Diapers Q&A

Cloth diapers- how many times do you run them through the wash?

Do you wash them seperately from other clothes? Do you just do one wash with an extra rinse or two wash cycles? Do you do a regular wash, heavy, or extra heavy? What kind of, if any, detergent do you use?

Public Comments

1. I NO USE. I WOULD WASH THEM ALONE. IT SEEMS DIRTY
2. wash separately from the other clothes, you can add 1 cup of bleach, use dreft or other baby detergent also. do an extra rinse cycle, and always use the biggest load capacity, put it on large or super wash load size, even if it's not too big a load. wash on heavy cycle, as you need them to get as clean as possible.
3. I quote pomograne [the kitten] she or he is right on but with hot water for sure and before you wash them, rinse them out in the toilet before you put them in the diaper pail.
4. I wash them seperate from other clothes. Rinse any solids from the diaper with either a sprayer, or do the dunk and swish in the toilet first. I do a cold rinse cycle first to remove any poo and rinse out the urine, then a hot wash with two tablespoons of detergent and a cold rinse. DO NOT use fabric softener as it will cause your dipes to repel. Don't use Dreft as was recommended by another poster. To see which detergents are best for cloth dipes visit http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm
5. my cloth diapers go in a separate wash. I do a cold rinse and a hot wash. I use Tide (the fragrance and dye free kind) and use vinegar as a fabric softener every few washes. I do my wash every 2 days. When I can, I line dry them. Unless there's detergent build up or something, one wash is sufficient.
6. Always use the large load setting so there is plenty of water and room for the dipes to move around and get really clean. First I run one cycle with just cold water to rinse them. Then I do a hot wash/cold rinse with a small amount of detergent. (Using too much can make it hard to rinse and then the dipes would repel pee!) You can add baking soda to the wash cycle and vinegar to the rinse cycle. I only do this about once a week and don't have any problems with odor, though some people do this every time they wash. Oh, and wash them separate from clothes. :-) Here's a site with a nice tutorial for cloth diapers. Everyone has their own washing style that works for them and their baby This site will give you some general guidelines. http://www.diaperpin.com And a couple more sites: http://www.diaperswappers.com http://www.diapertraders.com
7. Wash separately, definitely! I ran a cold rinse with a tiny bit of detergent (any of the Free and Clear brands, about one fourth of the regular dose) and some baking soda (maybe a third of a cup). I then ran a hot wash cycle, with white vinegar in the fabric dispenser cup. If you have been using your fabric dispenser cup for fabric softener, either use a Downy ball for the vinegar or just pour a little in during the rinse. After that, if I felt like I needed another rinse or another hot cycle, I ran it. I noticed that after staying at my mom's house and washing diapers there, I needed extra hot cycles to strip away the dryer sheet residue from the inside of her dryer. I sometimes add essential oil for fragrance and disinfecting. That's my routine. Figure out a routine that makes sense to you, then tweak as needed. I've lived in many places while CD-ing, and I change the washing routine every time I move based on water chemistry, what my baby is eating and the time of year. If I can hang the diapers out to dry in the sun, then odor and stains are not a big problem. They say you should never use soap on your diapers. Most natural laundry detergents are actually soaps, so proceed with caution if you are using a natural detergent. I have used Dr Bronner's soap on my diapers when I was washing with very hard water, and it worked really well. It's wacky how much your water affects diapers! No one uses bleach anymore. If we wanted bleach on our babies' butts, we would use Huggies.
8. I wash separately from all other items. Diapers are washed twice a week. I do a quick cold rinse cycle first to rinse out any solids and urine. Next run a regular hot wash cycle with 1/4 scoop of Country Save powder detergent. And then I run another quick cold rinse cycle to be sure all detergent is rinsed clear from the diapers. I do not use any additives in my wash, like vinegar or sportswash etc. The less you put in with the diapers the better. This site is excellent to help decide on the best detergents for you to use: http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm
9. i wash about 20 diapers at a time...remove the inserts of course...and wash separately to all the other clothes though i do wash my cloth wipes with my diapers... first a cold rinse that i sometimes add some baking soda and vinegar to prevent smells and help kick start the cleaning process, then a cold wash with a squirt of Dawn (just regular blue concentrate) and a sprinkle of OxyClean then usualy just one rinse but sometimes two just to be sure (probably every fourth time I wash diapers)... i just throw it all in the dryer on low...i never have stains cause i spray out the poopy ones right away... it really depends on what kind of diapers you use...are they all in ones, prefolds, fitteds with covers? washing with Dawn will mean that you have have build up in your diapers and it removes the stains really well. i know, some sites say not to do it but i have been cloth diapering for five months now with no problems at all and a few friends have been following the same routine for almost two years with no problems either...
10. I use a natural detergent such as Allen's or 7th Generation. These are very clean rinsing and effective. I set my washer to the largest load it can do (as another poster said this way you get the most water which helps them rinse and clean up well). I do a cold rinse then a warm wash with 1/4 of the recommended amount of detergent. This is plenty! Then I do another cold rinse. About once a month or so I "strip" the diapers. You can get directions for this on www.diaperpin.com or at www.diaperswappers.com. These are both great resources. Oh if you want to line dry them add some vinegar to the rinse cycle. It acts as a natural fabric softner. Hanging them in the sun gets rid of stains and helps the elastic last longer. I have been cloth diapering our son since birth and haven't changed the washing routine and our diapers are still in great shape!