Beginner Guides to Cloth Diapering

I was surprised (and relieved) to find the most daunting part of cloth diapering wasn't the laundry or the poop or using cloth on-the-go. The most truly exhausting, time consuming, almost changed-my-mind aspect of cloth diapering was... (drum roll please)...

....the research.

Before I started sharing our experience with cloth, I was a clueless beginner. Overwhelmed with new terms, and grossed out by a process I didn't understand. I spent hours reading and researching and trying to sort it all out.

In case that is where you find yourself today, here are some of those go-to beginner guides and cloth diapering information sources that helped answer my beginning questions.

Beginner Guides to Cloth Diapering

1 | Prefolds Love

I can't give you a collection of beginner guides to cloth diapering without mentioning Prefolds Love :) Everything I've learned from our experience is in the posts on this blog. I have a few more to add, but all the basics are here. I outline the 10 getting started steps in this >> cloth diapering checklist, with everything from changing a cloth diaper, washing cloth diapers, and storing cloth diapers (with lots of photos to show the process).

2 | PinStripes and PolkaDots

PinStripes and PolkaDots' Basics of Cloth Diapering was my number one go-to source for learning about cloth diapering. They cover everything you'd need to know. Their diaper rash cream information and chart is how we chose California Baby diaper rash cream, their newborn gallery is a great comparison of diaper sizing for little babies, and their "using prefolds with covers" section has helpful photos that taught me how to put on a prefold diaper.

3 | Little for Now

Little for Now's Cloth Diaper 101 is another thorough guide on cloth diapering--choosing diapers, washing them, detergents and glossaries. They have updated their articles since I first read and they now have the Cloth Diaper Learning Center.

4 | The Eco-Friendly Family

Amanda covers her cloth diapering experience on her blog The Eco-Friendly Family. Scroll past (or read through) her "I've never looked back" introduction to get to the list of cloth diapering articles. She's added more since I first initially read. Like her t-shirt diaper post--I'm intrigued.

5 | Mothering.com

When I was pregnant, I was gifted an issue of Mothering, the magazine "inspiring natural families since 1976." It included an article on cloth diapering that began my journey into researching cloth and eventually buying and using cloth on our little ones. I had already done my research the hard way (blindly weeding through Google searches) when I came across the diapering section on Mothering.com--great information and how-to videos for "diapering naturally" (their terminology for cloth diapering).

6 | Baby Center Community

The Cloth Diapering group on BabyCenter has been indispensable in our cloth diapering journey. This group is a community of truly experienced and incredibly helpful ladies. They help me trouble shoot, recommend products, and give encouragement when I'm overwhelmed. The number of people I personally know "in real life" that are using cloth is growing, but when I first began, I knew exactly no one actively using them and only my sister-in-law who was researching for future use as well. Knowing a few experienced cloth users or having access to a conversation-style cloth diapering group is a great resource to have when you want to be successful at using cloth even through the sometimes difficult aspects.

7 | YouTube

Try searching "cloth diapers" or any number of the auto fill-in options that show up on YouTube and you'll find lots of informative and insightful videos--how to choose a diaper, how to fold a prefold, how to wash cloth diapers, how to sew a cloth diaper. If you're not excited about reading all the information, or need to see for yourself the difference between an all-in-one and a cover-and-prefold, YouTube is a great reference.


It gets easier!

If you're feeling overwhelmed by all of the information and the looming question Is cloth diapering right for me and my family?--just know that it gets easier. Being informed is half the battle in becoming a successful cloth diaper user.

You can do this!

>>>>>

Ready to learn more about cloth diapers?

the cloth diapering checklist
how to change a cloth diaper
how to wash a cloth diaper
interviews of cloth diaper users
why i love cloth diapers