Making the switch to cloth

photo credit: ms. lume

I have been using cloth grocery bags for a while now, but with my discovery of cloth diapers, I started changing everything I could over to cloth, non-disposable options.


Paper towels- I was already using microfiber cloths for most of my cleaning. I do keep paper towels, but I only use them for things like draining bacon. When they run out, I don't plan on buying any more.


Diapers- Obviously, I use cloth. I still have a stash of 'sposies from my pre-cloth days, but, same as the paper towels, when they run out I'm not buying more. I really only use them for things like long car trips, when it wouldn't be safe to pull over to change Doodlebug's diaper. Disposables are more absorbent, so she can last 'til I can get to a gas station.


Facial tissue- I have really bad allergies and I seriously blow my nose a LOT. And cheapy tissue doesn't cut it, so I was spending a ton of money on the soft lotiony kind of tissue. I was going to sew myself some cloth hankerchiefs (which would NOT have been pretty. I can't sew.), but my mom found me a whole bunch of vintage hankies at an auction for a dollar. They are so soft and much sturdier than a tissue.


Girly stuff- No details here. Suffice it to say: Cloth nursing pads and mama cloth.


Toilet paper?- Yes, I'm totally going there. This is my latest switch. I thought I would have a hard time with this one, but I haven't. You can buy cloth toilet paper online or make it yourself with flannel and buy a nice wetbag, but I just went out and bought two 18-packs of washcloths and use a mop bucket to throw them in. You probably need a wet bag if you don't plan on washing very often, but it's not really a problem if you are already washing diapers. This post has a great explanation of how one woman does it. And no, it's not gross. I think it's a whole lot nicer than a dry square of paper. And if you can wipe your baby's bottom with cloth, you can wipe your own with it, too.

Snappi Troubleshooting

I took pictures for this post, but unfortunately photobucket is loading really slowly today, so I'm just going to have to explain it the best I can and link to other pictures. Sorry for the inconvenience. Click on the links if you don't understand something I'm saying.

I love my Snappis,which keep me from worrying about poking Doodlebug with a diaper pin, but I will admit I have had a couple of problems with them. Here is how I solved them.

The middle claw gets in the way.
It just dangled there. I never could get the thing to truly hook on so it wouldn't come off. The directions say not to cut it or you will weaken it. So I didn't. But you can very easily pry the hard plastic claw out of the rubbery plastic so it won't poke. My Snappis just have a dangly piece in the middle with no claw, but it doesn't get in the way.

I am using cheap diapers and the Snappi pokes through.
I use Gerber prefold diapers, which are very thin and don't work so well with a Snappi. I thought I was doomed to diaper pins until I discovered the safety feature on the new Snappis. You know the little round tab on the top? When they aren't being used this pulls down over the claws to prevent poking. I pulled it down (see the second picture here) and just use it like this. It makes it not poke down so deep so it doesn't go through the diapers. You absolutely HAVE to use a diaper cover if you do this, though, because the corners of the claw are exposed.

Hopefully that made some semblance of sense with no pics. If you have a cloth diapering problem or solution, let me know. I'd be glad for the wisdom and would love to share what you know!

An Eco-Mommy's Ramblings

Warning: Serious rambling ahead.

Yesterday Doodlebug had to wear disposable diapers. Ugh. I thought I had enough cloth to last two days, but I didn't. So she had to wear 'sposies while I washed. Ugh. I hated every minute of it. I hated thinking about filling a landfill with the things. I hated thinking about the little chemical-ly gel balls on her skin. Yuck yuck yuck! So I went and bought more prefolds so I have enough to get through two days now. I thought cloth diapers would be inconvenient. I didn't know I'd get so attached to them!

I've been really thinking hard about the comment about breastmilk in The Story of Stuff. They say that breastmilk is one of the most toxin contaminated foods on the planet, because humans are at the top of the food chain. This has been really bothering me, so I'm going to slowly switch to organic. I'm not going to go and throw away everything I have or anything... just switch as I run out. And I'm starting with the things I eat the most often. I bought organic milk today (the kind I was drinking already had no growth hormones, but it wasn't organic). I was going to buy organic eggs, but they were like four dollars! I couldn't bring myself to pay that. But then when I got done at the store I took my receipt and added up all the junk food I bought and I spent five dollars on junk food! So that's the end of it. I'm giving up the junk so I can buy organic and Doodlebug and I can be healthy.

I'm also trying to go "No 'poo" right now. Today was day one of no shampoo. Instructions are here. I've tried before, but got frustrated because I tried to give up too much at once (conventional soap, deodorant, shampoo...), so I'm going to try it for two weeks and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

The Time Excuse

People have many reasons for why they "can't" help the planet. I'm going to take a look at these excuses over time and bust through them. The first excuse is "I don't have time."

I don't have time to... wash baggies, tins to recycle, foil to reuse, etc.
You are going to be washing dishes anyway, aren't you? It takes about five extra seconds to rinse out a zippy bag or wash a tuna can. Foil can be laid on the counter and wiped off with the soapy rag in seconds. If you are already washing dishes, don't you have twenty extra seconds to save the planet? If you have a dishwasher, you really can't use this excuse.

I don't have time to... use cloth diapers.
Again, if you have a baby, you are already going to be doing a ton of laundry. What is one more load? If you have a washing machine, it takes less than three minutes to load the thing and start it. Even if you have to carry your laundry to a community laundry room like I do, it still takes less time than a trip to the store to buy diapers. The only thing about cloth diapers that takes extra time is rinsing out the poopy ones, maybe one to two minutes? Some people don't even rinse them, though, so if you really DIDN'T have the time, you wouldn't have to do that.

I don't have time to... take my recycling to the recycling center.
I don't really have a great answer for this one except to combine it with other errands. But consider this: An aluminum can takes between 80 and 200 years to break down in a landfill. A glass bottle will take over a million years (Source). Now how long does it take to drive to the recycling center?

Myths and Misconceptions of Cloth Diapering

Myth: Cloth diapers smell bad.
Truth: To me, cloth diapers don't smell HALF as bad as disposables. Think about it this way: when a disposable diaper is dirty, you roll it up and throw it in the trash. When a cloth diaper is dirty, you rinse it or soak it or whatever your method for dealing with dirties is. I rinse my dirty diapers out really well in the toilet, then put them to soak in Oxyclean and water, so they don't stink at all. And I don't use a diaper pail with a lid or anything, just a plastic trashcan. If you put them in a closed area (like a basket inside a closet), they won't smell so nice, but out in the open I've never had a problem.

Myth: There is too much start up cost to use cloth diapers.
Truth: Plain old pre-fold diapers from the store are about one dollar a piece. My mom made my diaper covers out of fleece remnants, but I recently found fleece for a dollar a yard at Wal-Mart. You can easily make up the cost of a dozen diapers and a couple of diaper covers in two weeks.

Myth: It's not worth cloth diapering if you have to pay to do your laundry.
Truth: It costs me a dollar a load to wash laundry. I have an indoor clothesline that I bought from Lehmans, so I don't have to pay for a dryer. The cheapest size two diapers I can buy cost sixteen cents a piece. If I wash twenty diapers in a load, that's only five cents per diaper. If I replace only ten disposable diapers with cloth every day, I'm saving over a dollar per day. Even if I had to pay for a dryer, it would STILL come out cheaper. Do the math for your own circumstances and see what you come up with.

Myth: It's too much work to use cloth diapers if you don't have your own washing machine.
Truth: I used disposables the first two months or so for this very reason. But when I was having to wash clothes every other day anyway I realized one more load wouldn't hurt. Since then my laundry load has decreased, but I'm still using cloth diapers. Doodlebug rides in her sling while I carry diapers to the laundry room every morning. To me that's more convenient than having to go to the store and buy more disposable diapers.

My Cloth Diapering Method
I know when I was first learning how to use cloth I wanted to know lots of details on how to take care of them, but I had a hard time finding information. So here's what I do:

I have two dozen prefold diapers and one dozen flatfold diapers. There are lots of great videos on Youtube of how to use a prefold diaper if you need to learn. I'm not so good with the flatfolds, so I use two of those at a time to keep them from soaking through. I have seven fleece diaper covers my mom made for me. If you can't sew you can buy these online. And I have two Snappis to secure them instead of using pins.

I have a big laundry basket that gets carried from room to room with me as a my changing station. It contains diapers, a plastic trashcan, baby rags, and a coffee can filled with a squirt of baby soap and water (Make sure it has a lid on it!). I dip a baby rag in the soapy water to use as a wipe. Rags and wet diapers go in the little plastic trashcan. When the trashcan fills up I dump them in a different laundry basket (I just use the little can because it's more portable). I immediately rinse dirty diapers out in the toilet. Some people just dunk and flush, but I scrub them out pretty well. Then I put them to soak in a container of oxyclean and water. I've had a couple stain, but I just used more oxyclean the next time and the stains came right out. Diaper covers can be used more than once if they're not wet. *Note: Any container with water in it (wipe buckets, soaking buckets, etc.) should either have a secure lid or be up out of reach of babies and/or older children!*

I don't use bleach or anything to wash my diapers. I just use a detergent that has no perfumes or dyes, wash them in really hot water and hang them on the line. The good thing about having some prefolds and some flatfolds is that the flatfolds dry really fast so I can use them before the prefolds dry.

I was really surprised when I started cloth diapering how easy it is. It's really not at all inconvenient, and I love knowing that I'm doing so much for my daughter's future. I still have some disposables left, but I hate the thought of using them. I think filling a landfill is way more yucky than rinsing a dirty diaper.