for my flats. I fold them up with the liners inside and stack them up all pretty like this.

I also fold my prefolds into thirds with the liners inside and stack them all ready to use.

We’ve had diapers all over the house trying out different kinds of storage. What works best for us is a cute wooden chest we got off craigslist.

Snappis

Since diaper pins scare me, I use an ingenious, cheap, safe, and easy-to-use alternative called Snappis. It’s a T-shaped piece of rubber with claws on it. When you put it on the baby, it’s supposed to stretch out to a Y shape. They come in a lot of colours. I’ve been using mine for a couple of years and they haven’t got broken, though some are getting a bit stretched out. You can buy them here. They cost $6 each but if you look around you can buy them used or find coupons for some web sites and get them cheaper. I have a few and got them for $2 to $3 each. I only have the smaller size ones and for me they work just fine. I’ve never needed to go up a size because they stretched bit by bit as my babies grew.

Slim, Trim, Breathable

At home during the day, my baby often goes around the house in just a flat. It’s slim, trim, and very, very absorbent. He has unbelievably sensitive skin and what the doctor told us is inherited atopic dermatitis. These diapers let his skin breathe and he has never had a rash from his cloth diapers.

Tell me if you want me to make a video of how to fold them and put them on. It’s very slim and trim and fits like a disposable, unlike some cloth diapers which can get very bulky. I use the prefolds on my toddler for nighttime or for going out. At home, he’s in panties now.

Diaper Covers

Since flats and prefolds are not waterproof, when he is fully clothed he needs a waterproof diaper cover. I’ve tried all kinds and I’ve ended up using Thirsties Duos Wraps (free shipping from Granola Babies). There are two sizes and each size can be adjusted to 3 sizes so if you have 3-4 covers in both sizes, you’re all set. They cost about $12 each if you buy them new (and there are some really cute prints!) but I bought all of mine used for around $5 each.

The white covers in the picture are called Dappi Nylon Pants (Cotton Babies ships these covers for free). I got mine for free from some one who was getting rid of them. They cost about $2 to $3 new and they work great but they are not adjustable, only come in white, and do not fit as slim and trim as Thirsties do, if you care about that sort of thing.

Liners

From ancient Persia to modern communist China, men have been using human excrement in various forms of physical and psychological torture. (The history of torture is something I have a morbid fascination with.) Baby poop starts become solid when they start eating solids, which should be around when they start teething because that’s when their bodies start producing the enzymes needed to break down food other than breastmilk. I scraped some diapers that were so disgusting I thought my head would explode.

Then I heard about diaper liners. I simply lay them down in the diaper and if there is poop, I left the poo off the diaper and flush it. If not, you can wash the liners and use them again. I cut all my liners in half so I could double the amount I have and they still work just fine. I bought my liners on clearance with free shipping. You can get them at most diaper stores and even on Amazon. Just make sure they’re flushable.

Velcro vs. Snaps

If you are going for ease of use, then velcro is the way to go.  However, diapers with velcro do not last anywhere near as long as diapers with snaps (just make sure you use both hands to unsnap instead of just ripping them open). I prefer snaps to velcro and recommend picking snaps whenever possible especially if you are planning to use them with more than one child.

Materials

Cotton is the most common but you can also find bamboo and hemp, which absorb several times their weight in water and are anti-bacterial. A lot of bamboo diapers have a layer of velour which feels heavenly soft if you buy them new but I was very disappointed to find that after washing a few times the velour gets thinned out and not so soft anymore so personally I don’t think it’s worth paying for.

Laundering

There are many different routines for laundering cloth diapers but they all have one thing in common: avoid all fragrances, bleach, whitening and brightening products. I use Allen’s Naturally which I found for $35/gallon with free shipping although it goes for about $50 on most sites. One gallon lasts me over a year, just over $2 per month. A lot of people I know use something called Rockin Green and they really like it. I’ve never tried it.

This is what I do. You can find what works with your washer and type of water (soft/hard).

• wash/rinse/spin on cold, sometimes twice if there are a lot of poopy diapers; some people add baking soda or vinegar to this load
• add detergent and wash/rinse/spin on hot/cold (use half the amount specified on the container or a quarter if you have a HE washer)
• wash/rinse/spin again on cold

If you want to cut back on your power bill, line drying is the best. When I line dry my diapers, sheets, and towels my power bill is around $50 which doesn’t seem exceptionally high to me but I don’t know ’cause nobody else has told me what their power bills are. (In the winter and summer, it’s higher because we’re using the A/C, of course.) If I remember, I bring them in while they are still just a tiny bit damp and throw them in the dryer so they come out soft. Otherwise, they come off the line like cardboard.

Line drying also helps your diapers last much longer, the sun disinfects the diapers, and you get a chance to go outside with the kids. It’s win, win, win all the way around!

Here are a couple links with some good info about washing diapers if you’ve never done it before.

• http://www.diaperpin.com/howto.asp
• http://www.diaperjungle.com/washing-cloth-diapers.html

Sometimes, diapers will get stained with poop.  The stains don’t affect function or cleanliness but if it bothers you then you can sun them, which means putting them in direct sunlight for a few hours while still wet from washing. For stubborn stains, this may need to be repeated a few times. It’s amazing to see the stains disappear. This works for stains on clothing from spit up, too.

You might say that laundering diapers is a pain. And when you don’t keep washing them you’ll run out of diapers to use. Yep. I run out of clean clothes when I don’t wash them. I like doing washing diapers way better than washing clothes ’cause there isn’t anywhere near the amount of sorting and putting away there is compared to clothing. But maybe that’s just me.

Storing Dirty Diapers: Wet/Dry Pail & Wet Bags

I use a dry pail. I just bought a metal hamper and throw the diapers in it. I’ve never tried doing a wet pail, i.e. soaking in water or water/vinegar solution. It seems unnecessarily messy, but that’s just me.

A lot of people use cute little waterproof wet bags to put their diapers into when they are out and about. After all these years, I still have never made it around to buying or making any wet bags. I just use plastic grocery bags and they’ve worked fine. Having boys has really cut down on my motivation to make or buy cute things.

If you use a dry pail, make sure it’s not an air tight container or else the diapers will build up an eye-watering ammonia smell very, very quickly and it is not fun trying to get that smell out. Also, do not leave the diapers in plastic bags very long for the same reason.

Buy Used Diapers

The best place to buy used diapers is on the FSOT (For Sale Or Trade) forums at DiaperSwappers.com, the largest cloth diapering community online. There are tens of thousands of mothers there who use cloth diapers. It’s also a good place to look for kids shoes. I have found brand-name new shoes that were never worn or hardly ever worn being sold for less than what you pay at Walmart for horrible quality new shoes.

Buy New Diapers

If you feel overwhelmed by all the choices and don’t want to hunt down bargains online, you can get everything you need with the Thirsties Duo Wrap and Prefolds Package.