We recently went to Kolkata for a 5 days trip during January 2020 and I exclusively cloth diapered my 22 Months, heavy wetting daughter as she is not fully potty trained. Frankly speaking its tough, very tough. But read on to know how I succeeded this challenge.
Though we planned our stay in a serviced apartment, I was apprehensive about having a space to dry the diapers. Luckily the place where we stayed had a balcony facing the sun. My baby being a heavy wetter and kolkata temperatures dropping to about 10 degrees in the night I packed about 8 diapers per day. So on the whole I carried about 16 duets, 6 covers, 12 avivas and 4 trainers pants from http://www.bumpadum.com
Carried a separate suitcase for diapers and it weighed about 10kgs. Since the baggage weight was higher, I carried only aviva shells and not the inserts to reduce the weight. 5 wetbags and 8 clutches along with fleece linings, hemp boosters and prefolds were the other accessories which I carried with me.
Monday : used 7 diapers including the trainer pants. Washed them at 11.30 in the night after reaching kolkata and dried them.
Tuesday : used 6 diapers, washed them after returning from our trips to the temples. Previous day diapers were dry by the time we returned. Packed them and stored them.
Wednesday : used 6 diapers including trainer pants. Washed them in the night and stored the Tuesday’s diapers in the bags.
Thursday : used about 5 diapers as the temperature was higher and stored them in a wetbag. Wednesday diapers were dry when we returned that Night and they were stored.
Friday : used about 3 diapers and 2 trainer pants. All the diapers were given a prewash and was tossed into the washing machine on Saturday.
The diapers of Thursday and Friday were packed in wetbags and clutches and were washed on Saturday morning. NO SMELL, NO LEAK.
My family understood my urge to save earth and they did not say a word for carrying this “extra” 10kgs of weight. They never discouraged me.
Cloth diapering a baby while traveling us tough and it has certain disadvantages.
1. Extra weight to be carried
2. Washing and drying during a trip, provided a place is available.
3. If No place is available then the wet diapers are to be brought back which further increases the weight.
4. This weight is an issue if the travel is by aeroplane.
5. Shopping is restricted.
But the advantages are immense
1. The satisfaction that you get while cloth diapering the entire trip, wow, that feel is different and can be felt only when one experiences it.
2. Cloth diapers laundry at the end of the dayis a stress buster.
3. The ” save earth ” feel encourages one to take up such challenges.
4. Highly economical as shopping is totally restricted keeping the weight in mind ( only for aeroplane travels).
5. Get many candid otb shots.
6. People will give a second look at your baby.
7. Have a proud face and walk with so much of pride.
8. Save an immense amount of trash.
9. A proud memory to be cherished and awesome feeling of saving earth which can be shared to the baby as they grow up.
10. A great conversation starter with fellow parents. At some point of time you might wonder if all these are really worth it but trust me it is worth more than this. Not everyone can cloth diaper a baby while traveling and the one who does is a rarest of rarest gem. Feel proud and keep your head high.
#clothdiaperingmom #clothdiaperingaddict #clothdiapers #saynotodisposables #saveearth #reuse #sustainableliving #sustainability #proudmom
