Do I need a wetbag for cloth diapers?

Many people consider wetbags a must-have when it comes to cloth diapering, but is that really what they are?

I personally feel that wetbags are a convenience item rather than a must have, you could always store your dirty cloth diapers in a plastic bag or a basket instead of a wetbag.

While you don’t need a wetbag for your cloth diapers, they are extremely nice to have, they are great for travel and keeping your cloth diaper changing supplies organized.

Wetbags also typically come in at least most of the prints that a brand offers in it’s cloth diapers, so if you really, really love a certain print you could always get it in a wetbag to! :).

If you want to learn more about cloth diapering check out my article ” Are cloth diapers zero waste?”

What is a wetbag?

A wetbag is a water-resistant zippered bag that is used to store dirty cloth diapers.

This is especially important when you are out and about and really don’t want to put a dirty diaper straight into your diaper bag.

Wetbags come in many different sizes.

Some are only meant to fit 1 or 2 cloth diapers, while others are meant to fit 15 to 20 cloth diapers.

The most common size that I see fits about 4-6 dirty cloth diapers.

Some wetbags are meant to hang from something like a towel bar in the bathroom, others just have a snapping loop so that it can be attached to the stroller or diaper bag.

What is a wet/dry bag?

My personal favorite type of wetbag is a wet/dry bag, a wet/dry bag is pretty much exactly like a wetbag except it has an extra pocket.

A normal wetbag has 1 compartment that has a water-resistant lining, but a wet/dry bag has a second compartment that does not have the water-resistant lining.

This second compartment is called the ” dry pocket”, the dry pocket is there for you to keep the clean cloth diapers in, then when they are dirty you just move them into the ” wet pocket”.

I absolutely love wet/dry bags for any kind of travel, whether it be just running errands, going on a day trip or going somewhere overnight, wet/dry bags are just awesome.

I have 3 medium wet/dry bags (1 for each kid), 2 from Planet Wise and 1 from Thirsties.

The Thirsties wet/dry bag is my favorite, the Thirsties wet/dry bag has a lot more stretch to it, making it a lot easier to get dirty diapers into the wet pocket while the dry pocket is still mostly full.

The dry pocket is especially stretchy on the Thirsties wet/dry bag, so you don’t really have to worry to much about putting your cloth diaper in the dry pocket a certain way.

Wet/dry bags also help keep you organized.

All of my son’s cloth diapers and cloth wipes for the day can be put into his wet/dry bag and off we go.

Then when I go to change him, all the things I need will be there, without me having to bring several bags to wherever I’m going to change him.

You can also use a wet/dry bag as a purse.

If you’re going into town for something, just put a few cloth diapers, some cloth wipes, your wallet and maybe even some extra clothes into the dry pocket and you’re good to go.

What is a pail liner?

Diaper pail liners are my favorite way to store dirty cloth diapers at home.

I just have a trash can and I put the pail liner in just like you would a trash bag, then I stick it in my bathtub so that it’s right next to the toilet when I have to spray out a poopy diaper.

I currently have 3 pail liners, 2 from Thirsties and 1 from Planet Wise, the Planet Wise pail liner works okay but I’m pretty sure it’s starting to delaminate (water-resistant layer is coming off).

However, the Planet Wise pail liner is around 3 years old, so I feel it’s had a pretty good run.

The Thirsties pail liners are my favorite, while I haven’t had them as long, they right off the bat seem to be much more heavy duty.

With thicker PUL, sturdier elastic around the opening, nicer stitching and the Thirsties pail liners even have a little loop that you can wrap around the opening of the pail liner and snap if you want to close the opening.

I personally have never used the snapping loop since I use my pail liners in a trash can, and then only take them out of the trash can to wash.

But if I were to go on a trip for a few days and needed a place to store a lot of dirty cloth diapers I would totally just bring my Thirsties pail liners and us that snapping loop to keep everything inside the pail liner.

How many wetbags do I need?

I would recommend 1 medium wet/dry bag per kid in cloth diapers for running errands and travel.

But if you would be using it every single day or you aren’t comfortable with only washing it after a few uses or if it gets poop on it, then you might want more like 2 or 3.

Then I would suggest buying at least 2-3 either large wetbags/ large wet/dry bags/ pail liners depending on how you want to store your dirty cloth diapers at home.

Keep in mind this is 2-3 large wetbags/ large wet/dry bags/ pail liners per area that you want to store dirty cloth diapers.

So, if you are going to have a diaper pail upstairs in the nursery and one downstairs in the living room then you would probably want

2-3 large wetbags/ large wet/dry bags/ pail liners x 2 changing areas = 4-6 large wetbags/ large wet/dry bags/ pail liners total.

Using 1 wetbag/ wet/dry bag/ pail liner or even 1 cloth diaper too often will cause it to wear out much quicker, so it’s better to be able to rotate between a few.

If you want to learn more about cloth diapers check out my article ” How many cloth diapers do I need?”

Resources

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) through qualifying purchases made through those links.

* Indicates an affiliate link.

Link to Thirsties wet/dry bag at greenmountaindiapers.com

Link to planet wise wet/dry bag at clothdiaper.com *

Link to Thirsties pail liner at greenmountaindiapers.com

Link to planet wise pail liner at clothdiaper.com *

Link to large planet wise hanging wet/dry bag at clothdiaper.com *