Cloth diapers : common fears & putting those fears to rest

A few days ago, I asked a simple question on the eLeMeNO-Pee Facebook page. It was a simple question, but one that garnered various different responses, none of which surprised me at all. They're common fears! I want to address those head on so that those pondering the same questions can get a feel for the reality of using cloth diapers and know there's nothing to fear!

Fear #1 : The laundry. 
 Have no fear, it's not as overwhelming as it may seem. Even if you regularly wash your diapers every other day, you are only adding an additional 3-4 loads per week. And if you're anything like most cloth diapering mamas, you actually don't seem to mind doing the diaper laundry. I've never quite figured out why the diaper laundry  never bothered me at all yet the rest of the pile could sit there for days, taunting me and causing me to drag my feet. I know, it's weird, but more times than not, it works out that way. I promise, the laundry is not terrible. The upside to the laundry situation is that you aren't stuck running to the grocery store in the middle of the night because you ran out of disposables again! You can foresee when your stash of clean diapers is dwindling and just walk across the house and toss 'em in the wash - you never even have to get out of your jammies!

When it comes to the wash routine, a lot of people get overwhelmed because there are so many various opinions. Our advice is to always start simple. You can adjust your laundering routine if problems arise, but a basic wash routine works fine for the majority of people. A cool rinse without detergent, a hot wash cycle with a sufficient amount of detergent, and another cool rinse to make sure the soap is thoroughly rinsed out. That's it. That was my wash routine for the entire duration of diapering my daughter and never once did it let me down. 

Fear #2: The poop.
Oh, the poop. I'll be honest, this was my biggest fear. It's the reaction I hear most often. "What do you do with the poop?"  Listen, I'm just going to be honest here. When it comes to babies, poop is just part of every day life. Even if you use disposables, there will be plenty of poop explosions you have to deal with, so nobody gets out of this parenting business unscathed by poop.

Osocozy Diaper Sprayer

It may seem intimidating at first, but once you get past the first one or two poopy cloth diapers, you get over it real quick. When babies are breastfed, you don't even have to do *anything* with the poop. It's water-soluble so you can just toss the whole diaper in the wash and it will come out sparkling clean.  Once baby starts on solids, a diaper sprayer works wonders. It works the same way a sprayer on the kitchen sink does, only it hooks up to your toilet. You spray the poop right in the toilet and you never even have to touch it. Works like a charm! There are various ways of handling the poop in the cloth diaper community, but the diaper sprayer is the most common. We loved ours!


Fear #3: Leaks
This is another common fear for potential cloth diaper users but a lot of families actually find that the amount of leaks actually greatly decreases when switching to cloth diapers, especially when it comes to "newborn blowouts". Cloth diapers fit a lot more snug and the gussets in the leg holes and the elastic along the waistline help contain some pretty gnarly messes. I can honestly say we never had a single "blowout" in cloth diapers (I can't say the same for disposables!).  As far as pee leaks go, as long as baby is being changed frequently, this should not be an issue. If you are having fit issues with your diapers, please be sure and contact your local eLeMeNO-Pee representative or visit the store so we can help you troubleshoot and get the perfect fit on your little one.



See, that's it! It's really not as difficult as it may seem. Once you get started and find a routine, cloth diapering becomes so easy that you won't believe you ever worried so much about it. You find your routine, stick with it, and it's smooth sailing from that point on!