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Cloth diapering is great.
Oh, except for the dirty diapers.
I still love cloth diapers, though! They’re so cute! I honestly don’t mind them any more than changing disposables. But one thing I couldn’t put up with was having diapers spread out everywhere. We sometimes use disposables under my kid’s tighter pants, but often she runs around in her cloth diaper and a shirt– and these
baby/toddler legwarmers
I needed a system where disposable diapers, cloth diapers, wipes, diaper cream, extra clothes, etc. were all easily available when she was born. I also didn’t want to have to go back and forth between rooms to get supplies. She slept in our room before moving to her own room. When you’re half-asleep, it’s easy to think you have the wipes nearby only to remember you left them across the room (or across the apartment.)
Organizing your cloth diapers
I took one of the top smaller three drawers of her dresser and turned it into diaper storage. I kept a plastic refillable Huggies wipes container, diaper cream, disposable and cloth diapers, cloth diaper inserts and flushable liners (though we don’t flush them) all in her drawer. Of course extra clothes are easily available in the other drawers. In her room, there’s also generally easy access to toys if I want her to hold one while I changed her.
I found a big, pretty, lined basket to keep in our room. It’s easy to move to the living room if we want to. I could keep everything listed above plus extra clothes, socks, toys and a changing station all in the basket. (You can use a blanket instead of a changing station, but we use a changing station since we don’t want her to pee all over the bed if she goes while we’re changing her. It saved our mattress a couple of times! We sometimes put a Munchkin changing pad liner on it to absorb any leaks she has, then wipe down the pad.)
Organizing it was easy! I just have to remember to restock it every once in awhile.
Maintaining organization
Once your cloth diapers are organized, it takes a little work to keep them that way.
My basket needs tidied often, and occasionally wholly re-ordered (but that’s natural when you have a toddler who loves to empty things). Once I wash and dry a batch of cloth diapers, I put the inserts, diapers and other items back in her dresser drawer or the basket. TIP: Try to pre-assemble your cloth diapers to make changing easier. Click To Tweet
TIP: Try to pre-assemble your diapers to make changing easier. I keep extra inserts in the basket in case I need to double up on inserts for my toddler’s nighttime diaper, but it’s much easier to keep pre-stuffed pocket diapers in the basket. I just grab them, put a liner in and put it on her.
Try laying all of your diapers out after they are washed and dried. Then assemble them, dividing them between your diaper bag, basket, shelves or wherever you organize your stash.
It’s easier for me to just wash, dry and organize a batch of cloth diapers at once every couple of days.
Staying organized while potty-training your toddler
We don’t have to use most of our supplies as often now since my toddler began potty-training, but we still keep cloth diapers and disposable diapers available. I’m working on sewing her little underwear. It’s hard to find them in her size since she’s so tiny!
We keep a little basket in the bathroom filled with wipes and disposable and cloth diapers. I also keep a small stack of books nearby to make potty-training easier. Once she’s wearing her underwear (which will hopefully be in the next few days), I’ll keep a change of clothes in the bathroom, too, for when she has accidents. Organizing any supplies, whether you use disposable or cloth diapers, makes potty-training so much simpler!
Do you– or will you– use cloth or disposable diapers? What are your best tips for organizing them?
