Laundry Day!

Prepping

So you have just received your first cloth diaper in the mail and you wanna try it out. Well just like you wash your little ones clothes before they wear them, you want to give your diapers a quick wash too. This is called "prepping".

Pockets, AIO's, and AI2's, all just need to be washed once. I just throw them in the washer with a little bit of detergent and run a quick wash and then throw them straight into the dryer. Remember NO FABRIC SOFTENER! Fabric softener will RUIN your diapers! It will leave a filmy build up on your diapers causing them to repel (not absorb liquid). 

Now if you decided to go the cheapest route and use prefolds you are going to have to wash them 3-6 times before they will be fully absorbent. If your prefolds are made out of natural fibers like bamboo, hemp, or cotton you will need to "prep" these separately from your diapers that are made out of fleece, microfiber, and minky. Natural fibers contain natural oils that will get on your man made fibers and cause them to repel. Once your prefolds are prepped all of the oils will be gone and you can wash all of your diapers together. Natural fiber prefolds have to be washed up to 7 times before they are fully absorbent. Okay I know what you're thinking. Washing 7 times! You have to be kidding me right?! No unfortunately I am not joking, but there is a loop hole! You can boil your prefolds one time for 30 minutes and voilà they are ready to go! You still have to boil the natural fibers separately, and when you do you should see the oils floating on top of the water.  After boiling all of your prefolds you can throw them in the washing machine and run a quick rinse with no detergent and dry them to soften them up. 

 

Laundry Day

Okay so now all of your diapers are prepped and you have been using them on your little ones bum. Your diaper pail is almost full and it is time to wash your diapers. 

Step 1. Take your liner our your pail and carry the full bag to your laundry room/area. Dump the diapers into the washing machine and turn your liner inside out and toss it in with the diapers.

Step 2. Set the water level to high and the temp to cold. Set your washing machine to rinse and start it up. This will wash away all of the icky stuff.

 

Step 3. Always make sure the water level is at the highest setting. Now every one will tell you that you have to use HOT water to wash your diapers, and you can if you want. They say it is the best way to get your diapers the cleanest. Well I don't have hot water connected to my washing machine. So I use cold and it works just as good in my opinion. So set it to hot or cold, which ever you think is going to work best for you.

Step 4. Add your detergent and set the washing machine to EXTRA HEAVY or the heaviest load option on your machine. Leave the lid open and let it fill with water. I usually go tend to my little one or do whatever while it fills up.

Step 5. (Optional) Close the lid and let the machine agitate for a few seconds to swish all of the soap around. Now open the lid and let your diapers soak for 30 minutes. You can skip the soak if you want, I have hard water and the soak helps with mineral build up.

Step 6. Now close the lid and let your diapers wash. I always have some chores to do while my washing machine does its job.

Step 7. Now that your diapers are washed you should do an extra rinse to make sure all of the soap is washed out of your diapers. Set the machine to rinse and start it. (I repeat this step twice because the more rinses you do the better.) If you are you using Tide Original you should definitely repeat this step 2-3 times because Tide makes a lot of suds and you want to make sure the water is clear while its rinsing.

Step 8. Turn your pail liner right side out so that the water proof lining isn't exposed. The dryer  could melt it so don't forget. To be honest I have forgotten once and it didn't melt so I guess I was lucky! Throw everything in the dryer and start it. Unless your diapers say on the tag to hang dry everything should be fine to go straight into the dryer.

Now remember these tips!

*NEVER use fabric softener.
*Always read the washing instructions on the tags of all your diapers.
*The more water the better.
*Rinse, rinse, rinse.

Sun Bleaching

Got stains? After you wash your diapers take the ones with stains and go hang them outside (while they are still wet) directly in the sunlight. This is called sun bleaching, and I guarantee it will get out any stains on your diapers. After a couple of hours your diapers should be nice and white, now throw them in the dryer for a few minutes to soften them up.