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An American, Cloth Diapering in Germany

While we are almost at the end of our diapering journey (for now, anyway), I have remained committed to using cloth the whole way. Except when we travel, our kiddos have always had little cloth bums. Not only are they way cuter than disposables, we've had almost no issues with diaper rash and while I know every baby is different... I credit the cloth. We did, however, have a lot of leakage issues - maintaining the elastic is not for the non-committed! We've worked through it all, and I'm so glad we stuck with it.

It took me a while to find my way cloth diapering here, since I couldn't easily find the brands I was familiar with. I turned to Facebook groups, our babysitter, and a little shop in Ireland that shipped to Germany and even provided moral support.

cloth diapers, bumgenius, germanyI relied heavily on bumgenius (a mix of all-in-ones and pockets), with a few blueberry simplex and flips (wish I had more of these). I stocked up on these when in the States through Kelly's Closet, where  I found the best value. A little shop in Mainz sells Popolini Flushable Liners, we bought about 36 reusable wipes (that are still in use 4.5 years later - this was the best find!), and Ikea baskets to keep everything organized.

After briefly using Ecover, I quickly switched to the no-buildup Persil Sensitive Megaperls and have successfully used them since. And after about 1-1.5 years, I stripped all the diapers using Fairy Dish Soap (10 x 450 g) (equal to blue Dawn). After 2ish years, I replaced the elastic on all the diapers and again after another 2 (the second time, I found another mom on a local Facebook group, who was willing to do it for a reasonable price - hooray!).

Oh - and with kiddo number 2, we double-bag. Disposable on the bottom, cloth on top, with healing wool to protect for a rash. No leaks! No blowouts!

I would happily answer any questions about cloth diapering over here - and strongly recommend going cloth! And if you'd like to learn more about cleaning supplies in Germany, check out my other post here.

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