Getting Started with Cloth Diapers

Updated October, 2021

I always knew that I would use cloth diapers when I had a baby. As I’ve said many times before, sustainability and supporting the environment are really important to me. So using cloth diapers was a no brainier. Additionally, for those of us that are fiscally minded, they are so much cheaper than buying disposable diapers. This is my guide to cloth diapers for beginners.

Types of Diapers

There are two common types of diapers that you can buy these days. The prefold and the insert. We have a few of each and I’ll give you my opinions on both.

Prefold

One option is to purchase prefolds and plain shells. Prefolds require some basic folding to be successful. Honestly, once you know a few folds, this is not a huge inconvenience. My partner and I both fold differently because we each have a fold we prefer. As long as the butt is covered, it really doesn’t matter what the fold is. The nice thing about the prefolds is that, barring a blow out or a super wet diaper, the shells can be used a few times before washing, meaning you don’t have to own as many shells. I also recently learned that even if you decide to go the disposable diaper route, using prefold shells can help with blow outs if your baby has them often!

Inserts

Inserts are nice because they closely mimic disposable diapers. You slide the insert into the shell pocket and put the diaper on. That’s it. No folding necessary. Once they are used, both the shell and the insert have to be washed, so you toss them in your diaper pail together as well. The downfall of inserts is that you can only use the shell once. So you have to own enough shells to get you through whatever period of time you want to go before washing them.

Diaper Folds

There are probably a lot of different ways to fold your diapers. However, there are two particular fold that we’ve used. I was a big fan of the twist for awhile, but as the kids got older I felt the newspaper fold fit better and caught everything more consistently. Regardless of which fold you use, you want to be sure all the cloth is tucked completely into the shell and that the shell is snug around your child’s legs and waist.

The Twist

To do the twist, you slide the diaper flat under their bottoms. With a twist in the middle, you match the corners together again and secure with a boingo or a snappy.

The Newspaper

The newspaper starts out the same way, by sliding the diaper under their butt. Then you fold each side starting at the corner in order to make an angle. This results in the width in the front of the fold being thinner than in the back. Again, you are going to secure the corners with either a boingo or a snappy.

Washing and Drying

So now you have your brand new cloth diapers, how do you keep them looking new? You will want to find a system of washing that works for you and that you are comfortable with. If the idea of putting your child’s diapers in the same washer that you put your clothes in makes you cringe, then find a different washing method. There are a lot of solutions out there. I highly suggest you line dry your diapers in the sun also, to keep them looking white and clean a lot longer.

The Accessories

Where would we be without accessories to keep it all together (literally)? These are some of the accessories for cloth diapering that I used the most.

Snappi

The snappi is the replacement of old fashioned safety pins. It has little teeth that easily hook into the fabric and hold the cloth in place. We have three snappies and we just rotate through them during the day.

Boingo

We also invested in a few boingos. Ever so slightly different from snappies, they are two separate pieces and don’t have teeth that catch the middle of the diaper. They are great for a growing baby. I liked them because they come it different colors and shapes. Not that anyone other than me cares. I would say you only need either snappis or boingos, but you probably don’t need both.

Travel Bag

A diaper bag for cloth diapers has to have water proof lining. We bought a simple two pouch bag. One pouch is regular material and the other has the liner in it. Cloth diapers have one downfall, and it is that when you are out and about, as you go through them, you don’t have any less to carry around. One of the perks of this bag also (over just a plastic bag for example) is odor containment. It zips up nicely and you can’t even tell you have dirty diapers in it.

Wipes

We purchased cloth wipes to go along with our diapers. This actually ended up being more important to us than the diapers. Some wipes were too thin and had holes in them by three months. This was very disappointing to us. Of our wipes, we ended up buying Babygoal bamboo baby wipes. They were a good size, soft, and thick enough that we didn’t have to worry about holes forming.

Wipe Bag

We also had two wipe bags gifted to us, and I would definitely encourage keeping one or two. Some people prefer the hard wipe containers, which seems more important for disposable wipes to hold their shape in. But we had a wipe bag for travel and one for next to the changing table. Our solution for wipes was just plain water (Monster had some sensitive reactions to disposable wipes with solution when they were really small). We can get a few wet and stick them in the wipe bag and they will stay wet for a few days. This was helpful when we forgot to get wipes wet before taking Monster’s diaper off.

Liners

The one item we have that is disposable are the liners. We inherited a few liners that you put in the diapers once your child is older. This is to give you something to throw away when they start eating solids and their poop goes from liquid to not so liquid. Removing poop from the diapers when they are older is important because it will dissolve less and can thus clog up your washer or whatever machine you are using.

Diaper Cream

Don’t use standard diaper cream with cloth diapers! Most diaper creams work by creating a water proof layer over your child’s butt. If the cream transfers to your cloth diapers, it will create a water proof layer over the diaper. This completely defeats the point of a cloth diaper. Instead, I encourage the use of coconut oil. It is neutral, easy to use, and multi-purpose. Most importantly, it won’t ruin your diapers.

Swim Diaper

I love swimming and thus, so does my child. We go swimming pretty often. Well you can’t swim in a regular cloth diaper because your baby will sink. Plus, if you are at a public pool, they require a swim diaper. Thankfully, the world of cloth diapers has thought of everything and cloth swim diapers are a thing.

Emergency Disposables

I will warn you that we have used some disposables. When Monster was a brand new baby, we were warned that meconium would stick to our cloth diapers and ruin them. So we used preemie (Newborn were too big and irritated their umbilical cord) diapers until Monster’s bowl movements evened out. Additionally, while we were still getting used to cloth diapers, we would bring disposables for day or weekend trips. Now we pack everything in and out and it isn’t a hassle, but it was nice to have a few newborn and size 1s to get us started.