Out and about with cloth diapers

There are three situations that people worry about cloth diapering - or at least this is what they ask me about the most ;) - diapering on vacation, diapering at daycare, and diapering when out and about on a daily basis. None need to be an issue at all - I mean if your child is being changed there is really not much difference between changing a cloth diaper or changing disposable diaper. The main difference is you have to take the cloth one home with you and the disposable, well you have to dispose of. Here is some of my experience with using cloth out of the house

Daycare/preschool When my kids went to preschool while they were still in diapers I sent them with cloth. I told the teacher, rather than asking her, and I made it as simple for her as possible. I told her to wrap the diaper up, even if there was poop, and send it home as is and I would deal with the mess at home. I wanted them to go with inexpensive diapers that I didn't mind losing (gasp!). But I also needed them to be leak proof and so easy to use that they daycare provider didn't balk at using them. So my only choices were AIOs or pre-stuffed pocket diapers. The least expensive option of those was the AIOs, specifically kushies, so that's what I used. You'll also need a tote bag. The best one for daycare is the medium bummis. The teachers never said "oh they are so cute!" or "they are way easier than I thought they'd be" like I hoped - but they also never complained. So hopefully I showed them that cloth is easy and nothing like it used to be.

Going out When going out you want to make a great impression and of course you want things to be easy. I'll never forget the time I changed my son at the park and a mom asked me, "Are those real diapers?? I'm not sure whether she thought mine were the ersatz diapers or if the plastic earned that fine distinction but she was obviously shocked to see someone using cloth diapers in this day and age.

Whatever diapering method you use you'll learn to do it quickly so it doesn't have to be a chore to change in public. A prefold can go on just as fast as an AIO if you are used to doing it. But to make a good impression on grandma or that mom at the park you might want to have a couple of pretty
bumkins or cute diaper covers, like the bummis super print or a bumkins. You'll also need a wet bag . I usually just wrap the diaper up and stick it in the wet bag and deal with any messes when I get home. Um, just don't leave the diaper bag in the car by mistake.

Vacations We went on a few vacations with cloth, including Walt Disney World and they were NOT difficult. Most hotels have a laundry facility right in the hotel and I would just keep all the dirty diapers in a large bummis tote in the bathroom in the room and then I went to wash them every other night after the kids were asleep. I even have friends who used cloth while camping.