What not to do with cloth diapers: Common mistakes & how to avoid them

Cloth diapers in general are pretty simple and easy to use but there are some things you do need to watch out for.

• Don’t use just any diaper cream
• Don’t use just any laundry detergent
• Don’t wait too long between washes

While these things might seem scary and complex once you know the basics they are pretty simple to navigate

If you are interested in learning more about cloth diapering check out my article ” How to start cloth diapering”

Don’t use just any diaper cream on cloth diapers

Many diaper creams have ingredients that coat the fibers of your cloth diapers and prevent them from absorbing.

Some of these ingredients are

• Petroleum
• Parraffin
• Fish oil
• cod liver oil

Always make sure to read the ingredients on the container before you buy or use a new diaper cream.

A few cloth diaper safe recommendations are

• Grovia magic stick
• CJ’s BUTTer
• Thirsties booty love
• Earth mama organic diaper balm
• Burt’s bees multipurpose healing ointment

If you want to learn more about diaper cream and cloth diapers check out my article ” Can you use diaper cream on cloth diapers? List of popular rash creams”

Don’t use just any laundry detergent on cloth diapers

Some laundry detergents have certain additives that are not safe for your cloth diapers.

Some of these additives are

• Fabric softener
• scent boosters
• Other harsh scents

Some scents are fine as long as your baby isn’t allergic to it, but for some reason some scents do seem to cause stink problems.

If you do get smell problems from your detergent you can always change your detergent or strip your cloth diapers.

Some popular cloth diaper safe detergents are

• Tide original
• Gain original
• Seventh generation
• Rockin’ green
• Country save
• Allen’s naturally

If you want to learn more about what detergents are best for cloth diapers check out my article ” Best detergent for cloth diapers”

Don’t try to ” sanitize” your cloth diapers

“Sanitize” cycle on washing machines

Some washing machines have a sanitize cycle, and it would seem like a great idea to most people to use it to get their cloth diapers “extra clean”.

However this is so not a good idea.

The sanitize cycle is going to use water than is super duper extra hot, and that is just going to destroy your cloth diapers.

Some cloth diaper brands to recommend you wash their cloth diapers on hot, however they mean normal hot, not ghost pepper hot.

Daily use of bleach

Bleach is another thing people use to try and “super clean” their cloth diapers, while a little bit of bleach once in a while probably won’t really hurt anything.

Using bleach on your cloth diapers on a daily basis will greatly reduce the lifespan of your cloth diapers.

Also if you have a lot of bamboo ( especially viscos ) bleach will absolutely ruin it, so your bamboo all-in-ones, prefolds, flats and inserts are just toast.

Now bamboo rayon does seem to be able to handle bleach once in a while, but I’m pretty sure using bleach on any cloth diaper voids any warranty.

Don’t wait to long to change cloth diapers

You either have to put more absorbency in cloth diapers, or change them more frequently.

Most cloth diapers have enough absorbency to last about 2 hours, it is recommended that you change any diaper (whether it’s cloth or disposable) at least every 2 hours.

Even disposable diapers are supposed to be changed every 2 hours even though they say they can last 12 hours, unless it is for overnight then you would leave those diapers on for 12+ hours.

You can also just add more absorbency to cloth diapers for overnight use.

Don’t go a million years without washing cloth diapers

The longer you go between washes the harder your cloth diapers will be to get clean.

If you don’t wash your cloth diapers frequently enough you can start getting stink, mold and rash issues.

Some people do say they can wash their cloth diapers once a week without any problems, but most people say that washing every other day is what works best for them.

The longer you go between washes, the more careful with the actual cloth diaper wash routine you have to be to make sure your cloth diapers are really getting clean.

” Cheaping out” when starting your cloth diaper stash

I’ve seen a lot of people become very frustrated with cloth diapering because they weren’t sure if it would work out for them so they only bought like 6 cloth diapers.

And often these 6 cloth diapers are from a very cheap brand, and come with either cheap or no inserts.

A very popular and cheap brand is Alva baby, now the cloth diapers themselves I think are great, the inserts on the other hand, not so much.

Alva baby pocket cloth diapers come with 2 microfiber inserts, which if you have a very young baby they will probably work fine for them.

But if you have an older baby that moves around a lot you could start having some leaking problems since microfiber is like a sponge.

Yeah it absorbs quickly, but the second you put pressure on it all that pee comes right back out.

So now you have too few of a cloth diaper that may not work for you.

The number of cloth diapers matters more than just having enough changes, you also need enough cloth diapers in the wash to get proper agitation.

And if you are trying to exclusively cloth diaper with 6 cloth diapers and 12 microfiber inserts, it’s going to be a miserable experience.

My oldest is 3 and she still needs 6-8 cloth diapers per day, and she requires a ton more absorbency than 2 microfiber inserts could even dream of providing.

So lets say I tried cloth diapering my 3 year old with just 6 cloth diapers total, lets also say that by some kind of sorcery the 2 microfiber inserts work for her even overnight.

Well number 1, I’m only really gonna have 5 cloth diapers to use through the day cause I would need 1 for overnight.

Then every night after she goes to bed I need to wash the 5 cloth diapers she used through the day.

Then either throw them in the dryer, then stuff them or hang them up to dry and hope they will be dry and ready to stuff the next morning.

This would be very hard on your cloth diapers, so they definitely wouldn’t last the 2- 2 1/2 years till your baby potty-trains.

Also the stress of only having 6 cloth diapers and 0 wiggle room for times when you forget the diaper laundry or your baby gets a stomach bug would freaking drive me insane.

I personally don’t like having less than 24 cloth diapers per kid, that number gives me 8 for today, 8 in the wash and 8 drying at any given time.

Resources

Link to cloth diaper stripping instructions on Fluffloveuniversity.com

Link to CJ’s BUTTer at cjsbutter.com

Link to Grovia magic stick at grovia.com

Link to 6 pack Alva baby cloth diapers on Amazon.com