Creating a simple cloth nappy routine: a week in the life

Welcome to a week in the life of our cloth nappy routine, where every day brings its own little adventures and challenges in the world of parenting. From the strategic Sunday prep sessions to the midweek poo plopping and weekend wash cycles, join us as we navigate the ins and outs of keeping our little ones clean and comfortable in an eco-friendly and budget-conscious way. Whether you’re a seasoned cloth nappy enthusiast or just curious about the daily rhythm of sustainable nappies, we invite you to dive into our journey and discover how a simple routine can make a big difference in our daily lives.

Sunday

Our routine has to start here, it’s the day that sets us up for the rest of the week. We use Sundays for lots of things – a family walk/adventure, a big family clean up, batch cooking and meal prepping, planning for the week ahead, and (most importantly for this post) nappy prepping.

I try to keep on top of nappy folding and stuffing throughout the week, but if it’s got on top of me, then Sunday is the day I catch up. No nappy is unprepared by the end of the day! Our nappy storage is just enough to fit all the nappies in so I usually hope there’s a few waiting to be washed. I never do a nappy wash on a Sunday unless it’s an emergency and we’ve fallen behind elsewhere in the week.

With all nappies prepped, I get the nursery bags ready. Barnaby gets 5 nappies in his nappy pod, along with a wet bag and about 15 cloth wipes.

Sunday cloth nappy routine done.

Monday

Quick check of the nursery bags to make sure no little hands have snuck anything out. I also pop some 1ml syringes of breast milk into Barnaby’s nappy pod in case he gets sore. Nappy creams and cloth nappies don’t mix very well so I like to make sure he has an alternative. The nursery workers pop them straight into the fridge and keep them for the week.

Bertie takes his night nappy off and pops it straight into the wet bag, I change Barnaby into a nursery nappy. While Brett finishes getting the boys ready, I pop the nappies onto a cold water rinse cycle or quick wash cycle with no powder. This is the pre-wash cycle.

Just before we all leave, we pop the nappies onto their long wash – 3 hours at 40 degrees. The amount of detergent will depend on the water hardness in your area. We live in a hard water area so do use quite a large dose of detergent in the main wash cycle. Never put fabric softener in your nappy wash as this can be damaging to the fibres. (You can read more specifics about cleaning cloth nappies in our post here [coming soon]).

Brett takes the boys to nursery, I head into work.

At the end of the day, I go pick the boys up from nursery. It always makes me laugh how the nursery staff let me know what Barnaby’s nappies were like, even though I’ll see them for myself in a few hours time!

We head home and dump the bags. Change Barnaby if needed (depending on when he was last done at nursery) and have tea. Brett’s in the office on Mondays, so as soon as we’re done in the kitchen, we pop the nappies on another cold rinse cycle with no powder. This forms an extra rinse to make sure there’s no detergent residue build up. As soon as that’s finished, we pop them onto another drain and spin to get rid of as much excess fluid as possible.

While Bertie gets himself ready for bed, I bring the days nursery nappies up with me and do the fun job of poo scraping. I then put the dirty nursery nappies into the big wet bag, bring up the clean, wet nappies, and pop them into the tumble dryer.

I help Bertie put his night nappy on, and get to sleep.

Meanwhile, Brett will have hung the nappy wraps out to dry (these can’t go in the tumble dryer) and got Barnaby ready for bed, including his night nappy.

Once the boys are both asleep, we watch some TV and I prep the nursery bags again – topping Barnaby’s nappy pod back up to five nappies and a new wet bag.

Then it’s finally bed time!

Tuesday

The usual morning routine. Bertie takes his own nappy off, I sort Barnaby’s. No need for a nappy wash today, so everything just goes into the large wet bag ready for the next wash.

Boys to nursery, me to work. It’s Brett’s work from home day, so if we didn’t manage to get all of the wash cycle done on Monday, Brett will power through it today. Or he’ll put them through the dryer again if they weren’t quite dry.

Back home, same routine. Tea, bed, poo scrape.

Once the boys are asleep, I prep their nursery bags again, then sit and stuff the nappies whilst watching TV and get them put away. It’s definitely easiest when we keep on top of this through the week.

Wednesday

You’ve got the idea of our nursery mornings routine by now. Nappies off, dressed, and out.

It’s another work from home day for Brett, so he’ll do another nappy wash throughout the day. Usually he has the prewash cycle on before I’ve even left the house!

Pick the boys up, eat tea, bed routine, scrape poo, tumble dryer, bed. No nursery bag prep needed so a quick check to take out anything muddy, etc and the nursery bags get put away for the rest of the week.

Thursday

It’s a daddy day! Brett went part time to spend more time with the boys so there’s no nursery today. The mornings look largely the same, except it’s only me leaving the house bright and early. We still try to make sure the boys are dressed before I go, otherwise it can become a real battle later in the day.

Brett usually takes the boys out for the day, so he’ll make sure he has a good stock of 3-4 nappies, a bunch of wipes, a couple of wraps, a wet bag, and a spare nappy nipper in the trip bag. We usually refill this bag as soon as we get home from wherever we’ve been so it’s stocked up for last minute adventures.

When I get home from work, Brett deals with any poo in the nappies from the day before popping them into the big wet bag. He then restocks the trip bag and pops it away.

Then it’s the usual – tea and bed routine.

Once the boys are asleep, I fold yesterday’s nappy wash and Brett preps the swimming bags. He makes sure there’s a clean nappy for Barnaby after swimming, as well as his swim nappy and a couple of wet bags.

Friday

Another daddy day! It’s more of a chilled at home kind of day for the boys while I head out to work. We don’t do a nappy wash on a Friday because we have other washing to do and the extra swimming load later on.

The boys meet me at work and we head down to the pool (I’m lucky to work in a school where there are swimming lessons held).

After swimming, it’s the usual. Brett gets a chance to plop the poos from the day, tea, and bedtime routine. We put the swimming wash straight on, and put the swim nappy in with this (unless he’d pooped in it, in which case I’d put it with the nappy wash. Luckily this has never happened!).

There’s no nappy prep needed on a Friday night, so Brett and I try to catch up on other things around the house then collapse in front of the TV.

Saturday

Mornings can look different depending on our plans for the day, but cloth nappy wise it’s a wash day.

We try to get it started as early as possible so that if we are going out, it still gets done. Because there’s not so much urgency to crack on with tea and bed over the weekend, we usually manage to get them fully washed and through the tumble drier in the one day.

So come night time, our usual routine happens (Brett and I take it in turns to deal with the poopy nappies) and once the boys are asleep I fold and put away the nappy wash.

Sunday

If Sunday again! Nappy prep day. If I’ve managed to stick to the routine, there won’t be any folding or stuffing to do. If there is, I’ll get it all done. Then it’s prep time – nursery bags sorted, nappies prepared, meals sorted. Ready for another week!

Summary

Sunday: prep for the week and have all nursery nappies ready

Monday: nappy wash. Top up nursery bag.

Tuesday: nappy stuffing. Top up nursery bag.

Wednesday: nappy wash. Check trip bag.

Thursday: nappy stuffing. Top up trip bag.

Friday: swimming wash. Sort trip bag if needed.

Saturday: nappy wash and stuffing.

Sunday: time to prep again!

So there you have it. Once you get into a groove of what works for you, it really shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes of your day to prepare and sort the nappies. If you think about it, it would take longer to go to the shops and buy more disposable nappies on those days you inevitably run out!

We do have slightly more nappies than we’d strictly need. But this gives us flexibility so that, if we do miss a wash day, we should have enough nappies to last us around 4-5 days. A good wash routine is a life saver, though, and helps to keep on top of dirty nappies so there aren’t any smelly nappies lingering for long. For best results and to preserve the lifespan of your nappies, it’s a good idea not to go more than 2-3 days between wash cycles.

Top tips

• If ever we buy new nappies, we simply pop the new cloth nappies in with every nappy wash throughout the week to build their absorbency before their first use.

• If you don’t have enough nappies for a full wash, but want to get a wash done, some people add tea towels, bath towels, or soiled baby clothes into the longest cycle part of the wash routine. Sometimes we do this when we run out of Bertie’s night nappies.

• If dealing with poopy nappies is too much for you, consider using disposable liners. These can simply be thrown away (like a disposable nappy) taking the majority of the poo with them. Don’t forget, you only need to plop the poos once you start on solid food. Both breast and formula milk is water soluble so those reusable nappies can go straight into wash time.

• In the summer, I do prefer line drying. This can have an effect on our routine, but I tend to leave the clean nappies over night. The following morning I either pop the clean cloth nappies on the line or onto a clothes horse which is easy to pop back inside with if it rains. It’s personal preference, so you need to find what works for you.

If ever you are looking for cloth nappy help, I’m only an email away. I love helping people on their cloth nappy journey, so please let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know!