Traveling With Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers have been making a definite come-back in recent years. Today’s cloth diapers are far more absorbent than the flat diapers your grandma probably used, and are also often extremely cute. When my son was born three years ago, we decided to jump on the cloth diaper bandwagon. In many ways, I found cloth diapers to be more convenient than disposables. But there is no getting away from the fact that traveling with cloth diapers can be a challenge. How do you do it?

Short trips

Short trips of no more than a few hours are easy. We had a water-proof diaper pouch for used diapers, and always took two diapers on trips to the mall, for instance. Cloth diapers take up a little more space than disposables, but they certainly fitted in my backpack easily. If you are going to be away the whole day, you will need more diapers and perhaps a bigger bag. I recommend a backpack, so that you can still carry your baby in arms or in a baby carrier without your bag bothering you.

Overnight trips

If you are going to stay with relatives, friends, or at a hotel for one night, you will need your usual overnight diapers as well as a good supply of diapers for the day you are away and the following morning, until you reach home. In my experience, it is easier to carry dirty diapers home than to ask your host to launder your diapers.

Longer trips

Holidays are harder. If you are going away for several days, a week or more, you will want access to a washing machine and ideally a dryer too. You have a few different options. Some families decide to leave their cloth at home and enjoy their holiday in the company of disposable diapers. Others take two days’ worth of diapers (including night diapers) with them, and launder frequently. You can also take a larger number of diapers and stick to your regular laundry schedule. There are two obvious things to check. Number one is whether your holiday location will give you easy access to a washer and dryer, and the other is whether your diapers can be machine dried. You will also have to take your regular diaper detergent with you to avoid a build-up of non-friendly detergent in your diapers.

Olivia, a former cloth-diapering mom, blogs about everything from trying to get pregnant to parenting. Check her blog, Trying To Conceive, out if you are wondering about weight loss after pregnancy.

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