SBC- Travelling Alone with a Toddler--- Using Cloth!

I thought I would tie this in with my prompt for the Summer #BlogChallenge, "Favorite Vacation I've taken".

So when I booked my trip to Missouri this month I knew that I wanted to try taking cloth with me. I had never taken cloth on a trip and although I know a week may have been a long first trial, I think I completely rocked it. ;) I want to share some of the things I did that made it easier to have cloth.

PACKING:

Be sure to take diapers that you have experience with. The last thing you want is to take a bunch of diapers you haven't used much and have them give you issues.

Want to know what diapers I decided on??
-Pockets- I'm still perfecting using AI2 style overnight diapers so I wanted to be sure to take something I knew wouldn't leak. I ended up taking a Kawaii, a Baby Babu, a SunBaby a snap BG 3.0, as well as a few that I had made myself.
-AI2- I took two night time and one regular Boogie Bear Creations diapers and some I had made myself.
I also took a few fleece soakers and a BG freetime AIO.
-Inserts- I took about 6-8 microfiber inserts because my little girl is known to hold it and go all at once sometimes so the natural fibers that absorb more, do so at a slower rate and can leak for those "all at once sessions". I also took 5 Hemp Babies inserts that fold in half and about half a dozen of the regular hemp babies inserts.

Other must haves were my Planet Wise hanging wet bag and some more convenient diaper bag sized wet bags that I made.




Check out this really helpful article on traveling with cloth diapers which will help you decide which of your own diapers you should consider taking based upon different aspects of your trip.

I'm not a fan of checked baggage because every time I have ever used that service, my bag has gotten lost. Imagine packing everything you need for a week for yourself and a toddler into one personal bag and one carry on bag. To help make sure that everything would fit, I put everything into plastic zip bags and sat on them to get all the air out. It was a highly technical process, I assure you. ;)
Clothing was first rolled and then placed into the bags which helped fit even more into each bag. I fit all of my diaper outers and fleece covers into three of the bags and the inserts took two bags.

So, a little about my trip. I traveled with my 18 month old to Missouri to see my family. My hubby drove us to the airport and due to multiple alarms not going off, I just barely made my plane. Once we were aboard it was actually pretty smooth sailing from there. We were lucky enough to have an open seat next to us so I was able to give P Grizl her own space. I had put 4 movies onto our laptop (I totally wish we had a tablet) and had also gotten some smaller toys together for her which had gotten left in our car during our super quick drop off at the airport. She watched Monsters, INC and it was the perfect length from when they tell you you can use your electronics to when they announce you're about to land. She sat there so sweetly and happily accepted her banana chips and dried apples. =)

Once we landed, my mom and youngest brother (just turned 9!) picked us up from the airport and we had a 4 hour drive to my grandmother's. While we were there we had a fun pool party, went bowling, and got to just relax and spend time with my family. They're pretty into staying up late and playing cards and that always brings out the best conversations. I even got to go ride go carts with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and his girlfriend after I put my little girl down for bed one night. It was so much fun to not have to worry about being Mommy before being me for a couple of hours and I even came in first on our second race, so take that! We were there a total of three nights and I did all our laundry (including diapers and mama cloth) that we had up to that point so that I would be set for a few more days.

The next day we had a 3 1/2 hour drive to where my parents live and we stayed there a night before heading to St. Louis bright and early the next morning, which was another 2 1/2 hour drive. This is the exciting part.. I got to meet my awesome best friend of 5 years!! It was so cool to see how quickly our little ones became the best of friends. Her little boy was even giving kisses before we left! We took them to the zoo (awesome free activity for kids alert!) and after they were completely worn out we went back to their house to just hang out for the rest of the night. I was treated to an utterly amazing dinner consisting of filet mignon, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and brussell sprouts, as well as a baked potato and delicious sauteed mushrooms and onions. this girl was in culinary heaven!! They were truly awesome hosts and I hope I'll be invited to stay over again. ;)

After staying a night we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to my mother's where I did laundry and stayed the evening. After driving 3 hours to the airport the next day we were on our way back. Not once did we have a blowout or serious leak. I will admit that we had a few leaks with some of our AI2's but that is simply because I didn't have time to make the inserts for the diapers I had made so I had to use others that didn't fit as well. Because the inserts being used were a little too wide it sometimes caused a little wicking around the legs, which was easily taken care of by putting a light fleece cover over the diaper.

On the flight home we didn't get as lucky by having an open seat so she was a little harder to keep happy for the first 15 minutes or so. I just turned on my phone's camera which can also be switched to take photos from the front of the phone so she could see herself. It's amazing what basic items can entertain a small child. We ended up turning on Megamind and 30 minutes in, she was asleep. We did however watch the whole movie because by that time the person next to me and the one across the aisle and back one row had gotten engrossed in it. Hah!

All in all, cloth is an easy system for something like a week long trip, even if you won't have your hubby to help!
--Take what's already working for you.
--Consider if you'll have access to doing laundry.
--Find a creative way to minimize the space your diapers take up.
--Pat yourself on the back for even considering it!!

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