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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays – 7/29/13 – Reusable Menstrual Products

Mailbox Mondays via @chgdiapers reusable menstrual products

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Heather wants advice about:

mama cloth-how to get started. There tons of blog posts on how to start cloth diapering, but very few on how to start with mama cloth. How many, how to get out of the house with it, travel with it, care, etc., including both pads & cups/tampon replacement.

I’m not a good person to ask! At the risk of giving “too much information,” thanks to pregnancy and breastfeeding, I’ve had only a handful of cycles in the past oh, half decade or more. I have used some mama cloth, but only as liners.

I’d give the same advice as I would for diapers. Figure out how many pads you typically go through in a cycle. How many reusable pads you need would depend on how often you want to wash, how quickly you want to have them ready to use again etc. The difference between mama cloth & cloth diapers is that you have to determine how many super/night time you need, how many liners you need etc. Ideally, a stash would consist of the same # of pads you typically use now. Keep in mind that just like cloth/sposies in diaper land, you may need to change a cloth pad more often than a super-absorbent disposable pad.

Some companies make petite wet/dry bags perfect for transporting mama cloth. Also know that you can also easily roll & snap mama cloth.

Reusable alternatives are more than just mama cloth though. Consider a menstrual cup or natural sea sponge “tampons” as well. As much as I’d love to say “this is the best brand/product,” the decision is very personal, and like cloth diapers, you may need to try a few before it works for you.

Menstrual cups should be replaced every 2-3 years, or more often if you are bothered by the discoloration.

What say you?


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Maria
Maria is an aspiring "fit mom" of 3 children, writing about cloth diapers, going green, and her life as a single mom. Maria works with many companies within the cloth diaper industry and beyond, providing social media management, product development, and other services.
2 Comments
  • Heather Ratliff
    July 31, 2013 at 5:27 pm
    Reply

    I’ve tried a Diva Cup for one cycle and loved it! I was surprised at how comfortable it was and how easy it was to forget about my period.

    I have some 6″ liners from ladybug9753 on Etsy and they are good…flannel only. I also have some 8″ minky pads from Pink Lemonade on Etsy and I love them!

    I bought a couple of Pink Daisy travel wet bags and they are the perfect size for the purse and are only PUL so they’re pretty floppy (which is good!). I’ll probably make my own in the future because I can see how easy they are to make!

  • July 30, 2013 at 1:36 am
    Reply

    I use a Lunette and love it, and have a few mama cloth items but haven’t found a brand/size/etc. that I’m totally in love with. But I’d also give my standard cloth diapering advice – ask around and find a brand you want to try, and then buy just a few (I’d usually say just one, but you might want to try a liner and an overnight or some other different absorbency levels). Throw those into your rotation and see how you like them before going whole hog and buying a bunch of stuff you might later find you don’t like all that much (and I don’t think resell on mama cloth is as good as it is on diapers!) 🙂

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