Prepare your diapers. Nothing is more annoying than having a squirmy, crying baby on the changing table and having to stop to stuff a diaper. They don’t like waiting, and I don’t like the threat of being peed on looming over my head. So pre-stuff your pocket diapers, turn your AIO’s right side out, and neatly arrange your prefolds. Make grabbing a fresh diaper one step.
Store the diapers out of reach. I am fortunate enough that my changing table has drawers, which keep prying toddler hands out most of the time. If drawers are not an option, consider installing a shelf within reach of the changing table to keep baskets of diapers in. Trust me, it’s no fun to re-fold your diapers over and over.
You don’t want to be digging through piles of diapers in an attempt to find a wipe. Keep your wipes in the front of the drawer so you can grab them quickly. Similarly, keep your overnight diapers together to make it easy to get your baby ready for bed, especially for grandmas and babysitters.
Fold your cloth wipes. FACT: cloth wipes develop some serious static cling. I ward this off by neatly folding them and placing them in piles in the top drawer of my changing table. I also organize them by diaper type (wet, dirty, or really dirty) because I am anal like that, which comes in handy when those really dirty diapers come along.
Keep everything handy. When you change a cloth diaper you need three things close by: the new diaper, a wipe, and wipe solution. You may also occasionally require diaper rash cream. Keep it all close at hand. You shouldn’t step away from the baby once she’s on your changing table, so store everything right there. I keep my wipe solution on the changing table, and everything else is stored in the top drawer. I can stay in front of Vicki the entire diaper change, which is convenient, as she likes to attempt to roll off the changing table sometimes. That girl always keeps me on my toes.
If you’re not using your diapers for a while or you’re in between babies, store them in a cool, dry place in an airtight container. Strip them before storage to ensure that they are clean and residue-free. When you’re ready to use them again, do a quick hot wash with no detergent to get rid of any potential dust that may have accumulated.
How do you store your cloth diapers? What do you need to keep within arms reach for diaper changes?
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Jessica von Wallenstein is a stay at home mom who chronicles her parenting adventures at MomEinstein.com. She has a daughter born in September 2010 and a baby boy on the way and will be buried in cloth diapers for the foreseeable future.
Wow--that's a beautiful system. :) Mine is a lot simpler, but has also been serviceable: two baskets. One large one holds a stack of prefolds, and a row of stuffed pocket diapers. A smaller rectangular basket holds folded wipes, covers, and doublers. This is enough to get us through a week of diapering now that my daughter is 2, though I washed more frequently when she was younger.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I like the basket idea!
DeleteI keep my wipes (which are actually old baby washcloths) in the bathroom so I can just run them under the warm water to wet them before use.
ReplyDeleteThat would require me to have foresight when I go to change a diaper, hahaha.
DeleteThat is so awesome! My cloth diaper baby doesn't have a room (his sister has the other room) and as he is 12 weeks is still sharing our space. Thus, the plastic dog crate for our dog next to the couch has a changing pad on it with a canvas tote with cloth wipes and all the covers and I keep a long paper bag that fits the folded pre-folds and flip inserts perfectly, behind the dog crate. Hopefully we will be moving soon and I can make his room awesome with a changing station like that.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love your ingenuity in using the dog crate for a changing surface. Pure genius.
DeleteWhere did you get that beautiful changing table?! LOVE!
ReplyDeleteI got it from a friend as the best hand-me-down EVER. I'll ask her if she knows the brand of it.
DeleteWe have a table as a changing station for my girls. Folded pop-up wipes, spray bottle with water, and changing mat are up top. We have two laundry baskets with diapers below. One basket has stuffed 3.0s set on large for my two year old. The other basket has 3.0s set to small, prefolds, and covers for my newborn. The 2yo gets into them on occasion, but since I'm washing the dirties every other night, its not a big deal as long as the diapers stay in the vicinity of the basket.
ReplyDelete(Dirties go to the bucket on the other side of the garage door... with a stop at the diaper sprayer in the downstairs bathroom as needed.)
I like the setup you have for two kids in diapers. I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust for that, and now I think I'm going to steal your idea of leaving the diapers on different settings instead of setting them at each diaper change.
DeleteWill you come help me organize my diapering with my twins, I would totally pay.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of setup do you have? What kind of diapers? Perhaps I can help remotely. :-)
DeleteMine is simular to yours - but I fit all my diapers into one large top drawer of my dressing table. I lay my stuffed BG 4.0s flat, right at the front of the drawer, with the Flips and Stay Dry Inserts in the back row. I keep wipes in a wipe warmer!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! We're moving the changing table to the nursery soon, so I plan to use Vicki's dresser for a little while until VonBoy arrives. I'm excited for the larger drawers!
DeleteWhat brand is that changing tale?
ReplyDeleteSame question create in my mind
DeleteBaby Diaper
Baby Diapers
Our changing table is open, so we just let our wipes (pre-moistened) sit in a wipe warmer on the pad. We keep two baskets for cloth diaper stuff - one with pre-stuffed diapers and AIOs, and the other with accessories. For night time, I just grab a BG pocket and add a doubler. I still don't have a.system for my extra inserts and doublers, but I'm working on it!
ReplyDeleteI have a changing table very similar to this one!!! I keep my flip inserts in the top drawer my covers and bottom spray are in the next drawer along with some other misc. things. I keep my wipes wet with only water in my wipe warmer on top of the table with the pad...
ReplyDeleteI use a nine cube organizer to sort my diapers and we change the baby on the bed. I need to get another 2 or 3 9 cube organizers to store all of my stash. I have over 300+ diapers. 120 Prefolds, 30 flats, 30 covers, 80 Aio, 2 doz thirties duo, 3 doz Fuzzibunz med, 1 doz large fbs, 3 doz alvas, thirsties aio, 1 doz blueberry pockets, some rumparooz, 2 doz glowbugs, about 3 doz fitteds, and I now have 4 upcycled longies and one pair of crochknitted longies. I am only just staring to use wool. This is what I can remember off the top of my head. I only have one baby.
ReplyDeleteWhen I knew I'd have two in dipes at the same time (and sharing a room), I looked for 2 diapers stackers to hang from hooks above (and to the side) of my changing table/double dresser. One stacker for each kid. When they were in different sizes, I folded half my prefolds longways and the other half the other direction and put the pre-snaped rise covers in the front pocket of the appropriate stacker. I keep the overnight dipes in the dresser drawer with their PJs. Now, one diaper stacker is filled with training pants and the overflow for the diapers. Wipes are in a wipes warmer with the extra wipes in a drawer with my sheets.
ReplyDelete