Cloth Diapering 101

We have a guest post today from Shah'ada about cloth diapering.

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My name is Shah'ada and I am a cloth diapering fool!! No really, I love to cloth diaper in the biggest way ever. It has made an almost necessary part of parenting fun (yes, I could EC, and I plan on reading more with our next child, but for now cloth diapering is what I'm all about)!!! I started out cloth diapering when I read about all the horrible toxins in disposables. I then thought about the environmental effects disposables had . . . did you know one cup of crude oil goes into making ONE disposable? Yes, cloth uses water for washing, but water is renewable. And oh my heck. Have you SEEN the cuteness that can be cloth?!

One of my very close friends (and a fellow cloth diapering advocate), Keli, has written a few detailed blog posts about cloth diapers. She has broken it down into 2 sections. She has awesome pictures and great descriptions and I could never replicate anywhere near as well.

Fitteds, pockets, all-in-ones, all-in-twos

Prefolds, flats, and covers


The only thing Keli's blog does not cover is washing, storing, etc. I have 2 children in cloth at the moment and wash daily. If you only have one in cloth, you'd only have to wash every other to every third day. I set my washer to a super large load. I do a quick pre-rinse with cold water. I then put the setting on hot/cold, fill the washer while adding 2 circles of Dawn non ultra dish soap OR 1/2 scoop of County Save powder OR 1/2 scoop of Bio Kleen powder OR regular liquid Tide to line 1. I have had success with all of these in the hard water us Utahns have been blessed with ;) I make sure to run 2 rinses and then either line dry or dry in the dryer. Getting a good wash routine usually takes a few wash cycles because every child and every washing machine is different. You want to stay away from free and clear detergents and well as anything with soap. Soap will cause build up and build up equals stinkies, repelling, less absorbency, and did I mention stinkies?

For storing, I use hanging wet bags. They are made of PUL (Keli has an explanation on her blog I believe), and thus keep in the wetness. I just hang them on the door to our bathroom/laundry room. I store all clean diapers in a laundry basket and hanging closet organizer. Yes, staring at our diapers is a past time of mine ;)

I personally use prefolds, flats, and fitteds with wool covers. I prefer natural fibers (or as close to natural as possible ;) ) on my children's bottoms. I find these diapers/covers also wash up the easiest. And they are also the cutest *blush* If you are vegan/opposed to using wool, you can use fleece as a great breathable alternative to wool.

I do (free) cloth diaper consultation by email, phone, or in person if you are in the Cache Valley area. Email is shahadaghan at gmail dot com. Please email me for any information :) If you would just like me to expound on this limited information, I would gladly do that as well :) I really do love to "talk cloth" and would love to help you find an alternative to toxins and landfill filling!!

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Thanks Shah'ada! So, what's your cloth philosophy?

~S~