Terrified Daycare Director

I am one of those mothers that caught onto cloth diapering late in the game.  My first child wore disposables.  When my daughter was born I started looking into cloth diapers.  I realized that cloth diapers had changed so much over the years and decided that I could definitely do this.  My next thought was the daycare.  Would they be willing to use cloth diapers?  All of the people that I knew that used cloth diapers were stay at home Moms.  Were daycare centers willing to use them?  I made the call and the daycare Director told me that they didn’t have a problem with it, but she said they “won’t do anything with the poop so maybe you should consider using disposables just for daycare.”

She sounded terrified.  Were diapers really that scary?

I thought long and hard throughout my maternity leave about whether to go forward with this or not.  My biggest concern was actually the daycare.  I realize that I pay them so they should use whatever products I require on my baby.  However, I know that they are incredibly busy woman and I didn’t want to put them out too much either.  I came up with a plan that I think is ideal for cloth diapering at daycare.

1. bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers were the first step in the plan.  I bought many of them with hook and loop closures even though I read that they tend to wear out quicker.  I wanted to provide them with a diaper that was as much like a disposable as possible.  When you are changing six baby’s diapers at once it needs to go quickly.  I bought a variety of other diapers for at home, but I’m very careful not to send them.  I want to be consistent. 
2. Flushable liners were the next step.  I provide them with liners to go in the diapers so that all poop can get thrown out.  This step was actually for me.  I didn’t want the poop sitting inside the diaper all day long waiting for me to clean it off at night.
3. The final step is a Planetwise wet/dry bag.  I think that this is an essential accessory for cloth diapering at daycare.  Every morning I stuff the dry side with clean diapers and they put the dirty ones in the wet side throughout the day.  I bring the bag home every evening and do the same thing the next day.

Using these three products have us successfully cloth diapering at daycare.  I also recognized their fear of having to use cloth diapers.  The week before my daughter started daycare I stopped in and showed them how to use the diapers.  After showing them that it was very similar to a disposable they seemed much more at ease. 

We are only a few weeks in and they have suggested to me a few times that we use disposables at daycare and cloth at home.  I just explain to them that it’s important to me, my baby’s health, and my wallet that we use cloth full time.

Basically, I have tried to make it as easy as possible for them, but I’m also standing my ground.    Now I am so committed to cloth that if they were to tell me that it’s not working out, I would find a new daycare center.  I want to be respectful of them and their time, but also do what is best for my little one. 

Written by Tracy K.
Bio:  I am a wife and Mother of two.  I work full time and love my work, but also love every moment at home with my little ones.