So what is it really like to cloth diaper your baby? Is it smelly, do I have to touch poop? Where does the poop go in the washing machine? What if he needs a change when I am away from home?
Washing Step-By-Step
1. Dump everything into the washing machine. Just turn the pail liner inside out, so you don't have to touch anything. Then throw the liner in with the load.
2. Run a short COLD rinse cycle on the highest water setting. Mine doesn't have a setting for this, so I just put it on the middle of a regular cycle. Don't put any detergent in! This rinse cycle is to get the yuckies rinsed out of your dipes. You can add acup or so of baking soda if you want, but if you put any in your pail liner than you can skip adding it here. When you open the lid, the poop will have magically disappeared!
3. Run a long HOT cycle on your highest water setting. Add in just a tiny amount about 1/2 or 1/4 of the usual amount (I use one TABLESPOON) of Arm & Hammer Free (for sensitive skin). Yes, that's enough soap. I promise. There are other soaps that you can try, but make sure you do your research first.
4. You can also run them through another long HOT cycle (or two) afterwards, to make sure all the soap is rinsed out. I tend to do this every couple of washes for maintenance purposes.
5. Put everything (liners, diapers, inserts) into the dryer and dry on HOT or WARM until dry. You may have to run your inserts through a second time, so check them.
What NOT to do when washing
1. Don't use bleach
2. Don't put fabric softener or dryer sheets in with your diapers, or they will lose some absorbency. I use dryer balls, and they cut the static and make everything nice and fluffy.
Problems
-Diaper rash. This shouldn't be a big problem when you are in cloth. If they get it, switch to sposies for a few days to slather on the cream or wait it out in the cloth. Any creams and lotions can decrease the absorbency of your diapers and stain them, so just go natural if possible.
-Stained diapers. If it bugs you, or you are trying to sell them you can lay them out in the sun while they are wet for a few hours. The stains will magically go away, though I can't tell you why it works so fast€¦
-Diapers stink or they seem to be leaking all the time.
This means they need to be stripped! It isn't as bad as it sounds. You can be proactive and strip your diapers like once a month, or just wait and see what happens. You may never need to do this.
*If you accidently get diaper cream on your diapers, you will need to use a little elbow grease and some dawn original (blue stuff) to scrub the fleece inner of the diaper. This will help cut the grease that's in the diaper cream. Then proceed with the stripping process*
-Wash like you normally would.
-Run it on a long HOT wash with no detergent.
-When it starts to agitate, open up the lid and look for bubbles. If there are bubbles, it means that your diapers have detergent build up and need to be stripped. Let the cycle finish.
-Run another long HOT wash with no detergent. Check for bubbles.
-Keep washing, until you don't see any more bubbles.
- It could take quite a few washes to get everything out.
Good luck with your cloth diapering adventure! It really is simple, and so much better for your baby! If you want to know more about cloth diapering, check out http://www.gadbaby.com for more information.
Washing Step-By-Step
1. Dump everything into the washing machine. Just turn the pail liner inside out, so you don't have to touch anything. Then throw the liner in with the load.
2. Run a short COLD rinse cycle on the highest water setting. Mine doesn't have a setting for this, so I just put it on the middle of a regular cycle. Don't put any detergent in! This rinse cycle is to get the yuckies rinsed out of your dipes. You can add acup or so of baking soda if you want, but if you put any in your pail liner than you can skip adding it here. When you open the lid, the poop will have magically disappeared!
3. Run a long HOT cycle on your highest water setting. Add in just a tiny amount about 1/2 or 1/4 of the usual amount (I use one TABLESPOON) of Arm & Hammer Free (for sensitive skin). Yes, that's enough soap. I promise. There are other soaps that you can try, but make sure you do your research first.
4. You can also run them through another long HOT cycle (or two) afterwards, to make sure all the soap is rinsed out. I tend to do this every couple of washes for maintenance purposes.
5. Put everything (liners, diapers, inserts) into the dryer and dry on HOT or WARM until dry. You may have to run your inserts through a second time, so check them.
What NOT to do when washing
1. Don't use bleach
2. Don't put fabric softener or dryer sheets in with your diapers, or they will lose some absorbency. I use dryer balls, and they cut the static and make everything nice and fluffy.
Problems
-Diaper rash. This shouldn't be a big problem when you are in cloth. If they get it, switch to sposies for a few days to slather on the cream or wait it out in the cloth. Any creams and lotions can decrease the absorbency of your diapers and stain them, so just go natural if possible.
-Stained diapers. If it bugs you, or you are trying to sell them you can lay them out in the sun while they are wet for a few hours. The stains will magically go away, though I can't tell you why it works so fast€¦
-Diapers stink or they seem to be leaking all the time.
This means they need to be stripped! It isn't as bad as it sounds. You can be proactive and strip your diapers like once a month, or just wait and see what happens. You may never need to do this.
*If you accidently get diaper cream on your diapers, you will need to use a little elbow grease and some dawn original (blue stuff) to scrub the fleece inner of the diaper. This will help cut the grease that's in the diaper cream. Then proceed with the stripping process*
-Wash like you normally would.
-Run it on a long HOT wash with no detergent.
-When it starts to agitate, open up the lid and look for bubbles. If there are bubbles, it means that your diapers have detergent build up and need to be stripped. Let the cycle finish.
-Run another long HOT wash with no detergent. Check for bubbles.
-Keep washing, until you don't see any more bubbles.
- It could take quite a few washes to get everything out.
Good luck with your cloth diapering adventure! It really is simple, and so much better for your baby! If you want to know more about cloth diapering, check out http://www.gadbaby.com for more information.
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