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Read through this information if you are concerned about the ins and outs of washing your diapers.
Should I Wash and dry all new diapers? Yes! This includes wraps, prefolds (hemp or cotton), inserts, doublers, pocket diapers, and All-In-Ones (AIO). If you purchased prefolds you will want to wash and dry them at least 5 times before the first use you. This will remove any chemicals left over from the manufacturing process and increasing the diapers absorbency. If you do not do this your diapers will leak because they will repel water instead of absorbing. Prefolds will shrink and become softer after washing and drying. Since your new prefolds are clean you can wash and dry them with your regular laundry, if you use cloth diaper safe detergent, to save on water and energy. You can use detergent the first couple washes, but it's not necessary for all 5 washes.
Ok, But how do I change wet or soiled diapers? If your baby wets, just put the wet diaper in the diaper pail. When using diaper wraps, they can be reused if they are not wet ( a little dampness is fine as long as the wrap was not leaking). With wet pocket diapers or wraps, remove the insert/prefold and then store them in your diaper pail. I usually put my prefolds/inserts and covers in the same diaper pail that I hang on the changing table. For soiled diapers the process in the same. If your baby is primarily breast fed, there is no need to rinse or dunk diapers. Breast fed baby poop washes out like yogurt. Once your baby starts solids and their poop is more solid, this process becomes very easy. If you don't mind a couple stains on your prefolds, you can do what I do. I simply hold the diaper over the toilet and whatever is solid enough to come off comes off in the toillet. Whatever happens to be left on is almost always soft enough to wash completely out. No Scraping, no dunking! In 3 years of cloth diapering I have never had a poop issue in my washer and this is the way I always wash my diapers. Remember that stains are no big deal and that the washing machine empties the same place as the toilet. When you use a diaper that have fleece on top you will be plesantly surprised at how easily poop comes off the fleece and how the fleece does not stain. This has to do with how well the fleece wicks moisture away. If you take the moisture out of the poop it comes off easily. NO SCRAPING! If you use prefolds you can simply use the Bummis Fleece Liners (which are washed with your diapers) on top of the prefolds to help the poop come off easily. Using these liners will also keep your diapers stain free!
I'm good so far, but how do I wash them? There are some detergents you should never use. These are: Gain, Dreft, Ivory Snow, Arm & Hammer Fabricare, Tide, Seventh Generation, and any detergents using brighteners or whiteners. Other than these, choose a detergent with the fewest additives. I just use Charlie's Soap. After a year of cloth diapering I finally switched to Charlie's and found that it decreased the dirty diaper smell, and my diapers leaked a lot less because there was no build up of detergent. Charlie's Soap rinses clean with no left over residues to bother your babies skin. Regular detergents do leave a residue no matter how many times you rinse, so use Charlie’s Soap occasionally to clear up any residue problems, or just use Charlie’s Soap regularly with your diapers. Residue from detergents can decrease the absorbency of your diaper and can cause wicking. This is the typical wash cycle I use:
2. Machine wash on hot with no detergent (make sure you use a full water level).
3. Machine rinse on warm, no detergent, on shortest cycle.
4. Tumble dry or hang to dry.
Once you get the hang of washing your diapers, feel free to change what your typical wash cycle is like. Wash machines are different and each child’s waste can affect the diapers differently causing you to add a rinse or wash, or even eliminate one. If you always start with a cold cycle though, this will prevent stains from setting. You can even choose to wash your wraps separately from your diapers or even hand wash them every time to prolong their life. In case you were wondering, there is no need to soak your diapers like your mom may have done. It is not necessary (especially overnight soaking which will degrade cotton) and it creates a drowning hazard. If you want to soak you can do so in the wash machine for a short soak, however, do not soak your AIO or wraps as this will wear out the waterproof layer. You will know you are washing your diapers right if they do not smell after they are washed and dried. If they still smell, run for another hot wash cycle. Also, you will be surprised at how little detergent you actually need. If you are using Charlie's you can use the full recomended amount, but if you are using any other detergent use half or less.
Here are my diapers hang drying in the sun. The cover can dry in 10 minutes on a nice hot sunny day! Sun drying can make your diapers smell better, help get rid of stains and save money and energy. Give it a try!
Having trouble with stinky diapers or bad diaper rash? Read the below for troubleshooting.
URINE RESIDUES
As more and more people replace their washing machines with high efficiency front loader models, we have seen more of this type of residue. Your diapers should smell clean after they are washed. If they smell like urine, then it is clear that they have a urine residue. If they smell clean after they are washed and then like ammonia after the first pee, then it is probable that they have a urine residue.
How do I know I have a urine residue? 1.Strong odor of ammonia 2.Bad diaper rash
Where does the “stink” come from?
When a wet cloth diaper smells really bad, it is most likely due to an overproduction of ammonia. In the body, ammonia is converted to urea and excreted. Once the urine is released, the urea begins converting back to ammonia, so some ammonia smell is perfectly normal. Lingering urea in the diaper and certain types of bacteria can speed up and increase the production of ammonia. So if you smell an unusually strong odour of ammonia after your baby pees, you most likely have a biological residue in your diaper.
This residue is most commonly caused by not using enough water to wash and rinse diapers clean. It can also be caused by not using enough detergent. Detergent is what enables water to enter the fibres of the cloth and release its soil (by decreasing the surface tension of the water). If there is too little water (or detergent), the urine is diluted, but not rinsed away. It is recycled in the wash and dries onto the fabric, remaining there in the form of residues.
Why does my baby have a rash every time I put them in cloth diapers?
You should definitely suspect a urine residue. Ammonia in the diaper will burn tender baby skin!
Urine residues can easily be solved!
If the residue is not too extensive, you can usually get rid of it by doing several hot water washes with no detergent, then throwing the diapers and covers in the dryer. Make sure you are washing with enough hot water!!! If you cannot adjust your machine manually to the highest water level, call the manufacturer. If they cannot instruct you on how to adjust the water level to the highest water level, use the wet towel trick! Decrease the number of diapers you wash per load, and add wet towels to your load in order to trick your machine into adding more water.
Multiple rinses will not work – you must increase the level of water used to wash and rinse your diapers.
If you have tried the above suggested washing proceedure to remove urine residues and are still having trouble, please give us a call or shoot us an email so we can help you figure things out.
