Most cloth diaper retailers provide great resources for new parents or old (?!) parents who are considering cloth diapers. Talk to retailers. They have experience with a variety of diapers as well as with a variety of parents. You will find the distilled experience of Tamara Champion of Parenting by Nature in our Cloth Diaper 101 KISS Guide to Cloth Diapers.
Beyond those cloth diaper basics, where can you learn more about cloth diapers? Here are a few unusual cloth diapering resources.
Unusual for its use of free-flowing new tech
You can often scare up a bit of chat on Twitter using the #clothdiapers hashtag. Show up every Monday night from about 6pm Eastern until bedtime on the west coast and you will meet a bunch of cloth diapering parents and businesses willing to answer questions and talk about all aspects of cloth diapers.
Monday night #clothdiapers Twitter chat started summer 2009 almost on a dare.
“I’ll bet I can get make #clothdiapers trend.”
“Prove it.”
It did trend. Trending on Twitter means that a term is among the most tweeted terms at that time. And, #clothdiapers trends frequently on Monday nights. It’s a great time to find out what’s new in cloth diapers. Just show up and search #clothdiapers.
Cloth Diapers in Daycare
Unusual for its willingness to turn “No!” into “How?”
Often I have heard of daycare providers who say that cloth diapers aren’t allowed. “By whom?” I wonder. That is one of the questions asked by a joint project of Real Diaper Association and Real Diaper Industry Association as they work to make it easier for babies to wear cloth diapers in daycare.
So far, they have published a great tip sheet for parents who want to talk to daycare providers about cloth diapers. For example, they suggest that parents be willing to be flexible in the type of diapers and diapering accessories they use while in daycare even if the diapers aren’t the same type the baby wears at home.
They are also working on a cloth-diaper-friendly daycare directory. Can’t wait to see that!
Diaper Service Info
Unusual for its focus on resurgent movement toward diaper services
Diaper services boomed in the mid-20th century. As more parents chose to launder diapers themselves at home or they chose to throw away plastic diapers, diaper service became a less common option. There were fewer diaper services until the number across the U.S. was likely under 100 about 10 years ago.
Now, in 2010, the number of diaper services, services that launder cloth diapers and deliver fresh, clean diapers to your doorstep, is growing across the U.S. and Canada. The National Association of Diaper Services closed in 2009, but the Real Diaper Industry Association (RDIA) is experiencing big growth in diaper services and more questions every day from people planning to start new diaper services.
Because of the resurgence in interest, RDIA has launched a diaper service information site to answer their most frequently asked questions.
If you want to use cloth diapers but you just aren’t sure about home laundering, diaper service is a great option. Check out the diaper service directory.
Diaper Pin
Unusual for its longevity
There are so many cloth diaper resources available. You could spend weeks trying to read them all—many people do! By the time you finish, you would have to start all over again and read the new posts.
If you are looking for a reliable review site, try Diaper Pin. It has been online since 2000 when it started with a few articles and directory members. Now, they have more than 1000 directory members and 19,000+ product reviews. In an industry when products and businesses change frequently, it’s good to know you can find a place with years of layers of information.
These are just a few of the resources that came to my mind, but there are so many more. What are your favorite unusual cloth diaper resources?
Throughout March we will offer guides to getting started with some of the basic practices of attachment parenting. This is Cloth Diaper Week with tips, products, resources, and personal experiences.
