At-home diaper washing is easy! We prefer to use a dry pail method. These are the steps we take in cleaning our soiled cloth diapers: 1. Shake "poop" into toilet. Newborn stools will be too loose to shake clean, and breastmilk poo is entirely water soluble, so your washer will take care of it. Older children eating solids will need to have their poo dumped into the toilet. We love our Diaper Sprayer for that. Rinse or swish off any solids and then let the washer take care of any residue. Simply set your washing machine cycle for an extra initial cold rinse or cold pre-soak to release the poo. Our machine has a pre-wash cycle that I love for this reason. If you do not have a pre-wash cycle on your washer, then consider running your diapers through an initial cold short cycle followed by a heavy hot cycle. My favorite trick for cleaning soiled diapers is to use disposable diaper liners. The liners "hold" the solids to prevent soiling of the diaper and since they are oxygen bleached and 100% Biodegradable, they can be flushed or thrown away without harming the environment.
2. Collect soiled or wet diapers in a lined plastic pail. You can purchase a special made diaper pail, but we have found your basic plastic 52 quart kitchen garbage can and lid works just as well, is more affordable, and is available at your local department store. The reusable waterproof diaper pail liners we sell are great and can be thrown in the washer right along with your diapers. 3. You can optionally add a sprinkle of baking soda or some Pail Powder to your diapers and pail to help neutralize odors. Once mixed with water in your washer, the baking soda will help to lift stains.
3. For optimum cleanliness, limit the size of your load to no more than 36 diapers. As a general rule, the fewer diapers per load, the cleaner they will be.
4. After the initial COLD rinse or soak, use HOT wash and COLD rinse with high water level. Use a mild detergent, such as Allen's Naturally, with no phosphates, and minimal additives. Add only 1/2 the recommended amount of detergent. Avoid all soaps and all "Free & Clear" and/or popular baby detergents. These detergents will leave a residue on your diapers that will affect the absorbency and may cause 'stinky' diapers and/or diaper rash. Country Save is safe detergent that you can probably find at your local health food store. Contact us for more detergent recommendations. It doesn't have to be expensive--in fact, the best diaper detergents are usually the cheapest! Just remember not to pay attention to the advertising claims on the front of the package, but to look at the ingredients. You want no scents, optical brighteners, whiteners, or enzymes.
5. Hang to dry, or dry in dryer on low heat. Add a dry towel to the dryer to speed the drying process. Occasionally you may wish to dry in dryer on high heat to help with sterilization. Drying in direct sunlight is also an excellent method; it helps to preserve the textiles of your diapers and is great at getting rid of stains. Hang drying will leave your diapers somewhat stiff so to soften sun-dried diapers, you may choose to use the dryer for the last 15 minutes.
6. Some parents like to add 1/2 cup vinegar to the final rinse to reduce residue of detergent or hard water. Do not use vinegar when washing cloth diapers made from synthetic textiles...this includes most all diaper covers and some brands of cloth diapers. Synthetic fibers tend to hang on to the vinegar smell. 7. Even if you follows all the rules above, you still might end up with occasional stinky diapers and less absorbent diapers due to mineral or detergent residue, cream or lotion residue, or a host of other reasons . The first thing you can try is simply to wash clean diapers on HOT (turn your water heater up for this and get it as hot as possible) and rinse on HOT, both with no detergents or additives. The diapers may simply need a good rinse. Or if you believe you might have mineral buildup from hard water try replacing your regular detergent with 1/4 cup Calgon water softener (found at your local grocers). Use Calgon as often as needed, but not at every wash. This process is often referred to as diaper stripping. We have a lot of other information on stripping, but stink problems often have to be solved on a case-by-case basis. Contact us with questions, and we'll help you try to solve any problems. 8. Finally, if your diapers are in need of a thorough deep cleaning, you can use a bit of Oxyclean in place of your regular detergent. Also only do this only when needed. |
