Traveling with Cloth Diapers

At the beginning of June, we packed up the car and headed on an eight-hour road trip to Florida.  Well, more like 10 hours with the little one.  For the first weekend, we were scheduled to shoot a friend's beach wedding, and for the following week, we were on our own for a relaxing vacation.  The laid-back wedding was so much fun to shoot, and the setting was amazing.  The rest of our time in Florida was also incredible.  We had so much fun.  Molly did so well with all the adjustments (long car ride, sleeping in strange places, spending a lot of time in the sun, etc.) and she had a blast!  This kid loves the water!

Originally when planning this trip, we anticipated using disposable diapers.  We felt no guilt about using a week's worth of disposable diapers, especially considering how few we've sent to the landfill these last 9 months.  But several weeks before our trip, I did a little research and we found we might be able to get a condo with a washer and dryer.  So we decided we would give cloth a try during our travels.  Not knowing how things would go, we tried to keep an open mind, remembering that there were plenty of stores near our condo where we could buy disposables if needed.  But it actually went really well!  Here's what we did to make it work:

The number one requirement for us using cloth diapers was having a washer and dryer in our condo.  (And not spending more on the condo rental price to get it.)  Our higher priority was getting a condo at a low price, but if we could also get one with a washer and dryer at that same price, then we would decide to use cloth on our trip.  Turns out, both condos we booked had a washer and dryer inside the unit (not just a laundry room on the property somewhere).  We didn't end up paying more for that, so it worked out really well.  Also, it turned out that we really needed to wash clothes on the trip, so we were especially glad we had a washer and dryer available.

Trip preparation:

• The day before we left, we washed, dried, and packed our cloth diapers, wipes, and pail liners.  We used disposables that day so we weren't creating dirty laundry that we'd have to bring with us in the car.
• We brought some cloth diaper detergent and regular laundry detergent in ziploc bags.  I labeled the bags as "cloth diaper" or "regular" and I also wrote how many scoops were needed for top-loading and front-loading washers because I wasn't sure what we'd have.  I measured out more deteregent than I expected us to use, just in case of emergency.  Then I put the scoops in the bags.
• For the long car rides, we planned to also use disposables just to make things a little easier.  So I put together a little caddy of diapers, cloth wipes, a water bottle for the wipes, disposable wipes, hand sanitizer, and diaper rash medicine.  (We used cloth wipes because Molly had a diaper rash/infection, and disposable wipes irritate rashes.  The disposable wipes were for wiping down my hands afterwards.  After a diaper change, cloth wipes went into our wet bag, and we washed them the next day in our condo.)  This caddy, along with the wet bag and changing pad, made changes much easier along the way, as well as when we were in the condos.

During the trip:

• We basically kept up the same routine that we use at home, minus some of the conveniences like a diaper pail and a diaper stacker.
• Our cloth diapers can be used as swim diapers!  Awesome!  We just removed the inserts from the Bumgenius 4.0 diapers, and put them on her otherwise like normal under her swimsuit.  Loved not having to buy swim diapers, and not having to throw anything away after swimming.

 

So all in all, we were pleasantly surprised.  Traveling with cloth diapers went really well!  As long as you have a washer and dryer in your hotel room, it's about the same as cloth diapering at home.  We definitely saved money not having to buy disposables and swim diapers!