Travel tips for 100% cloth

[dominga]

I know most people recommend using disposables for travel but I’ve never used them and don’t really want to start now. I’m committed to cloth so looking for travel tips from those who have also used cloth on big trips!

We live in Hawaii and are doing a mainland tour to visit family for almost 3 weeks with 3 flights averaging 10 hours each with layovers. Will have laundry where we are staying w family. Baby is 5 months old EBF. We do flats during the day and prefolds at night. Thinking to bring 2-3 days worth. Covers should be good w 2 wool as our mains and 3-4 PUL covers for out and about, which is what I usually do at home. At home I do a thorough rinse right away and then hang to dry outside before washing, so thinking to bring a line and clothespins so I can do this on the go. Have powdered detergent to bring. For wet bags I had a nice one that got lost so I’ve just been re-using a handful of gallon ziplocks. We also do EC, so this should reduce the amount of diapers we use, though it’s a little more challenging to offer potty times when traveling with lots of distractions.

Anticipating some challenges with taking redeye flights that are about 7 hours long…baby’s a solid sleeper but I usually change her in her sleep (with 4 month sleep regression she is peeing more often and I change her 3 to 5 times a night). I’ve never tried to give her enough fluff to sleep through the night, so thinking to experiment at home before our trip. For the flight I plan on babywearing in either my Sakura scout carrier or ring sling, unless they can give us a bulkhead baby bassinet.

Anyway if you’ve done big flights and trips to family using only cloth, please let me know what works for you!

 

[ravivc]

@dominga I've never done a flight with it but plenty of trips, if you are staying in a hotel their machines usually use quarters like a laundromat so make sure you have those or can get some quick because the hotel itself doesn't always make change. I usually use hangers and hang in a closet rather than a clothes line and that is a pretty compact way to dry if avoiding a dryer. I'd do an extra rinse or wash on top of the normal just because some areas have different water and you don't want to have to deal with any issues from that

 

[kagenonikki]

@dominga I've traveled with the cloth diapers a few times. I've checked in the areas I was visiting if anyone does vacation cloth diaper service-- so far I've not had any luck in the US with this (not even in Portland, Oregon!) but worth checking if you can, especially if you regularly use prefolds or flats. I use mainly fitteds. Airlines allow a free checked stroller typically, I stashed my cloth diapers in the stroller bag with it to save luggage space. I just stuffed all my supplies in a big laundry wet bag, tied it up, and tossed it in the stroller bag. No complaints from the airlines on it. Other than that, as mentioned I've never attempted cloth diapers on the place but it could certainly be done. I'd recommend liners at least for poos as I could imagine lugging dirty poo diapers around with your carry ons could get a bit gnarly. Either that or maybe bring a small wash bag (like a scrubba) to just get the poo off the diapers and flush it on the plane, then you've just got the wet diapers to worry about as usual.

 

[dominga]

@kagenonikki Good idea for stashing cloth in the stroller! We don’t have a stroller bag though… wondering if that’s something I should try to find before we go. It’s a 2nd hand stroller so I wasn’t really worried about it getting beat up.

Just EBF poops so really not bad… and she only poops a couple times in the afternoon, so for red eye flights might be able to avoid poopy diapers until we’re almost at our destination.

 

[lifeword]

@dominga I've done 4 flight-based trips with my LO now, always 100% cloth and definitely say your plan sounds totally solid. Definitely go with 3 days worth because of the travel days. At 5 months, either poop schedules can be all over the map. No poop for a week or the worst, stickiest, goopiest poops 4 times one day.

Only possible suggestions I'd make: Buy a bulk pack of washer-cleaning tabs (I get a big 24 pack off amazon) and bring them along. Plan to pre-and-post wash the washers you're going to be using with the tabs - aka, run a cleaning cycle. I've met some.... gnarly washers away from home. Don't be afraid to add some bleach in that cleaning cycle if a washer smells particularly horrid.

Definitely practice packing in an extra-fluffy diaper for long plane flight sleep times. Changing on a plane can be a giant pain in the butt, so avoiding the need when possible will be all the better.

 

[dominga]

@lifeword Thanks for the vote of confidence! Good tip on the washer tabs.

 

[_ajayy_2014]

@dominga See if you can order detergent online to have shipped to your destination - no need to add extra weight to your luggage.

I have a giant fanny pack I use for airport and airplane diaper changes so everything is easily accessible and I don’t have to find somewhere to put a bag down. We bring the diaper bag too with all the supplies then just grab a fresh diaper to shove in there each time I need to change baby. FYI usually only certain bathrooms on the plane have a changing table so ask the flight attendant.

 

[dominga]

@_ajayy_2014 Good idea to scout the bathrooms ahead of time! I’ve heard some planes have bassinets at bulkhead seats, so if we get one of those might just be able to change her in there while she’s sleeping (at home she doesn’t wake up when I change her at night).

 

[julianav]

@dominga If you want to replace your gallon ziplocks cheaply, you could use waterproof pillow cases. I don’t have experience with this, but read about it after purchasing too many wet bags.

I’ve only traveled with cloth to my parents and on weekend trips, where we mostly use our regular routine. I rinsed like you do and used hangers in the closet to dry when we stayed at a hotel.

 

[presubungi1981]

@dominga I would make sure that if you plan to dry outside the weather will cooperate . We traveled with cloth once and it rained+ humid out entire trip which made it near impossible for our diapers to dry on the line in a reasonable amount of time. We even tried inside the house but it was rough.

 

[dominga]

@presubungi1981 I live in a super humid part of the island so anywhere is better than here! Just planning to rinse and line dry in between washes so that they don’t smell. Will use the dryer after doing a proper washing.

 

[steviedj]

@dominga I do cloth every time we travel, my kids have never been in a disposable. It’s totally doable. I have 4 GMD workhorse diapers for each of my two under two, these are usually our nighttime diapers but for flights or long car rides this is what I put them in and it’s worked great! If you can crab a couple fitted diapers for your flights I would do it so have plenty of absorbency and don’t have to worry about changing a diaper on the plane. That being said, I have had to change a diaper on a plane before (I hadn’t figured out using the workhorse yet) and it’s not as bad as you would imagine.

I would recommend just having a small diaper pod or a little tote of some type with all your changing supplies so you can just take it out of the top of your carry-on and take that to the bathroom and not have to carry a whole baby and your carry-on!

 

[dominga]

@steviedj That’s awesome you’ve never used a disposable! Hoping I can keep up the same.

Haven’t tried workhorses yet. I had a few Esembly fitteds that she grew out of and they were excellent for containing poop but not as absorbent for pees.

Planning to bring her diaper bag as a carryon (it’s a smaller one so like a large purse).

 

[meki]

@dominga We always use cloth for any of our trips. I feel like they hold up better than disposables anyways.

I think your plan sounds solid.

I would try to find an overnight solution tho. We use eezkoala fitted diapers and a wool cover overnight with an extra long bamboo:cotton doubler and I get 12+ hours out of it.

We change diapers at the airport between each flight so baby is dry and comfy for the flight. I wear a backpack to keep the wet bag and diapers in. And put everything through the wash when we get to our destination.

Good luck!

 

[trish54]

@dominga Thoughts;
Is your family okay with you using their machine for diapers? Some people get squirrelly about it.

How confident are you they don’t have tons of detergent buildup in their machine that could transfer to your diapers?

Props to you for using them when travelling! It will take extra planning but totally doable.

Have a great trip!!

 

[cees]

@dominga I would use disposables on the planes, and stick to your normal cloth routine for the rest of the trip!

 

[smith001]

@cees This is what I did for a 2 week trip. The plane is so stressful already. It's too cramped to easily do diaper changes. You have to disturb too many people just to get to the bathroom that may or may not be full. While not ideal, a disposable diaper can hold out many hours before leaking. I just... didn't change my baby's diaper for the 4 hour trip (luckily, he didn't poop).

 

[kagenonikki]

@smith001 Mine was opposite, the pressure change caused him to poop 5 times in 7 hours (two flights). I was glad I wasn't lugging used poopy diapers around on the planes, as mentioned it is so cramped as it is.

 

[dominga]

@kagenonikki Good to know that can happen! Was hoping for just pees on overnight flights…but good to be prepared. Still sticking to my plan for cloth tho!