Washing Cloth Diapers

Washing Diapers...
This is maybe the most confusing and complicated part about using cloth diapers, but it certainly doesn’t need to be. Let me help take the confusion out of cloth diaper wash.

I’ll need to preface: every child is different and every diaper is different. This is the system that worked best for us and I have heard of others also having success with this method.

1.When diaper is soiled place it in a wet bag.

2.When the wet bag is full, you are close to out of diapers or the bag is getting stinky (we did laundry every other day) it’s time to wash.

3.Empty the wet bag into the washing machine by turning it inside out. This allows you to get everything out of the bag without touching anything. Place the wet bag in the wash with the diapers.

4.Wash with hot water and an extra rinse. Spin on a high setting if possible.

5.Air dry on a rack or tumble dry on low.

When shopping for a detergent you should look for something that does not contain perfumes, fabric softeners, chlorine bleaches, dies or oils. This can be quite a task. Here is a website that has a nice detergent chart: http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

In our house we use Country Save laundry detergent. I highly recommend it. It is a reasonable price, available from Amazon.com and great for all laundry (not just diapers).

I have to say that although some people have had success with Charlie’s Soap, we found that it left our daughter with a nasty rash.

I do not use bleach. I don’t really have a good reason, other than I haven’t needed it. However, BumGenius recommends occasionally using bleach with their diapers. I have heard people complain about their BumGenius diapers getting stinky and the bleach takes care of the smell. We only used BumGenius for a short time because of fit issues so I can’t attest to the stink phenomenon.

A good bleach alternative (and general good thing to have in the home) is Grapefruit Seed Extract. This has natural antibacterial qualities. I add 8-10 drops of this to every diaper load.

Also, I’ve found that sometimes diapers need to be “stripped”. They naturally will acquire a certain amount of buildup and will become stinky. I stripped my diapers about once a week by adding ½ tablespoon of plain blue Dawn dish detergent to the wash.

Some people first do a cold rinse on their diapers. This is not necessary, but will help remove stains before they set in.