The Cloth Mama Spotlight: Issue #16

A Monthly Newsletter Celebrating All Cloth Diapering Mamas in Singapore

Holiday Edition: December 2022

Meet The Mama

A permanent resident, Swea Ling, has studied and lived here in Singapore for the last 22 years. Growing up in Malaysia, she can easily converse in a total of 3 languages and 2 dialects; English, Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese!

The 41-year-old cloth mama used to be a researcher for 8 years in biological science after completing her PHD at NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS).

The role was extremely demanding and mentally exhausting. She lamented, “It was just too stressful and I had no life.” Swea Ling is now a work-at-home mother with a network marketing business with Amway. She smiles, “I’m happy where I am now.”

Swea Ling started cloth diapering in 2016 with her first baby boy, Haw Khai. The boy is now 6 years old and already out of diapers. She has a younger daughter, 2-year-old Yun En, who is still currently in cloth.

On her children, Swea Ling recalled that her elder son was painfully shy when he was young. She says, “Haw Khai took a long time to warm up to strangers or a new place. Thankfully, it was a passing phase and he could now mingle with strangers easily. He loves music and dancing. Those precious moments were when he did those funny dances and called himself a dancer. He doesn’t like to see Daddy and Mummy get angry though!”

“Yun En, on the other hand, loves to make friends with strangers since young. She has no problem adapting to her new life at the childcare when she was 19 months old. She loves to say ‘please’ with both palms together whenever she wants something, or fold her arms and pout when she doesn’t get what she wants. She enjoys playing water and dislikes her brother making fun of her.”

Swea Ling met her husband, Phey Hong, when they were studying at Nanyang Technological University. She laughs, “We met at the Tzu Chi volunteering group. He was from a different faculty (Engineering). I guess we hit it off because we were both from Penang!”

The Cloth Diapering Journey

Swea Ling’s main reason for cloth diapering is for environmental reasons. She said, “I saw one mummy selling her preloved bundle of newborn diapers on Facebook Marketplace so I thought to give it a try.” The family has been very supportive. Her mother helps with the washing of diapers when she was helping to take care of her grandson. Swea Ling smiles, “I’m happy to have a helper who is willing to do the laundry. I usually help with the folding as it’s simply too complicated for her to differentiate all the systems that I adopt.”

When she gets questions why she bothers with cloth diapers, she responds, “I tell them it’s good for the baby skin and can save lots of money! If they love cloth, I guarantee they will be sucked into it!”

Challenges of Cloth Diapering

Swea Ling thinks that the newborn phase can be particularly challenging for a cloth diapering family, especially for first-time parents. Recounting her own experiences, she explained, “You would need to change a newborn frequently and I felt that the laundry turnaround was not able to keep up with those diaper changes.”

There was also unforgettable moment that she recalled. “My baby had a poo-nami when we were out. The poo was on my shirt and I remembered having to pause for a moment while trying to figure out my next step!”

Getting the childcare centre to accept cloth was another uphill task but Swea Ling managed to convince the Principal to have Yun En in pull-ups. She shares, “I told the Principal that the other childcare centres allow the toddlers to use cloth diapers. It works similarly like disposables and the teachers would just need to stuff the used diaper into a diaper bag provided.” This is definitely a major win!

Favourite Diaper Systems & Brands

Swea Ling has tried all systems except for flats. She uses different system depending on the occasion. She explains, “I prefer fitteds when we are at home as the cloth diapers feels more airy and comfortable to wear. When we are outside, I prefer to use waterproof diaper covers, be it AIO, Ai2 or pockets.”

So what are her go-to cloth diaper brands?

“Cloth Bums- I like their pull-ups as they are reasonably priced and fit nicely. I also like Sew Sweet Creations for their generous sizing that allows fitting of different sizes. Their prints are also gorgeous. For fitteds, Mary Cloth could customize your designs and prints. The absorbency is fantastic and their diapers are definitely value-for-money for their impeccable workmanship!”

She has a large collection of 100 cloth diapers, to ensure a good rotation of diapers without having to worry about the laundry turnaround time.

Advice to Newbies

Swea Ling notices that most families are usually time poor, and may find laundry time consuming. A good wash routine is essential to a start of a cloth diapering journey and some may even doubt if the cloth diapers are truly clean after washing. In fact, she thinks that a good washing machine and a dryer are the best investment ever because handwashing simply doesn’t work. She adds, “If you have a helper who supports cloth diapering, that’s even better!”

She is optimistic on the future of cloth diapering. She believes that more families would have a few pieces of cloth diapers in their households, if not, at least a few swim diapers. Remember, every effort counts. One can always use a cloth diaper at a time.