Help! What’s the best way to store dirty cloth diapers?

“We are 32 weeks pregnant with our first child and planning on cloth diapering. While I think (hope?) that we have figured out the differences between pocket and prefold and all-in-one, I’m looking for a little bit of guidance on how to store the dirty diapers until wash time. I looked on the internet but still felt confused after reading about dry pails v. wet pails while other people recommend getting a bidet sprayer to attach to the toilet.

I would love to hear what other people do in the time between a diaper getting dirty and laundry time.” – Lauren

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I reached out to our stellar Facebook community who is always game to give good advice. I fear it may be another deluge of differing information, but I definitely see some trends in their thoughts. A lot are opting for wet storage with a few solutions you may like. Some advise to keep it as simple as possible and then add in steps or products as needed, which sounds like solid advice to me. Here’s what they had to say…

We use prefolds and flats. Since baby is still breastfed, we rinse them in the sink with the spray hose then toss them directly into the washer. Since we wash the diapers every 2-3 days but only wash our clothes once every other week it’s easier for us to just throw them directly into the washing machine rather than a pail or bag. – Daylee

There are a million different overly complicated systems out there. I suggest starting simple and only add extra steps as needed. For the first six months I didn’t even dump out the poo, just threw the used diapers into a wet bag. On wash day, I just emptied the bag into the washer until inside out and toss it in the wash along with the diapers. I used the simplest wash cycle with diaper-friendly cheap laundry soap. Easy peasy. – Tina

Hanging “wet” bag in the laundry room was our solution. And diaper liners are something to look into, they were a life saver. – Katy

We used this pail: Odorless Cloth Diaper Pail 14 gallon which was enough to go a week with our diaper service. The Ubbi pail is also a really good option. Dry pails I think are better.

If you breastfeed, the sprayer is unnecessary until you introduce solids, and we just plopped the poop and then dunked the prefold in the toilet until the solids came off. – Gretchen

Join a cloth diaper FB group, like Fluff Love or similar. There is a lot to learn at first, including water hardness, detergents, types of diapers, he vs. non he, etc. But once you learn, it’s easy! I have had diaper rash once in 18 months — that alone is worth it! – Tanya

We use a wet bag to hold the diapers, but we rinse them all first. Diaper comes off, goes in the bucket, gets rinsed, then goes in the wet bag. We also have a small space, and rinsing diapers before putting them in the bag has been the best solution for cutting down smells. – Marissa

We use a large wet bag to store our used shells and liners before wash. Breast milk poops wash right out with no problem but a little staining, once we moved into solid food we started using vita paper towels as a liner and we just throw those and the poop away. – Melissa

We used a washable diaper pail liner and got a big five gallon bucket from the hardware store to hold the diapers before laundry time, then I could just grab the whole bag and dump it all into the washer (and, once it was clean, it was a handy way to get the diapers back to the baby room for folding). I definitely recommend a diaper sprayer; it makes life easier. – Kate

We used a lidded garbage can with a cloth diaper bag liner. Make sure you have more than one bag, since that bag goes in the wash.
If you go with a lidded can to keep down smells, I’ve found the kind that lifts up contains smells better than the kind that rotates down on 2 pins (did I explain that well enough?). It’s a tighter fit.

I second the diaper sprayer. If EBF, you don’t need to rinse poop, since it’s water-soluble, but once we introduced solids, it was handy. – Shannon

About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.