Cloth Diapering for Beginners
I totally did NOT expect do get into cloth diapering. I never did for kids #1 and #2. But it so turned out that my baby #3, after wearing the same brand of disposable diapers for 2.5 years, suddenly developed rashes whenever he wore them. We think it was an eczema flare-up…cos disposable diapers are not breathable, so his skin reacted to the trapped heat there.
Anyway, so I reluctantly set out to learn all about cloth diapering, dreading how mafan (or difficult) it will be. And OH MY it was SOOOOOOO confusing.
So many different types of systems, so many different types of materials, so many different types of brands. AND…many required learning some skills on how to obtain the right fit. ARGHS!!! It didn’t help that my baby #3 pees relatively more than other kids, such that he actually often leaked out of his disposable diapers too. This meant that what I needed for his nights also ended up horribly thick and uncomfortable solutions! 🙁
I asked everyone in the cloth diapering community in Singapore – isn’t a simple pull-up system like disposable pull-up pants available???? Something I could easily ask my husband, my helper, my mother, etc to just slip on and off? And the sad answer was…”Not really…nothing is really that absorbent, unfortunately. Though…there are rumours that this infamous Mother-ease Bedwetter Pants from Canada might actually be what you’re looking for!”
Hmmmm. So I had to bust this myth. I ordered them from Canada, paid to ship them to Singapore, and waited a few weeks for them to arrive. When they finally did, I was pleasantly surprised at how much trimmer the overall thickness was compared to some of the other brands I had rented to try! I washed them once, and held my breath as we tried them for the first time. The next morning, NO LEAKS!!!!!!!!! And the rest, was history. Every night, we slip them on like pants, and we haven’t had to deal with rashes or wet sheets since.
I was SO convinced this type of cloth diapering is actually very easy for beginners to pick up. So I wrote to Mother-ease to ask if I could retail their products in Singapore, and was stoked when they agreed! I believe this is THE easiest introduction to cloth diapering anyone could have. Just wear the diapers like underwear and you’re all set. When diapers get full, instead of throwing into the trash, just throw into a dry pail or wetbag to bring home to wash in the washing machine. For day time, you can also use an even thinner Training Pants. These basically feel like underwear, but can hold around 2 full pees, which for most kids, is around 2-3 hours of wear. Pretty much similar to disposables too!
To wash the cloth diapers, simply turn them inside out and follow these steps and let your washing machine do ALLLLL the work. Just remember to sanitise your washing machine every month. Sanitising our washing machines is a good habit we all should adopt, whether or not we use cloth diapers, because germs and muck DO accumulate in there over time. Something I learnt only after I started learning about cloth diapering…oops!!!