Help with cloth diapering please!! « Back to Group Discussions

[sillymom44]

This is a first for me...and I'm so excited! My sister gave me all of her dipes- I think they are mostly Thirsties brand. Do i need to prep them? How do i wash/care for them?? How do i prevent diaper rash?? How many do i need??

[Vegan Princess]

Sillymom: Awesome! I'd figure you need about 12ish dipes/day. If you plan to wash every other day, having around 30 or so is a very safe number. If you don't have that many, you can always get prefolds for cheap to use if you run out of the other ones. If the dipes are used, you don't need to prep them. If they are new and cotton then they need to be washed and dried about 6 times in order to gain their full absorbency. Can you ask her what she did for washing them? You can check the Thirsties website to be sure. But usually you are fine just using Country Save or Charlies laundry soap (there are a number that are ok for cloth diapers - google it - but most of the mainstream store brands are not good to use). It's good to do a cold wash with no soap to get the poop off and then a hot wash with soap, followed by an extra rinse cycle. If you can do a cool soak or rinse at the beginning of your wash cycle then you don't need to actually wash them twice. My old washer let me do that but the one I have no doesn't. I actually haven't washed mine twice in ages bc DD just pees in them now (overnight) and there isn't any poop to get off. You can google how to wash cloth diapers - I'm sure everyone does it a little dif. You just want to make sure not to use TOO much soap. Usually less than half of what you'd normally use is enough! I dry mine on Medium. You don't want it too hot or it could damage the waterproof layer. Line drying is good too - I never line dry anything though.

I never did much to prevent rashes. DD didn't get too many. But make sure the cream you use is ok for cloth diapers! Grovia makes a nice stick. Check around on sites that sell cloth diapers - they usually sell a few dif kinds of cream that are ok to use.

Cindy

[dannic]

YAY for cloth!  Are the dipes nb sized?  I agree with the 3 ish doz number of dipes .  I love pfs in the nb stage!  4-6 covers are enough...ones that either fit under the cord or have adip are super nice...my faves have actually been proraps, dappi pullons and then flips once they are in the 10-12 lb range.  But I also have some thirsties duo1s RAR and others to try this time too. 

As far as washing goes, I tried the "cd safe" detergents and they didn't work for me.  I would just use whatever you use that works well for your clothes.  CD are not fragile and really won't self destruct with norm det.  I use tide and gain.  I almost gave up because I couldn't get clean dipes with a tsp of safe det.,lol.  These are pooped on cloth; they really ought to have enough det. to clean them.  I have had the same dipes for ds for 24 mos and they are looking perfect and will work for both him and his new sibling once babe is big enough for OS.

Just my .02. =)

[sillymom44]

Thank you both!!!!! Yes-- they are used, so thank goodness i don't have to prep them. They are a variety of sizes. I still don't understand all the terminology (prefolds)... I need to take the time to learn!!

Glad to hear different views on washing. I use Trader Joe's detergent...guess I'll try it out to see the results!!

I just love how cute they are!!!! I always HATED disposables :/

[is it puppies?]

http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm

There are a number of sites dedicated to the choice of detergent. I would respectfully disagree with a pp who said it doesn't matter- it really, really can- though flats and prefolds are the least likely to be affected. The problem(s) with a lot of detergents are oils, brighteners, other additives that can build up on diapers and cause issues, mainly repelling and stink and rashes. None of which you want! There are different kinds of stink, they can smell poopy, swampy, ammonia-y, from using too much detergent, using not enough, not rinsing enough, the wrong additives, the wrong detergent in hard water etc. etc. You might be fine with anything, but you might encounter problems. You should find out what kind of water you have (hard, soft, mediumish) and then look at some detergent lists and go from there. Easiest is to see if yours is on a "safe" list and figure out a recommended amt and start from there :)

You also might want to start with a light bleach of any used diapers (it's the only thing that is guaranteed to kill yeast on them- which is a highly transmissible and awful to get rid of rash). Bleaching most diapers is not recommended but it won't hurt if it happens once or twice. Just follow with a lot of rinses. It will also help with sort of stripping the diapers of any other sediment from old detergents or anythign that could start you off with issues.
 

[is it puppies?]

oh, and 2 doz or so for a bare bones stash is okay, and coconut oil is a great, inexpensive, CD safe rash cream.

[sillymom44]

Thanks for the website puppies.  Good to know about the coconut oil-- we use it for cooking and are currently using it and tea tree oil to treat my son's foot fungus (yum...). 

[hansigurumi]

So great to hear that you are starting with cloth diapers!  And lucky you for inheriting a good stash.  I just bought a bunch of prefolds and covers from Green Mountain Diapers, as well as a few fitted diapers and covers from Thanks Mama.  Should be enough of a stash to last until 9 months or so.  With DS, we had a diaper service, and all our covers were used so much they were falling apart when we got to the next size; so nothing to inherit for us.  

But, I have to say, I had a GREAT time investigating and ordering diapers.  And they are super-cute.

Now, when should I pre-wash and prep them?  I am at 34w 2d, and DS was a 37weeker... so it could be only 3 weeks until this kiddo gets here.  So hard to tell when to start getting everything ready!

[Angelorum]

We did mostly prefolds and covers with ds.  We were broke, so we never bought more than 2 dozen prefolds in any size, plus I usually had 3-4 pockets that I was given.  I washed every other day to keep up, but laundry is one chore I don't mind too much.  Especially prefold laundry, the 'folding' takes no time at all, just stack 'em up and throw them on the the shelf.  I didn't really have enough covers in the beginning though.  I had 4, and while the covers would contain the poop, the prefolds would not, so my covers would get dirty fast and I would run out before I had a chance to do laundry.  I plan on having at least 6 this time, for the first few months especially, when the babe is more likely to be a frequent pooper!

Oh, and as far as diaper rash, ds never had any.  Ever.  Go cloth!

[pregnova]

I think I must have had a pretty bare bone stash with ds, but we never had any problems with it. In fact, we traveled so much, that it was easy to fit it into the suitcases! We also only ever had about 18-2 dozen prefolds of any one size...and I only had two covers at any one time...I honestly never needed more than that, but we did some ECing, so most poops were caught in the potty. I normally had 3-4 AIO diapers that I used exclusively for night time diapering and LONG day trips. I was washing about every third day...and really I never remember thinking that I desperately needed more. 

Of course, this go around, that seems like SO few diapers! lol I've got 30 prefolds coming, another 18 that are in a too large size for newborns, but can work in a pinch, a newborn cover, two wool newborn covers that I knit and 2 pairs of longies, along with two covers in a size small. I also have 5 fuzzibunz sized small, 2 bumgenius newborn sized, and a rumparooz? newborn sized. lol!!! It makes me laugh when I think how overboard my stash seems this time compared to ds!!! Not to mention, a friend of mine just offered all of her Grovia diapers with inserts!!! We might have a hard time doing EC again with all these cute diapers lying around!

[dannic]

Originally Posted by is it puppies? 

http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm

There are a number of sites dedicated to the choice of detergent. I would respectfully disagree with a pp who said it doesn't matter- it really, really can- though flats and prefolds are the least likely to be affected. The problem(s) with a lot of detergents are oils, brighteners, other additives that can build up on diapers and cause issues, mainly repelling and stink and rashes. None of which you want! There are different kinds of stink, they can smell poopy, swampy, ammonia-y, from using too much detergent, using not enough, not rinsing enough, the wrong additives, the wrong detergent in hard water etc. etc. You might be fine with anything, but you might encounter problems. You should find out what kind of water you have (hard, soft, mediumish) and then look at some detergent lists and go from there. Easiest is to see if yours is on a "safe" list and figure out a recommended amt and start from there :)

You also might want to start with a light bleach of any used diapers (it's the only thing that is guaranteed to kill yeast on them- which is a highly transmissible and awful to get rid of rash). Bleaching most diapers is not recommended but it won't hurt if it happens once or twice. Just follow with a lot of rinses. It will also help with sort of stripping the diapers of any other sediment from old detergents or anythign that could start you off with issues.
 

Just to clarify and at the chance of:I didn't say detergent choice didn't matter; I actually think it matters alot.  I almost quit CDing before I gave up on safe detergents.  I am so glad I didn't!  I love CDing! 

My water is soft, so ironically laundry should have been easy...sadly, the problems only got worse until I switched to a regular detergent.  Aside from CD retailers, the advice I see on CD forums the most is to try what works on your clothes or switch to a mainstream detergent if problems are encountered.

I agree that bleaching used dipes is important!  Some diaper brands actually rec. a monthly bleach, such as Bum Genius.  I also agree that it may take some experimentation to figure out what works best for you, er, your washer, water, ect...

Diaperswappers is a great forum for questions when getting started as well, OP.