How Do I Wash Cloth Diapers?

If you have made it this far, you are thinking about or have made the decision to cloth diaper. Washing routines are pretty standard in the cloth diapering community.

For regular washing (every 2-3 days):

• Rinse in cold water first. This will help to remove stains.
• Wash in hot water with the normal of detergent you would use in any load.
• Rinse at least twice. You want to make sure you do not have soap left on your diapers.

If you have no problems with your diapers, continue with this routine. You may find that you need to adjust your detergent brand or amount, or number of rinses. If you need to rinse more than you would like, try cutting down your detergent amount. Just be aware that if you use too little, your diapers will not get clean.

For stripping diapers:

This is not so cut and dry as not many people agree on one way to strip their diapers. I found that I had to strip my diapers a lot when I was using All Free & Clear, as well as Rockin' Green detergent. Since switching to Tide, I have not had to strip them.

RLR Method (Sodium Carbonate/Washing Soda):

RLR is highly concentrated washing soda. Keep in mind if you use regular washing soda, you will have to use about a cup to equal the potency of one packet of RLR. 

• Rinse your diapers in cold water.
• Fill you washer with the hottest water possible and empty one packet of RLR into your machine.
• Let you machine run a bit to mix the RLR with the diapers and water.
• Turn off or pause your machine for a few hours. It is best to let them sit overnight.
• Turn your washer back on and let it resume the cycle.
• Rise, rinse, rinse! If you are able to, rinse on hot. I can't, so I usually do another hot wash cycle.

Dawn Method:

I do not recommend using this method if you have a front loader.

• Rinse your diapers in cold water.
• Add a small squirt of Dawn to the hot wash cycle. Do not add any other detergent.
• Rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse! It may take a few rinses to remove all of the dawn   

After stripping, make sure to dry your diapers in the sun. This should remove any stink and build-up issues. 

Detergents - Update

I have recently come to the conclusion that cloth diaper companies are trying to scam us into  buying their expensive cloth diaper detergents. Diapers can handle regular laundry detergent with no problem. After a year of trying hypoallergenic detergents and cloth diaper specific detergents, my diapers always stink! I have to strip them monthly, and I am convinced they are just not getting clean enough. I will be using the rest of my Rockin Green (since I still have more than one bag full), and then will be switching to Tide Original. I will update when that time comes!

Softeners

Never, ever, ever use fabric softeners or dryer sheets on your cloth diapers. This will cause them to repel liquid and lead to leaks.