Cloth Diapering Question

Updated on September 16, 2008
M.G. asks from Portland, OR
12 answers

Ok, this seems to me like a bit of a silly question, but I just had a thought occur to me regarding night diapering while potty training.

My question is what have others done for diapering for just the night? It would seem to me that if you are only going through a few diapers a week that cloth might be sort of a pain when it comes to keeping them washed. I wash diapers every third day and by that time there is both a full load and they are, well, pretty ripe.

I just thought I would see what others have done and what their experiences are since we are getting close to this point...yippy! :)

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So What Happened?

So, I haven't started the potty training yet. My daughter is still pretty young (18 mos), but she also seems to be interested and starting to catch on. She has really started to be bothered by wet/dirty diapers and also using sign language or just tries to strip down when she wants to sit on the potty. I am about to take a trip, but when we come back I am going to see how it goes.

I seemed to forget about all the other items that will get soiled so I think I will have enough "potty" laundry for a while, but if I get to the point where I don't I imagine I will switch to disposables. I am pretty serious about recycling and composting so it somewhat goes against that, but wasting water and energy also isn't in my nature. :)

Thank you ladies for your advice! It is so nice to get other opinions or just hear what you are thinking to help make you feel more sure about your ideas and thoughts!

Featured Answers

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

I like pull-ups for this because they are more like real big boy pants so he does not feel like he is having to wear a diaper.

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W.C.

answers from Seattle on

Double diaper. And for my son as he got older triple diaper.

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L.L.

answers from Seattle on

We use pull ups at night. That way it is easy to get them on and off when my son wakes up and needs to use the toilet. If you are solely cloth diapers from day one and don't want to use disposables at all, you could always use the same cloth training pants that you will likely use during the day...or they have some that are for transitioning between cloth diapers and traditional cloth training pants that are cloth on the inside and pull on/off like underwear, but are vinyl on the outside...although, I'd guess that if you just used plain old cloth training pants over night (with rubber sheets under the normal ones of course!) that you may not need to wait 3 days before laundry needs to be done...;~)

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L.G.

answers from Seattle on

I am transitioning to using cloth diapers in my daycare and preschool, so we do not always have a full load. We have an energy efficient (front-loader) washing machine, so I don't feel too badly running it with a smaller load, but I still almost never do it. (Okay...pretty much never...) We always have towels, doggy bedding, something to throw in there with the diapers. I use the "sanitize" setting with a pre-wash, so I don't mind washing other items that can use a good sanitizing.
By the way, I could have written the second paragraph about your "A Little About Me." Is your home-based business an in-home daycare, by any chance? If so, please feel free to contact me so we can "talk shop!" :) Blessings to you and yours! <3

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C.C.

answers from Portland on

My 2 1/2 year old is down to just using diapers at night, and we've been using pocket diapers (the one size happy heinys). I wash them on the lowest water setting in my washer every 3-4 days. You are quite right about them getting quite ripe -- I wouldn't want to go longer than 3 days or so! I've also often used the g-diaper flushy thingies as inserts for my pocket diapers for night time. They are more absorbent, and I can flush them away in the morning, and just wash the exteriors of the pocket dipes when I get a chance (we have enough pockets for five nights). Without the soaked inserts, the ripeness factor is much better.

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A.B.

answers from Portland on

Yes, I agree they are pretty ripe, if your diaper pail doesn't contain the smell, I would just move it to the garage or something. Also, when I was potty training my daughter in cloth one day I just told her that there would be no more diapers as night so she needed to wait until morning and it worked! ( there were a few accidents of course )She uses a saddle-type pad on her twin bed it wraps around the bed and tucks in the sides, but rarely needs it.

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R.B.

answers from Medford on

Hi! I saw your request and it hit home for me since I've been going through what you're looking forward to! We've been working on potty training with our 2-year-old daughter for several months now (next time I won't start so early!) and I quickly found that, as you predicted, a pail of diapers that takes a week to fill is VERY ripe! At the time we were keeping it in my daughter's closet and it was really bad so we decided to just use disposable for nighttime and for longer outings. However, the problem was solved when our son arrived two months ago! Now I have enough diapers to fill the pail every other day, and I started keeping it in the laundry room anyway which has been great. So you could always just have another baby! :) Anyway, just thought I'd add my experience to your responses!
Blessings!
R.

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J.K.

answers from Seattle on

There really shouldn't be a huge problem with waiting three days to wash diapers, but you could always try rinsing your diapers before placing them in your diaper pail to help control odors. Do you have a diaper sprayer? There are also pull-up style cloth diapers and training pants that you might find useful at this stage. Feel free to stop by my shop in downtown Olympia if you'd like to see or discuss some of the options available to you and your family! :) Simple Cloth, 210 1/2 W. 4th Avenue, Olympia. ###-###-####

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L.S.

answers from Seattle on

I know of at least one company - Happy Heiny - that actually makes cloth pull ups for night time. They are pocket diapers so they really do wick the moisture from little ones bum. The pocket part also means you could pull out the soaked insert and rinse it so that by the end of the week you could wash a small load and it wouldn't be so ripe. I think there may even be a couple of local web sites that sell them or could order them for you so that you wouldn't have to pay for shipping and you could support local small business. Much luck!

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T.E.

answers from Seattle on

My son pretty much learned night time training at the same time as day time, but for a while I did use 7th Generation disposables at night since he was only having 1-2 nighttime accidents a week and he had outgrown his cloth diapers (I couldn't justify shelling out the money for a very temporary situation). I reused the disposables if they were dry. If wet, they obviously went in the garbage. Not the best solution, but it worked for the few months that he had accidents at night.

J.K.

answers from Seattle on

I've always used cloth for the day and disposible at night. I don't want my baby in a cloth diaper for more than 2 or 3 hours.

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A.H.

answers from Portland on

I think it's ok to switch to pull-ups or natural paper diapers until your child is potty trained. I had a similar problem with cloth diapering when my son was young.

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