What do you do with all that poo? (And other cloth diaper FAQs)
So you’ve read my overview of cloth diapers and now you have some follow-up questions. That’s okay and totally expected! You have come to the right place! In this post, I attempt to honestly answer the most frequently asked questions that may come up in your decision on whether to use cloth diapers.
What do you do with the poo?
This is the #1 question I get asked ALL THE TIME! And it was my first question too. I mean, if you’re not using disposable diapers, you can’t just roll the cloth diaper up and throw it away, including the poo. So what do you do with the poo? It goes in the toilet!
For the first couple of months, if you’re breastfeeding, all breastmilk poo is water soluble! All you need to do is throw that diaper in with the rest of the dirty diapers and wash as normal (pre-wash, then actual wash). Yes, it may feel very strange doing this, but I promise, all of the diapers came out sparkling clean and we have no problems with our washing machine.
Once your baby starts solids, or if they are on formula, you may have to do some extra work with those poopy diapers. This is where a diaper sprayer comes in handy. You just have to spray the poo into the toilet and flush! Then, you’ll add the newly sprayed diaper to your dirty stash for the next wash day.
Where do you store dirty diapers in between wash days?
Great question! You’ve probably seen those fancy diaper pails that hold in all the stink from disposable diapers. DON’T USE THOSE! This can lead to mold and stink with cloth diapers. I highly recommend an open-air container to keep your dirty diapers. The important thing is air flow. It sounds counterintuitive, but keeping your diaper pail exposed to air will make it stink less!
We use a regular Rubbermaid trash can with a wet bag and keep it in our living room and we’ve never had issues with stink or mold, even though we only wash every 4-5 days. The wet bag is waterproof so there’s no leaking. When you’re ready to wash, just flip the wet bag into the washing machine and throw the wet bag in too!
It is not recommended to have a water pail to store dirty diapers in due to the risk of drowning as well as increased chances for bacteria to accumulate.
How do you handle cloth diapers when you’re running errands?
Disposable diapers do sound more convenient for when you are out and about, but cloth diapers aren’t that much harder! Instead of throwing a dirty disposable diaper away, you just pack a travel wet bag and store any dirty cloth diaper in there. Then, once you get home, you throw everything into your diaper pail for the next wash day.
The travel wet bag is waterproof and ours even has a dry compartment to keep the fresh diapers, cloth wipes, or a change of clothes. It’s leakproof and contains all odors!
What about cloth wipes?
If you’re already considering cloth diapers, cloth wipes are not much more work, if any at all. We use cloth wipes, because they’re cost-efficient and very effective. Since you’re already doing laundry twice a week with cloth diapers, cloth wipes are just as easy to add in.
We generally only use 1 cloth diaper per diaper change, even the poopy ones! If I were to use a disposable wipe, I know that some poopy diaper changes require 2 or more wipes! Thus, we only have about 24 cloth wipes that cost us $22. This amount is plenty to last us 4-5 days in between wash days. You can also make your own cloth wipes with receiving blankets or flannel.
We store our cloth wipes dry and only wet them with each diaper change, as needed. We use a peri squeeze bottle filled with regular water as our wipe solution. Remy doesn’t seem to mind the temperature of the water, which is room temperature.
How do you deal with the poo stains?
You wash your cloth diapers and they smell clean, but they don’t look clean! What gives?! Those pesky poo stains can make your cloth diapers look dingy, even though they’re not. But fear not! I have a free poo stain remover that you already have! THE SUN!
Seriously! When you have freshly washed diapers, spray a little water on the stains, and lay them in the sun! Once they’re dry, the stains will have magically disappeared! Look at this “before” and “after” sunning!
Truly, how much extra work is involved?
There is a little bit more effort involved with cloth diapers, but I believe the benefits of cloth diapers outweigh any negative. For laundry, we are already doing the same amount of we would’ve been doing with disposables, which is twice a week. Babies go through so many clothes, socks, bibs, etc, so there’s no true extra work in the laundry department.
However, I do like to hang dry the diaper shell and inserts to protect the TPU layer and also because drying inserts in a dryer can take quite a while. Hang drying does take some time commitment as I generally let the diapers dry overnight.
Also, your extra work will depend on the type of diaper you choose to use. We use pocket diapers (our stash is made up 100% of these diapers), so I have to spend some time to stuff the diapers, maybe about 20 minutes to stuff 30-ish diapers. Stuffing diapers is somewhat of a meditation and relaxing time for me, so I put on a juicy show on Netflix, get comfy on the couch and stuff away! However, if you choose all-in-ones (AIO) or covers and prefolds, you will skip this extra step.
Finally, there’s another step in spraying the poo. Remy’s poopy diapers are “saved” throughout the day and I will spend 0-5 minutes spraying those diapers at the end of the day.
So yes, there is a little extra work involved. BUT! The extra time commitment is worth all of the benefits that cloth diapers bring to our family, including the money we save, being friendly to the environment, and protecting Remy’s skin from chemicals.
Hopefully this answered some of your FAQs about cloth diapers! Do you have any additional questions? Comment below if this was helpful and/or if you have another question about cloth diapers! Thank you so much for stopping by!