r/clothdiaps

Baby is 7 days old and has been in disposables during hospital and the first week at home. We plan to transition to cloth diapering soon and I put him in a cloth diaper for the first time 2 days ago and when we changed it his skin was already red angry and peeling. We switched back to disposables to regroup and wanted to get some advice here before starting again. What tips do you all have?

Edit to add details:
- We have GMD Cloth-eez newborn size prefolds.
- Didn’t use any products on his skin
- He is a term baby but small, weighs just shy of 6lbs. I am wondering if I need to get a better fit or wait for these prefolds to fit? It felt big when I put it on him, but this is my first child so I’ve never tried before.

First day I tried cloth diapers my baby boy got an irritation I think it was balanitis. I thought I was changing him often enough but I guess not. I mentioned it to my mom and she said back in the day, because they used cloth diapers that they used powder. What do you think and what kind/brand or DIY should I use (obviously not the talc kind)?

Hello all! I’m looking into starting cloth diapering part time (will still use disposable overnight) for my 3 month old. The top brands I’m interested in are kinder and Redwood. I think pockets would be best as I like how they are just 1 step like disposables. From what I’ve read, it looks like the yellow kinder inserts are the best. I see flats are probably cheapest but I don’t want to deal with folding. Does anyone have experience with either kinder or redwood or both and which pockets do you prefer? I also am maybe interested in the kinder hybrid covers because it seems more budget friendly but it seems like it may be harder to clean inserts once she starts solids vs cleaning the AWJ pockets. My 3 month old has chunky thighs and wears size 6-12 month clothing if that matters!

always keep your mouth closed when spraying 😵‍💫

I’m about to call it quits on cloth diapering completely, but feel like I should give it one more try.
How is it possible to do this successfully if you’re not doing 100% cloth diapers?

We were doing disposables when we went out and overnight. For cloth, I used Esembly snap outers and Cloth-eez natural organic prefolds. I tried the flats but didn’t care for the extra steps and felt like I couldn’t get a proper fit.

I had to wait 3 days for there to be enough diapers and cloth wipes to be enough for even the smallest load my washing machine (top loader) offers. I’ve tried Mollys Suds (useless) and switched to Esembly’s washing powder (figure it must be good if they run a laundry service in NYC) with added oxyboost and enzymes from Truly Free Home. In between the switch I did a refresh with RLR because my diapers were smelling gross as soon as any pee hit them. I always wash on high heat for an hour and will add in extra clean towels to bulk it up. (Edit: I always *dry* on high heat and will only add full sized towels to that for bulking, not the wash cycles)

My son does not get diaper rash from disposables, but his skin was always irritated from cloth diaps even if I changed them every 90 minutes. Even with the new washing regimen, the diapers began to smell again.

I want to stick with disposables while we’re out and overnight because it’s easier for us. Is there a way to make cloth work the other times??

If you’re doing part-time successfully:
- how often are you washing the cloth diapers?
- what detergent are you using (if using Tide Gentle & Clean/Clear whatever it is, I believe it’s been discontinued so what do you plan to switch to?)
- do you have to add other stuff to the load to make it work? If so, what do you feel comfortable adding to the poopy mess?
- what brand of inners/outers are you using?
- do liners help that much? Disposable or reusable?
- is it cost affective for you or is it a sustainability priority?

Thank you in advance!!

Edit:
My washing routine is pre wash on warm normal cycle and main wash on hot heavy duty cycle. I use Esembly agitators. Sometimes I’ll do an extra rinse before I dry on high heat.

Just looking for what a reasonable number of wet bags is!

Hey y’all! Long time lurker, first time poster. We’ve been cloth diapering for over a year and love it. We’ve been using disposable wipes because our washing machine is…. Sassy. For background: I use fabric cotton squares for makeup removal for myself and our front load washing machine has eaten a couple (sucked into the drainage/stuck in the filter) before we realized we needed to use mesh laundry bags for small things. Since using mesh bags, we’re golden.

What does this have to do with cloth diapering? We’ve got reusable wipes but I’ve been hesitant to use them. They’re thin cotton (they are the esembly ones), and I worry the washer will eat them. We’ve got some larger mesh bags we could use for reusable wipes, but I was hoping to hear how others have done this with a front load washer specifically. Do the wipes get sufficiently clean if being washed in a mesh bag? Would throwing an agitator ball into the bag with them help keep them moving around in the wash? Would love to hear any experience because I really want to use them but I also don’t want to have to count them all every time I do laundry to make sure some haven’t gone missing in the wash.

4.5 month old, not a heavy wetter, we EC but nights can be unpredictable whether she pees in her diaper at night at all so I don't want some bulky thing nightly she may not even wet or I may take off a couple times. Basically I need it to make sense for taking on and off, wearing entirely dry, or keeping on all night getting wet.

We are trying to use wool cover 24/7 and have been experimenting with nighttime use but every other day she decides to sleep though pees we get leaks. Currently we use Puppi covers and their snap in inserts with the gusset thing bc it's been the easiest for nighttime potties and changes. She doesn't poop at night but the cotton part holds the pad in place. The pad is really absorbent but her night pees don't soak throughout the pad they just pool at the back and if she pees a lot it will eventually start to leak through. The front of the diaper is totally dry. I have a sloomb wool insert that I lanolized and put in the back folded in half. It works occasionally but on days she pees more and it goes through that too. I just bought some hemp/cotton inserts to try but not sure what to pair them with in the Puppi cover since it's a slow absorber. We have flats. I'm opening to buying another absorbency for nights, if fitted makes a difference or a thinner cotton insert on top of hemp could work.

We want a nighttime solution that is not enormous and somehow fixes this wet at the back issue. Is there a way with wool to get the pee to soak throughout? When we use poly covers it seems to hold it in and allow the pee to soak throughout. I keep going back and forth bc she will have multiple nights in a row with a dry diaper and I won't want to put her in the poly so I go back to wool and it goes well a few days then she starts sleeping through pees. I let her lead on toileting bc if I try to wake her to potty she just falls asleep sitting on the potty and if I wake her too much she thinks it's time to get up.

I have seen a lot about pull on covers like Disana but I'm hesitant to try this bc it seems more disruptive to take on and off my baby at night than a snap cover. If anyone thinks another brand of wool snap cover would work better I'd be interested to know.

My baby hasn't arrived yet and I'm working on building a small stash of diapers to try. In the middle of another sleepless night, my brain went into a slight panic about clothes. The clothing strategy I thought I was going to go with was two-way zip footed sleepers forever... But realizing that fitteds and prefolds plus wool covers can get bulky, I'm second guessing. In your experience, do footed pajamas fit okay over these setups, or do I need to rethink this? I could do dresses or baggy rompers during the day and sleep gowns/sacks at night to reduce tightness and bulk around baby's bottom, for example. Please share your experience!

I’m looking for an update on all of you who have tried the new essembly fitteds with the ties. I’m about to buy a stash for twins and can’t decide between the two. I don’t want to miss the 20% off sale so I don’t have time to order the tie ones and see how they work. Any insight would be appreciated!!

Help me solve the mystery of the stinky diapers!

No matter what I do, my cloth diapers seem to have an expiration date. About every 1–2 months they start smelling as soon as I take them off my 16-month-old, and I end up bleaching and stripping them... again.

Wash routine:

- Every other day prewash: normal cycle (55 min), Tide Original liquid (line 1–2), then into an airy basket.

- Every 4 days main wash: heavy-duty cycle (90 min), Tide Original (line 5), bulked to about 3/4 full with small cloths.

- Very hard water, but I have a water softener

- Front-loader is only 6 months old and gets cleaned monthly.

Stripping Routine:

- Mix 1/4 cup of washing soda, borax and detergent with super hot water for inserts.

- Keep in for 6 hours, sloshing it every hourish them wring them out by hand.

- Wash them on hot water setting with no detergent in washing machine

- Soak inserts for 30 minutes in cold bleach with 1/4 cup bleach

- Wash inserts 2-4 times as normal.

I feel like I'm doing everything "right," but clearly the diapers disagree. Any troubleshooting ideas before I accept bleaching as my permanent hobby?

Explain to me washing cloth diapers…

Hi! I am new to cloth diapers.
I tester my water and i do have hard water. What do i use when i was my cloth diapers? Borax? How much? Borax with tide?

Also i am so confused on washing.
Do i run a hot rinse cycle once, add a scoop of tide? Then thats done do i run it again? Im so confused what are people’s wash routines? What should i not do? I dont get it.
Liquid? Powder????

I'm starting toilet training tomorrow, so my son will only be in diapers for nap and overnight. Currently, I do a prewash every day and my main wash every 3-4 days, but I'm definitely not going to have enough for a full main wash that frequently anymore. I also don't want to run a prewash everyday for just two diapers.

For those doing part time cloth, what does your wash routine look like?

Hi! FTM of an almost 4 week old and using cloth diapers for the past 2 weeks. Using new and prepped Esembly inners, GMD workhorses, and Esembly outers. Even in the hospital her bottom was continuing to get redder and redder. Developed a small diaper rash that’s now excoriated on her bottom. We are trying to do lots of diaper free time, have tried oat baths. We have been using a stay dry liner which we thought helped initially. Also switched back to disposables for ~2 days with no changes. We think this started bc we weren’t changing frequently enough but now even with a change every 1.5 hours it’s persistent. She doesn’t like diaper changes bc of the pain.
We have tried Esembly diaper cream & the balm & Boudreaux diaper cream.
Doesn’t look like a yeast infection to me.

Here is my wash routine (sorry copy and pasted from a shared note with my husband lol so probably too many details given on here) and we use the tide with oxy powder. Have a top loader with agitator.
Step 1: the pre-wash
-load size: small** **
-water temp: cold cold
-dial cycle: rinse/spin
-detergent use: line 1 of tide
-use the agitator balls (blue ones) for both the washer & dryer

AFTER THIS: fluff the diapers so they are loose, add towels to bulk the load to 2/3 full. creates friction needed for cleaning.

Step 2: the main wash
-load size: large** **
-water temp: hot cold
-dial cycle: normal- super heavy
-detergent use: line 3-4 on the tide scoop

Would love love any tips!!!!

Storing dirty diapers in a wet/dry bag hanging on the door handle in the nursery and then in a wet/dry bag in a diaper pal in the living room. We wash diapers every other day.

The excoriated rash is not her entire bottom either, just two small spots next to each other on her bottom. There is a little bit scattered redness all through out.

Edit- we would have hard water but we have a whole house softener. Also diapers all appear to be coming out very clean, no smells

Hello, I am expecting my first and planning to nearly exclusively use cloth diapers. For me the ecological impact is great, but a big reason is economic so Im trying to be economically efficient while still being safe.

Diapers I will be using: Flats or pre-folds with PLU and wool covers. I have purchased a nice stash second-hand.

Wash routine/limitations:

- I have a bidet sprayer to pre-spray diapers/covers. Plan to store sprayed diapers in a hanging airy bag in bathroom. Plan to wash every 2 days.

- Here is the problem, I have very little control over my top loading coin-op washing machine settings, I can basically control the temp. I have no option to pre-soak or do an extra rinse on the machine. It costs $2 per wash so I would prefer not to do a full extra wash to get a second rinse in.

-I plan to hang dry diapers, to avoid spending $2 extra to machine dry. I already do this with my own clothes and have a good set up.

Any reccomendations about the wash cycle? I am concerned because I see pre-soak and second rinse frequently reccomended.

I am just very excited and needed to share this somewhere!

My girl is 6ish months and yesterday I was gifted a huge stash from a neighbor with a dozen Alva Baby pockets and two dozen Babee Greens fitted and I started with the pockets this morning after sterilizing and washing everything but the wool covers for the fitted diapers yesterday. (It’s too hot right now to try a stovetop sterilizing regimen.)

I had picked up 6 miscellaneous cloth diapers a few months ago but been too overwhelmed/intimidated to try them, and it also felt like a lot of work to get started with only six mismatched diapers. But when I was offered this stash I decided it was a sign to get started! Baby is currently napping in her second diaper of the day, wish us luck.

I have got a butt spatula for scraping poop into the toilet (we started solids about a month ago), and I put a mesh bag in a metal mesh trash can for laundry, what else do I need to get started? I already had saved the washing recommendations for my machine so I’ll be giving those a try tomorrow morning.

okay obviously I know they can.

I’m more amazed at how much of a struggle it is. My MIL takes 5 minutes to change a pocket diaper. Every change she acts like I asked her put on a flat from scratch. She’s just so baffled every single time. it’s just a thirsties, pre stuffed, pocket.

Additionally, she can’t get over that she can’t tell if the diapers wet. I told her “every two hours, or if you hear him pooping in it, or if he’s screaming”. She insists on sticking her finger in to check. Problem is, she does this and somehow breaks the fit of the diaper in the process. 

It’s not just my MIL. My mom also acts like they SUCH a chore to change. She also cannot stand not having a wetness indicator or being able to smell when he poops. 

I love that my family wants to help with the baby, but you would think an older generation would be more open minded to cloth

I just need to commiserate somewhere. I pulled out my pockets that have been sitting in a box for about a year to get ready for my second and heard the unmistakable crunching of spent elastics. 90% of my stash is toast. I’m so bummed ☹️

My newborn stash is in good working order so there’s that at least. This is probably my last kiddo and I’m trying hard to not just give up and go for disposables