This guest post is from SlackerMama‘s Marilyn, who also blogs at Cloth Diaper Mamas.
One of the big issues that prevented me from cloth diapering for my older children was the whole laundry issue. What do you do with the dirty diapers? How do you store them? How do you wash them? Do they stain? What detergent do you use? What detergent should you NOT use? The questions are quite literally ENDLESS.
For the longest time, I thought you had to have a wet pail to keep the dirty diapers in and that just sounded extremely complicated (not to mention GROSS). When I first seriously thought about cloth diapering, I did a lot of research online. And I found out that virtually no one uses a wet pail any longer. In fact, most people use a standard garbage pail with a lid and a washable liner of sorts. That way, all they have to do is pick up the pail liner and toss it’s contents and then the liner itself into the wash. You literally NEVER have to touch a dirty diaper if you don’t want to.
Then I worried about stains. You can’t just put a poopy cloth diaper in the pail and leave it, right? Well actually, yes you can. In fact, with breastfed poops, that’s what most people do. As you transition your child onto solids though, their output gets a little more… interesting. I had heard horror stories about having to dunk filthy diapers in the toilet. Yuck!! Never fear, there is a solution! You can easily set up a diaper sprayer on your toilet and use that to “hose down” filthy diapers. While I mainly cloth diaper my four month old, I have used them on my two year old as well and he has some pretty… interesting diapers sometimes. Yet, the diaper sprayer works like a charm and I have yet to have a single stain.
Now, the wash routine itself: There is a LOT of information out there about washing cloth diapers. And it seems every website says something different. “DO use Tide, stay away from ‘free and clear’ detergents!” “DO NOT use Tide! Use ‘free and clear’ detergents!” Ultimately, I think it’s best to read all the information that you can and make an informed decision based on your routine and what kind of water you have. If you have hard water where you are, the same detergent that I use with my soft water might not work for you! This chart is a great start for figuring out what you should try. For the record, I use Purex Free and Clear and haven’t had a single issue so far. But I also have soft water and very hot water to boot. Plus, your washer might yield different results! When in doubt, ask on a forum what other ladies find works for them. Diaper Swappers has been a great resource for me.
What I do is run a cold wash and/or rinse first. Sometimes I add just the barest bit of detergent and sometimes I don’t. It depends on how long the diapers had to sit before I washed. And I wash every other day or so. Every two days at the most. Partially becuase I don’t have that many diapers and I’ll run out if I don’t wash and partly because I don’t want the diapers to lay around dirty too long. And let’s make it clear: I am not a fan of laundry. But diaper laundry is strangely satisfying for me. After the cold wash, I run a hot wash with about 1/2 to 3/4 of the detergent I might normally use. You don’t want to use too much so that it builds up on the diapers, but then, you don’t want to use so little that it doesn’t get the diapers clean. Sometimes I’ll add a squirt of regular blue Dawn dish detergent to help fight greasy stains and buildup. But only just a tiny squirt because that stuff causes MAD suds!
I usually run an extra rinse after the hot wash, sometimes an entire wash but without detergent. Just to make sure the soap is all out of the diapers. This is usually either warm or cold. After everything has spun out, I go through the wash and if I see any stains on anything (generally the pocket inserts, as the microfiber that goes in my bumGenius diapers seems to just attract the stains!), I’ll set them aside. If I’m not pressed for time (or necessesity!), I leave the pocket diapers out of the dryer too and just hang them to dry in my laundry room. Generally, anything with PUL in it I try to hang to dry, except for the pail liner which is larger and seems to dry far better in the dryer. I make sure the dryer is set to medium heat (you don’t want it too hot, but too cool and it’ll take the diapers forever to dry!). I toss in some dryer balls which help keep the diapers fluffy and help speed drying time as well.
Now, conventional wisdom with cloth diapers is NO FABRIC SOFTENER. Your average fabric softener contains ingredients which will buildup on your diapers and cause them to lose effectiveness over time. However, that said, I have heard from various sources that vegetable based softeners are okay (especially if you aren’t using them on PUL or pocket diapers). Some good examples are ecover (which you can find easily at Whole Foods) and Simplicity (which you can easily find at Walmart). I use Simplicity dryer sheets every other load or so and it has kept my diapers wonderfully soft while not affecting their usability.
Remember I mentioned setting aside stained diapers or inserts? I take these outside and let them sit in the sun. Ideally, one would put them on a clothesline, but I don’t have one (yet) so I lay them on a flat surface. It generally only takes a couple hours in the sun to completely remove any stain. I didn’t believe it the first time I tried it, but I’m a believer now! The sun is an amazing stain removal tool! Just remember it’s harder to sun out stains after they’ve been through the dryer as the heat from the dryer tends to “set” them in the fabric.
And there you have it. Laundering cloth diapers doesn’t have to be a lot of work. Yes, I’m doing more laundry than I was before, but as I mentioned before, I don’t seem to mind it very much. It’s a very fulfilling activity for me and you’ll find a lot of other cloth diaperers agree. The most important thing to remember is that you need to do what works for you and your diapers. If that means adjusting your wash routine, then so be it. Happy cloth diapering!
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