The Basics - Wash Routines

So after the “Why would you ever put yourself through that?” question, most cloth diapering moms usually get, “Ewww, are you going to put poopy diapers in your washing machine???” The answer is, yes, I put diapers in my washing machine. Yes, you can put poopy diapers from breastfed babies directly in the washer without rinsing, it’s water soluble. Washing diapers is really not that difficult – and this from someone who HATES laundry.
There is a lot of talk in the cloth diaper world about the best way to wash cloth diapers. If you read from just a few sources, you are bound to get conflicting information. All I can share is what works for us and what else I have pieced together from various conversations with other cloth diapering mamas. I will discuss diaper spraying and storage of soiled diapers in future posts. Also, wool diapers have a completely different set of washing instructions that I will consider addressing another time.

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE! – Soak, pre-wash, rinse, add detergent, double wash, extra 3 rinses, strip and rinse again. Who can maintain a wash routine like this?? I sure can’t. My advice is start with the most basic routine you can come up with and if you have problems, then change it up. My routine is: Rinse on cold, “Baby Wear” cycle (long hot wash/cold rinse), extra cold rinse. That’s it. On my washer, the cycle takes about 2 hours. Then we hang covers to dry on a drying rack and throw the inserts and prefolds in the dryer. Piece. Of. Cake.
2. Use a cloth diaper safe detergent. It doesn’t have to be a special cloth diaper detergent, but should be safe to use on cloth diapers. In general, you want it to be free from anything that could cause skin irritation such as dyes, fragrances, enzymes and optical brighteners. There is actually some debate about this and many people report that the "safe" detergents don't clean well enough. Some cloth diaper companies actually recommend original tide. The rule of thumb is, if it is working for you, GREAT!
3. Hot washes, cold rinses. When you wash with detergent, you want a nice hot wash. Not extra hot, just hot. It will clean and sanitize the diapers (don’t use the sanitary cycle if you are washing PUL shells or covers, it’s too hot), but won’t damage the diaper. Rinses should be cold or warm, never hot.
4. Go easy on the detergent. Use about half the recommended amount for your machine unless you are using a detergent specifically designed for cloth diapers (which is totally unnecessary and expensive). HE machines use small amounts to begin with, but you still want to use about half what you would on clothes.
5. Bubbles are bad. If you still see soap bubbles at the end of your rinse cycle, you need another rinse cycle. The diapers get wet and sit next to the baby’s skin, you don’t want left over soap in the diaper causing irritation. It will also build up in the diapers and inserts over time and make them less absorbent.
6. Make adjustments. If you are having lots of staining or poop smells stick around after the wash, up the amount of detergent (a little). If you smell ammonia after washing, decrease the detergent. If you have hard water, you should use a hard-water formula detergent or Calgon Water Softener.
7. Stains be gone! Babies poop in their diapers (shocking I know) and occasionally there will be stains. An easy way to get the stains out is to “sun” the diapers by putting them in direct sunlight to dry. This can be done outside on a line, through a window and even on cloudy days. Want to do something to be really really sure, spray on a little lemon juice.
8. Drying options. Like I said, I hang dry just about anything with PUL and machine dry inserts and prefolds. Occasionally, I will throw all the covers in the dryer to soften everything up a little.
9. NO SOFTENERS! Don’t use fabric softener. Don’t use detergent with fabric softener in it. Don’t use dryer sheets. Don’t use the liquid softener. Don’t even use it on your clothes. There are two reasons for this. First, fabric softener, however good it smells, breaks down fabric. That’s why they are soft. The second reason is that the coating that it puts on fabric causes them to repel water, something you really don’t want your diapers to do. You can use dryer balls, and I recommend you do. If you are dying to have that fresh from the dryer smell, use wool dryer balls with scents added.
10. Strip when necessary, but only when necessary. “Stripping” diapers is doing something to strip any build up of detergent or anything that may have gotten on the diapers causing them to repel. Three common methods are washing with RLR Laundry Treatment, running them through 4-5 hot wash cycles with no detergent or washing with a tiny bit of blue Dawn dish soap. If you choose to wash with Dawn or RLR, make sure you do several extra rinses and that there are no soap bubbles left. It shouldn’t be necessary to do this very often. In cloth diapering forums, I see a lot of people jumping right to stripping if there is any hint of a problem. Try to solve the problem without stripping first as it does put more wear and tear on your diapers.