You’ve been using cloth diapers for a few months and are seeing it’s advantages (on your wallet & baby's bum), now it’s time to send your little one off to daycare. We share 9 tips for making the case to continue cloth outside the home:

1. Take your time to teach:

   Remember once upon a time when cloth diapers seemed intimidating to you? Taking your time to show daycare providers or babysitters how to adjust, change & store cloth diapers will elevate any hesitation they may have about using them. Reference our e-book or blog posts for additional information and guidance.

2. Make it as easy as possible:

   For those providers who are not use to cloth diapering, it’s best to choose a method that is most similar to disposables. Modern styles such as pocket diapers or AIO’s (learn more about the different types of cloth diapers) will make it easy for them to adopt the habit as it requires as little effort as disposables.

3. Keep it consistent: 

   Once you’ve chosen the diaper method you’ll be using (preferably pockets or AIO’s) make sure to stick to one style. This will help the new user to master the art of one diaper method instead of having to fiddle with various sizes and settings.

4. Use your wet bag:

   When convincing a daycare or babysitter to get onboard with cloth you want to make the transition as easy as possible, showing them that it requires no additional steps or time. Providing a wet bag allows the provider to store the dirty diapers in a contained, odor free bag. Once you get home you can dunk-and-flush as you regularly would.  

5. Be prepared:

   Make sure you’re sending your little one off with a fully stocked diaper bag. As daycares generally change diapers every two hours or when the diaper is soiled, we recommend as a rule of thumb, 6 – 8 diapers per day for full-time daycare. Babies aged 0-6 months may need a few additional diapers as they are changed more frequently.

6. Communicate the incentive:

   If they still aren’t fully convinced about cloth diapering try sharing the advantages for them & the environment. Using cloth instead of disposables reduces 6-8 diapers in waste for them to throw out at the end of each day. This amounts to 40 diapers per week, and 800 diapers per month.

7. Disposable Liners:

   Once your baby is on solids, liners make daycare cloth diapering much easier. Disposable liners are thin sheets that keep poop off of the diaper, these are especially great if you don’t get around to unpacking the wet bag right away.

8. Ask questions:

   As cloth diapering experts, we know there are some creams, lotions and powders that are a no-go when wearing cloth, but not everyone does. Make sure to ask your caretakers if they use diaper rash creams or baby powders, this will help avoid any barriers from developing on your diapers and eventually causing leaks.

9. Have a back-up plan:

   You might want to consider packing a couple of disposables at the bottom of your diaper bag. There will undoubtedly be some days that you forget to restock your diaper bag, or your little one flies through more diapers than usual (hello, teething!). Having some “last resort” diapers will help your provider or babysitter when in a pinch.