Cloth Diapering

Ever since we knew we were gonna have a baby, me and V were really conscious in ensuring that we avoid Huggies / Pampers and try cloth diapering. We had begun our search for the available alternatives a couple of months before delivery and had shortlisted on products - Superbottoms and Bumpadum. These two were vouched for by a couple of our friends who were already using them and one of them actually added V onto the Superbottoms Facebook group.

Once Athiboy was born, we started using old Veshtis and Pampers for the first couple of days at the hospital. The little one was so sensitive that he started developing rashes on the fourth day of using Pampers. So we had to give up on using Pampers for a while. As we were thinking of how to manage it, there came my cousin with a set of cloth nappies. It was the first time I saw these and I instantly liked them. They were just cloth in the form of diapers with ties to wrap them around the waist. Thanks to him, I started hoarding those and developed a stash of about 25-30 pieces. 

The cloth nappies were best for the morning times, but nights were still a challenge because these nappies only ensure that the whole place doesn't messy, but they get wet immediately. And the little guy wakes up the moment he gets wet. And that's when we thought we would introduce Superbottoms for the nights. 

Our very first Superbottoms product was the New Born Cover Diaper. It has a separate shell to which the soaker pad needs to be snapped into. The soaker pad is made of multiple layers of cloth with a dry-feel soft layer at the top. The layers absorb the pee keeping the top layer touching the baby's skin dry. The shell is the outer cover which has the adjustment snaps to adjust accordingly and Velcro to wrap it around the baby's waist. The cover diaper can withstand upto 4 hours post which you'll start feeling the wetness in the outer layer, which indicates that the diaper is full. Cover diapers are the generally recommended for day-time usage as they can withstand only upto 3-4 hours. However, since Athiboy was a very light sleeper who frequently wakes up even during the nights, we decided to use cover diapers for the nights. 

For night times, the recommended diapers are New Born UNOs. It also has an adjustable outer shell with a dry feel and a pocket. Into the pocket is inserted the soaker pad. This can withstand up to 6-7 hours. The withstanding capacity varies from by how frequent and how much the baby wets.

The newborn UNOs and covers can be used until 3 months or till 5 kgs or until your baby start frequent kicking of legs. Post which we have to move to Free size UNOs and Covers. For us, the constant kicking of the legs which caused the velcro to fall off, was the main reason to move out of New Born UNOs to Free Size UNOs. We made the made by the end of three months. 

Free Size Covers with Soaker

The Free Size UNOs are the best. They can withstand upto 8-10 hours, and came with size adjustable snaps, and a whole range of design options. The withstanding capacity can be increased by another couple of hours by inserting a booster pad (this is similar to the Soaker, but without the dry feel layer) beneath the Soaker. 

There are about 25-30 designs to choose from, each so beautiful and cute. Its always been a tough job to decide on which one to buy. Also, the Free Size UNOs can be used till 3 years of age. Imagine the amount of money you save from not spending on the single use diapers. Ain't that a good enough reason to switch to cloth diapers? 

Free Size UNOs & Soaker

There's another product of Superbottoms which I purchased only recently, and really feel bad for not opting for this earlier. Its the Super Nappies. Its just like every other cloth nappy, but comes with a dry feel layer on the inside, keeping the baby free from any wetness when it pees. These come in 3 different sizes, New Born, Regular and Large which is categorised based on the baby's weight. By the time I bumped into this product, Athiboy was 5 months old, so I had to choose the Large sized ones. But these are absolutely lovely and serves the purpose really well. 

A recent hack that I learnt from Superbottoms Facebook group is to sandwich a booster pad with a fleece liner (this is a diaper liner cloth which is to used over the soakers to minimize the amount of stains on it) into the super nappy. This way the super nappy can withstand about 3-4 pees, which in my case was about 1-2 hours. This has been a saviour in the early mornings, when I've not ready to wake up yet, but need to change the baby's UNO. Remove the UNO, put on the super nappy with booster and enjoy another hour of sleep. 

The biggest advantage of using cloth diapers is they're breathable and doesn't cause any rashes on the baby's bum. You may see a couple of elastic marks when you remove the UNO after usage, but these generally disappear off in sometime.

Cloth diapering almost as simple as Single Use Diapers. All it requires is a little bit of patience to keep changing diapers and a diligent wash routine. You might feel that the cloth diapers are quite expensive when you first buy them, but don't forget to factor in the number of times it can be re-used. If you can take a minute to compute the amount you're likely to spend on single use diapers till you train potty train your kids, the amount spent in cloth diapers will for sure be tremendously lower. Also one other advantage is, if taken adequate care, they can also be passed on to other people once you're done using it. 

Athiboy is almost 6 months old now, and we're still going strong with cloth diapers. Its usually Nappies for the mornings and UNOs for the night until now. Our stash consists of about 30 nappies and 4 UNOs, with a daily wash routine. 

My experience with cloth diapering has been great so far and I feel proud to say I have used only one whole pack of Pampers in the last 6 months. My humblest request to people would be to try cloth diapering instead of the single use ones, as they are both eco-friendly and pocket-friendly in the long run. Feel free to reach out to me in case you have any queries about cloth diapering. I would be more than happy to help.

Yours in Cloths-haven,

J