In this post, I bring you 5 cloth diapering lessons learnt by mammas that were learnt over their cloth diapering journey.
Tara
A self confessed PhD in cloth diapering, Tara was a big inspiration in my starting to cloth diaper full time. Her blog is full of valuable information and her own learning about Cloth Diapering. She talks about her journey in detail.
“One of the most beautiful and satisfying aspects of our baby care journey was cloth diapering. I am so glad I discovered it before my baby arrived. I was able to read up all about the types, care & routine with CDs. I also bought a few CDs in my pre-baby stash. And once baby arrived we were exclusively cloth diapering from the time babyT was 4 months old.
My CD journey was exceptionally beautiful – I bought a stash of all kinds of diapers and from all over the world. I used to be looked up to in Cloth diapering circles for advice on wash, care, usage and I even was core team member of India’s largest CD support group on Facebook. My expertise also earned me a valuable role with a big diaper brand as their design & social media manager. I built their social media strategy and their connect groups on Facebook & Instagram. Today this group is one of the most vibrant and fun CD groups among CD brands.
While all this excessive CD stash building helped me earn some sort of self-conferred PhD in Cloth diapering it also took a toll on my finances. So if there is one piece of advice I have for new parents who want to CD it will be to be wise and take it slow. Buy a trial stash and then invest in what works for you. There is now a great availability of diapers in India and there is no need to spend valuable $$$ in buying CDs from abroad.
Also a newborn diaper stash makes total sense. I did not envision how tiny newborn babies can be so most of my early stash which was one size was too large on babyT. And by the time I realised I would need tinier stuff it was too late to buy, prep and use them.
Cloth diapering is something I truly advise everyone. My baby has not seen a single day of rash all thanks to cloth diapering. You’ll be glad for all the landfill you did not create by using, washing & reusing cloth diapers rather than use and throw diapers”
Read her blog MommyingBabyT for more on cloth diapering.
Nilima
Nilima was the first environmentally conscious blogger I ever connected with. She leads by example. Quietly doing her bit. Be it replacing multiple use plastic with wood and metal, reusing single use plastic as planters or neighbourhood clean up drives. She has done it all. Her thoughts on cloth diapering are clean and crisp.
“My lessons for cloth diapering
- That you need a separate stash of cover diapers or AIOs in monsoons. I bought 2 covers from preloved sales last monsoon coz your stack will diminish fast in monsoons & it takes time for the pads to dry.
- New moms dont easily accept the idea of Cloth Diapers. Second time moms easily Integrate the concept
- Older generation is amused by the concept.”
You can follow Nilima’s efforts here on Instagram.
Gunjan
Gunjan is another Superbottoms loving mommy. Just go thru her IG feed and you’d see her son Tuggu wearing every possible print there. Her cloth diapering lessons are an essential reminder in this age of consumerism.
“Though most things are available online, but we learn things best for our child with trial and error- even things like best fit. I mostly tried on various combos to make it for night time diapering or when going out or especially during vacations.
Also different brands have different soakers so trying and learning fast is the key.”
Gunjan has written a few informative posts in her blog Tuggu N Mommy.
Neha
Neha is a very strong voice advocating low waste in my circle, perhaps the strongest. She has done everything from using bamboo toothbrushes to cloth menstrual pads. From reusing wine bottles for drinking water and packaging boxes for storing to cloth toys for her daughter little Jugni. Neha is truly connected to nature. She cares about the planet like no one else I know and always questions – Why aren’t we going low waste? What are we waiting for? Her lesson is a trick not just for cloth diapering but even those who use plastic disposable ones. She makes a valid point about landfills. Read for yourself.
“Cloth diapering can be as simple as put diaper on and take diaper off. It’s just the wash aspect that one needs to get used to. For me the biggest discovery was the magic mantra of spray – scrape and sundry!
The jet spray is a blessing in disguise in India. I learned early on to keep a dedicated spatula like tool handy to scrape of solids. In my case these were a old butter knife and a plastic baby spoon that I kept near our commode. I would just toss out the solids, scrape using these nifty tools and put the diaper in a closer diaper pail (which was a closed lid dustbin) or a wet bag. If the poop was semi-solid or the result of an upset tummy only then would I scrape and use the jet spray.
I would wash the diapers and cloth wipes every alternate day and thanks to the abundance of sunshine, I would hang the colorful prints out to dry like a vertical diaper bunting to get disinfected, bleached out and get a stash of kadak diapers at the end of the day.
I suggest the spatula trick to parents who choose to use disposables too because poop doesn’t belong in landfills. It belongs in the sewer system”
Check out her Instagram profile Jugniology for tonnes of ways to go low waste
Ankita
Ahem, I had to contribute here. Right? Now my cloth diapering journey is pretty well documented on the blog and on Instagram. I even talk about my reasons for switching to cloth diapering in this post. I also try and practice minimalism here since accumulating a huge stash seems excessive. My learning has come from talking to other moms and then putting my own spin on things.
“The things I learnt about cloth diapering is that you have to find your sweet spot. It comes with keeping an open mind and trying out new things of some don’t work for you. It means you need to find your own routine. When to change, what to change into, wash routine etc.
What I learnt on my own was how to make the most of my stash. Initially, used extra soakers with nappies. Then I found something better. All the tee shirts and shorts Aadya has outgrown, they are going into her nappies and cover diapers as soakers. I place a fleece liner on top and we are set for a good 3-4 hours.
If you want to know how I do it, here is an IGTV video I made
I use this hack mainly at home and find this is a good way to reuse things that ideally would have been thrown. Soon, I plan to cut out Aryahi’s old and unwearable tee shirts and bottoms and make home made flats and soakers out of them.”
I hope you found these cloth diapering lessons valuable. I would love to know your lessons! If you know any new moms or expecting moms, please share these lessons with them. Even if one mom is inspired by all the cloth diapering mommas here, we save thousands on diapers from going into the landfill.