As I’ve mentioned before, I was already using flats to begin with. I knew this was the best choice in terms of laundry and in terms of price tag. My entire goal for this challenge was to prove that cloth diapering is a solid choice for everyone and there are so many resourceful ways to go about it. My hope is that someone watching will see that through my content.
A few things I learned:
Athletic Material is a great choice for pocket lining! I used two home-made pockets for this challenge: 1 lined with an old t-shirt and 1 lined with an athletic t-shirt. The athletic material was SO EASY TO CLEAN and SO QUICK TO DRY! I totally recommend this material. For those looking to purchase pockets, you want to look for something with “Athletic Wicking Material”. There are plenty of places to find these kinds of pockets, such as happybeehinds.com and on some etsy shops.
The materials I used only proved that you can use anything to cloth diapers. Receiving blankets are a phenomenal option. They are soft, super absorbent, and so trim (not bulky at all)! Kitchen towels are a great solution too. Because of the dimensions, I needed to use two but one can be great if you’re just looking for a booster*.
A pillowcase is NOT easy to wash by hand. Full stop. It was still worth it, though because we only have two and I usually wash every 3 days.
The cheapest cover I have works just as well as the most expensive cover I have. There is no reason you should have to compromise your budget. Yes, some are better than others but most covers designed with double gussets are perfectly perfect for what you want.
Will I continue to handwash my diapers? Probably not my whole stash. In preparation for the challenge, I was handwashing poopy diapers the day of so that the smell wouldn’t linger around in the hallway. I think that’s definitely a practice I want to keep up. I had considered doing night time diapers but pillowcases aren’t that easy to wash. I’d like to hang dry them more often, though.
I think if I were to hand-wash full time I would definitely invest in an actual washboard or do a bucket plunger system. I did like the fact that manually washing them helped me to determine that the laundry was clean and rinsed enough.
Now that my week is over doing this challenge, I won’t be as in your face with my cloth content moving forward. I’m not going to be constantly shouting at the top of my lungs the 26 reasons you should use cloth. However, I’m not going to stop advocating for cloth. I started publicly advocating for cloth at the beginning of the pandemic and primarily in preparation for this challenge. I wanted people to know what I was doing. I have always been a person conscious of environmental responsibility. I haven’t purchased disposable menstrual products for years, I hoard things like t-shirts and containers so I can reuse them. I always felt like it was my responsibility to do so. But now I’m targeting a specific issue because I see how pertinent the need for diapers is.
Right now, more than ever, I want people to know there is another option. If I am somehow convincing at least one person that the switch will be worth it for one family, then I would have done my part. We still don’t know when this pandemic will end. Every day feels even more and more uncertain to me. But in my house, I know I will always have a clean diaper for my child. I want other parents to feel that same security.
*Booster, a little extra absorbency without the extra bulk
Ruzelle Almonds 