The Cloth Mama Spotlight: Issue #14

A Monthly Newsletter Celebrating All Cloth Diapering Mamas in Singapore

October 2022

Meet The Mama

As an ex-moderator of CDSG Singapore from June 2021 to January 2022, Wei Ting is no stranger to the cloth community! She started her cloth diapering journey with her firstborn, Joy, when she was only 3.5 weeks old. The family recently welcome a second baby, Neil, who is at 4 months old.

The 28-year-old mother of 2 is employed as a public officer in the facilities management and real estate industry. She is currently on a work hiatus until baby Neil turns 14 months.

Joy, now 2, is fully toilet-trained in the day. However, the feisty toddler is resisting night diapers because of an unfortunate association with her little brother’s poo. Wei Ting laughs, “Joy recently starts to avoid yellow because it reminds her of Neil’s poop.”

“The most used night diaper here is the Twinkie Tush Night Night with yellow cotton velour. She would go, ‘Eee, baby pootpoot’ and throw it into the brother’s dirty CD bin. Needless to say, the diaper has been on the shelf since then. I bought her a new hoodie which had the same bright yellow of her current jacket, bright yellow. She brought it over to Neil and said ‘bye bye’. That’s 99% of the reason why she doesn’t want to be in a night diaper now.”

She continues, “Joy is my first baby, so everything appears so new and fresh for us. One of her cutest moments was when she lifted a coconut that was more than half her weight and twice her head size. She walked 5 feet before putting it down. There was also another instance when she took a fidget tube and tied it around her waist, calling it her belt and swayed bum when she walked!”

Passionate about sewing, Wei Ting has also created diapers, dresses and tops for Joy. She says enthusiastically, “I get a great sense of accomplishment when my inspiration turns into reality. My mum and my hubby’s aunt do help me out sometimes!” She would also work on an adult top or dress for herself to make them into matchy outfits with the kids.

On her husband, CT, Wei Ting said that they met at a drama camp back in secondary school. She recalls, “We were friends since 13 years old. We practically grew up together!” The couple dated for 10 years before tying the knots in 2019.

The Cloth Diapering Journey

Wei Ting first came across “Jay’s Nest”, a popular influencer mum who advocates on cloth diapering on YouTube. She ventures, “I was intrigued by the cost savings! Initially, I was only into Cloth Diapering for the money-saving aspect. I found it really fun to challenge myself to make it work with the cheapest alternative.”

Wei Ting has since gone on to cloth-diaper Baby Neil full-time when he was merely 11 days old. Though the caregivers are generally supportive, the road has not always been that smooth-sailing. Her husband helps out sometimes. Though he is comfortable with fitteds and pockets, CT is not interested to work with flats. Wei Ting’s mother is still getting the hang of flat diapering. She would forget sometimes to tuck in the excess fabric into the cover which thankfully does not result in leaks as Neil is changed very frequently.

Challenges of Cloth Diapering

Wei Ting revealed that her greatest challenge came from her in-laws who have not been that supportive. She shrugs, “Instead of stopping me entirely, they fished online for negative articles on various things related to cloth diapering such as using too much detergent, the smell of powder detergent being carcinogenic.” She continues, “The latest stunt they pulled was to say that cloth diapering is for the rich because they do not need to work, they can wash diapers everyday. My hubby and I just laughed it off because the in-laws have no idea how much money we have already saved from using Cloth Diapers.”

In addition, her parents-in-law also thinks that cloth diapers require insane amount of detergent and water in order to be clean. On this, Wei Ting notes down the amount of detergent needed for washing cloth diapers for both prewash and main wash versus the detergent amount recommended by the manufacturer. She explains, “In fact we are using less than recommended dosage due to the washing machine, but they don’t have to know this! Eventually, they stopped using detergent amount as an excuse to stop us from cloth diapering.”

Favourite Diaper Systems & Brands

Wei Ting is a big fan of stretchy flats and covers. She gushes, “I’m obsessed over them! They are so gentle on baby’s skin and provide a really good seal on the legs (with the goody key method and stuffing under covers). I like that no snappi is required too because it won’t leave holes in the flat, resulting in less wear and tear of the fabric. Also, stretchy flats can be dyed in the colours of the rainbow! Colours are always welcomed in our house!”

So, what are some of her favourite brands?

“I like Twinkie Tush as a night diaper, Tiny Warriors Co. for their contours and clothes and Two Busy Bums for their colourful hand-dyed stretchy flats. I actually do own too much for 2 kids on cloth diapers all time, and I only have 1 baby in cloth diaper now.”

Cloth Diapering in Childcare Centre

Getting the childcare to accept cloth for Joy was somewhat interesting. Wei Ting mentioned that Joy was a very clingy child and had difficulties transiting to a school routine at 18 month-old. She reasons, “We wanted something that she is familiar with to make the transition smoother. Since cloth diapering is something familiar to Joy in school, the school obliged. We were using velcro pockets stuffed with 2 Geffen Super Absorber Plus.”

However, the school relocated temporarily and logistically, it was not feasible to pack too much for school bus trips to and fro. Therefore, Joy had to be in disposables for the entire day. Wei Ting says, “Once she reached home, she would go over to her diaper rack and pick out a cloth diaper for me to change her into.”

Advice to Newbies

Wei Ting has a few friends who tried Cloth Diaper with no prior knowledge of washing and handling of cloth diapers. They complained of stink and issues with drying.

She advises, “Do some reading on the washing and set up a washing routine that works for the family. I believe that cloth diapering is better than disposables for the baby’s bum and the environment. However, you cannot take short cuts (in the washing routine).”