Cloth Diapering at Daycare with Julie

When she found out she was pregnant she had the sticker shock of all the things baby, and it was a no brainer. A previous coworker had cloth diapered and introduced her to the modern cloth diaper and that’s a totally different and easier world.

Did you know you’d return to work and child care? And how did you think about cloth diapering and all that?

We started cloth diapering at 5 weeks old (I was still on maternity). She went back to work when James was 10 weeks old. She hadn’t asked that daycare, and they didn’t use cloth.

They switched to a new daycare at 5months and asked the next daycare. They were onboard to try.  The infant care had cloth diapered a child and had some experience and that helped bring. By the time he was two, there were multiple families at the centre cloth diapering.

How did childcare shape what your cloth stash?

We used flips and flour sack towels early on – this was a great stash. We started this with the daycare but they weren’t as comfortable with that set up and we set up a new stash that was closer to disposable.

So we found a pocket diaper with hook & loop. She found a stash of Kawaii Baby diapers on a sale – she bought past style inventory for a few dollars a piece. Because they were so cheap she didn’t have a lot of anxiety on the human error of cloth diapering at childcare. 

How big is your stash?

She wanted to go an entire week without diaper folding and prepping. She wanted to prep on Sunday and put it in wet bags for each day.  She has a stash of 35 – 5 days a week, one diaper on arrival, and 5 changes during the day, and one extra per day.

Previous show on cloth diaper in childcare.

How much did you spend?

We ended up with a home stash and a childcare stash. The home stash is a little more expensive. We spent $745 on a home stash (mixed stash) and $300 on the daycare stash.

The challenge of outgrowing one size diapers

He outgrew the one size diaper at 26 months as a 90% kid.

She purchased sized diapers Fuzzibunz – now out of business.

So then daycare with the larger stash – and then another $200 on diapers. For $1200 investment on the almost 3 years. And this stash will work again for their next child.

What was your biggest cloth diaper challenge?

Coming up with unique solutions to common daycare policies – their daycare requires everything to be labeled. So she bought tags off etsy that you can snap into the rise settings.

Poop containment was a challenge and they want to be pooped to be contained for hygenic reasons, so we would send extra bags for poop versus pee and they could get their licensing. She would send two – one extra for poop.
Was there anything that surprised your easy?

The willingness for them to try cloth diapering.

What story are we missing from the cloth diapering and childcare story?

It’s just going to be hard.

The time to cloth diaper was a lot more than expected. Julia works 45 minutes away. She gets home at 6:30, it’s dinner, play and bath. And then there’s’ all those things on top of that. Maybe there’s 20 minutes to sit on the couch.

How did you get your wash routine into your work routine?

I didn’t want to prep diapers- my routine was on Sunday she folded and stuffed all the diapers for the week. Stuff diapers into a wetbag for each day with 5 days and one extra wetbag for poop. And one diaper would be a naptime diaper – FST with half organic hemp flat. 

At the end of the day she would rinse poop diapers, and then do a pre-wash. She would run a full wash cycle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays – 3 times a week. There isn’t one size fits all. You need to find what works for you and what makes me safe.

She hangs all of her diapers.

What if you wanted to do other laundry? Julia’s system works because she has a second washer in her house. She had a cheap second hand washer in the laundry room and that lets her keep the dirty diapers in the wash.

What is your biggest recommendation for aspiring working parents or working parents considering cloth diapering.

1. Find a support system or a motivator. It’s a long haul without that.
2. Determine a routine and don’t be afraid to try something different.
3. Work as a team with your daycare provider.

Professional Cloth Diaper Educator

Bailey brings 5+ years of cloth diapering experience and conversation to the cloth diaper space. She's not just your every day mom blogger sharing her experience - Bailey is immersed in the cloth diaper community learning from other parents and growing as an individual. She wants to find the cloth diaper solution that truly works for you.

Bailey believes we need to stop and listen to cloth diapering parents. We need to recognize our own bias and preferences and focus on solutions that work for you, not us. The Cloth Diaper community needs to recognize the privilege of being able to cloth diaper, and provide spaces for more conversations and stories.

Cloth diapering is not about rules but about our own strength as parents to do the best we can for our children with the resources available.