Cloth Diapering 101 ~ Washing

My friend Country Mouse is expecting a Tiny Mouse and is planning on covering that little toosh with some cloth diapers. However she said "What do I do?" So how does a mama wash these diapers?

First you'll want to get a dry pail to store your used dipes in. Now when you take the dipe off, you'll want to shake off any poo in the potty and get a diaper sprayers to spray off anything else. I do NOT dunk and swish. :) I just toss them in the pail and depending upon your usage you'll know when you need to wash. I usually plan on a day to do it since I dry mine outside.

Ah yes...dirty dipes.

I'll warn you...not pretty:

Next you need to pull the inserts out of the diapers and start tossing into them into the washer.

What???? You mean I have to TOUCH them? Yes...you need to touch them. Wear gloves if you must but really it's not the end of the world.

^^ Here you can see an insert partially taken out.

Now before you toss the whole thing in the washer you want to do this:

Fasten your tabs. Otherwise everything gets all connected together in the washer and you end up with one large string of cloth diapers.

You'll want to add a mild detergent and wash the first time in cold.

The first time?

Yep ~ then you wash again in Hot.

Then rinse one more time in Hot water.

Why so many times? Well you want to get the diapers clean. Plus you want to get ALL the soap off the diapers.

Some things I've learned along the way:

*After washing/rinsing your inserts have a 'funny' odor to them. It's too much soap. Run the inserts thru one cycle with white vinegar and it will help get all the soap out and freshen them.

*Oxi-clean is great at whitening diapers and inserts but can cause reactions on some little tooshies. Poor Trible got awful rashes and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. When I went to do a load of diapers I realized I was adding Oxi-clean to one load. Remember some of those harsher soaps are harder on damp skin.

*The sun is a natural bleaching agent. As long as the sun is shining I put all my diapers on a drying rack and stick them in the sun. It will naturally whiten any stains on your inserts.

*Refrain from using fabric softeners on your diapers.