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Pune/ India -> Irvine/ CA -> Boulder/ CO -> Pasadena/CA
Welcome to my blog! I'm Hrishi from Pune, India. I am an earth system scientist currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These blogs are mostly about my travels, landscape photography, scientific computing, book and film reviews, fitness, cooking, and science communication. Feel free to navigate based on the labels below. My website: hrishikeshac.wix.com/hchandan

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Friday, February 12, 2021

Cloth diapering

 Juhi and I became new parents (yay!) last November, and we have been cloth diapering Neel since he was one week old. Here's my recommendations, our current stash, and a short primer on cloth diapering for quick reference.

There are many options with cloth diapering (CD'ing), and it takes some experimentation to figure out which works best for you. Hence, it is better to buy only a few/ minimum quantities of different types rather than investing too much into a single type. There are countless brands available including some great local shops and small businesses; I am listing some of the larger, more known ones. I would recommend getting the following, and using them in tandem with disposable diapers to start with. We used disposables for about a week (including the hospital stay) and then took about 2 weeks to completely transition to cloth diapers, after experimenting with 3-4 types:

Inserts:
- 12x flats. https://www.amazon.com/OsoCozy-Pack-Birdseye-Unbleached-Diapers/dp/B004GTLRY4/ . Even if you don't end up CD'ing, these are quite versatile. Unbleached inserts are preferred to bleached ones because they retain natural oils in the fabric, which is good for the baby's skin. 
- 12x prefolds. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AJHDQW/. These are an alternative to flats, but also useful in themselves, so I think it's totally worth getting these straightaway. 

Covers:
- 1-4x diaper covers. Thirsties Size 1 cover: https://www.amazon.com/Thirsties-Cloth-Diaper-Closure-Woodland/dp/B017S7D4KA/ . A single cover is enough to try out the size/ fit/ usability. Depending on how the insert is used with it, it can be reused a couple of times, so you don't need a new one for each diaper change. 
- 6x cheap pocket diapers in NB size: https://www.amazon.com/ALVABABY-Newborn-Diapers-12pounds-Inserts/dp/B00QK7PPL6/ . We didn't do pocket diapers until a few weeks back, but Juhi prefers these to insert + cover type, esp at night. Looking back we should have definitely tried these in NB size. These come with microfiber inserts, but use the flats/ prefolds instead. 

Extras:
- Wet bag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BC8XSQY/ . Doubles as a great wet bag for swimming, gym etc, in case CD doesn't work out. 

Optional:
- 3x Snappi https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017S9QONW/. These can be used to pin the flats/ prefolds to the baby and then put the cover on. This way, the chances of the poop getting trapped increase and the covers can be reused the next time (up to ~ 3 times after which it's a good practice to put them to wash as well, even if they are not soiled) . However, snappies are not needed if the flats/ prefolds are folded in a 'pad fold'. Also not needed when pocket diapers are used (inside which the flats/ prefolds go as pad folds). 

Laundry:
Breastfed poop is completely water soluble, so it's just a matter of dumping the contents of the diaper bag into the washer, doing a couple of washes with strong detergents. There are many 'wash routines' available and they get complicated quite fast. I just do a simple one: 
- 1st long cycle of cold water with no detergents. This is just to rinse them. 
- Then I do a long cycle of hot/ warm water with normal detergent and Oxyclean stain remover (I am still experimenting with stain removers, this is the first one I got and is decent so far).
Drying: flats dry fast, prefolds a bit slower, and hemps take the most time. I just do a couple of long drying cycles. But if you have access to hang drying in the sun, that is the best, and a natural stain remover!

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Our current diaper stash (for reference):
30x wipes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000138GNY. If you end up CD'ing, it's a no-brainer to get cloth wipes. These are awesome and Neel loves them. He used to hate the touch of wet disposable wipes for some reason. 
1x mini spray bottle with water (for wiping)
2x Pail liners: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IZULWCC/ . These take enough diapers to have laundry every other day. Sometimes, we use the wet bag as well if there's too much laundry. 

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Below is a short primer on cloth diapering, based on my experience. There are many comprehensive resources, and I found https://clothdiapersforbeginners.com/ to be quite useful. They also have an active facebook group which I love. 

All cloth diapers (CD) have two components: an insert for absorbing, and a waterproof-yet-breathable cover for keeping in the wetness. The types below are just different ways these components are arranged together. 

There are CDs called All-in-One (AIO) where both of the above components are sewn together. AIOs are the easiest and have effectively the same workflow as disposable diapers. But AIOs are not that popular because the type of insert and material is fixed. Since each baby is different, parents like to have the option of choosing the insert and the cover separately. Hence, I will also suggest not using AIOs. 

There are also 'All-In-Twos' or 'hybrids' but haven't read much about them, so can't really comment much. 

The second easiest-to-use CDs are pocket diapers, and these are the most commonly used CDs. They are a cover with an attached pocket to stow inserts of your choice. I would recommend starting with these. We got Mama Koala to try out and they have worked well. Another popular yet cheap brand is Alvababy. We recently got theirs as well and they work well. These are made in china. There are MANY local Made in the US businesses. Among large-scale produced Made in the USA diapers, Thirsties are great. Since pocket diapers will get dirty entirely, for laundry every other day, I would recommend having about 24-30. This makes Thirsties quite expensive. In terms of size, almost all of these come in a One Size which actually fits from 8lb onwards. So, not many options in newborn size. I do know that Alvababy makes pocket diapers in NB size (https://www.amazon.com/ALVABABY-Newborn-Diapers-12pounds-Inserts/dp/B00QK7PPL6/). Most pocket diapers come with microfiber inserts. These are NOT good. Most parents use them for non-diapering purposes (wipes/ garage use etc). I will talk about inserts shortly. 

The third type of CDing is to get inserts and covers separately. Either the insert is first 'fitted' onto the baby by Snappies and then the cover is put on, or it is placed like a pad on the cover and the cover is put on. Covers + inserts is what we use primarily. We got 8x THirsties covers in Size 1, which fits newborn (6lb) through ~18 lb. We also got one from Rumparooz, but it has a logo stitched into it from which it leaks if it gets too wet.  
Thirsties covers come in two types: hold and fast velcro type attachments (similar to disposable diapers) or with snap buttons. Do not get the velcro ones- they don't last long. Snap buttons are great. 

Inserts:
Whether you will do pocket diapers or covers + inserts, you will need to get inserts. There are three main types: flats, prefolds, and pads. 

Flats are what have been traditionally used for centuries. They are just a long square piece of cloth. They dry fast and size wise, they last for the entire diapering experience. They can be attached to the baby via snappies, or padfolded. In short, they are super versatile. The only hassle is to fold them after drying. But it's just one quarter fold, literally. We got 24x Osocozy unbleached flats. Unbleached vs bleached: unbleached ones still have natural oils on them which is better for baby skin. There are some generic flats called 'flour sack towels' (FSTs). We got 12x of those (https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Kitchen-Flour-Towels-Cotton/dp/B00XK69NRW/) and they work well, as well. The unbleached Osocozy are a bit softer and slightly smaller. They may have more moisture holding capacity than the FSTs, but we didn't find any glaring difference. 

Prefolds are the most popular inserts. Essentially, they are stitched flats, which saves folding time. Their center has more layers (8), thus making it more absorbent than the sides (4 layers). They take longer to dry, and come in fitted sizes, hence the baby would outgrow them at least once. We got 12x of Osocozy Unbleached. We later realized that they also come in 'better fit' sizes. So we got 12x of those as well. They fitted Neel better as padfolds, but he has now outgrown them despite being only 13lb. whereas we still use the normal prefolds that I linked. 

Hemp Pads: Initially, the prefolds or the flats suffice as inserts. However, as the baby starts sleeping longer without diaper changes, it is tempting to add a 'booster' to the flats/ prefolds. This is where these pads come in. Hemp has great absorption capacity, but is slow to absorb. That problem is solved if you put a faster absorbing insert such as cotton over it. We exclusively use Thirsties hemp inserts wrapped in flats (mostly in pocket diapers) for night-time use.

All the best!!
Hrishi
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