Have Cloth, Will Travel

It's been discussed on this blog at length how much we have traveled with Miss in her short little life so far. She has been in or through 11 different states, though MI probably doesn't really count because we never left the airport. I am happy to say that I have kept her in cloth diapers through almost all of these travels since beginning my cloth adventure in June. Here's what I have learned about using cloth while on the road:

1. If we're driving somewhere, I do diaper laundry as close to the departure time as possible. I pack diapers, cloth wipes, and wipes solution to take and use just like I do at home. I also pack along whatever dirty diapers accumulate while I'm doing the diaper laundry. I use the bag of dirties to put more dirties in while on the road, and then I just wash them as usual at our destination. That way I don't have a bag of dirty diapers sitting in a diaper pail until we get home. I cannot stand the thought of dirty diapers stinking and festering while we are away.

2. If I'm flying somewhere, I put Miss in disposables right before departure so that I can do diaper laundry and get every one of her diapers clean. This way I am not leaving dirty diapers to fester, but I also am not taking a bag of several dirty diapers on a plane with me (or trying to check them!). Typically I also use disposables while actually in the airport and on the plane. The reason for this is that I am usually packed to the gills and loaded up with so much stuff and disposables just take up less space and weigh less. However, on this last flight I took two carry ons, one my diaper bag and the other full of clean cloth diapers, so it probably wouldn't have been difficult to use the cloth while in the airport and on the plane.

3. As for washing, one of the easiest ways I've found to take along detergent is to use soap nuts. They're dry and compact. No mess!

4. I make sure to take flushable diaper liners. This is key for easy clean up of poopy diapers when a diaper sprayer isn't available.

5. The trips we have taken when I have used cloth have either been short enough that I could make it through without doing laundry (i.e. a quick weekend trip for a wedding) or have been to the home of a family member who did not have a problem allowing me to use the laundry facilities. Of course I always try to rotate my dipes in and out of the washer and dryer as quickly as possible and do any hanging or sunning in a place that is out of the way.

6. The trips that I have not been able to use cloth have involved flying somewhere and staying exclusively in a hotel. I have used cloth in a hotel (for short periods) and have used cloth on trips when I flew to my destination. But the two times I did both for one trip, I used disposables. This is because of not having laundry facilities and not being able to take dirty diapers on a plane.

Overall, I have found that traveling with cloth is not all that difficult. It's only slightly less convenient because of having to pack more stuff. And honestly I probably pack more than I really need, just because I have a hard time leaving any of my dipes at home!