Cloth Diapers: MY Routine

I posted this adorable picture on my Facebook and Instagram and got quite a few questions and feedback about cloth diapering so I wanted to share my routine.  The reason I capitalized "My" in the title of this post is I've found that every parent tweaks their routine a little.  I've just started so I may even tweak but here's the current run down.  Thanks to all my cloth diapering friends for helping me out getting started and another thank you to the kind woman who was donating all of her used (but still in great condition) cloth diapers that I got my hands on!

First here are my supplies:

1. This is a wet/dry bag for on the go from Planet Wise.  It has one zipper pocket for dry diapers and another lined pocket for wet diapers and this bag can go right in the diaper bag.  Since I've gotten this however, I've been using it mostly for taking Joaquin swimming.  What a great place to put our wet swimsuits!

2. This is where I put my used cloth diapers in the house.  For a diaper pail, I decided on a trash can with foot pedal with a Kanga brand diaper pail liner with drawstring on the inside.  Again with that nice lining for wet things.

3. A separate tiny foot pedal trash can I found at Ikea for disposable wipes.  Some people use cloth wipes that they can just put in the same diaper pail but this whole endeavor is gross enough for me so I just don't want to do that.

  

3. A personal touch for me was this cool Air wick air freshener with an auto spray.  It sits on the shelf of the closet right above the diaper pail in case that thing ever starts to smell.  Am I a genius or what?!

4. And finally my beautiful supply of cloth diapers!  Aren't they cute?  I have a supply of Cutey Babies all in ones where the microfiber liner is attached to the waterproof cover.  Then I also have Fuzzy Buns and Bum Genius where all I have to do is stuff a microfiber liner into each waterproof diaper cover.  In the right of this drawer are extra yellow microfiber liners all folded up.  And on the bottom right of the drawer are extra flushable liners that are supposed to catch the poo.

And here's my routine:

1. I  stuff each diaper (that needs stuffing if it's not an all in one) with a microfiber liner after it comes out of the wash so they are always ready.  Then I just snap one of these cute diapers on my baby just like putting on a disposable diaper.  I'll also add one of the disposable liners into the diaper before putting it on her but that's easy to do during each diaper change.  

2. Place soil diaper in diaper pail.  But first I reluctantly and gently pull out the microfiber liner to separate it from the diaper cover so I don't have to do that later during my wash routine.  I place wipes in the wipes trash can and the flushable liner gets flushed.  I have both my little trash can and diaper pail in the closet across from each other so it's not like I'm doing an extra step throwing diapers and wipes in separate places.

Note: it's recommended to not put solids in the washing machine so I would dump any solid poop possibly from formula or when baby starts solid foods in the toilet first (that should have hopefully been caught in my flushable liner) or I may give in and buy a diaper sprayer that attaches to the toilet.

3. It's recommended to wash cloth diapers every other day so that's what I do.  You'll need a stash of at least 15-20 so your baby can go through 10-12 diapers a day and then you can wash a load every other day.  I turn the Kanga diaper pail liner inside out and dump everything in the washer including the bag!

4.  The next few steps are basically rinse-wash-rinse. First, I run a cold rinse cycle on the highest water setting to get any water soluble poo rinsed off.

5.  Next I run a heavy duty hot wash cycle with an extra rinse cycle with detergent (currently trying All Free and Clear). 

6.  Finally I run one more heavy duty hot wash cycle without detergent (optional).  This helps to prevent detergent build up on the diapers to make their absorbency last longer.  Many people just do a rinse, wash, rinse cycle but I do this last step because I have used diapers and want them to last as long as possible.

7. Put liners in the dryer and hang waterproof covers to dry.

While I wrote this in 7 steps...it doesn't actually feel like that many steps.  I'm just laying it out there! There's so many resources online and this is a new endeavor for me too but I'm most excited about the money saving benefit.  Sure, I could lie to you and tell you I do this to help the environment and to prevent diaper rash or some other reason but for me "It's all about the Benjamins baby."

I should also mention that typical Desitin diaper cream ruins the absorbency of cloth so read online about a friendly alternative.  I'm trying Grandma El's or coconut oil for now.