>This is part 4 of my ramblings on the future of cloth diapering!  See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 if you missed them!

I want cloth to be easier.  I know that if I just gave away all of my cloth diapers when I was finished with them, I’d still be ahead financially.  However, I’d like for minor repairs on diapers to be easier for people like me.  I can sew a button and so forth, but I don’t have a sewing machine, and I’m really rather intimidated by the idea of diaper repair.

I have a post in the works to do a step by step Bumgenius refresher using just a needle, thread and scissors.  I am OK with the Velcro replacement, but I’m thanking my lucky stars that my elastic doesn’t need to be replaced!!  With the Bumgenius 4.0, Cottonbabies somewhat acknowledged this by making the elastic slightly more easy to replace.  It still scares me.  My Fuzzibunz “one size” diaper actually came with spare elastic and you can replace it with no sewing and no seam ripping!  I would love to see more diapers like that!!

When thinking about closure tab replacement, I’d love to see the tabs and Velcro strips of diapers (securely) snap or hook on and off.  This way you could swap them out for new as they became worn and swap Velcro for aplix as it suits you and your baby.  I wish I were skilled at photoshop so I could demonstrate exactly what I mean.  I’ve seen a WAHM diaper who had snaps applied through the Velcro strip on the front of the diaper, so you could secure the snaps or secure the Velcro, but that’s not quite what I mean.  I imagine the front of the diaper having say, male snaps.  The Velcro strip would have female snaps on the back, so you could snap it in place.  The snap closure tabs could be removed and replaced with Velcro tabs as you wished.  Then the Velcro could be removed and go back to snaps.

Lastly (I think) I want more diaper companies to recognize that washing needs to be easy.  The only reason I didn’t cloth diaper my son from birth was the detergent issue.  Not everyone has “safe” detergents readily available to them.  Shipping them becomes quite costly, and even if they were available locally, the first detergent you buy won’t necessarily work for you.  My max price for detergent stockpiling pre-cloth diapers was about $2.99 at most.  So going to $10-$15/bottle was a huge leap.  Not to mention then having $100 worth of detergent that didn’t work sitting in my cabinet, or having to “waste” it on regular clothes!

I would love for companies (or someone with lots of time and money) to put diapers to the test in many mainstream detergents.  Truly put them to the test, not just say they are a “no-no” because of some chart made based on ingredients. There are a few companies out there that specifically recommend “regular” detergents, but most say it will damage your diapers and/or void your warranty.  Who wants that?

I have spent a lot of time and money on detergents, followed by battling the stink that ensues.  I firmly believe that the right detergent is one that gets your diapers clean and stink free, doesn’t cause them to repel, and doesn’t give your baby a rash.  Obvious ingredients to stay away from are bleach, fabric softeners or anything that may eat away at the PUL or Elastic.

My other thought was that diaper manufacturers should offer a low cost “sampler” of detergents that they recommend, so you can try them before you purchase.  The problem is that it has taken me several weeks (sometimes months) of using a detergent before it became clear that it wasn’t the one for me.

If you didn’t cloth diaper all of your children, or didn’t start right away, what stopped you?