There was that time I came home from errands to find that my dear friend had put one of my daughter’s Haute pocket diapers on backwards. Then, there was that other time when my mom sweetly lathered my little darling’s rashy bottom with a thick layer of creamy Desitin before placing her in a bumGenius!. And I can’t forget the time that my sister put her Smartipants Diaper on so loosely that I was amazed there weren’t puddles of pee on the couch.
Leaving your baby with a sitter is stressful enough without considering the fact that most people are absolutely uneducated in the art of cloth diapering. So what do we do? We educate.
Demonstrate
People are scared of cloth diapers. This is sad since they are just so easy and fun these days, but it doesn’t change the fact that most people only resort to cloth diapers as a last ditch effort to beat the current economic crisis.
Then, those people who wouldn’t dream of going to such extremes, despite the massive amounts of money it would save, look at those of us who do and think we’re crazy for putting poop in our washing machines. But if you’re going to babysit my daughter, then you are going to cloth diaper because that is all she uses, case closed.
“Let me just show you her diapers,” I say just before my hubby and I make our way out the door for a hot date to Walmart.
“They’re pretty simple. Just like disposables but you don’t throw them away!” I pull one out and show them the simple closures and that they go on just like disposables.
“You put the diaper on just like a regular diaper. Then, you spray the wipes and throw the old diaper and the wipe in the wet bag that hangs right here.”
Make it simple
Don’t leave your most complicated cloth diapers at the top of your stash. Leave out the easiest possible diapers for your sitter to use and make sure they know the steps of using them.
I prefer to leave all in one diapers or pocket diapers with Velcro tab closures at the top of my stash for baby sitters.
I don’t point out my fitted diapers, prefolds or various diaper covers because it’s just too many different types of diapers to choose from.
When I have the sitters use pocket diapers, I don’t even ask them to take out the insert before putting them in the wet bag, and I won’t make them use the diaper sprayer either. “Just stick it all in there,” I say, indicating my hanging wet bag “and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Write it Down
Cloth diapering isn’t as much complicated, as it is foreign territory, to those who have only used disposables. So make a list. Leave it with the sitter, or post it somewhere near your changing table. Write down things such as “Please don’t use rash creams” or “Diapers go in the laundry not the trash.” where your sitter can see them. Of course, what you write in your directions is up to you and dependent upon your cloth diapering style.
Leave it out
To make matters even more simple for your sitter, leave out the amount of diapers they will need. Leave them in a visible place, so they don’t have to go fishing in drawers and baskets through AIOs, AI2s, and fitteds to find what they need. It might be prudent to leave out two or three diapers right next to your cloth baby wipes and spray bottle. Then, the steps of what to do are obvious and less ominous.
I know, I know, it may seem much easier just to pull out a few disposables and let the babysitter use those on your child, forgoing your cloth stash entirely, but honestly why would you do that when the cloth diapers are just as easy? And who knows, when your babysitter is done taking care of your child, you just may have created another cloth diaper convert!
GUEST BLOGGER
is a part time Spanish Teacher, a part time Stay-at-home-mom, and the wife of the best husband imaginable. Becca’s absolute favorite thing to do is to spend time with her little family. She also enjoys doing anything crafty – from making jewelry, to writing, to sewing, to photography.
You can read more about Becca at her blog, Becca’s Cloth Diaper Blog.
Bryana is the owner of 
Becca is a part-time Spanish Teacher and part-time Stay-At-Home-Mom. She's a cloth diaper expert who enjoys spending time with her family, crafting and selling her wares in her very own
Julie is a mom to three kids including a set of identical twins. Through cloth diapering her twins she developed a passion for the industry and is an avid cloth diaper advocate. You can also find her on her blog
I’m switching from disposables and I don’t want to have that many options in the house available much less for my sitters. Given the fact that my sitters are probably going to be the grandparents (real or honorary) we are trying to keep everything as simple as possible. I just hope I can actually do this!
Great tips! Thanks! I was just thinking about what to do for sitters.
Rebecca W – you can do it! The more you get into it, you’ll find just how easy it is!
Whenever other people are watching my daughter, I use bumGenius because they have the touchtape closure that is most similar to disposables. That makes it super easy. I also tell babysitters to not worry about messes and just leave everything for me to take care of. We haven’t had any problems. :-)
I use prefolds or Flips when he goes in the church nursery, and I usually have a “demo” already made up in the bag just in case they forget. We recently had Vacation Bible School and he was in the nursery for 3.5 hours a night for 5 nights in a row. The youngest nursery volunteer was 16, and the oldest could’ve been my grandmother, but they were all very receptive when I showed them how to do it and where to put everything. I have found people to be very open to cloth once they see snaps or velcro!
Great pointers! As has been said, I leave out the BG AIOs for the nursery or sitter. I premoisten the wipes. I usually show the diapers and give quick instructions when leaving Elaine in the nursery, especially now that we are at a new church and people don’t know that we CD. My hubby dropped off Elaine at the nursery one week and gave no instructions. Her diaper was practially falling off, and I got “we need more instructions” chat from the nursery worker. So I made a little tag with instructions (I included both velcro & snap instructions) on it. I laminated it and hang it from the diaper bag. Now I just have to say, “Instructions on the bag” and I have gotten compliments about how easy it is!
Best line of this blog post: “And who knows, when your babysitter is done taking care of your child, you just may have created another cloth diaper convert!” What a great way to show others how easy and fun cloth diapers are.
I have a friend who is going to be keeping my 2 cloth diapered grandchildren when I go to work next week & we were just talking about the diapers. I have enough bumGenius pockets for both to use while I’m gone & that is what I’m taking to her. Most of my stash consists of prefolds & covers so I wasn’t sure I could get her on board with those. I will, however take some & show her just how easy it really is to use. This is a wonderful article at just the right time for me. Thanks.
My daycare has been great about cloth diapers. I try to send the BumGenius or Thirsties Duo Diapers, but the staff does a great job with the snaps on the Fuzzibunz too! A new teacher recently started in the baby room, and the others showed her how to stick the dirty diapers in the wet bag in my daughters bin and put on the new ones. I have disposables there as well just in case.
Thanx Becca for the information :) I just wanted to tell you my story . I have left my daughter with my mother-in-law for a day of fun . When I came over to pick her up my daughter’s diaper bag was empty . I asked her why was it empty. She said ” shouldn’t it be empty ?” I told her the diapers were cloth and she said she didn’t know that the bumgenuis diapers were cloth . She threw away the diapers . I wanted to cry because she threw away 6 diapers . My brother-in-law came down the stairs and said he washed them for me . My mother-in-law now buys disposables and keeps them in her house and car as well as wipes lol
Oh, Kristine! I would have cried too. Just to clarify, your diapers didn’t end up in the trash after all thanks to you Brother-in-Law?
yo soy deprimida …
Have a nice day
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