We just returned from a 5 day trip to San Diego. We flew there (hubby, RaeRae, and I) and drove back with a rental car since we had the in-laws with us that time. I thought I'd write about my experience traveling with cloth because I know it is often a question for cloth-diapering or considering-cloth mamas:
How do you travel with cloth diapers?
Flying there was easier than driving--just over an hour flight versus 12 hours on the road due to traffic and some road closures (sigh).
The one thing that made a difference was the Grovia Go-to-Go Kit I bought from Everything Birth, Inc.. This kit came with three Grovia shells, 3 packets of Tiny Bubbles detergent, and a box of 50 Bio-soakers. I used the biodegradeable bio-soakers while at the airport and on the long road back. But while I was at my SIL's house, we used regular cloth diapers since she had a washing machine and dryer we could use.
For the bio-soakers, we tested them at home first so I could get the feel of them. The inner cloth parts can be flushed down the toilet but we had to use scissors to cut it out. This part was difficult. Maybe I was missing some information on how to better separate the part that's flushable from the part that's not. So while we were on the road and at the airport, I ended up throwing these soakers in the trash. They have less chemicals than regular disposables and can break down easier, so I felt somewhat better than using a regular disposable on our trip. Yet, I wished I had better instructions on how to dispose of it through the toilet.
The nice thing about the Grovia shells and bio-soakers is the convenience and size. I didn't have to pack too much for the carryon and it was easier to do diaper changes in the changing tables in the airport bathrooms. There are two sticky tabs on the back of the soakers that you pull off so it sticks on the shell. They contained the mess well--no leaks out of the diaper, and only one leak into the shell from a massive poop. My daughter is exclusively breast-fed so I wasn't worried about washing it soon at the house.
When we arrived at my SIL's house, I quickly got RaeRae out of the Grovia Shell and put on a regular cloth. Felt so much better! I love my cloth and only packed enough cloth diapers for about 2 days since we were limited on space in our one large suitcase and I knew I could do laundry whenever I needed to. Plus, my SIL had one of those fancy smart front-loaders that could do the job well.
As for wipes, we used disposable wipes we had bought about four months ago (since we do cloth wipes at home too--makes sense since they can be washed with the diapers). I did not like using the disposable wipes on my daughter's bum during our trip because they got a bit linty. Maybe it was the brand but I started to think my diapers will pilling! But when we got home and switched immediately back to the cloth wipes, the lint on my daughter's bum went away. It was just the disposable wipes.
Washing the cloth diapers at my SIL's was a bit tricky at first because I was not used to her machine. I figured out the Rinse and Spin cycle for the cold rinse and then the hot wash. The hot wash took over an hour though! I think it was because it took a while for the water to fill up. The water had to be heated through the water heater as it came through the pipes before going into the machine. That was my understanding.
So in the end, this is what I learned that helped us for traveling with cloth:
1) Hybrid diapers (Grovia AI2) work great for when you don't have access to a washer/dryer!
2) Use the biosoakers the day before so you don't have wet diapers waiting at home for you.
--On another note, we used a prefold and a cover for her nighttime diaper the very night before we flew and rinsed-rinsed-rinsed in our sink and left out to airdry so we'd have a less chance of bacteria growing on it. It was fine when we came back.
3) Bring just enough soap that you need, not the whole bag. I had a bag that was almost gone and it was just the right amount to do 3 loads of diaper laundry at the house.
4) Have more than one wetbag.
I traveled with Audrey in cloth when she was 15 months old. Being mostly on solids, what we were dreading most was a poop in the car when we were still far from a pit stop. And to save the stink in the diapers, we opted to use flushable liners from Bummis for her poops. That way we weren't traveling another 12 hours (Dublin to Tucson, AZ) with a poop-stained diaper in the wet bag.
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