Diapers Q&A
handwashing cloth diapers?
I would rather hand wash my diapers to save energy and use less water, is there a certain way i can do this to ensure they are REALLY clean? I heard something about baking soda and vinegar. Keep in mind they use to do this back in the day so i know it is possible....any ideas would be great! :)
Public Comments
- No its not a good idea!! handwashing doesn't get them completely clean, they are not rinsed as good as they should be and more soap, bleach etc is used than if you used a washer. Yeah they did it- because there was no other way!! once washers were invented thats what they used because it gets them cleaner. If you are concerned about the environment - buy an old wringer washer, they use less water (takes more effort but uses less water).
- Flats are the best choice if you're handwashing. They also line-dry quickly, so you won't need as many of them. I've always done a vinegar pre-rinse, and washed with a small amount of Dawn (original) dish detergent. That should work when washing by hand as well.
- I used to hand wash my cloth diapers. First I put a little bit of detergent (used Arm and Hammer, for sensitive skin) in a big bucket, soak them in hot water, leave them for about 15 minutes or so. I would start "massaging" them around and then one by one, wash them by hand. I do a lot of rinsing and they come out clean! Baking soda and vinegar is fine.
- Back when I had only one baby in diapers, I used to handwash diapers occasionally. I used the same detergent that I used in the machine. I would pour the detergent into a bucketful of water, soak the diapers in it and rinse them out in a couple more bucketfuls of water. I understand some people use either vinegar or baking soda to get rid of the diapers' stink but I've never tried it myself. You probably don't want to use both at the same time though. Combining vinegar and baking soda will create a chemical reaction. If you've ever built a volcano as a kid, a combination of vinegar and baking soda is exactly what you use to make the volcano erupt. It'll be fun to watch but I'm not sure it'll get your diapers clean.
- Wash the diapers by hand in the sink and then you might put the diapers in a pot of boiling water to kill the bacteria. You can then let the diapers dry outside in the sunshine(the sun will kill bacteria naturally).
