Whatever Happened to Diaper Services?

I remember the diaper service truck being a frequent visitor to my street when I was a kid, but I don't think I've seen one in at least ten years. However, diaper service is still available in most areas, though certainly not as popular as it was when I was a child. Whether you should choose to go with a diaper service or not depends entirely on your reason(s) for cloth diapering. If your reason is to save money (as mine was), it's not the way to go. Diaper Service typically costs about the same as using disposable diapers. If your reason has to do with protecting your baby's sensitive skin, it still might not be the best option. Commercial diaper services usually use a more chemically rigorous wash routine than you would be likely to at home. If you truly have concerns regarding which chemicals potentially touch your baby's skin, you're probably better off laundering at home so you know exactly what goes on your diapers.

If you choose to cloth diaper because of environmental concerns, then diaper service is probably the best option.  The amount of water and electricity it takes to launder cloth diapers at home ends up being significantly less than the water and electricity consumed to manufacture disposables for the duration of your child's time in diapers. The amount used by a professional diaper service is even less. By washing many more diapers together, the amount of resources consumed to wash the diapers commercially is even less than the amount you end up using to wash them at home.

I chose not to use a diaper service because it's more expensive, and because I wanted to be able to use a gentler detergent and wash routine. I have sensitive skin, so I figured it would be likely that my daughter would as well. As it turns out, I was right. Diaper service probably wouldn't have caused any skin problems, but I wanted to be on the safe side. Diaper service also limits you to using only prefolds and covers, and I wanted to be able to use all-in-ones and pockets as well.

Why Everyone Needs a Handful of Gerber Prefolds

Gerber prefolds are the cheapest of the cheap when it comes to cloth diapers. There are a couple of different versions, though. The mainstream Gerber Birdseye Prefolds are the least expensive, and they are the most readily available (you can find them in Target, Walmart, Fred Meyer, etc.), but the center "absorbent" panel is actually a polyester pad sewn between the cotton layers. Polyester is non-absorbent. What that means is that the cotton exterior does all the absorbing, and the pad is basically there to make you think it's more absorbent than it really is. That being said, I do use these as actual diapers from time to time, despite most internet recommendations to the contrary. They are great between naps because they are trim, and absorbent enough to do the job for an hour or two. I would never, never, never use them overnight or on a longer car ride, because they will leak after a short time. Gerber also makes different varieties that are 100% cotton throughout, but they are more expensive and probably much better as actual diapers.

What they are utterly fabulous for, though, is an all-purpose household cloth. I've used them as burp rags, changing pads, dish towels (in a pinch), bibs, dust rags, napkins, handkerchief, face wipes, and so much more. Basically, there are a few of these sprinkled through each room of my house, several in the diaper bag, and a couple in the car. You simply cannot have enough of these lying around. More than anything else, though, I've used these to sop spills out of carpet. We have had an entire Guinness spill on our off-white living room carpet, and these bad boys soaked up the beer so well that we didn't even have a stain. We used no carpet cleaner at all, but merely soaked up all the beer into the Gerber prefolds, and it is completely gone. I don't care if you even have a baby; you need some of these in your house.

Diaper Pins Vs. Snappi

I'm not sure what it is about diaper pins that is so intimidating, but most people are really loathe to use them (as was I until fairly recently). One of the major objections that I frequently hear regarding cloth diapering is that parents and caretakers don't want to have to use pins. If you think about it, there's really nothing that bad about a safety pin. As long as you aren't completely careless, the worst that could happen is you prick your finger, it hurts for about half a second, and you move on. You'd have to be extremely careless actually to prick your baby.

However, it is completely possible to use cloth diapers without ever touching a diaper pin, thanks to the Snappi. As I mentioned before, it works a bit like the fasteners on ace bandages: it has little claws that grip the cloth at each hip and down the crotch. While there are internet Snappi gurus all over the place, I am not the biggest fan. Admittedly, it is easier to stretch a Snappi quickly over a prefold on a vigorously squirming baby than to try to pin the diaper. However, if you don't have a thick enough prefold, the claws come through the fabric and leave little red marks on the baby's hip (which can't be comfortable). There is a serious learning curve to learning how to Snappi that nobody tells you about. You can get it on on your first try, but it takes a while to learn how to put it on well. Finally, in order to stretch it tight enough to keep the crotch claw from coming off during wear, you have to pull a strip of rubber really, really tight down the baby's crotch. I don't feel like this is particularly comfortable for my baby girl, much less a boy. It nearly always comes unclipped, and my baby isn't even mobile yet. However, if the crotch claw comes unclipped, the only thing keeping the front of the diaper from slipping out from under the Snappi is the cover. I must admit, though, that there are times when my daughter is too wiggly to use pins easily, and I reach for the Snappi whenever that happens.

I actually really like diaper pins. I think the most comfortable diaper for daytime is a cotton prefold fastened with pins. I can't completely verify that because I don't remember wearing diapers, and my daughter isn't quite capable of communicating her opinion. However, a well-pinned diaper stays in place well without pinching or rubbing. Only the soft cotton prefold touches the baby's skin, and there's nothing squishing the crotch area. You have the freedom to use looser diaper covers, which tend to impede movement less than the kind with velcro because they don't cinch the tummy tightly. In the summer, you can let your baby crawl around in just the prefold without a cover because the pins can't fall off or come unclipped. This gives your baby's skin some valuable breathing time (something you can't get with disposables at all). It's also easier to pin certain folds (like the bikini twist) than to Snappi.

Diaper Covers

As I said in previous posts, if you're using a type of diaper that does not have a waterproof exterior, you'll need to use a diaper cover to prevent leaks. When I wore diapers, that meant a pair of plastic pants, probably made by Gerber, pulled up over my diaper. Although that type of cover is basically still available, there are now other options. The most popular and common style fastens with velcro and fits snugly over the diaper, as opposed to ballooning out like the old plastic pants did. The cover in the picture is a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap. Velcro (or snap) covers are great because you don't necessarily have to fasten the diaper underneath (eliminating the need for pins or Snappis); the cover holds the diaper in place. Additionally, if there's no poop on the cover at a change, you can usually wipe it down and reuse it. This means that you may only need 5-6 covers.

Prefolds: Old-School and Awesome

Prefolds are what most people think of when they hear someone talking about cloth diapers. They are simply a rectangular piece of cotton fabric with an absorbent pad sewn lengthwise down the center of the rectangle. This is what I wore when I was a baby. They're called prefolds because even more old-school are flat diapers, which are just large, square pieces of cotton that have to be folded to get an absorbent pad in the middle. Flats are what our grandparents would have worn. Ironically, you do still have to fold prefolds a little bit to fit them on a baby.

Prefolds have to be fastened, and they need a waterproof cover to prevent leaking. My mom used pins to fasten the prefolds I wore, but pins are not popular fastening options anymore (though pins are actually my favorite fasteners). Most people use tight-fitting covers that hold the prefold in place without a fastener. The covers fasten with velcro or snaps and work pretty much like disposables, once the prefold is placed inside. Alternatively, some people prefer to fasten the prefold using a Snappi. Snappis work a bit like the fasteners on ace bandages: they're T-shaped, stretchy, and they have little claws at each end that grip the diaper. There is one claw at each hip and one down the crotch of the diaper. Fastening a prefold gives you more flexibility with your covers. If the diaper is fastened, you can choose any kind of cover, because you don't have to make sure it will hold the diaper in place. In the summer, you can just let your baby crawl around without a cover, and the breathability of just the cotton is great for the baby's skin.

Prefolds are by far the cheapest of the main cloth diaper options. They usually run about $24 a dozen (as opposed to $24 a diaper for some AIOs). They are also extremely easy to care for--they can withstand bleaching, really hot washes, etc., and they dry significantly faster than AIOs. They are also extremely flexible. Different folding techniques have different advantages, and you can choose different ones depending on the time of day and your baby's fit and absorbency needs. I think it's fun to learn new folding techniques, and it really isn't hard at all. I love being able to have so many options, and I love that they are so easy to care for. I also really like having only cotton touching my baby's skin. The major downside with prefolds is that most secondary caregivers will not want to use them, so you'll probably have to provide something else (AIOs or disposables) if you want to leave your child with someone. Some people feel that prefolds are not daddy-friendly either, though my husband likes them better than fitteds or pockets.

I love prefolds; in fact, they are my favorite diapers. I started using them because they're cheap, and now I really wish I'd started using them sooner. They're obviously the most comfortable and least restrictive diaper my daughter wears. They're just so clean and simple, and they work amazingly well.