How to Diaper when Camping or Backpacking

I’ve diapered two children on outdoor adventures, including primitive camping and backpacking trips where there weren’t any trash facilities or running water available. Yes, it does take some extra planning and you’ll need to pack some “just in case” items for the inevitable blowouts or leaks. However, it is completely doable and mandatory if you want to get outdoors with your baby or toddlers.

Here, I’ll go over everything you need to about diapers while camping or backpacking. The table of contents is below. Click to jump to that section.

Jump to:

• Outdoor Diapering Kit List
• How Many Diapers?
• Tips
• Diaper Options
  1. Disposables
  2. Cloth Diapers (and how to wash)
  3. Cloth with Disposable Inserts
• Bears and Diapers

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Quick answer:

• Short camping trips: Disposables or cloth diapers are fine for any type of short camping trip, just bring enough to last your entire trip. Bring wet bags for dirty cloth diapers, and consider a plastic bin with lid for disposables if the campground doesn’t have trash facilities.
• Longer car camping trips: Disposables are easier than cloth diapers. However, if there is a Laundromat nearby, cloth diapers are okay, too.
• Short backpacking trips: Disposables are the best choice. Just pack out the dirty diapers. You can air dry pee diapers to make them lighter.
• Long backpacking trips: Use compostable diapers and burn dirty ones every few days so you don’t have to carry so many. Alternatively, use cloth diapers with compostable inserts. You’ll need two dry bags plus a Scrubba bag or folding bucket for washing. Flats with unlined covers are easiest to wash and dry fastest.

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Diapering Kit for Outdoors

Regardless of whether you are camping or backpacking with your baby, your diaper kit will need these items:

• Diapers: Bring 6 to 12 diapers per day. You can use disposables, cloth diapers, or cloth diapers with disposable inserts. I’ll go over each option below.
• Changing mat: I recommend you use a mat that has one waterproof side. This prevents wet, mud from seeping through and getting your baby wet. If it is cold, you’ll need a foam pad. Some people use their soft-structured carriers or backpacks as a changing mat. I do NOT recommend this as baby poo somehow has a way of getting everywhere. Good luck cleaning those buckles and straps!
• Wipes: Consider compostable wipes if you want to dispose of them in a pit latrine or by burning them. You cannot bury compostable wipes!
• Trash baggie for packing out wipes: A zip baggie works well for this. You can line it with a tinfoil pouch if you don’t want to see the poopy contents.
• Barrier cream: I suggest applying barrier cream to your child’s bottom after EVERY CHANGE. It prevents rashes (important when outdoors with your baby in hot temperatures and using a carrier). Cream also makes it much easier to wipe off poo, so you’ll use fewer wipes.
• Soap and hand sanitizer: Hopefully don’t need to explain. J
• Rope and clothespins: Even if you won’t be washing diapers, bring this! Your baby may have a leak and you’ll need to make a laundry line for drying the clothes or sleeping bag.
• Trash bags and zip baggies: Bring extra. You may need these to hold dirty clothing after a blowout.

You May Want:

• Scrubba or folding bucket: These are necessary for washing cloth diapers outdoors. Even if using disposables, these are useful since you can wash any items soiled by blowouts.
• Plastic bin with tight-fitting lid: Good for disposables if camping somewhere without trash facilities or if the trash cans are far away.
• Wet bags for cloth diapers: Ideally bring one bag for pee diapers and another bag for poo diapers. Zip baggies work well. Approximately 3 cloth flats will fit in one quart-sized/liter-sized zip baggie.

 

How Many Diapers to Bring?

When using disposables, you’ll need 6 to 12 diapers per day.  Disposables don’t weigh much, so always bring lots of extras.

It’s harder to calculate how many cloth diapers to bring because you need to factor in how often you will do laundry and how long it will take the diapers to dry. If washing diapers every evening and the weather is warm enough for them to dry overnight, you may only need 8 cloth diapers and a few covers.  However, if it rains and the diapers can’t dry overnight, you’ll need at least 16 diapers.

Tip: If using cloth diapers, bring a few disposables as backups to have in case of rain.

 

Other Useful Diaper Tips for Camping and Backpacking

• Choose a baby sleeping bag with a two-way zipper. This allows you to do changes without taking your baby out of the sleeping bag. See these best baby sleeping bags for camping.
• Get a lamp with a red light setting: It allows you to do diaper changes in the dark without blinding your child, making it easier to get them back to sleep.
• Test the diapers beforehand: If using a new type of diaper for the trip, test them first! You don’t want to discover they don’t fit or your child is allergic to them while on the trip.

Also read: How to Go Camping with a Baby

 

The Three Diapering Options for Camping and Backpacking

1. Disposable Diapers

Using disposable diapers is the easiest option for both camping and backpacking, especially if there are trash facilities at the campsite. If camping somewhere without trash, you will need to pack out the diapers. If using compostable diapers, it is okay to burn them. Some things to know.

• Consider compostable diapers. You can burn them instead of packing them out. There aren’t too many options, though. Dyper and  Eco by Naty are the only ones I know about.
• Never bury diapers. Even the compostable diapers. Animals can dig them up!
• Don’t put diapers in pit latrines. Check before putting compostable diapers in the pit latrines. It’s usually not allowed.
• If packing out diapers:
  • Scrape off poop and bury it in a cathole. It is lighter and stinks less than packing out a completely poopy diaper.
  • Lay out diapers to let them air dry. This reduces weight so they are lighter to carry out.

 

2. Cloth Diapers

I exclusively used cloth diapers for my older child. Honestly, they can be a major pain to deal with on camping and backpacking trips. You are probably better off with disposables or compostable disposables.

Cloth diapers only make sense when:

• You are adamant about never using disposables
• Camping trips for up to 3 days and will not be washing
• Car camping trips 3+ days when you will be washing
• Backpacking trips 3+ days in hot, dry weather and you will be washing

On shorter backpacking trips where you aren’t going to wash, cloth diapers don’t make much sense. They are bulky and very heavy when wet. You are better off using disposables. Likewise, cloth diapers don’t make sense when backpacking in wet or cold weather because the diapers will never dry.

 

What type of cloth diapers to use camping and backpacking?

On short trips where you won’t be washing the diapers, just use whatever you use at home. However, if washing, flat diapers with an unlined-waterproof cover are best.  

Flat diapers can be opened up, so they dry fastest. Prefolds are also okay in terms of drying time, but not as good as flats. Unlined covers can just be wiped out and dry instantly.   My kids used cheap flats plus Thirsties Duo Wrap covers. The Thirsties have nice leg gussets so don’t leak, and also happen to be one of those cheapest diaper covers.

Avoid fitted diapers because take ages to dry. Lined covers have to be washed if they get dirty and also take a long time to dry. If you use these, you’ll have to bring LOTS more diapers and covers.

Cold Weather Tip: Put a stay-dry fleece liner on top of the flat diaper. It helps keep your baby dry so they feel warmer.

 

How to Wash Cloth Diapers Camping

I suggest bringing a cheap garbage bin with a good lid. Put poopy diapers in here. Keep pee diapers in a wet bag or separate bin.

When it is time to wash the diapers, rinse the poopy diapers a few times, dumping the poo water into the campground toilet.  If primitive camping, you’ll need to dump poo water in a hole at least 200 feet from any water sources.

Then you can wash the diapers in the campground’s laundromat, or even a DIY portable washing machine made from a bucket and “laundry plunger.”

 

How to Wash Cloth Diapers Backpacking

Pee diapers can easily be washed by dunking them into a water source a few times and wringing them out. However, washing poo diapers in the backcountry is a lot of work, and definitely gross.  I highly recommend getting a Scrubba to make your life easier. There are also cheaper alternatives on Amazon, and lightweight collapsible basins that will are great for washing diapers.

Washing Inner Diapers:

1. Always scrape off as much poo as possible. Use a rock or a stick to get it off during the change. The poo gets buried in a cathole.
2. Wear gloves. Seriously. You will end up touching poo water. You don’t want to get diarrhea while backpacking with your baby!
3. Put the poo diapers in the basin or Scrubba.
4. Add water. It doesn’t have to be filtered or particularly clean. Agitate the water with your gloved hands. Dump the water.
5. Add more water and a drop or two of biodegradable soap (not more!). This water doesn’t have to be sterile but ideally isn’t mucky. Agitate very well. Dump the water.
6. Add yet more water, ideally clear water, and agitate again.
7. Carefully remove gloves.
8. Hang gloves and diapers to dry.

Washing Covers:

Unlined covers can just be wiped down if they get poo on them. If there is a full blowout and wipes won’t cut it, you can use a Ziploc bag for rinsing covers.  First wipe out as much as you can. Then put the cover in a quart-sized bag with some water. Swish it around in the bag and dump. Repeat if necessary.

Important: Poo water must be dumped in a hole at least 6 inches deep and 200 feet from any water sources!

 

Drying Diapers in the Backcountry

Drying cloth diapers when backpacking can be harder than you might realize.  Not only will rain completely screw up your laundry plans, but nighttime dew can cause almost-dry diapers to get more wet!  One backpacker even put his baby’s almost-dry diapers in his sleeping bag at night to dry because of this.

You will absolutely want to have a clothesline and clothespins (though, as you can see from the picture below, it’s possible to improvise). If you are backpacking in wet climates, I suggest you reconsider whether cloth diapers are the best solution.

 

3. Cloth Diapers + Disposable Inserts

This hybrid solution is great on longer camping or backpacking trips where you have to wash cloth diapers but don’t have access to a laundry machine.  The insert catches most poo, so you don’t have to scrape poo off of the diapers nor worry about cleaning nasty diapers by hand.

You simply line the inner diaper with a disposable insert.  When doing a change, you throw the insert away or put it in a baggie for later disposal.   Yes, disposable inserts aren’t great for the environment, but they are better than disposable diapers. The only real downside is that some inserts are pricier than disposable diapers.

Use Compostable Inserts when Backpacking or Primitive Camping

You cannot bury compostable diaper inserts.  However, it is completely okay to burn them (so long as their isn’t a burn ban in place).  Just keep the inserts in a sealable baggie until you can make a fire. Bumpkins makes some cheap ones, but I recommend using two as they are pretty thin.

 

Bears and Diapers

Yes, dirty diapers can attract bears while camping and backpacking.  Likewise, scented diapers can attract animals.  Thus, you must treat dirty or scented diapers as any other “smellable” and put it in a bear-proof container, or hang it in a bear bag.  Note that some parks don’t allow bear bags. In this case, you’ll need a separate bear container just for dirty diapers, since you obviously don’t want them with your food.

Also make sure you avoid using any scented wipes and barrier creams. This applies regardless of whether you are in bear country or not, since smells will attract insects to your baby. You don’t want that, do you?

Also read: Bear Safety in the Great Outdoors

 

Elimination Communication Instead of Diapers

On one blog, one mom recommended using “elimination communication” while backpacking. Apparently, she learned her baby’s poo cues, and would remove the diaper so the baby could poo over a hole.

Seriously?

I’m also not sure how you are supposed to notice if your baby is about to poo if they are in a backpack carrier, and likely reacting differently to the new surroundings anyway. And, if you do, are you supposed to quickly dig a hole and hold them over it until they finish?

If you are able to do that with your baby, good for you. However, it seems like another unrealistic standard to expect from parents.

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Image credits:

Backpacking with cloth diapers” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by grggrssmr,
“Rowan and I” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by grggrssmr
“IMG_1039” (CC BY 2.0) by jmayer1129

Resources

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/gumo_human_waste_wilderness.htm,
https://www.nps.gov/articles/lnt.htm,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722024329,
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ask-mr-green/there-biodegradable-disposable-diaper,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346641495_Disposable_Diapers_Impact_of_Disposal_Methods_on_Public_Health_and_the_Environment,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001457