My Thoughts on Cloth Diapering

I love it!
I love using cloth for my baby. I love the half-hourly check in with my little one while I change her and cuddle her and tell her just how beautiful she is.

It feels so good…
It feels so good knowing that I am doing what is best for my baby and the environment. Every time I change her, I feel a little smidge of delight in that there is one less hunk-of-poop-filled-plastic in the landfill. And my little one has never had a diaper rash yet!

I get my hands dirty- so what?
Yes, it means I get my hands dirty sometimes. So what? She is my very own flesh and blood after all! And what do we have soap and water for anyway? I revel in the fact that she is so small and pure, and that she counts on me for her every need. I love washing her bum. We laugh and joke about it and I tell her that she did a little “poopoop”. She watches me flush it down the toilet and rinse her diaper. I think it helps her feel more comfortable with natural hygiene and have it be less of a “dirty” or “embarrassing” activity.

Who needs baby wipes?
In India we grew up using water to wash rather than toilet paper. So it seems like the most natural thing in the world to me to just lift my baby up when she is dirty, take her over to the sink and wash her down with warm water. I have never had to use baby wipes. Oh wait…except for in the very first month when I used them to clean her at night - I was too exhausted to get out of bed to wash her.

When it is time to go out…
When I go out, I bring a little Ziploc bag with me. I change her anywhere that I am allowed to. I put the wet diapers in the bag and throw them into the diaper pail when I get home. No biggie! Oh, you can buy something called a ‘wetbag’- a very cute looking bag made from waterproof fabric if the Ziploc idea does not appeal to you.

When friends baby-sit her…
I have left Inara with everyone from her grandparents to other family to friends, and everyone has felt just as comfortable with the cloth diapering. The diaper is so easy to put on. It’s just one, two and three! It may even inspire them to do it for their own babies when the time comes.

Laundry time!
When she was just born, she would poop every 15-30 minutes. Imagine how many disposable diapers that would mean. I would just take the dirty diaper (with the pasty mustard-like action) to the bathroom sink and brush it down with a long handled brush under luke warm water, and then toss it into the diaper bucket. When the bucket got full I would throw them into a nice hot wash cycle with a touch of mild, hypoallergenic detergent. To dry I would just toss them into the dryer, or hang them out to dry.
Now that Inara is older and her poop is solid, it is just so much easier. I overturn the diaper above the toilet and it drops into the bowl. I then just throw the diaper into the bucket until laundry day. You can even use flushable diaper liners to avoid the poop-drop-into-toilet step.

As for disposables…
I always keep a stash of Seventh Generation disposables (the most sustainable disposable diaper option in the market) at home for emergencies. Like when I run out of clean diapers, or have to travel someplace where there is no laundry service available, or when I am so exhausted (as all of us mother tend to get sometimes) and can’t even conceive of the idea of changing her every little while.

At night
Most babies pee multiple times at night and so a single cloth diaper is not enough. There are a few solutions for this.
1. Use a few layers of cloth diapers (or cloth liners) with a micro-fleece liner on top. The micro-fleece liner wicks away the moisture from the surface and keeps the baby feeling dry. It is available for just a few dollars and allows you to go all night without changing the baby, or needing a disposable. I recommend using it only at night, and not all day long, because it is still a synthetic material that is not as breathable and hypoallergenic as natural fibers like cotton.
2. Invest in a pocket diaper. It is an all-in-one system that does the very same thing. As the name suggests, it is in the form of a pocket with a waterproof outer layer and a fleece inner layer that stays dry. You can insert into the pocket as many liners as you need to for all night use. Again, I recommend using it only at night for the same reasons as above.
3. Use a disposable. If the one factor holding you back from cloth diapering is the fact that you can’t do cloth at night, then I suggest that you use a disposable. It is better than using them all the time, and your baby and you can still enjoy cloth diapers.

Last thoughts
Babies grow up so quickly. They only really need us so intensely for the first few years. Before you know it they want to use the bathroom in private and dress themselves and run off to play with their own friends. I chose to enjoy these few years of being close with my little one, my very own little Buddha. I feel so enriched having her in my life to teach me to laugh and cry so fully in the moment. When I think about it I realize “What is a few more diaper changes during the day?” I can do it- and a lot lot more, for the sweetest thing I have ever had in my life.