Traveling with Cloth Diapers
First, let me say, "You Can Do It!"
My 17 month old son and I decided to take a 4 day trip to the big city to visit a friend. We flew on an airplane for 2 hours, took a bus for 40 minutes and finally arrived at a station where my friend was waiting in a car for us - just a quick 10 min ride to her mother's house. For the 4 days, I packed 17 SposoEasy cloth diapers, 4 wetbags (2 large, 1 med and 1 small), a diaper bag that converted to a back pack, a baby carrier, an umbrella stroller, little black suitcase on wheels, used the medium wetbag on my wrist and a jacket with lots of pockets for little cars, money, snacks etc...
Tip 1: Keep 1 wetbag out with you at all times. Depending on the brand, use the one with the strap - perfect for your wrist and perfect to fit on the handle of your stroller. Be careful, though, if wetbag is still on stroller when you take little one - it will be off balance and fall over. While on the airplane, it will fit great under your seat. This wetbag is important for the plane. Very important. In this wetbag, keep extra wetbags, wipes, toys, snacks...anything you might need during the flight. This wetbag will make you wish you bought and brought more wetbags. When it is time to change a diaper, simply take little one and wetbag and head to the restroom. Also, the little bag in the seat pocket used for those getting sick on the plane is water-proof. So, if you need to put a diaper in there you can, but just remember to take out before you wash!
Once at my friend's house, we were able to get settled and our cloth diapering routine was back to normal. When it was time for bed, I took 3 extra cloth diapers with me upstairs to the room we were to sleep in, but forgot a wetbag. I took 2 aplix and 1 snap. When he woke up at 0500, I decided to change him, but in the dark, I grabbed one with the snaps and snapped incorrectly since it was so dark. Go with aplix for really dark rooms.
Tip 2: Bring a wetbag and aplix diapers with you to the room you will be sleeping in.
The next day, my son and I continued our stay at a hotel. So, by the end of day 2 we needed to do some laundry. Before reserving, I checked and made sure they had a coin laundry. Before I left, I put our laundry detergent in a zip lock bag and made sure I had plenty of quarters. I also bought a roll of quarters at the hotel. I grabbed our wetbags, ziplock bag of laundry soap, my son and quarters and headed for the laundry room. It takes 3 mintues to get there, we toss our diapers, wetbags and soap in, quarters in and walk away empty handed....we go back 40 min later with more quarters and run another load with hot water. We go back 2x to do the dryer. The dryer did not dry very well. The wetbags were used to carry our laundry back up to the room. Easy! Son on my hip and wetbag around my wrist or son in the stroller and wetbag on the handle. For the diapers that were still damp after the second time in the dryer...I just let air out overnight in the room.
Tip 3: Bring every wetbag you own or buy more! Can never have enough! Do your laundry at night so the damp ones can air out. This morning I ran another load and that entire load was still damp by the time we had to leave. Boo! I was going to do laundry last night, but decided to wait until morning - big mistake!
While we were at the hotel and we would go for walks, I would pack only a wetbag and put over the stroller handle and we were all set. The wetbag was perfect for putting in unused mittens, hats, snacks.....love those wetbags!
Before our flight, we went to do a diaper change....put what belonged in the toilet, put the diaper in a wetbag that was already in the wetbag and we were all set and ready to board the plane with a nice dry cloth diaper!
On the flight home, I kept the wetbag out and under the seat in front of me and it was a great foot rest. Having a wetbag ready is really what made all the difference!
Final Tip: Keep a couple of clean cloth diapers at your house ready to use. Do not take all your cloth diapers. Keep some at home ready to use no matter what time you arrive home. If you are getting home late, make sure you have a night time and morning cloth diaper ready. The last thing you want to do after a trip is to stay up late doing laundry. Also, keep at least one cloth diaper in the vehicle for the drive home.
Tell us about your adventures in traveling with cloth diapers and your tips. We will post your tips on the blog so we can all learn from each other.
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