Cloth Diapers 101
With so many ABDL disposable diapers available now, you might think adult cloth diapers would be on the way out. Not so. Many ABDLs like cloth diapers for a few reasons, such as:
- Expense — After the initial outlay, cloth diapers just need to be washed and reused, which is much cheaper.
- Bulk — Disposable diapers simply cannot beat cloth for those who want that bulky diaper feel, and you can easily add more bulk by adding more layers.
- Environmentally Friendly — Disposable diapers use resources to create and then are discarded after one use, and the plastic doesn’t biodegrade in landfills; cloth diapers’ reusability puts considerably less strain on the ecosystem.
This is not to say that cloth diapers don’t have drawbacks:
- Washing — You need easy access to at least a clothes washer, and a dryer helps; sometimes additional additives or detergents are necessary.
- Initial Expense — Buying cloth diapers (and plastic pants) is a financial hurdle that has to be overcome if you’re going to see the cost savings.
Other general characteristics of cloth diapers that can either be pluses or minuses depending on taste:
- Feel Wet — For those who like to wet their diapers, the feeling of wetness stays there with cloth diapers, reminding you that you’re a baby, that you had an accident, and that you need diapers; disposable diapers tend to make the wet feeling disappear.
- Not Discreet — Any useful thickness of cloth diapers is going to cause bulk under your clothing. Depending on how bulky you go, you won’t be able to hide the fact that you’re diapered under your pants, or you might not even be able to wear pants at all. Skirts and dresses are more likely to fit over thick cloth diapers than pants, or if you’re staying home, you could just not wear anything over them, unless you get cold easily.
- Requires Fasteners — Most cloth diapers require pins of some type to hold them on. Some contour and all-in-one diapers have their own snaps or hook-and-loop fasteners, but as with anything, more moving parts means a shorter lifespan. Diaper pins come in a variety of shapes and colors, though, so you can have fun with them.
- Requires Waterproof Covers — Most cloth diapers require you to wear plastic pants over them. Plastic pants are an entirely separate article; maybe I’ll write something about them later. There are all-in-one diapers that have their own plastic pants.
So I thought I’d write an introduction for those ABDLs who were interested in trying cloth diapers.
Types of Cloth Diapers
What type of cloth diaper is best for you? A lot of that depends on you — your personal needs and preferences. Let’s look at what sorts of diapers exist so you know what to look for.
A cloth diaper can basically be broken down into material, weave, and shape. (You will, of course, want to make sure it’s the right size for you as well, but that seemed rather obvious.) Knowing the terms can help you decipher the descriptions of diapers on websites and packaging.
Material
Cotton diapers are very absorbent and are thus the standard. However, let’s be frank: poop sticks to cotton. If you’re going to be messing your diapers, you might want to think of an alternative — although there are diaper liners, which I’ll mention later. But cotton is great for those who just wet. It’s also really comfortable.
Linen diapers, according to what I read anyway, are less absorbent and a bit harsher in feel, but they’re easier to clean if they get messy. Hemp diapers are also out there, and I’ve heard they’re even more absorbent than cotton. Synthetic materials don’t tend to feel as wet, if you don’t like that, and are less expensive than natural fibers, but of course they’re not biodegradable.
Then there are combinations — cotton/hemp blends with a linen inner liner, for example. You’ll pay more for those, but they can be worth it.
Weave
Material has to be woven into fabric, of course, and there are many ways to do that.
Gauze is the most basic weave — it’s just threads woven into a grid. Because of that uncomplicated weave, though, a single layer of gauze is very, very thin and not very absorbent. Gauze diapers have to be more layers thick in order to do the same job as more complex weaves.
Flannel is basically a gauze weave but with “fuzzier” thread. A single layer of flannel will be thicker and thus more absorbent than a similar single layer of gauze. One might think that multiple washings would reduce the thickness of flannel, but in reality that process is very, very slow; you’ll wear a hole in the diaper before a flannel diaper basically turns into gauze.
Birdseye is a more complicated weave that results in a thicker cloth; a single layer of birdseye is thicker than a layer of gauze. Birdseye is just one of a family of complex cloth weaves that used to be called “diaper” — the type of cloth from which diapers got their name.
Knit is just that — the fabric is knitted, though by machine rather than by hand. This makes the fabric stretchable in one direction. Knit, however, is susceptible to snags and runs. If a thread snaps or is cut, it will pull out over time and weaken the entire diaper. Stretchable fabric makes a diaper more comfortable. But it can also squeeze moisture out when you move. There are a lot of variations with knit fabric — ribbed knit, for example, can make a single layer of fabric thicker and thus more absorbent. Tricot is a variation of knit that is less susceptible to runs.
Cloth of any weave can be sewn into diapers in multiple layers, but what I want you to come away with is that five layers of birdseye can be thicker than eight layers of gauze — the weave matters.
Shape
Cloth of any kind can of course be made into diapers of many different shapes, and the shape you choose affects how you wear and wash the diaper. Most shapes require pins, as well.
Flat diapers are just that — multiple layers of cloth sewn into a flat rectangle or square. In order to wear a flat diaper, you’ll typically have to fold it, which makes flat diapers very versatile, since you can find a number of different folds and experiment with which ones you like best. Most folds concentrate more thickness in the center of the diaper where you’ll need it. However, you do have to fold every single diaper before you pin it on.
Flat prefold diapers, sometimes just called prefold diapers, have been folded and sewn into a shape already — this is a rectangular shape with extra layers down the center for extra absorbency there. You still have to do a bit of folding to put them on, though.
Contour or fitted diapers are already cut, folded, and sewn into an hourglass shape, again usually with extra thickness in the center, around the crotch. Some contour diapers have snaps or hook-and-loop fasteners. I’ll talk more about fasteners later.
All-in-one diapers have a waterproof (containing plastic) outer coating, meaning that you won’t need plastic pants with these, and they usually contain their own fasteners, either snaps or hook-and-loop. These tend not to last as long, because as soon as the plastic wears out, the diaper isn’t useful anymore, and the plastic tends to go first. Different brands will vary, though.
Now you know what you’re getting if you see a “flat cotton birdseye prefold” diaper.
What Type to Get?
I’m not going to tell you what kind of diapers to get — your taste will be different from mine. But here are some things to consider.
The more complicated the diaper, the more expensive it will be, both in the short term and the long run. Diapers that require more work to make cost more, so prefolds cost more than flat diapers and contour diapers cost more than prefolds. What’s more, diapers with their own fasteners will lose their usefulness as soon as the fasteners fail — and the same is true for all-in-ones that have their own plastic outer cover. More pieces means more pieces that can fail, and that means you’re going to be replacing them more often. If you have separate pins and plastic pants, and you break a pin, or tear a plastic pant, you only have to replace one thing, which saves you money.
It is possible for a diaper to be too thick — I know this is something you probably never expected me to say. But a diaper that has too many layers or too much bulk in the center is going to be more difficult to get completely clean, and more difficult to dry after washing. This can lead to bacterial growth and odor. What I’m saying is that if you want more bulk, just add more diapers; don’t buy individual diapers that are thicker.
Similarly, some manufacturers make prefold or contour diapers with added fluff in the central core for more bulk — don’t buy these if you want to use them for actual wetting. If you’re only going to wear them because you like the feel, that’s great; go ahead. But for wetting use, the polyfill in the core will make the diapers harder to get clean and harder to dry, leading to bacterial growth and odor. Again, if you want thicker diapers, just add more diapers, or add diaper inserts.
Speaking of which, cloth diaper manufacturers often sell diaper inserts of the right size to fit inside their diapers. These add absorbency without adding as much cost as more diapers. You can also buy cloth diapers sized for babies and use those as inserts.
Another thing to consider is diaper color and print. Color or printed cloth diapers can cost more than just plain white ones. If they do, consider what sort of plastic pants you’ll be wearing over them: if they’re opaque enough that you won’t be able to see the color or print of the diapers, what’s the point of spending more for pretty diapers? Now, if the color/printed ones don’t cost extra, or if your plastic pants are clear enough to see the diapers through them, never mind.
Fasteners
If you don’t want your diapers falling off, you’ll have to fasten them somehow. Typically this is done using some sort of pins — safety pins, if you’re really low budget, but bigger pins are available out there. Diaper pins for babies work just fine for adult-size cloth diapers. There are also some specialized larger-sized diaper pins for ABDLs — you don’t really need them, but if they help put you in the right headspace, go right ahead.
Obviously you’ll want to be very careful with diaper pins, because they are sharp and pointy. Lift up the diaper material and insert the pin parallel to your skin or slightly away from you, and be careful where it comes back out, so as not to stick your fingers.
Should you position the pins horizontally or vertically? I don’t know. Either way, you’re putting stress at two points on each side of the diaper: the point where the pin goes in and the point where it comes back out. Just don’t place them diagonally, or you’ll set up a force that will try to twist the fabric.
Some diapers come with their own snaps or with hook-and-loop fasteners. As I’ve sad before, I would avoid these, because with multiple washings they don’t last as long as the rest of the diaper. Even hook-and-loop fasteners will pull loose from the fabric they’re sewn into, or even tear the fabric. Pins are really better, even though you’re pushing them through the fabric: you’re not doing it at the same place every time, and if a pin wears out, you can just replace the pin, which is cheaper than replacing the whole diaper.
Other Considerations
Washing
Washing cloth diapers really requires a washing machine. If you don’t have one in your home or close at hand, you probably shouldn’t use cloth diapers, at least not on a regular basis. You can rinse out cloth diapers in your bathtub or shower if they’re just wet.
Even if they’re only wet, cloth diapers will start to smell pretty quickly, and faster in summer than winter. But of course the same is true of disposables. However, with cloth diapers that are only wet, if you know you won’t be able to wash them right away, you can rinse them in your bathtub or shower as I mentioned earlier, which will greatly extend how long you can go without washing them (but don’t wear them again before you wash them). You don’t want to let cloth diapers go for more than a couple of days without washing, because the bacteria can start to break down the cloth and shorten your diapers’ lifespan.
Which detergent you use is really not that important; use whatever you use for other laundry. But don’t use bleach on your diapers. Bleach is really hard on cloth and will shorten your diapers’ lifespan, and what’s more, bleach releases poisonous chlorine gas when combined with ammonia, which will be present in your wet diapers due to bacteria acting on the urea. If you are having problems with odors, you can try adding some vinegar to the wash, or there’s a product called Odo-Ban that does a very good job of eliminating odors when added to laundry.
Handling messy cloth diapers needs care. First you have to scrape as much off as you can, using toilet paper, as it can be flushed. There are diaper liners that are made of a biodegradable (but usually not flushable) material; these can be put inside a cloth diaper if you’re planning on messing in that diaper, and they will keep the cloth clean while allowing pee to pass through. Before putting a diaper in the wash, spray any messy spots with a stain remover like Shout to get the stains out.
Absorbency vs. Disposables
Cloth diapers have a different absorbent quality than disposables — in my experience, the chance of leaking kind of gradually ramps up the wetter they get. Disposables’ chance of leaking remains pretty low until they get near their limit, then suddenly jumps up. This basically means that cloth diapers have a small chance to leak when they’re only a little bit wet, although the leak won’t be much. You can minimize the leak chance by wearing thicker diapers (oh no) or larger plastic pants, as well as just by making sure the entire diaper is tucked into the plastic pants at all openings.
Diaper Rash
Wearing a wet cloth diaper for hours will increase your chances of getting diaper rash, which you definitely don’t want. Diaper rash is basically a chemical burn you get because bacteria are changing the urea in your urine into ammonia. However, if you simply make sure not to stay in a wet cloth diaper too long, you’ll be fine. What’s more, if you actually go 24/7 with cloth diapers, your skin will become more used to the pH levels of a wet diaper, and diaper rashes will become less common. You still don’t want to tempt fate, though.
Luckily, diaper rashes go away quickly if you simply stop wearing diapers for a day or two — but if that isn’t an option for you, you’ll have to use something else, like Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, which does clear up diaper rash pretty quickly.
The Crinkle
If you’re a fan of that crinkling sound that disposable diapers make but you don’t get that sound from a cloth diaper, I have two ideas.
One of them is getting the right kind of plastic pants. PEVA (polyethylene vinyl acetate) is a plastic material that’s much crinklier than PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which most plastic pants have usually been made from. What’s more, PVC is a known carcinogen, while PEVA is not. The quality of the crinkle is slightly different (it seems lower in frequency) than that of disposable diapers, but they are quite crinkly.
Another idea is to use a disposable diaper in place of plastic pants. Yes, you will probably have to get some larger sized disposable diapers than you usually wear, but if you just put your cloth diaper inside a disposable, not only will you end up with that cloth feeling and bulk near your skin, the disposable on the outside will still be nice and crinkly. And in this case the crinkly sound will be exactly that of a disposable diaper.
There You Have It
That’s my introduction to cloth diapers. There’s probably lots more to be said, and some of what I’ve said here is just my opinion. If you’ve got comments or suggestions, you can reply to this below.
