Time for a change! Read about Cloth Diapering

Diapers may not be an important part of most peoples' lives, and even parents with young children deal with diapers for only a few years. The environmental impact of the vastly popular disposable diaper, however, affects us all and is a problem which won't go away.

It 's estimated that 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are tossed into landfills each day. They can take up to 500 years to decompose! The manufacture of disposables uses over 1 million metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic each year. Disposables are the diaper of choice for over 90% of Malaysian parents.


Benefits of Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers have changed considerably over the years, and offer many benefits to parents of newborns:

Healthier. .Disposables are laden with chemicals which have been associated with many physical problems. Diaper rash also increases with disposable diaper use due to allergies to chemicals, poor air flow and longer time spent in wet diapers which feel dry when wet.

Benefits the environment. Cloth diapers are reusable. Quality cotton diapers will hold up for 75 - 100 washings (at minimum), and can be saved for the next child. Although energy is required for washing the diapers, it is a fraction of the energy used for disposables. Cloth diapers are also recyclable, making excellent cotton rags in their 'afterlife'.

Less expensive. Many studies have compared the costs of disposables diapers versus cloth washed at home, and cloth diapers provided by commercial diaper services. Results vary, but most agree that the cost of cloth diapers, home laundered, is considerably lower than buying disposables. Estimates range from RM3000 - RM6000 in savings over the 2 1/2 years, and 6000 diaper changes, of diaper use. Using a commercial diaper service, depending on which study you consult, is either comparable to, or a little less expensive, than using disposables.


Washing Instructions

Before You Wash

Remove your child's diaper and shake off the solids into the toilet or flush the disposable liner down the toilet or spray the solids off with the mini spray (works incredibly well). The fleece is great for releasing anything fairly solid. Remove the soaker/insert, and then rinse any solids still on the soaker/insert; you may want to add a squirt of hand soap while you are rinsing the diaper and soaker/insert. Spray gently to dislodge the poo, then rinse off and off to the diaper pail or washing machine

Re-fasten the hook and loop strap and place the dirty/wet diaper into a DRY diaper pail. If the diaper also got dirty you can add it to the pail or rinse of the "poop" and throw the diaper in with your regular laundry.

Washing Is Easy!
For Top & Front-Loaders

• PRE-WASH - COLD WATER, NO DETERGENT AT HIGH WATER LEVEL
  Empty Diaper Pail Liner into the washer and use pre-wash cycle(or a rinse cycle) to rinse out urine and fecal matter. I recommend 2 cold pre-washes, especially if you try to rinse out the NB "poop"! If you find that your diapers are very smelly, you can add 1/4 cup of baking soda to the pre-wash - please note that the baking soda will shorten the life of your cover, all-in-ones and pocket diapers - use rarely!
• MAIN WASH - REGULAR CYCLE, HOT WATER AT HIGH WATER LEVEL, 2nd RINSE
  Add detergent (a little less than directed if you use regular detergent.) You can add a small amount of Vinegar to the rinse cycle, however it can make your covers smell with hard water. So if you find that your covers are getting a strange smell, stop using Vinegar! Once your diapers are washed you can test if they are clean by holding them at your nose and take a deep breath - they should smell very fresh! If they do not, run one more hot wash cycle without any detergent. If you feel that you're diapers aren't getting as clean as you'd like, add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil to the detergent - this works wonders and leaves your diapers smelling fresh!!! Do not use the Tea Tree Oil or any other oils on the any of the cloth diapers, as the oil will adhere to the fleece. When washing diapers it is really important to have an idea about the quality of your water - if you have hard water, use less detergent and you might even have to run your diapers through a hot wash without detergent after a regular wash cycle every month or so. In hard water the detergent does not rinse well and your diapers can start smelling, if you use too much detergent or do not rinse well enough. I generally recommend to do 2 cold rinses at the end!
• DRY - PUT DIAPERS IN THE DRYER OR SUN DRY DIAPERS TO GET THEM EXTRA WHITE
  Keep the Dryer on a low heat setting. Leave the covers out to air dry (without sun, the diapers may show stains from poop - however, they are clean!) Please also remember that the dryer is hard on any waterproof fabric, so if you want to extend the life of your pocket diapers, all-in-ones and covers keep them out of the dryer as often as possible.
• DONE …your diapers are clean and ready to use!!!