So how do you wash and care for a cloth diaper anyway ?
Most people assume that washing cdiapers has to be rocket science... IT´S NOT !!! trust me.
For regular changing...
If the diaper is wet all you need to do is remove the insert (If you are using pockets) and place everything in your wet bag or diaper pail.
If the diaper is dirty and the poop is ¨plopable¨, than plop it into the toilet and place the diaper in the pail. If the poop is not ¨plopable¨ than you remove as much possible (diaper sprayers come in handy right about now), remove the insert, and place the diaper in the pail.
The basic wash routine is...
1.
Cold Rinse - Rinsing your diapers out before the wash will remove any excess waste you were unable to get. Be sure you use COLD water, or else you will just end up baking the waste into your diapers.
2.
Hot Wash with detergent - Obviously this is the wash cycle,,, it washes your diapers :-)
3.
Cold Rinse - An extra rinse will make sure that all the soap has been rinsed out of your diapers... you don´t want any build-up or else you might run into leaking and repelling.
I recommend starting off with this simple routine. If you run into any issues, than tweek it to suit your needs....
For example. Ivan is now a toddler and he eats a variety of different foods. When a persons diet changes, so does his waste, no different with toddlers. On diaper laundry day, I was noticing an amonia smell coming from the diapers. I had never had this problem before. So I decided to just strip my diapers (More on this later) to see if maybe I just had some detergent build-up. It worked for about 4 days, and once again I was smelling amonia.
I did a little research and found that this is a normal occurence with toddlers. Also it was summer time, and heat causes a quicker chemical reaction with urine... It turns it into amonia faster. No wonder I was having amonia problems, the hook I hung my wet bag on was getting direct sunlight for atleast 7 hours a day. Now sunlight is great for diapers,,,CLEAN DIAPERS, not dirty diapers.
So after I did another soak and got rid of the amonia smell, I changed up my washing routine...
MY CURRENT WASH ROUTINE
1. Every night, no matter if it´s wash day or not, Dirty diapers go into the washer for a COLD rinse cycle, this way I can make sure that as much urine is removed from the diapers between wash days.
2. I store the diapers in a dark place - THE BATHROOM, and I dont close the bag. You probably think I am crazy not to want to shut the bag and lock all the smelliness in... But really, the more air is circulating through your diapers, the less smell you have, and since they are rinsed out... You really can´t smell them
WASH DAY
1. Cold rinse
2. Hot Wash with detergent
3. Hot wash without detergent
4. Cold rinse - If I have the time, If not I skip this step
So far so good, I have been able to keep the amonia away for a whole month :-)
*****
Striping your diapers...
Ever so often maybe, once a month or every few months, you should strip your diapers :-)
Overtime, diapers will get a little detergent build-up, you might notice a little stink after cleaning, or even some repelling. This problem has a simple solution. STRIP YOUR DIAPERS:
TO STRIP YOUR DIAPERS
After you have cleaned your diapers, using your regular wash routine.
1. Put them in the bathtub, top loading washing machine, or in my case, Ivans big orange bath tub :-)
2. Add 2 Tbsp. of your detergent... I recommend Rockin´Green (I use this detergent and it smells soooo yummy)
3. Fill with HOT water,,,VERY HOT
4. Let the diapers soak for at least 1 hr. I recommend letting them go overnight.
5. Run a few hot wash cycles until you see no more suds.
6. Enjoy your fresh diapers :-)
