Thursday, November 17, 2011

Washing your Cloth Diapers

Funny that I’ve made a post on how to strip CDs before making one on how to wash them. Here is my washing routine for cloth diapers.

I use a wetbag to store my soiled diapers. I have 2.

The wetbag is placed inside a garbage bin with a pedal I bought from SM (supermarket) for about P150.. 

I start with about 10-12 dirty diapers which are kept in a waterproof wetbag inside a garbage bin with a lid.
Soiled diapers inside the wetbag.

You can either use a wetbag or dry pail to store soiled cloth diapers.

Here in the Philippines, we’re used to hand washing our clothes so when I feel like it, I pre-rinse my diapers in cold water in the sink by hand before I toss them in the washer (we do have a washing machine). When I’m too lazy to do that, I can just toss all the dirty diapers and liners and wetbag in the washer and pre-rinse them there.
When they’ve been rinsed, I load them for washing with about a tablespoon of detergent (use cloth diaper friendly detergent) for 10-12 pcs of cloth diaper in the washer.This is 2 days worth of diapers. I try to do the wash every other day.
I rinse and rinse (I prefer by hand) until all the suds are gone.
I load them in the spinner (or if you have a dryer that’s ok too) to squeeze all the excess water before I line dry them under the sun.


Line dry your diapers with elastics lengthwise to avoid stretching the elastics. On sunny days, the diapers and inserts with stain (they stain sometimes with poop) I don’t spin those. I leave them a bit damp and lay them out in the sun and let the sun do it’s magic. The sun is great for removing stain, making your whites whiter, and they disinfect too.

For poopy diapers, breastfed baby poops are water soluble so you can just throw them in the wash with your other soiled diapers. But if your baby is taking solids, it's better to dump as much poop as you can in the toilet and rinse the diaper either with a bidet sprayer or in the sink before putting them together with your soiled diapers. I personally wash the pooped on diapers immediately as much as I can to avoid staining.

Do not use bleach. Although some manufacturers suggest using bleach on occassion to disinfect the diapers. I've never used it and don’t plan to. The sunshine is good enough. They say you can also use baking soda for removing stains. Make a paste with the baking soda, apply on the stained area and leave on. Make sure the diaper or insert is clean and a bit damp before doing this.

Do not use fabric softener. No matter how stinky you think the diapers are, never EVER use fabric softener. They will just coat your diapers and will cause repelling and leaking. Some use white vinegar during the final rinse because it supposedly softens clothes. I've only done this once but didn't see much difference so I didn't do it again.

If you’ve used fabric softener or have detergent build-up that has caused repelling, you can strip your diapers.

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