There always seem to be questions on forums and Facebook groups about how to wash cloth diapers. This isn’t such an easy question as people’s water is different or their children may have sensitivities to one thing or another. I can tell you how I wash my cloth diapers to give you some ideas.
When we lived in New England we had soft to normal water and a regular, old school top loading machine so washing diapers was easy. When we got word that we were moving to CO I found out that we would have hard water. I got nervous. I heard all of the hard water horror stories and I didn’t want to end up needing to adopt a complicated wash routine.
First, we had to buy a new machine because the old machine belonged to the old house. I chose the Maytag Bravos X because it had what I wanted for diapers – a top loading HE machine (I heard too many horror stories about front loaders and didn’t want to go there), a bulky setting, and an extra rinse button. Not too complicated. I also love that it has a clear lid so I can make sure there aren’t any bubbles left in the rinse cycle.
Second, I had to figure out what I was going to do about detergent. After a lot of reading, I decided on Tide because it supposedly blocks the hard water minerals and I wouldn’t have to monkey around with Calgon and other stuff.
I rinse all poopy diapers with a diaper sprayer and put them in a large wet bag. When it’s full (about 2 days worth) it’s time to do diaper laundry. A typical load for me is 13-15 diapers and this is how I wash them:
- Warm wash on the hand wash cycle without detergent, no spin (5 minutes longer than pre-rinse but allows for warm water and uses more water)
- Warm wash on the Bulky setting with Tide Ultra powder to the 1 line or a little above
- I press the deep clean and extra rinse buttons
- Hang covers and wet bags to dry, dry inserts and wipes in the dryer
- On occasion I will add an oxygen bleach (like OxiClean or Biokleen) to the wash routine if my diapers are looking dingy during the colder months when sunning them is a bit more difficult.
That’s it! Perfectly clean diapers every time and for the 5½ months that I have been using this routine I haven’t had any issues with stink or had a need to strip my diapers. We have also had less rash issues that we had in CT. I don’t know if this is due to my wash routine, a more modern machine, the switch to Tide, or a better handle on how to treat rashes at the beginning, but I’m sticking to it!
Pre-Rinse Settings
Wash Settings
*Note: there are times when I have had to disinfect my diapers either due to recurrent rashes or yeast. This complicates the routine a bit, but the general routine remains unchanged. This just means that I add some grapefruit seed extract and OxiClean to the wash cycle and wash on hot instead of warm.
This post is part of the Cloth Diaper 101 Blog Hop. To see more tips on washing cloth diapers, visit the Linky below
Your machine is so fancy!
Rowan recently posted..A Green Resolutions Giveaway: $25 from Irresistibly Green!
It’s not super shmancy but it is new so it looks like a spaceship when the laundry room is dark with all of its lights. It was one of the most reasonably priced machines and it has everything we need. I recommend it highly
Love the washing machine pics! Seems so high tech compared to mine! I have 3 settings heavy, medium, and light lol!
Julie recently posted..My Cloth Diaper Wash Routine: I am switching to Tide!!!
The one we had in CT didn’t even have a gentle cycle! Washing machines have come a long way
I love your washing machine!
Charity recently posted..Free Pampers Gifts to Grow Code
Thank you. Any time anyone asks about an HE washer for diapers I suggest this one. Not super expensive in comparison to other HEs out there and it works great!