Cloth 101 Series
Every first-time parent or caregiver may feel the desire for cloth diapering 101 classes. You can easily sign up to learn all you need to know about cloth diapering. Another option may be looking at Kanga Care’s library of resources here! We have so many great tutorials on our website to walk with you, every step of the way! You can learn everything you need to know about using our wonderful products right here. We know how difficult it can be having that precious, tiny life completely dependent on you; we are here to help and get you set up for success!
From Newborn to Training Pants; We Have Videos!
So what do you need to know? What would a cloth diaper 101 class have to teach you? Things like how to adjust and fit diapers properly, how to launder them, what to wash them in, whether or not to soak them, and how long to go between washes? So many questions! On our website we have plenty of cloth diaper video clips that will introduce you to our products and our company. These videos will also show you how to best use our products for your little one and family. When you’re ready, take a look at a few of our videos (most of them are only a minute or two long); you'll be able to see for yourself which of our various options may be the best one for you. If you want traditional cloth diapers, you may like prefolds and diaper covers, and you can see how that works. Or how about a simple pocket style diaper, so you can customize the absorbency to meet your little one’s needs. Then you may like our one size Rumparooz which fits from birth to potty training (6-40+ lbs). We have you covered whatever you choose! Our videos will show you how to adjust the diapers to get the best fit to keep your baby clean and comfortable.
Cloth Diapers 101: Diapers to Diaper Covers to Training Pants; Even Written Instructions!
We have articles on everything from newborn/ preemie diapers to training pants. It's all there! Kanga Care was founded in 2006 by parents who were looking for solutions that simply did not exist at that time. So began the journey that eventually led to the creation of Rumparooz and the Kanga Care company! We are pleased and proud to share what we have learned with you all. We have made every effort to provide accessible resources on our website. If we have missed something and you can’t find what you’re looking for, please send us an email with all of your questions, hello@kangacare.com. Let us help you get set up for success and make cloth diapering as easy and accessible as possible!The Benefits of Cloth Diapering
You don't need a full course in cloth diapering to see why so many parents and caregivers make the choice to use cloth for their baby. The reasons for choosing cloth diapers will vary between families. Some parents are drawn to the obvious financial savings. While others may make the choice due to convenience, style, environmental or health reasons. Reusable diapers are an attractive option to families who choose to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Using cloth will save landfills from piles of disposable diapers, which take hundreds of years to break down (if ever)! Cloth diapers are safer for your baby since they are devoid of harsh chemicals and toxins, which could potentially be harmful. Our diapering products are made in a variety of fun prints and vibrant colors to add some style to your diaper changes! Lastly, who doesn’t love to save money? Using cloth diapers can save you hundreds, if not more over the diapering life of one (or more) baby’s since they can be passed down!Safer Diapering Solutions
Any cloth diapering 101 discussion of the benefits would not be complete without mentioning the health advantages of using reusable diapers. They provide a safer option, as they do not contain chemicals that can harm your baby, or be harsh on their delicate skin. Kanga Care’s Ecoposh One Size Fitted Diaper is just one great option if you are concerned about chemicals in your diapers. These are made of organic cotton, bamboo rayon, and recycled water bottles. Our Ecoposh diapers are a wonderful option for caregivers who want a more natural and organic choice. Disposable diapers use chemicals to wick away moisture and encapsulate it into a gel. Some of the common chemicals found in disposables include dioxin and sodium polyacrylate. These synthetic compounds can cause allergic reactions and pose a potential health risk.Cloth Diapering – 101 Ways to Save
There are lots of ways to save when it comes to reusable diapers. Using cloth diapers and cloth baby wipes is a great way for families to save money. The average age for potty training is between 22 to 30 months of age, but there are many children who will begin toilet training sooner or later than the average. By purchasing cloth diapers, a family can reduce the aggregated cost of diapering by at least half! The savings can amount to thousands of dollars if you also include the use of reusable cloth baby wipes. Families can also stretch their money even further by reselling cloth diapers and wipes on the secondhand market, or reusing them for additional children. By reusing, you are further preventing our landfills from being packed with massive amounts of poopy diapers. If you need to use diaper covers, these can also be reused as swimming diapers or worn over training pants when it is time for potty training.Cloth is Conveniently Stylish, Too
Reusable diapers are available in a variety of different colors and patterns. Many parents are delighted with the ease and accessibility of modern cloth diapers. There are no more late night diaper runs or worries of running out of diapers. Plus, everyone loves the cute prints of the fabric (which are uniquely designed by us)! We also drop new prints throughout the year, so you can always grab something new, or build your collection if you are expecting to have multiple in cloth. Now that you have a good understanding of cloth diapering 101 benefits, you can better evaluate whether cloth is the right decision for your family.1. How Many Cloth Diapers Do You Need?
This is a question that many parents ask: how many cloth diapers do I need between now and potty training? The answer to this will depend on a few factors, including how old your little one is now (if you are planning to switch from disposables). It will also depend on what style of cloth diapers you choose to use, how often you change them, how often you launder them, and, ultimately, how soon your baby is ready for training pants. With all these variables, it can be hard to find an answer to this question, but fear not! Our team is always ready and happy to help you solve this equation for your family. We find that most generally, 24 cloth diapers is a good overall number for one child in cloth and washing every 2-3 days. This is why we have a wonderful bundle deal for 24 diapers as well as all the accessories you’ll need! If you have enough cloth diapers when your baby is born, you will not need to buy any more for them or potential siblings!
What Kind of Diapers Will You Use?
Kanga Care offers all-in-one (AIO) newborn diapers called the Lil Joeys, prefolds, flats, covers, fitteds, and pocket diapers. Our most popular product is our Rumparooz which is a one size pocket diaper, meaning it adjusts to fit your baby from 6 pounds to over 40 pounds. For most babies, that is birth to potty training! Next is our newer line of prefolds and flats. These are more traditional options that may remind you of your parents’ or grandparents' generations. Flats are very versatile and can be folded in endless ways to meet your needs. They come in one size and can be feld different as your baby grows. Prefolds are sized and come with a pre-sewn in absorbent middle with multiple layers of fabric. Both of these options are very budget friendly and will need an additional diaper cover to offer waterproof protection. Lastly, we also have our Ecoposh fitted diapers which will also require a cover since the entire diaper is absorbent for ultimate nighttime protection. Ecoposh comes in a pocket style one size diaper, or an all in one newborn size.
How Often Should You Change Your Baby’s Diaper?
The general opinion is that you should change your baby’s diaper every two hours during the day, or whenever it becomes wet or soiled. Most families find that 8 to 10 per day is about what they use, especially for younger babies. That is an average of 3285 diaper changes per year! That is a whole lot of diapers!
How Often Will You Launder Them?
How many diapers you need will partly depend on how often you choose to wash them. Kanga Care diapers are made to be stored in a Wet Bag or one of our Pail Liners, which can be washed right along with the diapers. We recommend you wash no less than every three days, but many parents choose to wash daily. If you wash every three days, you will need between 24 and 30 diapers, plus a few extra to get you through the dryer cycle. If you wash more often, you will need fewer. Keeping in mind that the average baby will wet 8-10 diapers per day, more or less depending on their age, you can decide how often you’d like to wash. That should give you a good idea of how many diapers you will need.
How Many Cloth Diapers Do I Need: What’s the Bottom Line?
The bottom line is that you can purchase a bundle of 24 Rumparooz for about what you will spend on disposable diapers for just the first three months! Our cloth diapering options will last you well past that and you will not need to buy more! Look at all those savings compared to continually buying disposables! There is also the added bonus that you do not have to worry about your little one sizing up right after you bought a new box of disposables! If you choose any of our one size options, these are ready to be customized and changed as often as your little one does!2. Cloth Diaper Inserts: What Are They For?
Cloth diaper inserts let you control and customize the absorbency in your baby’s pocket diaper. The Rumparooz system lets you choose not only the size of your baby’s diaper, but also how much absorbency there is. This can be important when making sure that diapers keep your baby both dry and comfortable. As babies grow, they need to be able to move, crawl, and do all the cute things they do. Our 6R soakers help you fine tune diapers to exactly what your baby needs; you can use either insert alone or as a pair in a variety of settings!Cloth Diaper Inserts Make Pocket Diapers a lot More Versatile
Kanga Care makes a variety of diapers, and the inserts to go with them. Our 6R soakers come in your choice of hemp, bamboo or microfiber. The Rumparooz 6R soaker is actually a pair of inserts, one contoured newborn insert with two snaps (three layers thick) and one larger insert with even more snap settings (four layers thick). The different snap settings make them very versatile, and because they are made to go with our Rumparooz, they fit between the patented double inner gussets without interfering with their correct functioning.You can even mix and match the inserts to best meet your needs! For example, you can use the Hemp 6R long soaker for maximum absorbency, then snap the Microfiber 6R newborn soaker on top for faster absorption, and then stuff this combo in the Rumparooz pocket for the best of both worlds!
You Can Use Them With Other Diapers as Well
Whether you are using flats, prefolds, pocket diapers, all in ones, or any other variation on diapering, sometimes you are going to want a bit more absorbency. This can be especially true for naps and overnight. This leads us to another great use for our inserts! Our inserts can easily be used in combination with other diapering styles to boost your absorbency. Even once you are potty training, you will find that you can use our 6R soakers as a booster with your training pants at nap times and overnight. By doing so, you can prevent little learning accidents from becoming big messes! Just be sure that no microfiber goes directly against the baby's skin, as this will dry it out.
Our Inserts Adjust for All Sizes
Just like our One Size Cloth Diapers, our inserts are one size, and adjustable as your baby grows. The snaps can be used to change the size and configuration of the inserts. Including making the soaker ideal for a girl or a boy. So no need to buy different diapers for different times and stages in your baby’s life; Rumparooz are made so that every diaper is always the right one, ready to grow and change with your little one!
3. What are Diaper Liners Really For?
We hear about diaper liners all the time, but what are they really for? Kanga Care makes a diaper liner that is washable and fits between the inner gussets of our pocket diapers. They can be used to protect the cloth diaper, or they can be used to assist in the disposal and cleaning of solid waste.
Protect Your Investment
We recommend using diaper liners to protect your diapers from the effects of frequent use of diaper creams. Cloth diapers are made for absorbency; liners are made respectively to protect the diaper and preserve that absorbency. Diaper cream is made to prevent liquid from getting to your baby’s skin and lock out moisture. So, if the diaper comes in contact with diaper cream, it will become less absorbent. Fear not! If this does happen, it can be rectified with a stripping procedure. There will be some diaper cream options that are safe for cloth diapers and therefore will not require a liner.
Diaper Liners Make a Messy Change a Bit Easier
Anyone who has had to change really messy diapers knows it is easier to rinse a diaper liner in the toilet than to have to dunk the whole diaper. Our liners are made from 100% hypo-allergenic microchamois and are designed to work perfectly with our diapers. Why not just use disposable liners? One big reason is that landfills are not designed to handle human waste and even with disposables, any solid waste is supposed to be disposed of before throwing away the diaper. By using washable liners, the feces ends up in the septic tank, or sewer, both of which will make sure that the bacteria in the feces are destroyed before they can get into the groundwater.
Easy to Use and Hypoallergenic
The Kanga Care liner comes with a tag to indicate which side should go down; when the tag is down, the correct side of the no-pill microchamois will be against your baby's skin. We take pride in our diapers and we make them both adjustable and sturdy so that they will last for as long as your baby needs to use them. We make our washable liners with the same hypoallergenic material that we use for the inner layer of our Lil Joey and Rumparooz diapers, so you know they will never cause your baby to break out in a diaper rash. Kanga Care understands that there may be times when you need to temporarily use diaper creams; when you do, please remember to use our washable diaper liners.4. Making Diapering Easy
Your cloth diapers don’t have to be messy, expensive, or unsanitary. Cloth diapers have a bad reputation after marketing campaigns pushing the convenience of disposable diapers. The fact is, disposable diapers have major issues as well. They are bad for the environment, lasting hundreds of years in landfills. They are expensive over the lifetime of diapering a child, and more so for multiples. Disposable diapers are not always secure with messes, causing blowouts, and have issues with fit. Most parents have come to accept blowouts as a normal part of their new life, but this does not need to be so! With our double gusseted Rumparooz, you can say goodbye to blowouts and multiple outfit changes! Cloth diapers rise to all of these challenges with a little prep time, a bit of learning and a lot less money. Cloth diapers have evolved a lot in recent years to be comfortable, sanitary, and environmentally sound options for diapering your baby. With Kanga Care, you get the best of all of these options!
Messy? Unsanitary? Bad for Your Baby? No Way!
Cloth diapers do require proper laundering, but times have changed and no longer do you need to try to get cloth diapers clean and sanitized by hand. You can wash diapers right in your washing machine! Though some do choose to wash by hand depending on their circumstances. Cloth diapers can be easily washed and left to dry, not unlike the laundry that you already do! Simply remove the dirty diaper from your little one, clear any solid waste into the toilet for disposal, and put the diaper shell and inserts into a wet bag or storage pail for wash day. We recommend washing every 2-3 days or sooner for best results. So when this time comes, all you need to do is grab your wet bag or pail and toss the contents into the wash! Just like that, you’ll have clean diapers once again! With Kanga Care, you get our double leg gusset to ensure that messes stay put in the diaper and not on clothes. So though we are making more laundry, we are also saving multiple outfits changes per day! Best of all, you reduce household waste (and smell!!). By eliminating the endless parade of disposable diapers in the trash, you can keep your baby and your house that much cleaner!
Cloth Diapers 101 – Protect the World Your Baby Will Inherit
Another major facet of cloth diapering that appeals to many parents is the environmental soundness of them. Diapers take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills, and cause up thousands of pounds of household waste each year! Reducing this impact is important to many modern parents, and cloth diapers let you keep the planet a little cleaner while keeping your baby comfortable. Our cloth diapers last much longer and are biodegradable. Even better is our EcoPosh line, which takes recycling a step further! Our EcoPosh OBV diapers are made from recycled and organic materials. Whether you want environmental safety, comfort, or convenience, Kanga Care diapers can give you the lessons in cloth diapers 101 to help start this journey.5. How to Use Cloth Diapers Depends on the Diaper
There are graphics, instruction manuals, YouTube videos, and grandma’s advice on how to use cloth diapers. All the advice can seem overwhelming! With different ways to fold diapers for boys, girls, babies and toddlers - then you still have to fasten them with sharp diaper pins and hope you do not prick your baby. What a hassle! Early prefold diapers had Velcro attachments that invariably got weaker with washings and were set so they did not always fit babies tightly, resulting in sagging and leaks. The alternative seemed to be disposable diapers, which are a constant expense and result in massive amounts of trash, both in the home and in the landfill. There is, however, another much better alternative on today’s market that makes all of this much simpler!
How to Use Cloth Diapers the Modern Way
Kanga Care has made a wonderful line of pocket diapers that not only snap on, but also snap to adjust to babies growing size. Experienced parents who already know how to use cloth diapers will appreciate how much time and energy these great pocket diapers can save, and how much more attractive they are than disposables. New parents will appreciate the ease with which you can set up an entire diapering system that will carry your baby from newborn to potty training without having to buy new diapers or learn a new system as your baby grows. With the ingenious design feature of easy to use snaps, Rumparooz adjust to fit your baby perfectly at every stage. You can find out more by checking out our excellent products: Rumparooz One Size Cloth Pocket Diaper, Rumparooz OBV One Size Pocket Diaper, the Lil Joey Newborn/ Preemie AIO (all in one) Cloth Diaper, and the Ecoposh Recycled Organic Fitted Cloth Diaper, all from Kanga Care.
We also offer diaper covers in the same prints and colors, so that your baby can be stylish while having a well-cared for bottom. The Rumparooz One Size Diaper Covers also have four adjustable settings so they will fit your baby from 6 pounds to over 40 pounds. We also make a newborn/ preemie sized cover for four to twelve pounds!
A 6R soaker set comes standard with our pocket Rumparooz. These inserts make the diaper even more versatile with customizable absorbency settings. Then there are liners to help with the cleanup and they protect your diapers from potentially harmful diaper creams.
In addition, we make Wet Bags and changing pads in a wide variety of colors and prints to match your nursery décor. Our wet bags are heavy duty, and the seams are physically sealed to lock in odor. They are made in two different sizes to best fit your needs with a snap handle to hang them anywhere! These bags are inexpensive enough that you could have one at home and one to go with you. So come on board and you will agree that Kanga care products are all you need to know about how to use cloth diapers! We have everything you need to get started and in wonderfully, deeply discounted bundles (https://www.kangacare.com/collections/diaper-packages)6. How to Change a Diaper!
You may have heard how you’ve got to be quick when changing a boy due to their anatomy. Don’t be scared one bit, first, lay the baby down on a changing table or other suitable location. You will want to use wipes to clean his lower extremities. The trick to a squirt-free experience is remembering that the sudden burst of cold air on the genitals can stimulate your baby to pee. Placing a soft wash cloth, burp cloth, or diaper over the genitals will usually help prevent this unpleasant experience. One good suggestion is to open up the dirty diaper to allow air flow, then closing it again for a moment. This will stimulate baby to go and wet inside of the diaper and not on you! Many parents will also keep a small towel or extra liner handy during changes in case of accidents involving projected urine. Next, slide the clean diaper under the baby and fasten the snaps around the waist. When you diaper boys, it is very important that the diaper fits properly. The diaper should fit snugly across the waistline so that there is no pinching, but it should be tight enough that urine and poop does not escape. The top line of the diaper should be even with the belly button. Be sure to tuck his penis into place, down and centered so he doesn’t pee up or out the sides. In many ways, the process of sandwiching a diaper onto the newborn is similar to folding a burrito shell.
Should I Use a Diaper Cover?
Pocket diapers, such as Kanga Care’s Rumparooz One Size, and Rumparooz OBV have proprietary inner gussets and a waterproof outer shell, and therefore do not require diaper covers. If you’re using a fitted diaper, such as the Ecoposh Recycled Organic Fitted, flats, or prefolds, then you will need to use a diaper cover. The cover is folded and snapped on top of the fitted diaper, and offers a waterproof layer, helping to prevent leakage. As long as they remain unsoiled, diaper covers can be re-worn several times before they need to be washed again.
Diaper in Dapper Ways
Another benefit of cloth diapers is that they come in a variety of vivid colors and fun patterns to suit your child’s individual personality. Many parents love using cloth diapers because they provide a more customized fit and are aesthetically pleasing to look at (goodbye wet diaper sag!). We are continuously working and listening to our customers to design new prints to be released throughout the year.
