I get asked a lot, "how do you wash your cloth diapers?" Well, after some trial and error I have come up with a pretty good wash routine. There was a week or so when I thought I would never get them clean, the smell of ammonia would choke me. They would smell fine out of the dryer, but as soon as pee hit them they would smell awful! After some research and a great blog I found through a babycenter message board I have come up with a pretty good system. Please check out the blog!! It was so helpful in helping me to understand what I was really doing and why. From the article I learned some myths about cleaning cloth diapers that were bunk! Most companies will tell you not to use bleach. YOU CAN use bleach. Depending on the size of your load you can use 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of bleach once a month or so. Go ahead a run your water and pour recommended amount in your washers bleach dispenser. You want to bleach your CLEAN diapers. I know this sounds strange but it is the way it should be done. Most diaper companies will want you to use a natural detergent and a minuscule amount. After a few months of my Bumgenius detergent and their recommended amount, my diapers smelled to high heaven and the stains would not come out. YOU CAN use Tide, some people opt for the free and clear. I will buy Tide F&C next time but for now I am using the Dreft that I have. If you are going to cloth diaper a diaper sprayer is a must. It attaches to your toilet and you can spray off your poopy diapers right into the toilet. I keep a dry bin with a Planet Wise liner. So here goes my routine!
1. I always spray off poopy diapers and put in a dry bin beside toilet. Peepee diapers go in Planet wise pail liner hanging on my changing table.
2. Every other day I run a load.
3. I run a hot wash and two cold rinses. We have really soft water and it seems like it makes it more difficult to get all the detergent out. So I usually set the washing machine to do 2 additional cold rinses. You want to make sure when you wash them that you set the water fill amount to the appropriate size. If you run it like it is a large load when it is a small load the diapers don't get clean like they are supposed to. When washers agitate the clothes rub together and that helps in the cleaning process. If you have too much water your diapers won't be able to rub together and get clean.
4. Drying process. I line dry my covers and AIO's. I dry my inserts in the dryer on a medium setting. Some companies suggest drying the covers in the dryer on medium heat occasionally to help tighten the fabric.
5. If I ever have stains that wont come out I lay everything to dry in the sun. The sun will help with stains and odor. The key is to lay them in the sun when they are wet.
6. Once a month I bleach my diapers. To bleach them I do steps 3 & 4 first. Once my diapers are clean I take all of them out. I start the wash cycle by allowing the washer to start to fill up. I then add 1/2 cup of bleach in my bleach dispenser. Once the washing machine filling cycle is done I add my diapers and let them wash like normal (just like step 4). This is when I would lay them in the sun if there were still any stains that wouldn't come out.
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