Crys' Cloth

Several people have asked me about how we cloth diaper. Because of this I have decided to just write it all down and make it available to all.

We use a two piece system for our diapers that consist of a cover and an insert. The covers we either bought or people bought for us. The inserts I made, but we will get there.

"Cover"ing the basics-
The covers are part of the Flip system, made by the same people who made BumGenius Diapers. You can pick up the covers here. The covers come in a variety of colors so your baby's bum always looks adorable :) Also the covers are adjustable size from 8lbs to 35lbs which means you only need to buy covers once and adjust the size as needed. Covers are available in Velcro (hook and loop) closure or snap closures. We use the snap, they may take a few seconds longer put on but they do not fall off accidentally. Nor do the snaps wear out in the washer and dryer.

In total we have 8 covers. 1 cover lives in the diaper bag as a back up, 4 various color covers, and 3 covers all the same color (green). A single cover can last all day if it doesn't get messy or soaked wet. All the green covers are for night time, when we "double stuff" the diaper. Which means that we put two inserts into one cover. This allows us to not have to change a diaper during the night... most nights. But using two inserts stretches out the elastic differently, that's why we dedicated a specific color so we would know exactly which ones to use at night.

Hint- I put a notch of thread in the middle of the snaps so don't have to count to find the middle each time I change a diaper.

"Insert" Here

You can buy inserts for your diapers. They are available online but at $5 a piece that is $225 for 45 inserts. Which may sound like a lot but if you figure $50 a month for diapers that's only 4.5 months of cost. Or you can make them like I did. Granted it takes a little time but it saves a lot of money. Home much you may ask?? Using the exact same materials I used it will cost 0.85 an insert. Using similar materials ordered from the internet you can expect to pay $1- $1.5o per insert. And as it almost always true if you do the work you can save some serious money.

The How To:

Materials Needed
70 Microfiber Car Wash Towels 16x16
--I used the towels available at Costco. Yes they are vibrant yellow but it's for diapers, really does it matter??
3 Yards Alova Suede Fabric
--Yes it has to be that brand, found at Joann Fabric in store and online
Roller Cutter, Mat, and Ruler
Sewing Machine
Thread

This will make 70 inserts. I made 30 smalls, 20 medium, 20 large. You can do more or less in each size. For instance you can make all larges and fold over the excess in the diaper but that will add bulk. We have greatly enjoyed not dealing with the bulk or having to fold a diaper while putting it on.

1) Pre-wash suede and towels.
2) Get out cutting instruments and prepare to do a bunch of cutting.
3) Cut
--30 pieces 5 inches x 12 inches (small)
--20 pieces 5 inches x 14 inches (medium)
--20 pieces 5 inches x 16 inches (large)
How exactly you get them cut is up to you. Stack them neatly off to the side.
4) Fold the towels. Place the towel flat on a surface and fold the sides into the middle in thirds. It won't match up perfectly but that's okay. Just make sure they are about 5 inches wide.
5) Grab a folded towel and place a cut piece of suede. On the Small or Medium sizes the towel will be longer than the suede. Just line up on one end. We will cut off the extra later.
6) Sew the suede to the towels using a simple straight stitch. Go all the way around the suede and ounce down the middle. The stitch down the middle will help hold the miss aligned towels in place.
7) Trim the extra towel off the small and medium sizes. Make sure not to cut your stitching. The large size should fit just about perfectly. This size will not need trimming.
8) Wash in Hot water with light soap NO fabric softener. Do this twice. Then Dry either by laying out in the sun of in the Dryer on High heat with NO dryer sheet. This is how you will wash the inserts from now on.

Now your inserts are ready to be used on you baby.

Changing The Diaper
Open The Cover
Put the insert in the cover,
Put on Baby
Notice that the snaps don't have to be equal on each side. Do what works for your baby.

Other Notes
Our diaper pail is a trash can with a trash bag in it. When it's time to do laundry we just carry the pail upstairs and dump it out into the washer. We use the same bag until it gets really yucky or stinky. About every 6 weeks.

Once you get the solid food stage and poo starts to stink pick up some of these paper liners. Line the diaper with this and just flush the poo and liner away. No stink, so no need to have a special diaper pail. The ones that are just wet can either be flushed or trashed. Yes some mess may still get in the cover or insert, but most will be flushed away.

If you use a High Efficiency washer you may need to soak your inserts either in the diaper pail or the washer. But they will need more water run through them than the regular wash cycle will do.

Occasionally you may get soap build up on the inserts. You can tell you have build up if the insert smell after you wash them. Your baby has an extra red bottom or you can feel grit or grim on the inserts. Simply wash the inserts over and over with no soap until they no longer sud in the washer.

If for some reason your baby gets a diaper rash I would suggest using a paper insert, such as gDiaper or flip disposable inserts. That was the diaper rash cream does not get into the fabric. A small amount will not mater but lots will cause build up. I prefer the gDiapers because they are thinner and can easily be added on top of cloth insert if needed. Works great for night time rashes, because you can still double stuff a diaper and use rash cream.

In the diaper bag you can use a small or medium 'wet bag' to put wet/messy diapers in while out of the house. You can buy one or make one. They are simple. Last resort you can use a gallon sized ziploc bag, you can even use that over and over too.

If you have any questions let me know :)