In honor of Earth Day, I thought I’d share our favorite cloth diapers and accessories. I was first introduced to cloth diapers when I was a nanny, as I cared for a few children that exclusively cloth diapered. With my current baby I decided to cloth diaper due to her eczema, wanting greater ingredient/fabric control and a desire to reduce our waste (just one baby using 6 diapers a day amounts to 2190 diapers in a landfill per year). The majority of our cloth diaper stash consists of Esembly diapers. This is a two part system. It contains an organic cloth fitted snap "inner" which is then covered by the snap "outter". I have found this system super easy to learn, use, and wash. It's also been an easy learning curve for other caregivers/nannies to use as well. Esembly collaborates with artists and releases beautiful prints each season. As a floral lover, I couldn't resist getting an outter in the newest release, a gorgeous hand-painted print by Sara Boccaccini Meadows. Now is a great time to purchase from Esembly, as they’re having their biggest sale of the year, offering 25-30-% off sitewide.
The rest of our cloth diaper stash consists of AIO (all in one's)/AI2's (all in two's). I like these for on the go! Our favorites: Petite Crown: Trima, see it here, Smart Bottoms: Smart One 3.1, see it here and Blueberry: Side Snap Simplex in Organic Cotton, see it here. There are so many amazing brands and types of cloth diapers at different price points. I encourage you to try cloth diapering and find a system that works for you. The great thing about cloth diapers is once you buy them, you're set for your diaper journey. The intitial investment is less than the cost of a year of disposables (and much less than what you'd spend from newborn - toilet training). They also can be reused for your next baby, passed along to someone else, or sold (there's a great used diaper market). For wipes, I use cloth wipes (baby wash cloths) with water. For messy clean ups, I use Honest dry wipes or Water Wipes. The storage system that works well for us is a small open basket (lined with a cloth diaper liner) placed underneath the laundry room utility sink. Having air flow/an open basket helps keep any smells away.
I make our own diaper creams/lotions. It's much easier than it seems, and is very cost effective! For lotion: whipped tallow butter. In a pot, melt down some organic beef tallow. Let cool completely then either add to stand mixer or use a hand mixer. Whip on high until tallow turns white and fluffy. You can also add essential oils if you like (I omit). Store in mason jars. For diaper rash cream: coconut oil mixed with zinc oxide. Just melt down some coconut oil, stir in the zinc oxide powder. Mix well then pour into little glass mason jars to store.
Our wash routine:
(note this may differ for you depending on water softness, laundry detergent, etc.)
Add diapers, laundry basket liner and agitators (optional, but I use since our machine doesn't have an agitator) to washing machine.
Wash on a warm, regular cycle, with detergent.
Once complete, wash on hot, heavy duty, with detergent.
Hang to dry or dry on low heat.
I like to hang to dry outside when sunny, as the sun does wonders to remove stains.
My favorite cloth diapering accessories:
Travel wet bags
My favorite diaper caddy is this large one from Gathre.
The “bum brush” (for spreading on diaper creams).
For hanging diapers to dry, I like this drying rack.
Here is the “laundry” basket we use.
Here are the cloth liners for the basket.
Honest dry wipes
Water Wipes
Baby wash cloths
Disposable liners
PS: The best "hack" I did with our most recent baby was setting up a little diaper change area in our laundry room downstairs. I leave this padded mat on top of the dryer with a small diaper caddy. This make for super convenient changes, as it's close to the laundry basket and the "table" is nice and high.
Some other things we regularly do to take care of our earth:
Pick up litter along a road.
Utilize paper free household products (ex. dish cloths, paper napkins and washable towels in lieu of paper towels).
Utilize reusable foods container (ex. stasher bags, stainless steel lunch boxes, mason jars)
Utilize reusable shopping bags
Buy in bulk/package free and store in mason jars
Hang dry clothes
Compost/grow a veggie garden
Utilize thrift store/second hand items and clothing
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