How Is Changing A Cloth Diaper Different Than Changing A Disposable Di

How Is Changing A Cloth Diaper Different Than Changing A Disposable Diaper

If you're expecting a baby and considering cloth diapers it might be hard to figure out how it all works and what cloth diapering looks like in practice. Before I started cloth diapering I had visions of holding a piece of fabric filled with poop and what to do with the poo was one of my biggest questions especially when travelling out of the house with baby.

So let's go over what choosing cloth diapers looks like.

First, all babies need diapers of some kind. There is nothing that needs to be decided there - unless you're trying elimination communication, but even there you're likely going to need at least some diapers.

So regardless of what kind of diapers you choose you will need a place to store them and a place to change baby. You might have a shelf to store diapers, some kind of bin or drawer or basket, it doesn't really matter. However you choose to store your clean diapers it will work for disposables or cloth. Same for your changing area. You might choose to have a dedicated change table in a nursery or just a portable change pad for diaper changes on the couch or floor. Again, no difference there for disposables or cloth diapers.

Moving on, let's change a diaper....

With disposables it looks like this:
#1 Change baby
#2 Take the soiled diaper and put it in the garbage or a diaper genie, Ubbi or similar diaper receptacle until you take it to the trash.
#3 Take out the garbage

With cloth diapers it might look like this:
#1 Change baby
#2 Take soiled diaper, knock any solids into the toilet to flush away, then place the diaper in a wet bag until wash day.
#3) Take diapers to the washing machine on wash day

The difference really comes with step #3. Instead of hauling dirty diapers outside to the trash can, you simply take your cloth diapers to the washing machine. Many families wash diapers about twice a week.

If you're new to cloth diapers, we have lots of resources about how to wash your cloth diapers so they come out clean and fresh wash after wash and you reuse your investment hundreds of times without having to purchase more diapers for the trash every few weeks.

It's also very common for families to do part time cloth diapering. It's not an all or nothing decision. Many parents choose cloth at home and switch when going out, heading to the babysitter or during daycare. There are lots of different ways to incorporate some reusables while also taking some pressure off the pocket book.

It's as simple as a load of laundry.