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Since we have lots of people here who have cloth diapered, and DrBandMe is researching, I thought we could put all our knowledge in one place.
The first thing you'll want to choose is which type of cloth diapers you want. There are some trial services that send you a package of several types to see what works for you and your baby. Quickly googling, this is what came up first: http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/produ.../tryclothfor10. You put a deposit on the diapers, then they ship them to you to try, and you return what you don't like for credit. What will go into your decision is mostly cost vs. convenience. If you're looking for the cheapest option, prefolds with a separate cover are best. That's what I used since we were in residency. If you're looking for more convenience, you can go from covers that you pre-stuff to all-in-ones, which work almost exactly like disposable diapers, but you just wash them after using.
I only ever tried pre-folds, so that's what I'll write about. If someone else can chime in about the other kinds, that'd be awesome.
What you need to get started with prefolds:
- 12-24 prefold diapers. Newborns will go through 8-10 diapers a day, so just decide how much laundry you want to do. I'd start out with 12 until you decide for sure if you want to cloth diaper.
- 4-6 covers. You can re-use these from diaper change to diaper change, but I usually started with a fresh one each day. They'll also get poop on them, and if you have a heavy wetter, you'll want to change covers if the hems feel wet.
- Diaper pail. I used a kitchen trash can with a swinging lid.
- 2 diaper pail liners. These are sold where cloth diapers are sold, and they fit the kitchen trash can. Get 2 so you can have a liner in the pail while you're washing the other.
- 3-6 Snappis. These are what you want to use instead of safety pins. 1 million times easier!
- Diaper sprayer or spatula. If you continue to cloth diaper, absolutely get a diaper sprayer, but if you're on the fence, you can use a spatula to scrape off the poop into the toilet, swish the spatula in the water, and put it in your toilet brush stand. Be sure to mark it clearly as a bathroom spatula!
A diaper sprayer is like a kitchen sink sprayer that attaches to the back of your toilet. You use it to spray the poop off the diaper into the toilet.
- Laundry detergent. Don't use your regular detergent or fabric softener on your cloth diapers. You need a clean-rinsing formula. I loved Rockin' Green (found on Amazon), and I have friends who swear by Charlie's Soap.
- 24 (or more) cloth wipes. These aren't necessary, but since I was cloth diapering, it was super easy to do wipes, too. I pre-wet them with a mixture of water and Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion and kept them in a wipe warmer on the changing table. Get these later if you decide you want to continue cloth diapering.
- Fleece liners. Get these later, too, if needed. My son would freak out when he peed in his cloth diaper. These help them feel dry.
I bought everything except the diaper pail/trash can at Green Mountain Diapers. They have a lot of great information on their site. This is a great place to start: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/newmom.html.
I skipped the newborn sizes to save money, so I just used disposables until they got to about 10 lbs. I had chunky babies, so that didn't take long.
My laundry routine worked like this. When I was running low, I would take the pail liner filled with diapers and wipes to the washing machine and pour them all in, then put the pail liner in the wash, too. I would start with running a cold rinse cycle. When that finished, I added 2 scoops of Rockin' Green and ran a hot cycle with an extra rinse cycle at the end. Then I dried them in the dryer with 1.5 cycles on low heat. Don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets because it will make them less absorbent. After that, I would put all the diapers back into the liner and carry them to the kid's room, where I would sort and fold them.
When their wipes were running low, I would fill up a little bowl I kept there in the room with some warm water and squirt some Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion into the bowl. I would put all the wipes in there and swish them around, then wring them out a little and put them into the wipe warmer. I used these 2-sided wipes because I liked the soft side for just pee and the terry side for getting off the poop. They fit into my warmer without folding. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/...ded-wipes.html
That's all I can think of for now. I'll sure I'll come back later and add to it!
The first thing you'll want to choose is which type of cloth diapers you want. There are some trial services that send you a package of several types to see what works for you and your baby. Quickly googling, this is what came up first: http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/produ.../tryclothfor10. You put a deposit on the diapers, then they ship them to you to try, and you return what you don't like for credit. What will go into your decision is mostly cost vs. convenience. If you're looking for the cheapest option, prefolds with a separate cover are best. That's what I used since we were in residency. If you're looking for more convenience, you can go from covers that you pre-stuff to all-in-ones, which work almost exactly like disposable diapers, but you just wash them after using.
I only ever tried pre-folds, so that's what I'll write about. If someone else can chime in about the other kinds, that'd be awesome.
What you need to get started with prefolds:
- 12-24 prefold diapers. Newborns will go through 8-10 diapers a day, so just decide how much laundry you want to do. I'd start out with 12 until you decide for sure if you want to cloth diaper.
- 4-6 covers. You can re-use these from diaper change to diaper change, but I usually started with a fresh one each day. They'll also get poop on them, and if you have a heavy wetter, you'll want to change covers if the hems feel wet.
- Diaper pail. I used a kitchen trash can with a swinging lid.
- 2 diaper pail liners. These are sold where cloth diapers are sold, and they fit the kitchen trash can. Get 2 so you can have a liner in the pail while you're washing the other.
- 3-6 Snappis. These are what you want to use instead of safety pins. 1 million times easier!
- Diaper sprayer or spatula. If you continue to cloth diaper, absolutely get a diaper sprayer, but if you're on the fence, you can use a spatula to scrape off the poop into the toilet, swish the spatula in the water, and put it in your toilet brush stand. Be sure to mark it clearly as a bathroom spatula!
A diaper sprayer is like a kitchen sink sprayer that attaches to the back of your toilet. You use it to spray the poop off the diaper into the toilet.- Laundry detergent. Don't use your regular detergent or fabric softener on your cloth diapers. You need a clean-rinsing formula. I loved Rockin' Green (found on Amazon), and I have friends who swear by Charlie's Soap.
- 24 (or more) cloth wipes. These aren't necessary, but since I was cloth diapering, it was super easy to do wipes, too. I pre-wet them with a mixture of water and Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion and kept them in a wipe warmer on the changing table. Get these later if you decide you want to continue cloth diapering.
- Fleece liners. Get these later, too, if needed. My son would freak out when he peed in his cloth diaper. These help them feel dry.
I bought everything except the diaper pail/trash can at Green Mountain Diapers. They have a lot of great information on their site. This is a great place to start: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/newmom.html.
I skipped the newborn sizes to save money, so I just used disposables until they got to about 10 lbs. I had chunky babies, so that didn't take long.
My laundry routine worked like this. When I was running low, I would take the pail liner filled with diapers and wipes to the washing machine and pour them all in, then put the pail liner in the wash, too. I would start with running a cold rinse cycle. When that finished, I added 2 scoops of Rockin' Green and ran a hot cycle with an extra rinse cycle at the end. Then I dried them in the dryer with 1.5 cycles on low heat. Don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets because it will make them less absorbent. After that, I would put all the diapers back into the liner and carry them to the kid's room, where I would sort and fold them.
When their wipes were running low, I would fill up a little bowl I kept there in the room with some warm water and squirt some Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion into the bowl. I would put all the wipes in there and swish them around, then wring them out a little and put them into the wipe warmer. I used these 2-sided wipes because I liked the soft side for just pee and the terry side for getting off the poop. They fit into my warmer without folding. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/...ded-wipes.html
That's all I can think of for now. I'll sure I'll come back later and add to it!
Our apartment had a mini washer and dryer that were awful and I couldn't keep up. 
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