Cloth Diapering Accessories

When you look for things on cloth diapering, I feel like a million accessories will come up. Especially when you’re searching items on Amazon. Like everything though it depends how what is important to you and your lifestyle for it to make sense. So I wanted to go through accessories I have and love to use. I’ll start with what I feel like is essential with cloth diapering and then the bonus items that if you have the money it’s not a bad idea to get.

Diapering Essentials

The first essential is a central location to put soiled diapers. There are 2 methods of storing soiled diapers, Wet pail and Dry Pail. For the wet pail method, you’ll just need a bin to fill with water. I didn’t use this method, but from what I read up on it a locking bin is better for safety reasons. For the dry pail method, I recommend making sure there is some ventilation, otherwise the ammonia smell gets extremely strong. For many this means a large wet bag. I really like hanging wet bags because in our old house we have a small random “closet” in the bathroom with a hook that made no sense. If you’d prefer to use a normal garbage bin, they also make wet bags with an elastic opening to grip the bin. I’d recommend 2 of these at minimum if you have one centralized collection zone.

Another essential are small wet dry bags. These are perfect for diaper bags, cars, or random spots of the house further from your main collection hub. I’d recommend 3-4 so you’ll always have one clean. I even used an extra one for my work pump bag to store pump parts and will usually bring one when we go to a beach to throw bathing suits in. So they age well beyond your cloth diapering journey.

You’ll need to get some cloth diaper safe diaper cream. You truly want to stay away from petroleum based because it ruins the diapers by making them repeal instead of absorb. Zinc based ones are fine with cloth diapers, but there’s a risk of staining. In my opinion, theres also a risk a staining from the poop. It is what it is. However I used a zinc based cream and barely noticed any staining. Sunning your cloth diapers will also assist with any stains you might get.

Cleaning Essentials

The last essential is cloth diaper safe laundry detergent. There’s certain things in detergents that you want to avoid to keep the absorbency and get them very clean at the same time. Some formulas cause build up on cloth diapers creating them to repeal instead of absorb or oddly enough trap in what your trying to clean out.

My favorite All free and clear powder (not the liquid!) as it’s cheap, HE friendly, and gets the job done. However it can be extremely difficult to locate for me sometimes. I really prefer Free and clear formula’s since My husband and I have a sensitivity when it comes to detergent. I also strongly dislike 99% of cleaning fragrances. My second favorite became the Tide original powder detergent which is incredibly easy to locate. The scent didn’t really hold onto the diapers like other detergents I tried. If I accidently went heavy handed, then an extra rinse cycle usually did the trick. Foca powder detergent is highly recommended as its cheap and works great, but unfortunately it’s not HE safe.

Diapering Non Essentials

These are not items you need at all to cloth diaper, but they are nice to have.

Depending on your approach for cloth diapers this can either be essential or non essential and that is cloth wipes. I was more than ok with using disposable wipes and made sure to keep a small trash can near our changing station just for wipes. The longer I cloth diapered my daughter, I started to really see the benefits of cloth wipes. When using the cloth wipes, it allows you to not have to worry about that small extra step and easily throw everything into the bag. If you use cloth wipes, you can simply use water or use a bottom spray cleaner. Some cloth diaper companies sell one or you can make your own. One good thing about using cloth wipes is you don’t necessarily need to buy wipes. You can cut up old t-shirts and use old washcloths making this free or an inexpensive addition.

If you are using the Prefolds and Flats, then you’ll want to invest in either diaper pins or something like Snappis to hold the fabric. Of course there are folds that won’t require pins like a simple padfold, but they’re still nice to have on hand. The regular diaper pins will be more affordable, but if you are afraid of poking your baby, the extra cost of something like Snappi’s may interest you.

Another thing that is not essential, but really comes in handy are liners. This is a thin sheet that lays between baby’s bottom and the diaper. Liners come in handy if your baby has an upset stomach that makes it difficult to clean off or I’ve used them when I need to use diaper cream and wanted the extra protection. If your baby starts having a solids schedule, you could only use the liners during that time to try and make cleaning easier. I don’t think these are necessary for every single diaper change however they really are helpful for certain situations.

Cleaning Non Essentials

I really preferred to hang dry my diapers. This gives that little extra environmental aspect to cloth diapers by saving you a little bit of money from using the dryer. The other reason to try and extend the life of my covers. While I used our dryer when I was in a pinch for diapers, I didn’t want to continuously put the elastic and plastic snaps under more wear and tear with the heat from the dryer. I have a drying rack from Ikea that I love since it gives me room to space out diapers. I also have their hanging octopus drying racks that are great for extra space or small spaces.

The last item that I’ll categorize as a luxury cloth diapering item is a diaper sprayer. It’s a sprayer that attaches to your toilet and helps knock off solids. I didn’t want to spend $50-$70 on a diaper sprayer while I was cloth diapering my daughter. For me, I realized this would have been extremely helpful for that timeframe where they’re becoming more used to food yet still aren’t super mobile. This time around I was dead set on getting one. You’ll want to instead look for a handheld bidet sprayer on Amazon or a hardware store. The price will be closer to the $25 range which is much more realistic. If you lucky like I was, you may have the chance to find one on clearance for $10!