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Thursday, December 22, 2011

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Traveling with Cloth

Traveling for the holidays and still haven’t decided if you want to bring your cloth?

Here are a few things to think about when making your decision, along with some tips for making traveling easier:

THE PERKS:
  • If by chance you live somewhere cold and are lucky enough to travel somewhere warm, it’s a great opportunity to sun those winter diapers! All you need are hangers and something like a fence, railing, or even Grandma’s teeter-totter to hang them on.
  • Washing in a different washing machine can be scary at first, especially if you’ve worked hard to figure out a wash routine that works for you. But take a deep breath and let me assure you that you are not going to ruin your diapers. Plus, you might pick up invaluable tips along the way. Using my mother-in-laws washer gave me a chance to see firsthand how great it is to wash in extra hot, and extra soft water. Now I regularly use Calgon and I’ve even upped my thermostat a bit for warmer water.
  • You might discover a new favorite accessory, like hybrids or flushable liners.
  • Reward yourself with the money saved by buying extra accessories or even a new diaper.
  • Who can resist showing off cute fluff to skeptical family?
REMINDERS:
  • Don’t forget to bring your own laundry detergent with you! A sample sized pack or just putting a scoop’s worth of detergent in a zip top bag will save you the head ache of trying to decide which detergent in your mom’s laundry room is the lesser of two evils.
  • You really won’t ruin your diapers. I promise. Worst case scenario you have to strip them when you get home, but even that is not likely.
ACCESSORIES:
  • If you use a pail liner at home to store your dirty diapers you might consider investing in a large hanging wetbag like the Planet Wise size large bag or the Rumparooz/Kanga Care wetbag
  • If you have an extra daytime sized wetbag for your diaper bag then bring it along.
  • Give Hybrid diapers a try. They are a great way to make your stash stretch a little longer so that you can do wash when it makes the most sense for your travel schedule, especially if you are flying and don’t want to put wet/heavy diapers under the plane but need something for your little one between washing and packing. I’ve had great success just laying the hybrid inserts right inside my pocket diapers (on top of the stay dry layer instead of stuffing them). That way I can keep reusing my pocket diapers as covers, especially if I double up on inserts so that cover doesn’t even get wet.
  • Flushable liners, even when they don’t catch it all, make diapering in someone else’s bathroom so much easier. Especially if you are used to a diaper sprayer at home or if traveling throws off your little one’s normal digestive routine.
If you are still worried or undecided about traveling with cloth, then ease yourself into it and consider cloth diapering part time on your next trip. Every little bit helps and I think you’ll find that it really can be easy.

BIO: Toria is a stay-at-home-mom who loves playing with her very active 3-year-old boy and delightful 18 month-old girl. She started cloth diapering when her little girls was 9 months old and hasn’t looked back since.

3 comments:

Beth said...

When we were going out of town for Thanksgiving, I was originally going to put my toddler in disposables. He was going to be eating all new food, and I was not looking forward to being intimately involved with THOSE diapers without a diaper sprayer. A couple days before we left, however, I discovered an excellent alternative for traveling: The Peri Bottle!!! You know, one of those dohickies the hospital gives you after you have a baby? I filled it with water and used it to hose off the solids. It was my little portable diaper sprayer. We were away from home for about a week and it worked great! We are going away for Christmas, too, and I will not be forgetting my peri bottle.

Mandy Lynn said...

We just spent a week in California (from Chicago) with cloth - SO true about sunning on vacation! :)

Hannah said...

Great tips!

I often use disposable on the plane (or hybrids would work) with a cloth diaper cover over top to eliminate blowouts.

I have a few extra diapers (Econobum prefolds and covers and some homemade flannel fitteds) that I keep at my parents home. I use them while I'm there (along with some diapers I take along). At the very end of the trip I wash all MY diapers and just use the ones that stay there, my mom washes them after I leave.

Before leaving home for traveling, after the last load of diaper laundry, I either use a few disposables (I sign up for free samples and save them up for this purpose), or flats. I put the flats through a quick rinse cycle in the washer (much faster than a full cycle of laundry) and then hang them over the side of the shower to dry and give them a proper wash when I get home.