Cloth diapering tips

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thank you so much!!! Was also wondering if/how your routine changed once you started solids? Did anyone use a toilet sprayer attachment to spray off the diapers before putting them into the diaper pail?

I was coming on this thread to 100% recommend a sprayer! Makes it so much easier, and is also helpful to rinse poop out of a potty chair later on.

We used a daycare that accepted cloth, and for diapers we sent to daycare we used disposable liners.

[Anonymous]

I do a mix of cloth and disposables -- cloth for home/weekends/etc, disposables for daycare/overnight. For the toddler stage I tend to lean into disposables. I like cloth for newborns because you're changing diapers so frequently keeping up with buying disposables and the changing sizes was exhausting and I found cloth prefolds easier. I also like cloth for early/pre-potty training for helping kids have better awareness of their wetness/dirtiness. But between those stages (6-12 months-ish) I have tended to do more disposables than cloth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recommend starting after the newborn phase- they grow out of those quickly and there’s so much else to learn that cloth diapering can wait. We liked bumgenius all in ones.

I loved using prefolds for my newborns (they don't grow out of those nearly so quickly and I found the fit easier/better than pocket diapers). They go through SO MANY diapers in the first three months and it's much easier than later because you don't have to worry about liners or rinsing out actual poop or anything.

Yeah I actually kind of liked using prefolds and fitted diapers (with covers) for the newborn phase too. It's actually pretty easy to find good condition used newborn diapers since they're only used for a short time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thank you so much!!! Was also wondering if/how your routine changed once you started solids? Did anyone use a toilet sprayer attachment to spray off the diapers before putting them into the diaper pail?

Never sprayed them. I just got the poop off into the toilet and did a cold pre wash. Problem with wetting them is they will mold if you don’t wash them every day. It was not a big deal. Don’t overthink it. Just do a cold pre wash with not detergent. Then long wash with detergent. I like all free and clear. And then double rinse. Every few months strip the diapers with vinegar.

[Anonymous]

I used a sprayer a ton with one kid bht my other one had very ploppable poop and it wasn’t necessary. It’s a “nice to have” IMO.
If you want to do cloth overnight, it’s totally doable with trial and error. Both my kids went through a few phases of what they needed overnight, but it worked fine for us after a couple nights of troubleshooting. That said - it’s super reasonable to just do disposables…at night or whenever else you want!
Other advice - don’t buy into all the silliness about washing diapers in special ways. Start by just doing a cold wash and then a hot wash with normal detergent. I did this insane routine for like two years and then someone convinced me to stop and simplify and it was….fine. lol. Cloth diaper people can be a little precious and batty about detergent build up and stripping etc but take it was a grain of salt.
We used bumgenius AIOs most of the time but I agree with others that you should see what works for you and baby before investing in a full set. Lots of people I know were surprised by what worked best for them. Also if you’re not grossed out, you can save a lot of money buying used on Craigslist etc - watch out for stretched out elastics, whcih are fixable but will require an extra step of work.