| Washing your cloth diapers doesn't need to be difficult. I have listed how I wash my cloth diapers and this has worked FOR ME - you may need to adapt this to your routine, etc.
It can be as simple as:
1. When you take the diaper off of baby, please wet diapers directly into your dry diaper pail or hanging diaper pail. Dirty diapers should have any solids shaken off into the toilet if possible. Any remaining breast-fed solids can be placed directly into your pail - BF-ing poo is water soluble. Other solids should be removed if possible by either swirling or using a diaper sprayer.
If you are using covers & prefolds or fitted diapers, if the cover is soiled, close the washing tabs and place in the pail. If it is just damp, set out to air dry and reuse until it becomes soiled or after a few uses (usually the slight smell of urine will be your guide!)
2. On wash day, take your diaper pail to your washing machine. I started a hot wash/cold rinse cycle and put in the recommended detergent - for us, this was 1/4 oz (one pump) of Allen's Naturally (see more information about detergent after these step by step instructions). I also always ran one load size larger to accomodate for the additional absorption of the diapers (as I would for washing towels, etc).
For early diapers when it was only breastfeeding poo, I emptied my entire pail into the washing machine and every 2nd wash I also threw in my pail liner. After we started solid foods, I then ran a quick cold rinse BEFORE I did my wash cycle with only the soiled diapers - this was to rinse any remaining solids from my diapers. They I would do my regular wash routine as above and this meant that my diapers were washing in clean(er) water than if I hadn't done my rinse.
3. Being in Canada, hanging my diapers out to dry on a regular basis except from mid-May to early-October is a challenge so I often put my diapers in the dryer. I would set the timer for 15 minutes and at this time, I would pull out the pocket diapers as they were usually dry. I would then run the dryer for an additional 30 minutes or so to get the prefolds, inserts, etc. dry. Those that weren't completely dry at this time went to my drying rack to finish over night.
For me personally, this was like doing any other load of laundry - 2 minutes to throw them in and then I would walk away until the load was done. 2 minutes to throw into the dryer with a quick visit to remove the diapers at the 15 min mark and then walk away again until the load was done.
Detergents There is a lot of disagreement on detergents. The following is a list of some recommended detergents and some things to watch for. Also please note that not all products are found in the United States and Canada and that formulations may differ between the two countries.
- Allens Naturally liquid & powder (** available in Canada at select online stores and from Allens Naturally Canada)
- Country Save (** available in Canada at London Drugs and in Quebec at Broult & Martineau)
- Mountain Green (** currently not available in Canada)
- 7th Generation Delicate Care (** available in Canada at many health food stores or click here to find other locations)
are recommended by A Mother's Touch since they are
ones that almost all manufactures will agree on.
Regular Tide used to be recommended but now has optical whiteners and it is OFF the okay list for
any diaper.
Charlie's Soap is on most manufactures list as "okay" however we are aware of customer reports of skin rashes. Also called Wonder Wash in Canada however we understand that it is reformulated here. I would recommend these be used only if you are going to switch your entire laundry routine to these detergents and not just use them for diaper washing.
Tide, Cheer, All, etc ALL have additives in them;
scents, dyes,
optical whiteners, enzymes, etc and are not recommended. They may work for you however we caution that these may reduce the life of your diapers and you may find that the detergents buildup and cause wicking or repelling.
You can also refer to this wonderful chart as produced by Angel Bunz - it has been updated to May 2008. Please remember that this is using US-based detergents.
Notes:
Information compiled from our own experience since 2003 and the hard work of other WAHM's, mainly Kayla @ Angel Bunz and Molly @ Tree City Diapers.
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