Everything about cloth diapers

Everything you’ve always wanted to know about cloth diapers

Anja from Hummelhintern is a cloth diaper consultant and an enthusiastic cloth diaper user. We are delighted that she is sharing her wide-ranging experience with us, providing clarity and dispelling some common misconceptions. We were won over by this sustainable, healthy, and natural concept a long time ago, and it is no coincidence that our pants, suits, and bodysuits combine so well with cloth diapers. All our knickerbockers are cut extra wide in the crotch, providing plenty of room for cloth diapers. Our Loopbody is also soft and elastic, making it highly stretchable. The Loop eliminates the need for extras such as button-on bodysuit extenders and makes changing cloth diapers easy and quick. Thank you for sharing, dear Anja. We hope everyone else enjoys reading.

The benefits of cloth diapers at a glance

Cloth diapers are becoming increasingly popular. You often hear the same misconceptions—they smell, they are expensive, they interfere with motor development, they leak, and they are terribly complicated. When used correctly, none of this is true.

 On the contrary: the greatest benefits of cloth diapers at a glance

 

  •  Conserve resources, ecological, and sustainable
  •  Healthy, gentle, and kind to the skin
  •  Support babies and toddlers in their natural development of bladder and bowel control
  •  Support babies’ hip development through wide positioning
  •  No heat buildup during a fever or in summer
  •  Cost savings

 

Sustainability

Over a three-year diapering period, one child accumulates approximately 1.5 tons of diaper waste, meaning disposable diapers account for 10% of the residual waste generated by German households—a figure that is rising. Disposable diapers take approximately 450 years to decompose. In the meantime, microplastics are released and spread everywhere. In addition, all the resources used to manufacture a disposable diaper are irretrievably lost. When diapers are incinerated after disposal, 3–4% toxic residues (slag) remain. Some of this is incorporated into concrete and used in road construction, but most is stored permanently in salt mines, like nuclear waste.  Cloth diapers, on the other hand, produce only a small amount of waste, and only once they are damaged. With good care, this may not happen until after several years or several children. The items are then also disposed of with residual waste, but their natural materials burn without residue. Manufacturing cloth diapers also consumes resources, but thanks to their durability, natural materials, and an efficient washing machine, their production and use are exceptionally gentle on resources and sustainable. 

Skin compatibility

When stored and washed correctly, cloth diapers are free from residue caused by bodily waste or detergent. They are well tolerated and do not dry out the skin through chemical substances such as the lotions and perfumes found in disposable diapers.  By choosing the materials, each person can decide what comes into contact with the baby’s skin: natural materials such as cotton and wool, or synthetic fibers such as viscose and PUL (polyurethane laminate). Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages. What they all have in common is that they are significantly more breathable than disposable diapers and therefore carry heat away from the body. This is a particularly great advantage on warm summer days.  

Supporting development 

Children who are accustomed to disposable diapers often wear them much longer than children who grow up with cloth diapers. This has various reasons and can sometimes cause considerable distress for the parents and children affected. One reason is the absorbent core, which gives babies and children no feedback that they have just urinated. In addition, children often have no connection to their bodily waste, either when it leaves the body or when it is disposed of. They also lack a connection to the organs involved in elimination because the diaper is often removed only for changing, while the children are otherwise very rarely completely naked. Yet babies communicate, more or less clearly, when they need to go from birth onward. More information is available here.

Cost savings

Three years of using disposable diapers costs an average of €1,500 per child. This does not include wet wipes, disposable changing mats, garbage bags, or waste disposal. With premium or organic diapers and a diapering period of four or five years, the total increases by several hundred euros.  The initial investment in cloth diapers is, of course, higher. But if you choose a simple diapering system—for example, muslin diapers with covers for the day and fitted diapers with wool pull-on covers for the night—you can manage well with around €600. The only additional costs are for washing. So if you start using cloth diapers with your first child, you will save a considerable amount of money by the time you have your second child at the latest. However, the financial advantage is still clearly greater even with the first child, because you can easily resell cloth diapers you no longer need.

 

Proven in practice

With cloth diapers, there are generally no poop explosions—the moments when your newborn’s stool runs all the way up to the hairline and everything the baby was wearing and lying on has to go into the laundry. This is due to the construction of a cloth diaper. If I also use the right material in the diaper, it slows the stool down and prevents it from spreading everywhere.

An overview of the different systems and sizes

All cloth diapers consist of a waterproof layer (PUL or wool) and absorbent material (usually cotton, hemp, bamboo, polyester, or a blend of these). These components can be combined in different ways: 

 

  •  One-piece system (All-In-One/AIO and pocket diapers): The waterproof layer and absorbent material are sewn together, or the absorbent material is inserted into a pocket.
  •  Two-piece system (All-In-Two/AI2 and Snap-In-One/SIO): The waterproof layer and absorbent material are not sewn together; the absorbent material is either wrapped around the child or placed inside the waterproof layer.
  •  Three-piece system (All-In-Three/AI3): The waterproof layer is snapped into an outer diaper, and the absorbent material is placed or snapped into the waterproof layer. 
  •  NB (Newborn): usually fits from birth (approx. 2,900 g) to approx. 5 kg. 
  •  OS (One Size): fits up to approx. 15–18 kg.

 

Cloth diaper consultations

For anyone who wants to learn more, I wholeheartedly recommend a consultation or workshop with a cloth diaper consultant, based on my own experience. In two to three hours, you will learn all the important basics and facts about using cloth diapers, and afterward you can contact the consultant if anything remains unclear. Many consultants also offer rental packages for the newborn period as well as test packages in OS and for larger diapers. Combining a consultation with a test package saves an enormous amount of time and prevents costly mistakes.

You can also find more information about Anja and her work on her Hummelhintern Instagram channel.

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