Now here we are, camping with cloth diapers. Yes. It can be done.
I will admit, I was hesitant; in fact, last year on our annual, week-long, family camping trip we took along disposables. This year, money concerns pushed us into the budget zone we were all afraid of and yet, serendipitously, now found ourselves in. Convincing my husband was the easy part - figuring out what our process would be was another story.
I spent the days leading up to our big adventure doing as much research as I could. Googling "cloth diaper camping", "camping with cloth diapers", "boiling and line-drying cloth diapers", etc. After a few helpful tidbits from fellow nature-enthusiasts, I began the trip with an apprehensive confidence (that is, apprehensive on the inside, confident on the outside).
1. Bring on the flats. We already use flat cloth diapers, but our reusable wipes are double-layered. It was near impossible to get the wipes completely clean and stain-free because you can't scrub the inside layer. The flats, however, have never had it so good.
2. Soaking tub, folded tarp, prepping tub, boiling tub. Yes, we needed all four for the process to work seemlessly. After removing the soiled diaper we removed any solids, as usual, then put the flat in a wet pail (soaking tub) with just water. The next morning, once there were enough to wash, I emptied the soaking tub and put the flats into the prepping tub to wash. Cool water, flats, and a little bit of Earth-friendly-water-soluble detergent. Scrub like the old days (pretend you're the barefoot old lady in a black-and-white picture with a washboard and a song... song optional). Rinse, wring-out and toss on the tarp. Once they've all been washed and rinsed, put them in the boiling tub with (obviously) boiling water for around 15 minutes. Wring-out and line-dry.
3. Enjoy. There is nothing I've found as meditative as hand-washing and line-drying, especially out in the sunshine with a cup of coffee. Perhaps the only match is taking them off, pin by pin, and folding them into tightly-bundled rectangles of love.
The process does take almost two hours and then a wait while they dry, but, hey, you're camping so what else do you have to do? It seemed to always work out that my wash-rinse-boil-hang time landed right in Neila's morning nap so I was free to take my time and relax. I also noticed the last day that there was a particularly strange (and aggressive) flying insect (about two inches in length) that really loved to land on the dry diapers when they were warm on the line so I'm going to remember to remove them promptly next time... it creeped me out.
Thank you: Google research, Jila and Joel's boiling pot, and my amazingly easy-going and supportive husband. I like to think that much more than Mother Earth was saved this camping trip... I also saved twenty bucks in disposable diapers.
