Q. What are the benefits in cloth diapering?
A. There are so many benefits to using cloth diapers. They help reduce waste. They help save money. They can be easy to use. In our personal opinion the fun part is choosing the patterns or colors!
Q. Do I need different size cloth diapers as my child grows?
A. Willow Cloth Co. offers two sizes of our pocket diaper system to grow with your baby. From 8lbs to 32lbs+ we suggest our OS pocket size or OS cover size that will accommodate baby from beginning up to potty training. There are children who are older that prefer to stay in diapers or who may have trouble potty training as well or children who are disabled and need larger sizing. In those instances we suggest our Extended XL pocket diapers which accommodate children from 25lbs all the way up to 75lbs+. We specifically curated our XL extended size diapers for that purpose!
Q. In starting, how many cloth diapers would I need?
A. The suggested use of diapers and inserts when starting with newborns or young babies is 25 to 30. For older babies or toddlers, we suggest anywhere from 15 to 20 diapers and inserts. We suggest these numbers based on the amount of times you would need to change your babies or toddlers diaper through out of the day and would require washing every 2 to 3 days. You can adjust these numbers based on the frequency of your washing.
Q. How often do I wash my cloth diapers?
A. If you have a larger amount of diapers in your stash you can go longer periods at a time in between washes. If you have a smaller stash, you may run a load every night. It is not recommended to wait more than 3 to 4 days in between washes. The longer you wait, the more challenges you may encounter, including an increased chance of mildew growth, diapers that deteriorate over time, and additional stubborn stains that may be tough to remove.
Q. How should I clean solids off cloth diapers?
A. Whether using cloth diapers or not, parents and caregivers of babies and toddlers deal with solids every day. With cloth diapers, any solids (other than those from an exclusively breastfed baby, since breastmilk is soluble) it needs to be discarded in the toilet. There are different methods to cleaning the solids off your diapers. You can use biodegradable liners which act as a “catcher” for solids. You can simply knock solids into toilet and then dispose of liner into diaper pail, or you can spray straight onto diaper (if you’re not using a liner) using a hose attached to your toilet. Whichever method you choose, you want to remove as much solid waste as possible before placing the diaper in a wet bag or in the washing machine.