New to the whole cloth diaper thing. Help?

[SpunkyMunkey]

So, I know it's a bit early to be thinking about this, but the hubby and I are trying to figure out if we can manage to do cloth diapers with our current situation. We live in an apartment that isn't huge, and we don't have our own washer/dryer (but there is a washer/dryer in the hallway that we can use, just not always at our disposal). Is it possible to do cloth diapers in such a situation? And how does this cloth diapering thing work? I've dealt with cloth diapers on a limited basis while babysitting, and was really impressed. I just don't know all the jargon and what all we need to get to make it work. Any help is welcome.

Thanks!

 

[rjm09]

I used to change my younger sis cloths. I was only about 12, but still had no problems. Those were the pins too. I think todays use velcro? Anyways, we wanted to use cloths from the first day with our son, but hubby wasn't on board with it. I'll use em now as he's finally old enough to fit in the plastic covers, just can't find them anywhere for little bums! lol! I use them moreso now that i am potty training actually as they'll feel the wet more. At least that's what I've been told.

We used to have a basement back then where we could just empty a soiled diaper in the toilet, and put them in a basket until enough for a load accumulated. Even now if my son poops in his undies, i just rinse them out in the sink before putting them in his laundry basket. I think you should be fine even if you can't get to the washer for a few days. You can put them in a plastic baggie if you need to as well.Hope this helps.

 

[jen1604]

It might be worth looking to see if there is any kind f cloth nappy service near you?

There are some places that will drop off the nappies you need and take the dirty ones and wash them, might be worth looking at? Xx

 

[Rachel_C]

I would try to launder your own before resorting to a laundry service. With those, you use their nappies not your own so you normally only get a very limited choice of nappies and, of course, not all nappies suit all babies.

We live in a one bedroom flat and have used cloth nappies since LO was 10 days old. We don't have a tumble dryer so there were times at first when I struggled to get everything dry in the winter, but then I just bought some more clothes airers to hang them on and it was all fine. You can get ones that hang from the ceiling too (they lower down with a pulley for you to put stuff on), I've always wanted some of those, they would be so useful with limited space!

So yes, I would say it's definitely possible, depending on how limited your washer access is. As long as you could get access for maybe 3-4 hours every two to three days, you should be fine. I normally wash every other day and use a 3 hour wash cycle followed by an hour in the tumble dryer, then hang them to finish drying (tumbling keeps them soft but I like to limit it because eventually the heat ruins the natural fibres like bamboo).

 

[discoclare]

For learning the different types and the jargon I would start by having a look here in the beginner's guide:
https://www.babyandbump.com/natural-parenting/349794-beginners-guide-cloth.html
and there is lots of other useful info in the stickies at the top.

I think it's possible to do, in an apartment, we live in a 2 bed flat. We don't have a tumble drier and only line or dry on the airer. We do have a washing machine though. As long as you have access to a washing machine I think you'll be fine. I wash nappies twice a week. I also prefer to wash myself rather than use a service as it's cheaper and I can pick all my own nappies. The nearest cloth nappy laundry service to me only provides prefolds and wraps in plain white.

 

[SpunkyMunkey]

Awesome. It's nice to have encouragement with this since most people say, "You're doing WHAT?" and act like its utter insanity! But anyway, if you're doing laundry 2 times a week, how many would you need for a newborn?

 

[Rachel_C]

I think you'd be better washing three times a week for a newborn but for twice a week, you would need four days worth of nappies (for a newborn, probably 10 per day so 40 nappies) plus enough to cover while those ones dry. That would depend what they were made of - if it was quick drying ones like prefolds (flats) or microfibre, only an extra day's worth so 50 total, but if it was bamboo and you wouldn't be using the tumble dryer it could be as much as an extra three days! For a newborn, I would say wash every other day at least really. Otherwise, you're going to have a HUGE bucket of nappies to wash (maybe more than one wash load anyway) and you'll need a lot more. As baby starts weeing and pooing less, that will quickly reduce so the same number of nappies will last you longer. Before long, you'll only be needing 6-7 per day probably so that's more manageable if washing only twice a week.

 

[SpunkyMunkey]

Thanks for the advice. So helpful!