Hi everyone, I used to cloth diaper full time when my firstborn was <1 and I was a sahm living in a small house, now I’m a working mum of a 3 year old and an 18mo living in a much smaller apartment. I’m thinking of starting to cloth diaper again but I don’t have a laundry room anymore and I’m struggling to think of a good storage solution for dirty diaps as I only send my laundry to the was and fold service biweekly.

I live in Canada with subzero temperatures expected till at least march, and I had the (probably crazy) idea of just keeping the dirty (rinsed out) diaps in a Rubbermaid bin on my balcony. Is this so crazy? I used to dry them outside when I had a washing machine at home, I assume they’d just freeze and wouldn’t grow mold or anything and obviously animals aren’t an issue in the winter/in a sealed bin. It’s the only solution I can really think of to not stink up my house -

And if it works, rinsing them out, hanging them to dry and storing them in an outdoor bin on the balcony might be a viable option in the spring/summer too? What is the consensus?

Have you mastered your wash routine? Do your clean diapers smell? Did you recently buy a new washer/dryer? Chat all things laundry!

I bought some used GMD prefolds and fitteds, some bleached some unbleached, and also a new set of their "try it both kit" in medium. The try it both kits only come in unbleached.

I'd gotten to 6 washes for the prep of the new kit, so I tested out the absorbency and found it still not good. Not as bad as what it was new, but still had at least half of the water running off the diaper.

I decided to check my used stash to make sure those were prepped properly. Given they were used, they should be.

However, I found constantly all the unbleached items, whether new or used, had absorption issues. The bleached all had no issues at all and had immediate absorption.

I tossed all the used unbleached ones into my prepping pile with the new ones too see if I can get them to the state the bleached ones are in.

But man, why do the bleached ones work so much better? I get that new, unbleached ones have more oils to remove, but the ones that were used for a while by someone else were washed so many times, yet still aren't ready to use.

Has anyone else experienced this? If I need more, I'm going to make sure they're bleached.

Is there a good reusable pull up comparison? I thought we were done with pull ups and then she regressed. She’s 3T/4T

I have been using greener odyssey hemp cotton fitteds for my toddler for a couple of weeks as recommended by multiple posts and they have been fine, but I just received babee greens growing greens fitteds and I don’t get why they aren’t mentioned more on here.

They are so soft for also being cotton and hemp, I’m hoping they perform the same or better as the greener odyssey fitteds. I also like that the insert is hourglass shaped, and doesn’t bacon like the GO included inserts.

Anyone have any experience with both? What do you think of them, and what do you add to them if anything? I have the overnight stay dry doublers but that seems like too much for my 3 month old.

Hello, I’m ftm totally new to cloth diapers, my son is 10 weeks old about 12lbs. Awaiting my stash to deliver, I’ve just ordered:

From GMD -muslin cotton flats one size x18 -size s prefolds x12 -snappi set and free pins with order -grab bag deal #15: size m workhorse x4 (for when he’s older)

From happybeehinds (end of year sale) -Kinder Cloth Diaper Cover with Bamboo Insert -Nerdy Mommas One Size Cover -The "Bally" One Size Diaper Cover -E LF Baby diaper cover -Thirsties Duo Wrap Diaper Cover - Size 1 -Mama Koala 1.0 (pocket) -Alva Pocket Diaper -Hanging Wet Bag with Double Pocket and Zipper Top

I was indecisive with the covers as you can see. I think I probably need boosters and reusable wipes, I’ve hear of someone making some sort of solution for the wipes too idk how that works. Anyhow please tell me what you think of this for staring off, my expense was about $190 total and I’m probably missing something. Any tips or advice is welcome, ahhhhhhh!

What are the best (affordable is nice) boosters , did you need to use them right out of the gate? Thoughts on wipes? Do you prefer pins to snappi? Should I get more pocket? Do I need more flats and what’s your favorite kind?

Thanks in advance! I’m not getting second hand because my husband refuses the mere thought of it.

Basically the title.

We've been using pockets 3 months and only noticed the occasional bit of fluff, but this past week there's been loads. I think I must have washed something fairly new with them, after having a good look it seems the fleecey skin-facing surface of the pockets have picked up the fibres (lots of tiny specks of fluff). They then then keep transferring to my babys butt when he's wet, and it's really awkward to get off of his skin. I'm hoping it will clear up in the next few washes, but any tips to make sure it goes away as soon as possible (and prevent it from happening again)?

I am due with my first baby in a few weeks and plan on cloth diapering. I have lots of grovia all in ones I am excited to try.

I have been using fluffloveuniversity.com as a guide for cloth diapering. I bought all of my diapers used and did a bleach soak on them before washing. However, this was before I did more research and after the bleach soak when I washed, I used All free and clear liquid detergent which contains sodium cocoate.. whoops.

Going forward I plan on using Original Tide liquid detergent.

In the meantime, is there anything I should do fix my mistake? Will washing the diapers again with Tide remove any sodium cocoate I might have added by mistake or would I need to strip the diapers?

I only washed with the All free and clear one time, so I am hopping it wasn’t enough to cause any issues.

Just curious, what do people like about pocket diapers vs using inserts and a cover?

I'm using the same stash of Applecheeks pocket diapers on my second son, born in August, that I used on my first son. Same wash routine, same washer, same inserts. Kenmore Elite front load; Tide powder Line 2 on Normal wash, hot water, heavy soil then Tide powder Line 4 on Heavy wash, hot water, heavy soil.

Basically since we switched from NB Huggies to size 1 Applecheeks he's had redness all over his groin and upper thigh areas. Thinking it was the detergent, I washed with Tide Free & Gentle liquid (can't get the powder in Canada) - same rash. Tried TruEarth unscented strips (we use that on all laundry) - same rash.

For the last couple of days we've been using disposables and his skin is just nice and peachy. Should I change something with my wash routine? Try more detergents? I'll try any recommendations I can get in Canada!

I wanted to make a post for all the parents with executive dysfunction who are considering cloth diapering! I invite everyone who has tips to join in in the comments.

I have struggled with depression for years. I'm stable and have been for a while, but I get hit with bouts where getting off the couch is a struggle. When my husband told me he wanted to do cloth I was initially fully against it. Now our baby is almost two and we've been doing cloth (and loving it!) since he was 3 months old. For anyone who is on the fence or struggling, I wanted to share some tips.

- Start off with disposables, especially if this is your first baby. Getting a good fit on a tiny baby is hard, and you'll absolutely have enough on your mind. We did disposables for 3 months before switching to cloth when we had the headspace.

- There will be some trial and error at the start. We had a lot of leaks at first, before we got comfortable. Now he rarely leaks, and if he does it's not a big deal for me anymore.

- Make diaper laundry a part of your routine. I thrive on routine, so I made the washing part of it. We do cloth 4 days a week (the days our son is home), so I do a prewash every day and a main wash once a week. Laundry is my task, but if I can't do it that day I'll ask my husband to throw on a prewash.

- Buy more diapers than you need. We use pockets and I'd say we have 40-50ish diapers. We use them all in rotation, and there's usually still 10 in the drawer by the time laundry is done. That means that if I get behind on laundry, it's no big deal.

- Have disposables on hand. There will be days when you just can't do cloth. That's okay. Disposable diapers aren't evil, and if you have them in the house just in case (for emergencies or just when you're going to the zoo and you can't be bothered packing everything) it'll give you more headspace.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any more tips!

Doing a pre-wash to prep flats, plus crib sheets and some baby clothes. I decided to run a Bedding Cycle and it seemed to fill the washing with a decent amount of water and run for about 90 min. However, it will only let me go up to the 3rd out of 5 heat levels. It seems like it’s filling more than Heavy Duty cycle but that will go to the highest heat. Anyone have an opinion on if height heat or more water I should prioritize for my diaper main wash?

Just got some Alva baby pockets for Christmas and when I was looking on their site for washing directions before first use I noticed you can't bleach them. When I stripped my pre-loved cloth stash, I used bleach on an assortment of brands. Hopefully I don't have to but, if I need to strip or remove mold from diaps in the future, what would happen if I bleached the Alva's?

I recently reset my diaper stash after a year-long pause to prepare for my 4th baby soon. My stash is pocket diapers and cotton prefolds. I ran into issues with my wash routine (diapers smelled faintly of pee after washing but the diapers passed the swish test) when we moved to a different state. However, after doing some research and troubleshooting, I think I sorted it out. I want to prevent further issues, though, and would like some guidance about detergent measurements because every source I’ve checked has different advice.

I have a top-loading Samsung 4.4 cu. ft. HE washing machine and I use Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin. The bottle says to use line A for medium loads and a “full cap” for heavily soiled loads. However, I’m unsure if this “full cap” means the literal entire physical capful or if it’s referring to the top line on the load measurements inside the cap. I have been doing line 1 in the first wash, and line A in the main wash with hot water and an extra rinse on the heavy soil setting. Does anyone who uses this detergent have any guidance?

Pics here of the cup (I marked the top of each line with sharpie to make them easier to see) and my washer panel.

ETA my water is very very soft, which is why I think we ran into problems when we moved (water was harder at our old house). So I adjusted the amount of detergent I was using down a lot and I suspect I was using too little which explained the pee smell but no ammonia and clear swish test. Basically, I’m trying to figure out how much I should currently be using to avoid the same issue and also avoid buildup.

Hello! This may be a silly question, but do I need to prep pocket diapers (and covers?) the same way I need to prep inserts? Also do they need to be prepped the same way that GMD flats do where they require multiple washings or is once to clean them okay? Do inserts need to be prepped?? I’m not sure what kind they are, I like bamboo? They’re Bambino Mio. I was gifted some pocket diapers and want to make sure they’re prepped but I’ve only done research on flats lol

Pregnant, zero experience. I put flats, inserts, pins, snappies and waterproof covers on my registry. I want to give this a go to try to save money, potty train/do EC, and reduce environmental impact, in that order. If disposables end up being easier, I will go that route.

One major concern I have is that I don't know how to fold a flat diaper, but flats seem to be the cheapest (correct me if I'm wrong). Another major concern is that my husband and I are already pretty bad about keeping up with laundry. So I know that realistically we will not be doing 100% cloth diapers but I want to really give it my best shot. Here are my questions:

-what do you do with the dirty ones in between washes?

-how hard is it to put them on?

-is there anything else I need besides what I mentioned?

-do you/have you used reusable wipes and if so, how is that going? How many did you need? Did you moisten them, and with what?

-how many diapers do I need in total?

-do you have any advice/how do I set myself up for success?

I looked for a pinned post with info for beginners but didn't find one, so links to other posts are very welcome. TIA!

Should I try to find some used? I had been thinking because of cloth diapers I need to size up in bottoms, but also am not sure if I'll be using a mix of cloth and disposables (since we got some/can get from the hospital). I was trying to find an outfit for coming home from the hospital and my partner was pointing out how big everything looked.

I do have size 50 ruskovilla pants so packed those to wear with a top, then tried to find a smaller 0-3 mo.

TL;DR: Nora’s Nursery, Mama Koala, or AlvaBaby 2.0?

We’ve been in OS pockets for a week and I know I want to use these long term, so now to decide what brand to invest in.

Baby is 3 months, 14lbs, long and thin. Currently in Nora’s Nursery pockets. The only thing I don’t like is how hard it is to get the insert and liner to not poke out the top and leak at the belly (smallest rise setting, so I know that’s part of our problem).

I want to invest, and I’m most interested in fit and quality/longevity of the diapers. I will be buying natural fiber inserts for better absorbency whenever that becomes an issue.

Let me know what your opinions are between Nora, Alva, and Mama Koala!

Has anyone else found that econaps don't fit baby bigger than 10kgs? As soon as my LO hit the 10kg mark they're just not big enough for her anymore.

It's so frustrating because she's only 9 months old and we made a significant investment getting set up with Econaps.

All advice appreciated.

Thanks

Do I change the bamboo liners, inserts and the diaper cover itself or just the inserts and liner?

Edit: he’s 3 weeks old btw

I’m 31 weeks pregnant with our first baby. I was a 9 pound baby and my husband was 8 pounds so we’re imagining baby is going be on the larger size. We’re on a budget so I’ve not gotten many things new. I opted for primarily flats since our washer is very small, plus I like the multipurpose usage. Hopefully they work okay!! Please let me know if it looks like I’m missing anything! Also positive vibes would be great as our entire family thinks my husband and I are insane for doing cloth diapering 😂

6 newborn workhorses used

6 newborn muslin flats used

6 newborn muslin flats new

5 newborn rumparooz covers

7 size small workhorses size small used

12 prefolds size small used (these are in rough shape but I figure the wear shouldn’t affect absorbency??)

6 muslin flats new

6 Birds Eye flats new

6 stretchy flats used

4 one size rumaparooz covers used

4 mix of covers roughly the size of the rumparooz all used

12 muslin wipes new

12 terry cloth wipes new (clotheez)

24 microfiber wipes new (grovia)

7 snappis

1 set of old school pins

1 big wet bag for at home

1 small wet bag for in the go

1 spray bottle

Ps sorry if formatting is off. I tried to edit.

I don’t have my baby yet (4 more weeks!!) but I’m planning on using GMD flats and thirsties duo covers. Here’s the thing: I really don’t love their cover prints. I want some pastel, plain colors so navy and white are fine, but salmon, Maui, and opal are all too bright in my opinion. Are there covers that work as well (I’ve just heard they work incredibly well for catching wayward poops) but have cuter colors? I LOCE the Esembly colors, but they’re only single gusset but also I’m unsure of how much that matters! Hit me with your recommendations!

I've just started with CD as a first time mom. I have Nora's Nursery pocket diapers with bamboo inserts. My little guy seems fine with them during the day, but he wore one overnight (from about 8pm-5am) and his skin got extremely irritated! Does anyone have tips for preventing this? Would doing 2 inserts help keep him more dry and prevent rashes? I've currently been doing cloth during the day and disposables at night when he goes longer stretches without being changed. It's working okay, but I'd rather do cloth at night, too! I'd appreciate any suggestions:)

I’m just getting started with cloth diapering my 11 month old and I wanted to see which detergent you guys recommended for washing? I just wasn’t sure which one to choose or what would be best

I started using cloths when my lo was about 4-5 months old. I've been using the well known AlvaBaby brand a long with Weegreco and both brands were bought through Amazon. Recently I've been noticing a smell from the diapers even after I've washed them. They are microfiber inserts (I am aware they are not a favorite amongst the community which I am now understanding why) and I believe it's time that I make the switch to cotton. I have a good amount of muslin receiving blankets and cotton burp cloths that I don't use much if at all. Could I get away with using the blankets? I don't want to have to spend money if it's not absolutely necessary. There's been quite a bit of a learning curve cloth diapering as this is my first. I also have some cotton bed sheets that I no longer use and am wondering, could I use them as well?

Any tips, advice, and suggestions will be greatly appreciated! ☺️