How To Wash Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapering seems like rocket science and leave many first time users confused from choosing the type of diaper to use and then to washing it. I use pocket type diapers and I would like to share how I wash them.

1.Used diapers should be washed after 1 to 3 days of use.I place the used diapers in a dry open pail.

2.On the day of washing, remove the inserts from the pocket.

3.For diapers soiled with poop, remove the poop first by spraying before mixing it with the other diapers.

4.Place the used inserts and pockets in cold water. Do not put detergent. Wash it first in water through hand or machine.

5.Drain water and then fill it up again and this time you can add in the detergent. It is advisable to use all-natural and enzyme free detergent such as Human Nature's Tough Love and Calla. I prefer the latter since it is cheaper and available in supermarkets.Also, use only a little amount of detergent, half the amount of what you normally use.

6.Wash in normal cycle.

7.Rinse and rinse until all the suds and bubbles disappear. I normally wash it twice or thrice. 

8.Hang to dry. You can use hangers with clips for the inserts. For the pockets you can use hangers or place directly in the clothesline. Just make sure that you hang it parallel to protect the garters from loosening.

9.Let Mr. Sun do all the work. He can make those stains and smell disappear! :-)

MCNP is 3 Anniversary Raffle

Modern Cloth Nappying Pinay FB group is turning 3! In celebration of their third year "Transforming the world... one nappy at a time!", they are giving away 3 MYSTERY BOXES to help 3 mommies build their stash!

When I saw the poster above, I decided to join though I  know that we have a slim chance of winning since there were around 230 plus entries. This was our entry with the following caption 

"We don't need to possess superpowers to be super heroes.
We only need to care for the environment and help save the world and be superheroes in our own way.
Our family chose to use CLOTH DIAPERS over disposable ones because it is reusable and help reduce waste. 
Thus calling other mommies, daddies and babies, be a superhero and choose cloth diaper."

We had fun doing the shoot with hubby as our photographer and Kuya Kulay as his troublemaker assistant. Lili was very cooperative and didn't make much fuss. 

Some Behind the Scenes Shots

The winners were announced last September 7 and we were really overjoyed that our entry won as Admin Choice! We almost did not win as our entry tied with another deserving entry but thankful that we won after the tie breaker.

This afternoon we just got our prize which is the FLUFFIEST MAIL that we've ever received! 

We are so really THANKFUL to MCNP and to the sponsors of this contest

next9
Asya's Cradle
Baby Chic Boutique
Smart Mum Online
The Marshmallow Baby Online Shop
BABY LEAF
Tickled Moms
Cottonytail
Earthbaby

The prizes we received will be very helpful in our cloth diapering journey!:-)

Our Cloth Diapering Journey

Before our first son was born my husband and I agreed to make him wear lampin. We thought that disposable diapers are costly, wasteful and could cause diaper rash. So when Kulay was born last 2010 we made him wear good old lampin with pins for three months using only disposables at night and when going out. 

Our First Born in Lampin

We eventually succumbed to using 100% disposable diapers because we got tired of doing the laundry , we have no helper. It was not just the lampins but also the bed sheets, blankets and etc  because of pee or poop leaks. I was aware then about modern lampins or cloth diaper but I found it too expensive (around P500 and up) since most of available brands are US made.

With our second child, Liwanag, I did more research on cloth diapers and found the Modern Cloth Nappying Pinays Group in Facebook. The group was really informative and all I learned all about the modern lampin from that page. A friend who was also pregnant found online stores which sell China made nappies like Alva so we ordered together to avail of the wholesale price and save on shipping fee , I bought 5 pieces initially. I chose Alva 3.0 pocket cloth diapers because it is cheap and it would fit newborn babies up to 2 and a half year old kids.

I got the actual diapers when I was still 7 months pregnant and it was love at first sight. The designs are so cute and it feels so soft to touch.  I can’t help but order again, so I bought 5 more CDs.

When my daughter was finally born last March, I waited for 4 weeks before I made her wear the CDs, making sure that the meconium (that black sticky stuff) on her poop was gone. I thought the diaper was too big for her but then I later realized that I didn’t adjust the snaps properly.

my second child wearing her first CD at 27 days old

 We survived exclusively cloth diapering her with the 10 diapers but it was too tiring to do the laundry each day. I handwash the cds myself at night before going to sleep so I decided to buy additional Cds.

Whenever I am online I stalked the MCNP group and made sure to check the for sale/trade album. I eventually bought more second hand pocket diapers, brought covers and tried other pocket diaper brands until I found out what worked for us.

Now my daughter is almost 6 months, medium wetter and we have 25 CDs in rotation which is mostly composed of Sunbaby Size 2 pocket diapers. She uses around 6 to 8 CDs per day so we need to do the laundry every other day not to run out of CDs.

Loving our Sunbaby CDs

 I never regretted choosing cloth diapers and am always encouraging other mommies to try it out. It really has lots of benefits,will post more about it next time.