When you’re new to cloth diapers, you’re going to have questions. Lots of them!
This makes my job easy! I just pick one, and answer it here for you each week!
If you have a question you don’t see here yet, let me know and ask it in the Cloth Diapers for Beginners Facebook group for a quick response.
Skip Around to Find the Topics You’re Interested in:
Newborn Diapers
Will Meconium Ruin Cloth Diapers?
Nope. For some reason, it’s often recommended to new parents to use disposables for the first few weeks as meconium will just ruin their cloth diapers. Funny enough, this is usually advice from parents who haven’t used cloth in the first few days themselves. The truth is that meconium washes out of cloth diapers easily. …
Diaper Styles, Types, and Fabrics
Types and Styles
What are Fitted Cloth Diapers?
When I first began cloth diapering a few years ago, I had a very hard time deciding what type of cloth diaper I wanted to invest in. If I’d known then what I know now, fitted diapers would have probably been the biggest part of my budget (instead of pockets), but I just didn’t know …
Let’s be real, no one wants to touch poop. Yes, cloth diapers are healthier for baby, better for the environment, and cost way less than disposables, but for some, the threat of having to touch poop is a deal breaker. Luckily, there are many cloth diaper accessories available to eliminate the chance you’ll stick your …
Fabrics
What is Zorb (And Do You Want it in Your Cloth Diapers)?
I first heard the word Zorb used by Crystal Burton, the owner of Tree Hugger Cloth Pads, which is my personal favorite brand of cloth pad (if you’re interested, I have written a full review of their pads here). But it wasn’t until writing about fabric choices for this website that I came to realize …
What is Zorb (And Do You Want it in Your Cloth Diapers)? Read More »
Using Cloth Diapers
Can cloth diapers be used as swim diapers?
Whether it’s a day at the local splash pad, swimming lessons, or a family holiday at the beach, swim diapers get lots of use year round for most little ones. But what if you don’t have a swim diaper? Can you just use a cloth diaper cover as a makeshift swim diaper? Not really; but …
Lotions, Potions, Powders and Balms
Will Vaseline Ruin Cloth Diapers?
Yes, it can. Vaseline is a brand name of petroleum jelly. According to the Vaseline website, “Vaseline® Jelly is made of 100% pure petroleum Jelly which is a blend of mineral oils and waxes.” While Vaseline’s Original product is made of 100 per cent petroleum jelly, their Jelly Baby product is made of 99.96 per …
Is Cornstarch Safe for Diaper Rash (and Cloth Diapers)?
With all the controversy surrounding baby powder over the past few years, it’s no wonder that it’s hard to know if other powders, like cornstarch, are good for your baby or not. To help put an end to the mystery, I took a deep look into whether or not cornstarch powder is safe to use …
Is Cornstarch Safe for Diaper Rash (and Cloth Diapers)? Read More »
Is Vinegar Safe for Cloth Diapers?
When it comes to vinegar, just like so many other washing topics, the opinions on whether or not it’s safe for cloth diapers are mixed and usually contradict each other. Fed up with the mystery, I decided to look into the chemistry of using vinegar in cloth diaper laundry for myself, and what I discovered …
Washing and Care
Wash Routines
Can Cloth Diapers Go in the Dryer?
Yes, in general terms cloth diapers can go in the dryer, but on a medium-heat setting or lower. With that said, there are some other considerations to make before you pop that whole cloth diaper load into the machine. More specifically, any cloth diapers and/or wetbags containing waterproofing, elastic, or Velcro (also called hook and …
Can Cloth Diapers Be Washed With Other Clothes?
It’s probably coincidence, but I’ve had a bunch of people ask about part-time cloth lately, right when I find myself with a daytime-potty-trained toddler and only nighttime bedwetting pants to wash. In both cases (part-time cloth or potty training your youngest/only child) you’ll have very few cloth diapers to wash and probably wonder if can …
Do I Need to Use Calgon Water Softener When I Wash Cloth Diapers?
Calgon is a laundry product used to soften water. It’s also marketed as an anti-limescale product, which is attractive because hard water can lead to limescale buildup on the heating element inside of washing machines. Modern day Calgon contains the active ingredients polycarbonate and zeolite (the very original version contained sodium hexametaphosphate, a phosphate). Detergent actually has …
Do I Need to Use Calgon Water Softener When I Wash Cloth Diapers? Read More »
Cloth diapering is full of weird names, labels, and acronyms, but maybe one of the weirdest is “cloth diaper stew.” If you’re a beginner to cloth diapering and hear this term, you might panic thinking you have to boil your diapers with onions or something crazy. Rest assured that is not the case. I’ve put …
Troubleshooting
Help! Why Do My Cloth Diapers Stink?
Why Do my Cloth Diapers Smell? If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “My cloth diapers stink, how do fix it?” I’d be able to retire early. While there can many root causes, cloth diapers stink because because they are still dirty, and the only way to fix them is …
What’s The Problem WIth Fluff Love University Recommendations?
Let me be clear, anyone promoting the use of cloth diapers and helping them out with their cloth journey is aces in my book. While there is disagreement on some topics in the cloth diaper community (the safety of zinc, how often you should strip diapers, China cheepies, and so on), in general intentions are …
What’s The Problem WIth Fluff Love University Recommendations? Read More »
Stripping Cloth Diapers
How (and When) to Strip Cloth Diapers
I think a lot of the readers of this website would agree the answer to, “Should Channing Tatum strip?” is always yes. The answer to, “Should I strip my cloth diapers?” is a bit more complicated. I’m going to outline how and when you would strip your cloth diapers here so you don’t fall victim …
What is RLR Laundry Treatment (and Is It Good for Cloth Diapers)?
If there’s one thing that causes confusion when using cloth diapers, it’s laundry products. What products are good? Which ones are you supposed to avoid? What is cloth diaper stripping? When and how do you do that? Why is this person saying it’s good, and this person saying it’s bad? It quickly becomes overwhelming. One …
What is RLR Laundry Treatment (and Is It Good for Cloth Diapers)? Read More »
