How To Make a Diaper Out of a Towel (7 Easy Steps)

One big challenge of parenting is the unending bills that pile up. You spend a lot of money to buy everything your baby needs, from the formula to the clothing.

One great way to reduce your expenditures is by improvising on some items. You can use a towel instead of a diaper, serving effectively.

However, there are specific ways on how to make a diaper out of a towel to avoid causing a mess.

How To Make a Diaper Out of a Towel

Using a towel in place of a diaper has been a common practice for many parents, not just because it saves the cost of buying diapers but because it is safe and promotes aeration around the genitals.

Some babies with sensitive skin react to heat from diapers, develop rashes around their genitals and buttocks, and others get inflamed.

While on the other hand, the spaces between the fabric of a towel give room for proper air circulation around the buttocks. Since not all diapers cause heat rashes, other parents use them to save costs.

However, you may alienate modern parents from using towels instead of diapers because of the contemporary style of parenting and how common diapers have become.

Even though the steps are easy, some parents may need proper guidance on how to make a diaper out of a towel. As listed below, the steps are easy and self-explanatory;

Step 1: Buy a Towel

Whatever color of towel you choose is insignificant. However, a white towel is better because it lets you observe the nature of your baby’s poop to know when something is wrong.

Also, while you may think your baby’s buttocks are small and need a small towel, the opposite is true.

A medium-sized towel is what you need because you’ll be folding it into a smaller size to fit into your baby’s pants.

Step 2: Cut large towels into two

Fold the towel into two halves and cut it in the middle to have two towel pieces.

Depending on how large the towel is, you may need to cut it into two. But if the towel is not so large, you can skip this part and go straight to folding.

Step 3: Fold one of the cut pieces into two

Fold one of the cut pieces into two. It’ll become thicker and more absorbent.

If your towel is already very thick and not so large, it may be difficult to wrap it around without breaking loose.

Even though you need the towel to be thick enough to absorb the pee and watery poop, you also need it to be soft enough to completely wrap your baby’s butt.

Step 4: Create a diaper by wrapping the other piece around the baby’s legs

Wrap your second piece of cloth around the baby’s legs to create a diaper. As with the first piece of cloth, secure this with tape or ribbon. Make sure there are no gaps, and the material is thick enough to absorb any pee or poop.

Step 5: Trim your diaper so that it fits snugly

Cut out excess fabric at the bottom of your diaper if it is too big to fit snugly around the baby’s waist and legs.

If you are using your towel as a real diaper, you should leave an additional inch on each side so you can tie it together; otherwise, the baby will have trouble wearing it.

Step 6: Use a ribbon or other material to tie the two pieces of cloth together

The two pieces of cloth can now be tied together using ribbon, tape, or another material. This will prevent the diaper from falling off when the baby moves around and prevent pee or poop leaks.

Step 7: Put your child’s diaper on and change it when needed

Put the diaper on your child and change them when needed. Use a diaper cover to cover up your homemade diaper, preventing it from leaking.

How To Maintain a Towel Diaper

Unlike normal diapers that are one-time use, towel diapers are reusable; they can be washed, stored, and used repeatedly.

This is one reason why using it saves cost for a single towel. You can use it as many times as possible.

But the maintenance makes it difficult for many parents to practice because instead of thrashing a full towel just as you thrash a diaper, you’ll have to wash out the poop, dry, and iron it before using.

As stressful as maintaining a towel diaper is, it is practicable and safe and remains and remains the best option for babies who react to normal diapers.

Here are a few ways of maintaining a towel diapers

Step 1: Rinse any poop particles in the towel and soak them in water. Before soaking, wash it with mild detergent if it has poop or urine stains.

Step 2: Sprinkle cornstarch and sundry to make it more absorbent. Since you soaked it for some time, it may feel too soft and porous and not hold urine.

The cornstarch will shrink the spaces created by washing and make it more absorbent.

Step 3: Use a diaper cover

Diaper covers are soft plastic/leather fabrics that prevent urine or other liquid from passing through.

They can be inconvenient for some babies, but they prevent the diaper from getting stained quickly.

How To Dry Cloth Diapers

To protect your dryer, lay your diaper on an old towel.
Turn the dryer onto a low heat setting and let it run low for about 5 minutes.
Let it run for another 5 minutes at medium heat. If you want them fluffy, turn up the heat and let them go for another 5 minutes, but don’t let them burn! This step is optional but recommended for added softness. It will fluff them up and eliminate any wrinkles or lumps that may have formed during washing or drying.
Lay your diapers flat on a towel, fold them over your diapers, and then place something heavy on top – like a book or stack of books – to help them stay flat and retain their shape.

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Towel Diapers: Pros & Cons

Pros of Using Towel Diapers

There are numerous advantages of using a towel instead of a diaper, and especially if you’re an environmentally conscious person, you can relate to some of these benefits.

For one, it reduces environmental pollution from the point of production down to disposal. It may be as though a single parent not using a diaper doesn’t change anything, but considering the number of diapers you could use, there’s a huge difference when you decide not to.
Reusing a towel several times is cheaper than constantly buying new packs of diapers. With the number of things to buy, improvising on diapers will go a long way to save money for you because, apart from food, many parents spend money on diapers.
It is safer for many babies allergic to the materials used in making a diaper.

Cons of Using Towel Diapers

It is stressful to maintain
Trying to cut new towels and wrap them around your baby’s buttocks can be time-consuming as opposed to the easy ways of fixing diapers.
If not properly dried, a wet towel can give off a very offensive odor and may be potentially more harmful than a regular diaper.
It is time-consuming to make and maintain and is not ideal for all weather conditions.

Conclusion

Many parents have found towel diapers as a hack to some of the issues of buying new diapers continuously.

Instead of spending much money to buy a diaper to which the baby may react, they make and maintain towel diapers.

This way, they’ve managed to save money and are sure of the material they use on their babies. If your baby has had trouble adjusting to diapers, towel diapers are good recommendations.