Cloth Diapering: 4 Things We've Learned

Here are four useful things we've started doing while using cloth diapers in Taiwan:

1. Making our own wool diaper covers
Our baby girl is already outgrowing her diaper covers that we brought over from America.  So I decided to try making some out of a thrift store wool sweater.   

 Wool is naturally anti-bacterial, waterproof, breathable, and even self-cleansing.  Plus, wool covers are much cuter than plastic ones.  :)

You can read more about the awesomeness of wool here.   

They weren't too hard to make, even for a novice sewer like me.  

I modified this free online pattern. 

 A friend recently gave me another wool sweater, and I can't wait to make more of these!

2. Washing diapers with HOT water

Washing machines in Taiwan are different than washers in the States.  For one thing, they only get cold water.  This is not so great for washing dirty diapers.  Fortunately, many washing machines in Taiwan are located in the bathroom right next to a removable shower head, which does get hot water.  (You can see the set-up in this picture from the archives...)

A few weeks ago a friend suggested I use the shower head to fill up the washing machine with hot water before starting the cycle.  Brilliant!  It definitely makes a difference.

3. Using a cloth wipes solution

It gets baby nice and clean.  Plus, it smells good!

2 C water

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 drops tea tree oil

2 Tbsp. baby wash

(The oil and water separate, so just give it a shake before squirting on the wipe).

4. Making our own diaper detergent

It's hard to find a good cloth diaper detergent that's not super expensive.  So recently I experimented with making our own.  I've only been using it a few days, but so far it seems to be working really well.

1 cup baking soda (washing soda would be better, but I can't find it in Taiwan)

1 cup Borax (disodium tetraborate decahydrate, found at a chemical store on Nanjing E. Rd.)

1/2 cup "Vanish" (the Taiwanese equivalent of Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate)).

Hope these things we've learned can help someone else out there.  

Happy cloth diapering!