Rain, cold and humidity are the worst nightmare for those who use reusable cloth diapers. 

This force yourself to hang out your clothes inside the house and makes diapers take a long time to dry. If they ever dry out.

A fitted diaper can take 7 days to dry during winter.

If you've never used diapers in winter, start by relaxing because you're not alone. 

In this post I added my tips and all the tips that moms shared with me. 

I'll start with the traditional tips:

• Have enough diapers to dry and wash. Oh yes, that's the main trick. Have at least 36 diapers so that your stock has a long life and of course, to give them enough time to dry. 
• Have space to dry diapers. If you have a balcony protected from the rain or a place with air circulation, the situation is solved.
• have a dehumidifier. Calm down, don't rush out and buy a dehumidifier. But if you have one, place it near your clothesline, it will speed up the drying time.
• Have dryer machine. It's not necessary, but if you have it, it can come in handy to dry pads and diapers when it's very cold and rainy. Be careful to tumble dry at low temperature and watch out for bamboo diapers. High temperatures make them shrink. 

Do you want to know if I survived and how to eat the winter in cloth diapers?

Yes, I used reusable diapers in the winter. There was no dryer. And as you know, Aveiro is a humid place It doesn't help with drying clothes. 

My trick is to leave the drying rack in a room with a dehumidifier and heating on. 

Tips for drying reusable diapers during the winter

In an email I asked the mothers what they did to dry their diapers during the winter. What surprised me most was the creativity in some ideas. After all, I'm not the only one to invent in this world of reusable diapers 🙂

Dry diapers in the living room, in front of the fireplace, in the sunroom, in the garage. The important thing is that it is a space in the house with heating, with sun, with air circulation or where you put the dehumidifier.

Dicas gives: Mafalda, Catarina, Dúnia

Hang diapers with space. I don't know about you, but I already do this with clothes and I only remembered the importance of detail with Catarina's email. If the diapers (or clothes) are too close together, there is less air circulation and they take longer to dry.

Tips from: Catherine

have enough diapers. With enough diapers you have time for them to dry without stress, the magic number is to have a minimum of 36 diapers.

Tip from: Mafalda, Micaela, Filipa

Have multiple diaper systems. As a rule, all-in-one diapers take longer to dry. Micaela shared that she also has two-piece systems with separate pads, as is the case with Buttons Diapers, and thus manages to use the diapers that dry faster while the all-in-one ones dry.

Double the number of absorbents. Carina does this in such a simple way that it's worth sharing. Basically you have to have twice as many pads for each diaper. It works because pocket diapers dry quickly and as pads take longer to dry, having twice as many pads always has half of the pads ready to use while the other part dries.  

Say from Carina, Ana, Lulu

Increase washing machine speeds to 800-1000rpm. The greater the rotation when centrifuging, the less water remains in the diapers. As they say in English “take this with a grain of salt”, this tip works but as Dúnia told me: the greater the rotation, the greater the wear on the elastics.

Dica da Dunia

tumble dry self service. There are mothers who can easily go to the self-service and the trick they give is: use an XL dryer and put all the clothes in and dry for 15-20 minutes. Diapers are not completely dry, but they are low in moisture. Back home, all you have to do is hang them up, as they are almost dry, the (little) sun and the house will do the rest.

Tip from Inês, Carina, Emanuela

use an electric drying rack. Fits close to 25 diapers, has low electricity consumption and is suitable for diapers and clothes too

Tip from Sofia, Filipa

Have a tumble dryer. Yes it is not new but it is to see that there is more to use 🙂

Tip from Filipa, Mafalda, Paula, Emanuela, Ana

Tens any more tips? Leave me in the comments. If you know someone who needs this information send them this link. Using reusable nappies is simple if you have the right information.