Cloth Diapering at Daycare- It is Easy!

                    Cloth Diapers and Daycare- It is Easy!

     If your child will be going to daycare and you want to use cloth, there are a few things you should know.  First off, there is no law in the state of California saying that cloth diapers can’t be used at daycare.  Actually, the section below specifically mentions cloth diapers as a type of diaper used (as well as elimination communication, or not wearing diapers!):

This is taken from the Childcare Licensing Requirements from the state of California:

101428 INFANT CARE PERSONAL SERVICES 101428

(a) There shall be a written toilet-training plan for infants being toilet trained.

(1) The infant's authorized representative and the director or the assistant director shall develop the

plan.

(2) The plan shall include the following:

(A) Methods of toilet training;

(B) Introduction and use of appropriate training equipment; and

(C) Introduction and use of appropriate clothing.

(3) Infants who are being toilet trained shall not be required to wear diapers unless specifically

indicated in the plan.

(4) The center shall follow the plan in toilet training the infant.

(5) Center staff shall have ready access to the toilet-training plan for infants in their care.

(b) The infant shall be kept clean and dry at all times.

(1) The infant care center shall ensure that the infant has sufficient changes of clothing and diapers

so that his/her clothing and diapers can be clean and dry at all times.

(2) Each infant's clothing and diapers shall be changed as often as necessary to ensure that the infant

is clean and dry at all times.

(c) Soiled or wet clothing or cloth diapers provided by the infant's authorized representative shall be placed in an airtight container and returned to the authorized representative at the end of each day.

(1) The airtight container shall prevent the escape of fluids and odors and be portable enough to give

to the authorized representative.

(d) When changing an infant's diapers, the following shall apply:

(1) Each infant shall be diapered on a changing table.

(A) No infant shall be left unattended while on a changing table.

CALIFORNIA-DSS-MANUAL-CCL

MANUAL LETTER NO. CCL-98-11 Effective 11/1/98

Page 168

CHILD CARE CENTER

Regulations GENERAL LICENSING REQUIREMENTS 101428

101428 INFANT CARE PERSONAL SERVICES (Continued) 101428

(2) Infants may be diapered on a changing pad placed on the floor that meets the requirements of

Section 101439(h).

(3) Soiled disposable diapers shall either be disposed of as recommended on the packaging or placed

in an airtight container for daily disposal outside of the center.

(A) Containers shall be sanitized daily.

(4) Soiled cloth diapers shall be placed in an airtight container.

(5) Diapers provided by the center, when soiled, shall be rinsed, washed and sanitized on a daily

basis. If a diaper service is utilized, the diapers shall be placed in the diaper service company

container, as instructed, for pickup by the diaper service.

     There you have it!  As long as you have a wet bag that’s airtight (one with a zipper) you will be within your rights.  Now, not all daycares might be jumping for joy at the thought of having to change cloth diapers because they may not know much about it and think it’s a lot of work.  This is where YOU can educate them and alleviate their fears.

     First off, when looking for a daycare, I would recommend finding one you like and then asking them if they do cloth.  If they say “yes”, then great!  You are good to go.  More likely they might say something like “I never have, but would be open to finding out what it entails” or “no, I’m sorry.”  Let’s take it one at a time.

     If you call a daycare you like to find out about cloth and are told that they never have had a child with cloth, but might be willing, you are in a great position because you can show them how easy it is.  The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for the daycare owner/workers so that they do not resent using cloth.  I would recommend using all in ones for daycare such as Cottonbabies Freetimes, Blueberry Simplex, or Tots Bots Easy Fits.  These are all really easy diapers for a person to put on- the easiest will be the Velcro/aplix ones since these are most like a disposable diaper and what the people  are used to, but snaps are ok too if you show them  how it works and they are able to get the right fit.  With a one-size diaper you will want to make sure that you’ve presnapped the diaper to the right fit setting so that they aren’t trying to figure out which size will fit your child. 

     You can also use pockets, which are just as easy, but will need to prestuff the diapers so that the daycare isn’t having to deal with that.  Another option might be to use a hybrid diaper like Grovia or Softbums, where the person has the shells and would just have to snap/unsnap pods, but it’s one more small step for them to have to do so you might not want to jump into these until they are used to cloth. Lastly, you could use prefolds/covers, but this is more advanced and not as self-explanatory, so I wouldn’t recommend this route unless it’s a family member watching or if the daycare is really open to using cloth and willing to figure these out.

     If you have a toddler, you can use cloth trainers.  Depending on how far your little one is in the potty training process, you might want to start off with Flip trainers, and then progress to the Blueberry trainers, which are closer to underwear.

     If you really want to send your child somewhere and the daycare owner tells you that they do not do cloth, I would ask them why they don’t. If it’s a private daycare, they can choose not to and that’s within their right (if they are so close minded with this, then you might not want to send your child there anyway!)  Their reason might be that it’s unsanitary or that they don’t have time for that (trying to think of reasons they might say but it’s difficult!)  In this case you want to educate the person about how easy cloth can be. 

     First, I would ask if you can meet and show them the cloth diapers you want to use.  They might have the impression that by cloth you mean prefolds and pins, and maybe they haven’t seen any cloth diapers recently and don’t realize how much the industry has advanced.  All it might take is them seeing a diaper and this could change their mind.  Another worry might be that they don’t want to deal with poop and that things will stink.  If they are really against dumping poop in the toilet, you can opt to just have them take the entire diaper and put it in a wet bag.  When you get home you can dump the stool- the negative to this is that your diapers will be more likely to stain, but you can sun your diapers or use a stain stick to clean, or do a quick rinse.  There will be no reason, if you tell them they can just take the diaper off and stick it in the bag, for them to have more work or deal with stink since your wet bag will be stinkproof (the Planetwise or Thirsties ones are excellent at keeping smells/liquids IN the bag).

So what do you need if you plan on using cloth diapers at daycare?

     First, figure out how many diapers your little one goes through each day.  For newborns/infants it is probably around 10-12 and as they get older, might be more like 5-8.  I recommend bringing enough diapers to daycare for at least 2 days, but if budget is an issue, you could bring diapers each morning (just make sure you don’t forget!)  Once you have a number in mind, let’s say 16 diapers, you will need to provide the diapers.  Velcro will be your best bet for daycare diapers.  Then each day when you go home, you can just take your wet bag of diapers.

     You’ll want a good way to transport the diapers to daycare.  A tote bag/diaper bag will work fine for this.

     Next, make sure you have a wet bag large enough to hold all the day’s diapers.  Again, depending on how many diapers your little one goes through and how long your baby is at daycare, you’d want a bag ranging from a small one (for 1-2 diapers), to a large one.  Make sure it has a zipper.  A drawstring one might be acceptable for the facility, but for it to truly be leak/smell-proof, it should be able to close all the way.  I recommend buying at least 2-3 wet bags so that you can use a new one each day and was every 2 days.

     Lastly, you will want to provide the daycare with a cloth diaper-safe cream.  There are many that work great including CJ’s Butter, Motherlove, Delish, Lusa, Grovia, etc.  If you want to make things really easy and mess-free, I’d recommend a stick version of the cream so that they can just glide the cream on as needed. 

*If you want to add liners, that’s another option.  Grovia, Eco Sprout, and Bummis all make disposable liners (Rumparooz has washable ones) that are flushable that you could use to help with poop messes.  You just cut off a piece and lay it in the diaper.  Once it’s soiled, you take it off and dump the entire mess.  This will keep your diapers cleaner with less staining.

Cloth diapering at daycare IS a possibility and is easy.  Once the daycare providers see this, they will be more open to using cloth!