How do cloth diapers work?
Cloth diapers seemed so confusing to me when I first started looking into them 3 years ago, but after I did some research I realized that cloth diapers are actually pretty basic.
The cloth part of cloth diapers absorbs pee, while the outer water resistant layer and elastics around the legs and along the back help keep both pee and poop inside the cloth diaper.
The vast majority of cloth diapers are made up of different variations of the same basic elements.
How does a cloth diaper work?
Absorbency
The “Cloth” in cloth diapers is usually either Cotton, Bamboo, Hemp or microfiber.
These materials absorb baby’s pee, some materials absorb more than others.
| Material | Absorbency |
| Microfiber | Least absorbent |
| Cotton | Second least absorbent |
| Bamboo | Second most absorbent |
| Hemp | Most absorbent |
Also the more absorbent the material, the more expensive it is.
These materials can come in many different shapes, these different shapes are usually called inserts.
Cloth diaper inserts can be large squares called “flats” that look like receiving blankets and are folded down into different smaller shapes when they are used in cloth diapering.
Or ” prefolds” that are smaller squares made of several layers of fabric sewn together, these are also folded into different shapes but in a lot fewer steps than “flats”.
Then there are just plain “inserts” which are several layers of fabric sewn together in a long rectangular shape, these are typically not folded at all and are just used as is.
Sometimes if the insert is too long it is folded over onto itself a little to make it shorter.
When you place one of these options inside a water resistant cover you have a cloth diaper ready to go.
Water proofing
Cloth diapers need an outer layer of water resistant material called a ” cloth diaper cover” to keep pee from soaking though the cloth diaper and on to other things, like baby’s clothes.
This outer water resistant layer is typically either PUL (Polyurethane laminate), TPU ( Thermoplastic polyurethane membrane) which is basically a fabric with one laminated side.
Some times people use wool or fleece for as cloth diaper covers, I personally prefer PUL/TPU covers because they come in more cute prints.
Elastics
Cloth diaper elastics are you’re best friend.
Elastics around the legs, along the back and sometimes the front of cloth diapers keep more of the blowouts from blowing out.
I have never had a poop explosion go up my baby’s back, and believe me the poop has tried, but that back elastic ain’t playin’.
Some cloth diaper covers even have double leg elastics called ” double gussets” which offer an extra layer of protection.
How do you cloth diaper?
The answer to this question is actually very simple.
- Buy some cloth diapers
- Put them on your baby
- wash them
- repeat steps 1-3
That is literally how you cloth diaper, instead of putting a disposable diaper on your baby, you put on a cloth one.
Then instead of taking off a disposable diaper, you take off a cloth one.
Disposable diapers go in a trash bag, cloth diapers go in a wetbag, both bags can be put into trash cans the same way.
The biggest difference is that when the trash bag is full of disposable diapers it is taken out to the curb and then to the landfill.
Whereas when the wetbag is full of cloth diapers it is taken to a washing machine, cleaned, dried and put on baby again.
To learn more about cloth diapering check out my article ” How to start cloth diapering?”
How are cloth diapers eco friendly?
About 30-40 cloth diapers will get you all the way from birth to potty-training, whereas a baby will go through around 8,000 disposable diapers from birth to potty-training.
Which comes to about 2,000 pounds of disposable diapers per child in the landfill versus 20-25 pounds of cloth diapers.
Also the bulk of most cloth diapers is 100% a natural fiber like cotton or hemp, if an old prefold got into a river it’s just a square piece of cotton.
No weird chemicals and no little super absorbent polymer beads for fish and other wildlife to eat.
And most cotton used in cloth diapers is organic so the prefold would be introducing little to no chemicals into the river system that could harm fish or aquatic plants.
Also while modern landfills do there best to contain all hazardous waste, landfills are not 100% fail proof.
Unexpected flooding, tornados and earth quakes can cause the landfills containment system to fail.
Meaning tons upon tons of poop, pee and weird chemicals end up out in the environment, who knows where, and doing who knows what.
If you want to learn more about the environmental impact of cloth diapers check out my article ” Should you choose cloth diapers? cost & environmental impact”.
Resources
Article on the negative affects of disposable diapers at smallfootprintfamily.com
