How do I wash my cloth diapers?
Caring for Cloth Diapers
Cloth diaper are very easy to care for. Once you get your routine down, there will be nothing to it. Always remember... Start Simple!!!
So what do I do with the soiled diapers?
If the diaper is wet, just remove from baby, separate any inserts from pocket diapers and place in a wet bag or diaper pail (make sure you pail has a tight fitting lid to help hold odors in). If the diaper is soiled, shake solids into the toilet and separate inserts from pocket diapers and place in wet bag. If you aren't going to be washing your diapers for a few days rinsing the soiled diaper and leaving it wet helps to prevent staining, but is not necessary. Just let your washer do the work for you.
Note: If you have an exclusively breastfed baby, then just place the soiled diaper in the wet bag, because the waste from breastfed babies is water soluble and will dissolve in the pre-rinse.
Side Note: Many people find that they love diaper sprayers for cloth diapers because it is easy to rinse the soiled diaper without having to dunk it. Others like to use disposable liners to help prevent staining and make clean-up a breeze. Personally, I don't mind just rinsing the particularly messy messes in the toilet just enough to get most of the solids off. Most of the the time, a little shaking is all that is necessary.
Washing my Cloth Diapers
• Dump the entire contents of your wet bag or diaper pail into your washer and throw it the wet bag or pail liner, if you have one.
• Do a pre-rinse on cold, highest water setting, no detergent
• Wash on hot with 1/4 - 1/2 the recommended amount of detergent, highest water setting
• Do a Final Rinse on cold.
• Tumble dry on regular or medium or hang to dry.
Note about drying: Covers and pocket diaper dry really fast by hanging. It is said that they withstand tumble drying just fine (and I do it most of the time), but many people say that they will last longer if you hang them to dry. In fact the makers of bumGeniues just updated their washing instructions to say that you should hang your pocket covers to dry rather than tumble dry them, as they have found this greatly reduced wear.
It is a personal decision! I do a combination... depends on my mood. You do want to tumble dry your covers and pockets the first time you wash them on hot as it seals any needle holes in the PUL.
Note about detergents: All of the cloth diaper manufacturer recommend that you use an additive free laundry detergent. As all the additives that are in detergent can build up on the fabric making the diapers less absorbent and cause leaking. There are a plethora of detergents that you can choose from, but many of them are not easy to find at your local store. Some of the most recommended brands are Allen's Naturally, Country Save, and Mountain Green. Some of the free and clear laundry detergents are good for short time frames, but long term I have found them to cause issues. Many new diaper detergents are coming out the summer of 2009 and will preobably be the favorite among cloth diaperers, however until that time...
...If your baby doesn't have super sensitive skin... I have had the best success with plain, original tide powder. It does have some additives, but I have been using it for over 8 months with no issues at all. It is the easiest detergent to come by if you can't find one of the more natural choices. You only need to use 1/8 - 1/4 of a cup and you should dissolve it first if possible. Liquid detergents contains even more additives so the powder is always a better choice. In the future, we will be carrying more diaper friendly detergents in our store, but for now these are our recommendations.
Note about stains: With cloth diapers, you are bound to get staining. I mean think about what is going in there. However,if it bothers you to have stained diapers then there is a solution... the sun!!! The sun is the best stain remover out there. If you have some staining on your cloth diaper, just lay the freshly washed cloth diaper in the sun for a few hours and voila, the stain is gone!!! It still amazes me how well the sun bleaches out those stubborn stains.
Other tips and tricks:
- Do not wash hemp or organic cotton material with your pocket diapers while prepping them. The oils from these fabrics can coat the micro fleece or suadecloth in the pocket diapers, which can lead to leaking.
- Wash all cloth diapering priduct before first use:
- Covers, pocket diapers, microfiber inserts only need to be washed 1 time prior to using.
- Cotton products, such as prefolds need to be washed and dried at least 3 times prior to using.
- Organic cotton products need to be washed and dried 3-5 timesprior to first use, but may not reach maximum absorbency until they have been washed about 6-8 times.
- Hemp products need to be washed and dried at least 4-6 times prior to first use, but may not reach maximum absorbency until they have been washed 8-10 times.
- Do Not use faric Softener
- Do Not use bleach
- Do use an additive free laundry detergent.
