Living Lighter: a simple cloth diapering system

I received a lot of good questions about how we go about cloth diapering after last week’s Cloth Diapering Q & A (and I had SO many questions before I started) so I thought for this week’s Motherhood Monday post I’d do a quick breakdown of my system.

As I mentioned last week, cloth diapering really is an easy way to live a little lighter and save money at the same time. Hopefully this will make it seem a bit more approachable if you’re considering it for your family.

What brand of cloth diapers do you use?

We use a mix of Bumgenius 4.0’s, Grovia All in Ones and Grovia Hybrids.

Why do you have multiple brands?

At first I wanted to have only one brand/style to keep it streamlined and simple, but now I do see advantages of having a variety.

We chose Bumgenius 4.0’s because they are pocket diapers, which means you stuff them with removable absorbent pads. Since you stuff them yourself you can stuff more than one pad in there as your baby grows and needs more absorbancey. We wanted some of these for good night, extra absorbent time diapers.

That being said, I really didn’t want to spend a bunch of time stuffing diapers.

So the majority of our stash are Grovia All in One’s and Hybrids.

All in One’s are just like disposables. You put them on, take them off, throw the whole thing in the wash.

Hybrids are a very flexible option. These have a diaper shell that comes with either cloth inserts or biodegradable disposable inserts. We use the cloth inserts every day. They just snap in and snap out when you’re done, which means you can reuse the shell over and over.

I like having the option of the disposable inserts for being out and about or traveling. These are a great choice if you want to do a combination of disposable & cloth.

How many diapers do you have total?

19 (4 pockets, 9 hybrids, 6 all in ones)

How do you wash cloth diapers? And how often?

It’s recommended to wash your diapers every other day.

They’re easy to wash especially because Miss B is still breastfeeding (so it’s fine to throw right in the wash).

I do a cold rinse cycle without detergent, followed by a hot cycle/cold rinse with detergent. We use Country Save detergent which is safe for cloth diapers.

What do you like about cloth diapering?

I love knowing that my little one is wearing soft, safe, chemical-free diapers all day every day. I also LOVE saving money!

What do you dislike?

Honestly, my only complaint is that most of them are still bulky on her at this point. She will grow into them but right now she can look a little bottom heavy and is already rocking the 3-6 month clothes.

So what does your entire stash of supplies look like:

19 cloth diapers

35 cloth wipes

1 wipe container

1 trash bin

2 Kissa pail liners

1 box of Country Save detergent

1 tub of CJ’s BUTTer (all natural, cloth-friendly diaper cream)

Tips: remember, not all brands of laundry detergent and diaper cream are compatible with cloth diapers!

Question or tips? Post a comment below 🙂

PS- wondering why you’re reading a cloth diapering post on a health & fitness site? Click here…