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How are cloth diapers washed?
How often do I need to wash?
Let's talk about POOP!
Q: How are cloth diapers washed?
How are cloth diapers washed? What detergents do I need to use? Are there any special routines?
A:
Here is the laundry routine I follow to wash my cloth diapers. It is fairly basic and commonly used, but you can also check the tags on your diapers for more specifics.
*Empty diapers/wipes into washer, toss in the pail liner.
*Run a COLD RINSE. No detergent is needed yet, although some people add in a tiny bit.
*Run a WARM/HOT WASH. Add 1/4 of amount of usual detergent used. Too much left over suds can trap in odor.
*Rinse until bubbles are gone.
*Dry on medium or line dry. If you have an All-In-One with a pocket slit, you can turn it inside out and that might help the inside dry faster.
As for detergents, this website is a great detergent resource. Our family has had great luck with Purex Free and Clear.
Q: How often do I need to wash?
How often will I need to wash the diapers?
A:
How often you will need to wash depends on a couple of things. Obviously, the fewer diapers you have, the mor often you'll have to wash. Also, the younger your baby is, the more diapers you will go through, as young babies wet/mess their diaper more often than older babies.
That said, plan on washing every 2-3 days. The less time your diapers are sitting unwashed, the less smell you will have. We usually try to throw a load in every other day.
Q: Let's talk about POOP!
So this all looks fine and dandy but... babies poop! They poop in their diaper! What am I supposed to do with it? I don't like poop.
A:
Trust me, nobody, regardless of diapering choice makes it through parenthood without dealing with poop. It happens, often several times a day, and it needs to be dealt with! But hey, at least it's from someone you love ;-) very much!
If your baby is breastfed and not eating solids yet, their poop is easy to deal with! They often just have little smears every few hours. You can use a diaper sprayer if you want (we'll touch on that more) or honestly, you can throw it right in the washer. It's water soluble, and really not that big of a deal. It just washes clean, and that is that. TADA.
As a little bit of a side note, once our daughter hit about 6 weeks, she only had a messy once every week or so. She wasn't constipated or fussy and nothing was wrong. That was just her normal, and it is common in breastfed babies. This made diaper washing a breeze. On the flip side, when she went... well, it was definitely a weeks worth. However, when she started solids, she was much more "regular".
If it is a bigger mess, a diaper sprayer can be your best friend. It hooks right up to your toilet, and sprays clean water in an adjustable stream on to the diaper to wash the poop off the diaper and into the potty. No dunking or extra contact required. After, you just put the diaper into your pail/bag until wash day. Once your child is older and eating solids, if the poop is solid... just dump it in the potty and be done with it. Believe it or not, your actually supposed to be doing this with disposable diapers. Usually in small print, there is a warning on disposable diaper boxes that solid waste should go into the toilet and NOT the landfill!
Did you know that in some ways, cloth diapering can lower your contact with poop? Most cloth diapers have elastic around the top on the backside of the diaper. Disposables do not. This is where most blow outs happen, especially if the child is in some kind of seat! If the poop has no place to go, it goes up, up, up and out. Without the elastic, there's nothing to stop it. And cleaning up a child after a blow out, is NOT fun. With cloth diapers, you'll avoid (most) of these explosions and save yourself an afternoon of wiping poop out of your babies hair.
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