Are cloth diaper liners necessary? Overview of fleece & disposable liners

One of the first things I did after I bought my first cloth diapers was go to Walmart and buy a yard of microfleece to make liners for all my cloth diapers.

While cloth diaper liners are not necessary, they do come in handy sometimes, disposable liners for when you are using a non-cloth diaper safe diaper cream, and fleece when you want to add a stay-dry layer.

So, having some cloth diaper liners on hand just in case probably isn’t a bad idea, but deciding on reusable fleece liners or disposable and then which brand can be confusing.

If you want to learn more about cloth diapers check out my article ” Where do cloth diapers come from? History & where to find them”

Are cloth diaper liners flushable?

A few brands of cloth diaper liners claim to be flushable but the vast majority of them are not.

Many brands of both “flushable” wet wipes and “flushable” cloth diaper liners don’t breakdown as the manufacturer implies they do.

They then end up building up in rivers and sewers causing blockages that are a hazard to fish and other wildlife.

Some brands use the term “biodegradable” to ease concerns over whether or not these products are safe to be flushed.

However, literally everything is biodegradable, cardboard is biodegradable, sweatpants are biodegradable, your car is biodegradable, you are biodegradable.

Now if they said something like “will completely biodegrade in 6 months” that would be a different story, but I have yet to see a disposable cloth diaper liner brand say that.

Are cloth diaper liners reusable?

Disposable cloth diaper liners

Some disposable cloth diaper liners are tough enough to go through the washing machine and the dryer and still be perfectly fine.

Others will breakdown in the wash and will basically end up looking like lint all over your cloth diapers.

So basically, the liners that come out of the wash looking fine you can reuse, and the ones that turn into lint you cannot reuse.

Another factor is whether or not the liner had poop on it.

I personally don’t use cloth diaper liners so I can’t say for sure but typically the entire purpose of a cloth diaper liner is so you can just throw away the poopy liner.

Most people either throw away all the used liners or they will wash and reuse the ones that just had pee on them.

Reusable fleece cloth diaper liners

fleece cloth diaper liners or stay-dry liners are made to be washed and reused.

They are used to add a stay-dry layer to natural fiber cloth diapers that would not be stay-dry on their own.

Or to make poop clean up easier and lessen the risk of staining by catching the poop on the fleece which is easier to clean off.

Many people make their own fleece/ stay-dry liners by just buying microfleece at the craft store or buying a fleece blanket and cutting it up into long rectangles

What are cloth diaper liners made of?

A lot of disposable cloth diaper liners are made from bamboo and look like dryer sheets.

The most popular brands of disposable cloth diaper liners are

• Grovia bioliners
• Tots Bots disposable nappy liners
• Osocozy
• Esembly Tossers

Grovia bioliners

Grovia bioliners are made from 100% Ingeo PLA which is the name of a range of polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymers, which is basically a plastic made from corn mixed with either wool or cotton.

Ingeo PLA is probably the most eco-friendly plastic out there.

The manufacturing process produces far less greenhouse emissions than regular plastic and as it breaks down it doesn’t leach anything harmful into the environment.

They are made in China, are chlorine, fragrance and dye free and are $12.95 for a roll of 200 on the natural baby company website

Tots Bots disposable nappy liners

Tots Bots disposable nappy liners are made from 100% cellulose fibers.

Cellulose is made from certain organic compounds in the bark, wood or leaves of plants (typically bamboo).

The cellulose fiber in the Tots Bots liners is super soft and comfy for little butts.

The Tots Bots disposable nappy liners are 2.99 in British pounds ($4.01 usd) for a roll of 100 on the Tots Bots website.

Osocozy diaper liners

Osocozy “flushable” diaper liners are made of 100% viscose rayon which is typically made from bamboo but I couldn’t find anything that specifies what kind of viscose rayon this is.

Osocozy diaper liners are $8.00 for 100 on Amazon.

Esembly Tossers

Esemby Tossers are made from 100% bamboo viscose.

The word ” Viscose” means it is a type of fabric made from wood pulp, in this case that “wood” would be bamboo (bamboo is technically a grass).

They are $9.99 for a roll of 100 at target, are chlorine and fragrance free and have very good reviews on the Target website.

Reusable cloth diaper liners

A few cloth diaper brands do sell reusable cloth diaper liners

• Kanga care
• Tot Bots
• bambino mio

The reusable cloth diaper liners are made from fleece and are all around $10.00

Resources

Grovia bioliners at naturalbabycompany.com

Tots Bots nappy liners at totsbots.com

Osocozy diaper liners on Amazon.com

Esembly Tossers at Target.com

really good article on Ingeo PLA at goinggreenservices.com

Kanga care reusable cloth diaper liners at Amazon.com

Tots Bots reusable nappy liners at totsbots.com

bambino mio reusable cloth diaper liners at Amazon.com