Cloth Diapering: Introduction

My journey through cloth diapering was a bumpy one. One must remember that there are sooo many different KINDS of cloth diapers on the market that there must be some system that works for you and Baby. Also, there might be more than one system that works for you and Baby in different situations, so don’t expect your diaper “stash” to be all the same brand or system.

Good friends were kind enough to lend me their reusable diapers when my daughter was born; we had a stash of Mother-ease cotton contour diapers and a selection of covers, both Mother-ease and Imse Vimse.

Mother-ease Cover

Mother-ease Cotton Contour Diaper

Imse Vimse Cover

While my husband and I were fine with washing and changing them, our little girl soon developed a rash. We changed her diaper at least every two hours, and gave her an hour-long “air time” (no-diaper time) twice per day, but her rash would not leave unless we slathered her with zinc oxide diaper cream and put her in a disposable. We were sad to think that cloth diapers would not work for us, even though they had worked for our friend’s son.

DON’T THINK THIS IS A POST BASHING CLOTH DIAPERS (nor even Motherease, for that matter). We had a lot to learn. Our daughter’s cloth diaper experience does have a happy ending (pun intended). If I met myself from those newborn days, I would have recommended the following options to help prevent my daughter's rash: A.) Use olive-oil based diaper cream with every diaper change (olive-oil based creams are cloth diaper friendly); B.) Put a microfleece liner between the cotton of the diaper and my daughter's skin (microfleece is like a colander-- pee goes through it into the cotton, leaving the microfleece dry against Baby's skin); or C.) Switch to microfleece pocket diapers. When my daughter was 3-months-old, I inherited a set of used FuzziBunz pocket diapers from another friend, and our rash problems dropped dramatically.

RULE ONE for cloth diapering: Just because a certain system or brand works for your friend, or your neighbor, or your sister, does not mean it will work for you. Of course, read reviews, and get feedback from other parents. But the reason there are so many diapering systems out there, as well as companies that keep in business (and more appearing each year), is because there are so many people and babies with different needs.

I work part-time at a consignment shop that also specializes in natural parenting products (The Nesting House). People come from miles around to check out our “Diaper Wall”, where they can touch and feel actual cloth diapers that they would otherwise just read about on the internet. My job (and the fact that I have tried all of the diapers carried in the store) has built a huge learning curve for me, and the best reward is that I was able to find diapers that worked for my little girl. I also love helping new parents decide what diapering system will work for them, and to trouble-shoot any problems they meet along the way.

I will follow this post with descriptions of different types of cloth diaper systems, accompanied with examples and prices, feedback (from myself and customers), and care tips.