Cloth Diapering provides multiple baby benefts. Comfort for your baby comes first, and with the menace of harmful chemicals in disposable diapers, cloth diapers can be a beneficial solution. They're more comfortable, hygienic, eco-friendly, durable, etc. With so many positives, it's no wonder parents are becoming more conscience of cloth diapers and replacing disposable diapers everywhere.
The most important thing when caring for a new baby is is to make sure the baby is healthy and well taken care of. Just as proper nutrition is essential for your babys welfare, so is hygiene and cleanliness. While nutrition can be easily taken care of with regular feedings of milk (breastmilk is numero uno), hygiene is a different matter. With little or no control over their bodily functions, babies expel a lot of waste, and keeping them clean can be a daunting task. The solution? Cloth diapering of course!
Caring for cloth diapers
Cloth Diapers should be made of soft, light, and absorbent material. Perhaps the best materials are linen and cotton diaper-cloths. Each of these has its advantages. Linen is cooler and less bulky, while cotton is more absorbent. Cotton flannel is not recommended, because it doesn’t really absorb and soon becomes beaded and kinda scratchy after continued washing. Another good material is stockinet, a knit used especially for infants' wear and undergarments. Though some would say linen shouldn’t be included as a option for cloth diapers, I think it depends on preference and the baby’s skin reaction to it.
The number of diapers you choose to have on hand is up to you…how often do you feel like washing? Since it's much easier to have a large number of diapers then to be obligated to wash them every day, keep a good supply, so that washing will not have to be thought of in the first busy twenty-four hours). Five or six dozen may not be too many for convenience but until you get used to it, a few dozen of will keep the baby fairly supplied.
During the day, the diaper should be changed as often as it becomes wet or soiled. During the night, it should be changed during feedings. Remember to make sure the diaper is not too tight across the abdomen or in the creases of the thighs (it can cause a quite of bit of irritation).
Also no diapers should use a second time before being washed. Used diapers should not be left lying around the room nor laid a cross a heating device such as a space heater, radiator, etc. Wet diapers placed directly after use into a bucket filled with cold water and covered with a lid until they’re ready to be washed. If you can't watch the soiled diapers right away, place them in a separate bucket with lid. Don't soak these in water because the contents will spread all over onto any other diapers you may have in the pail. The best is to try and make an effort to wash them within 24 hours. If nothing else but to get rid of the smell.
You probably know this already, but to remove all the soil or discharges from cloth diapers, just run them under running water, particularly warm or hot running water (this has been my experience, if you use hot water, don't do it for long - just enough to blast the "ick" off.). Have a little brush on hand just to brush off the more solid pieces that maybe still be lingering on the diapers.
The diapers should be washed in hot water with mild, preferably organic soap. Here’s a favorite Charlie's Soap Powder - It Covers 80 Loads! . Any strong detergent (powder or liquid) should be avoided – most babies irritation starts in the buttocks and thighs which can be caused the detergent not fully being rinsed out of the diapers. If you’re washing by machine – add an extra rinse to the cycle.
Other Benefits
Cloth Diapers tend to have less frequent diaper blowouts (primarily with babies that are breastfed) than babies have in both disposable and G-diapers. The friction and absorbency of the cloth versus the paper simply holds things in better. In addition, choosing cloth diapers with elastic around the tops and legs of the diaper (or covers that have these features) should be considered when looking for diapers for babies breastfed-only. Once solids are introduced, it's a non-issue.
Cloth diapering aids in the prevention of diaper rashes. This is more a matter of opinion because this argument can go both ways. Air circulation is higher in the natural fibers of cloth diapers as long as you don’t use latex or plastic covers (commonly used in the old school cloth diaper covers and still found in many baby product stores today). Another contributor to diaper rashes from disposable diapers is that parents tend to change the diaper less often to save money and because it feels dry, when in fact it is filled with urine. Urine breaks down the skin if it is not washed off. The naturally absorbent fibers when cloth diapering are less likely to cause friction on the skin than paper (used with disposable diapers), allowing for less skin breakdown, thus resulting in no diapo-rasho. Please note, in order for rash to not be an issue while using cloth diapers, it's a must to change them more frequently than with disposable diapers.
Potty Training with cloth diapers can be a plus. Amongst the mothers of babes who were cloth diapered, it's been agreed that cloth diapered children tend to potty train 1-1.5 years early than children who wear disposables. Wow - a whole year less of poop and pee all over everything!
Cloth diapering is in many ways evergreen - it's a thing of the past, but still one of the best options now and will not cease to be in the future. For the parent with financial, environmental, or simply wanting the best for your baby concerns, baby cloth diapers are still a very viable option for clothing the precious bums and bottoms of our little babies.
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