Part 3: My Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

The hardest part of cloth diapering is getting the right wash routine. How do you know when you've found the right one? When your diapers smell like nothing when they are washed and dry. But the catch is, not every wash routine works for everyone. Your water has abig impact on what will get your diapers clean. Have you ever thought about whether you had hard or soft water? I sure hadn't, until I started cloth diapering. So here is what works for me. It might not work for you, but its a good place to start.

First, my detergent of choice is Rockin Green. I tried a different cloth diaper detergent a couple months ago and definitely learned my lesson. It left a residue on my diapers. They still had a smell, and they started to leak. Lesson learned: stick with what works. The container on the left is a "Shake it Up." It comes in the same scents as the detergent and makes the diaper pail smell much less like a diaper pail!

What do I use as a diaper pail? Glad you asked. A $10 trash can from Target that you step on to open with a Planet Wise pail liner. We have 2 that I can switch out while the dirty one is in the wash with the dirty diapers.

So when I take off a pee-pee diaper I just throw it in the pail and go on with my day. For a poopy diaper, its a little different. I shake off what will fall off into the toilet and spray the rest off with the diaper sprayer. Then it goes into the pail too.

On wash day, about every 2-3 days, I walk across the street to my nana's house because she has a top-loading washing machine and it gets the diapers cleaner than our front-loader. Its possible to get them clean with a front-loader, but go through the hassle when I have access to a top-loader? First I do a cold rinse with about a cup of vinegar. The vinegar neutralizes the urine and makes the diapers stink less. Next I fill up the washer with hot water and add a couple scoops of Rockin Green. I then soak the diapers for a bout 30 minutes, just to lure all the stinkies out. After about 30 minutes, I start the washer and let it go through its cycle. When that cycle is done, I do a whole other cycle with a hot wash and cold rinse. If its warm outside (which it hasn't been in quite awhile) I hang them outside to dry. During the winter, I just throw them in the dryer on low. After the PUL covers are dry, I take them out and finish drying the inserts and fitteds on medium. Yes, my diapers have stains in the winter from getting no sun but I will get them out this summer when its warm!