Cloth Diapering: A Beginners Guide-Washing & Drying

Washing
Now you've chosen the detergent, you've sprayed off your diapers(if poopy) and you're ready to wash. Most people wash their dipes every 2 to 3 days. They say to keep the load under 18 diapers, however I think you want over 12 so that they have enough items to agitate against. I take my wet bag to my laundry room. If you choose a pail, just take out the liner or bring the whole pail. Depending on if you separated your pieces previously either empty your diapers in the washer or separate then toss in.

Before I tell you my routine, please realize that there isn't a right or wrong way to do this either-catching the trend yet? Here's what I do:

1. Cold Rinse on LARGE setting. My washer doesn't have anything that specifically says rinse, but it's about halfway through the wash-and there is a little dot, so I assume that's the rinse. It's worked well so far. I put it on the LARGE setting to get a good amount of water in there. You don't want too much or too little. I figure LARGE is a good setting. I do not use detergent on this rinse. The cold water rinse breaks down waste and doesn't leave stains. Hot water will cause stains if there is still waste on your diapers.
2. Hot wash/warm rinse cycle. Hot water kills bacteria. You want to try to get your water temperature around 100 degrees. I turn my water heater up about an hour before I wash. Over 120 degrees can deteriorate your diapers quicker. You want to use detergent on this cycle. For Country Save it seems most people use 1 TB for hard water and 1 Teaspoon for soft water (this isn't directional-just the average I've seen in forums). Remember to measure correctly so you can adjust as necessary.
3. Warm rinse on LARGE setting. Again, I move the dial to the little rinse dot. I only have a warm rinse, if I had HOT I would do hot. This will get out any remaining detergent, and I also want any remaining bacteria killed.

A few notes to confuse you more:
1. Most detergent doesn't kill bacteria very well. Hot water does. From the little I've read, water needs to be above 140 degrees to kill all bacteria. Well over 120 can reduce the lifespan of your diapers and I know some diaper manufactures like Cotton Babies set the limit at 100 degrees or it will void your warranty, so we have a problem here. This is why I use Bac-Out on my diapers after spraying them-to kill bacteria.
2. Your wash routine will need to adjust to you preference. If you notice detergent staying on the diapers, add another rinse or reduce/change your detergent. If you notice the diapers are smelly or not getting clean increase your detergent. You can also change the first rinse to HOT water if you need more cleaning power or even add a little detergent to your first rinse. Some people wash twice.
3. The first few washes, try to peek into the washer at different times to see how the detergent looks. If there is still soap after your final rinse, you know to either decrease your detergent or add another rinse. If there isn't soap after your second rinse. You know you can skip the third rinse.
4. This routine can effect your baby too. If there is too much buildup or chemicals left on the diaper it can cause rashes or even burns. If the pee doesn't rinse out it can cause ammonia burns. Don't let this freak you out as it did me, but just keep this in mind. You want a clean rinsed diaper.
5. Confused about your amount of water? Filling your washer up about half full should do the trick. You want enough water to let the diapers agitate well, but you don't want too much...so they still agitate well. Rubbing against each other really helps them get clean.
6. My laundry room is downstairs. Really long and steep stairs. I can't hear the beep when it's done. I was first confused and thought everyone could customize their washer to do all these steps automatically. Perhaps they can (people with new fancy washers). I on the other hand have an old washer. All 3 steps I have to manually start. I've timed each cycle and now set a timer on my stove to remind me when to check the wash. Looking at the bright side, I'm getting good exercise going up and down at least 5 times per diaper load.

Now that I most likely confused you more-start out simple. Cold rinse, hot wash with detergent, cold or hot rinse. Then move to hotter water and more detergents, rinses, washes if necessary.

Drying 
Drying is hopefully much simpler. I hang dry everything. I bought a line and clothes pins from the dollar store ($2 investment-yay!) I also use these for my Christmas Cards so even better deal! I originally hung dry the covers and AIO's and threw the inserts and diapers in the dryer-but now I just find it easier to hang dry it all. It saves on power and they all get done at the same time. For those of you like me that want more information, here's some info behind drying.

Don't dry anything with PUL or waterproofing materials. Those can get ruined in a heat dryer. Check your manufacturer to be sure-but from what I've found hang drying is your best option. For anything you want to throw in the dryer, don't use dryer sheets. Those can add build up VERY QUICK to your diapers. Just stay away.

I've actually switched completely from dryer sheets to wool dryer balls before I started cloth diapering. These will help reduce dryer time, decrease static, and soften. If your interested in dryer balls my friend from The Graceful Mom makes some awesome ones! They're a lot larger than some others I've bought. Visit her Etsy store here.

Again, my laundry room is in our murky basement. It usually takes about 24 hours for our diapers to hang dry. Our wet bag takes the longest (which is why 2 wet bags is a great idea!).

The only downside of hang drying is the inserts and prefolds seems to be a little more stiff. If you want them softened, toss them in the dryer for 20 minutes or so and they should be good!

Next: Laundry Additives

Cloth Diapering: A Beginners Guide-The Detergent

Never knew there was so much to cloth diapering huh? It will get easier I promise. 2 weeks ago I was so overwhelmed with everything there was to learn, research, and decide on. Choosing a detergent was something that completely stressed me out! Let's get going.

Detergent
Choosing a detergent seriously gave me a headache. Sometimes it still does. If you want to go with a stress free, easy route the choose a detergent on this list and be done! If you're like me and have to know more about it please continue reading.

A lot of women on www.diaperswappers.com said the best laundry soap was the one that works for you-meaning there is no 'bad' soap. The diaper manufacturers freak you out though and it can void your warranty if you use a non-approved soap. It's a nightmare out there people.

Here is a list of ingredients you should avoid:
Pure Soap
Enzymes
Whiteners
Brighteners
Softeners
Fragrances (anything scented)

What happens is these ingredients will cling onto the fabric-it's what they're made for. That will create a build up and you diapers will start repelling liquid-exactly opposite of what you want it to do. Some of the ingredients like pure soap is also harsh on the laminate of your CD. Enzymes and fragrances can cause skin irritation and rashes.

To get a good look at a few popular detergents and if they're good for cloth diapering take a look at a chart like this one. If you have an HE machine, here is a chart for you.  Also, here is a list of approved detergents that CottonBabies recommends (the easy way!). Now with that said, a lot of people use Regular Tide or All F&C. They both have brighteners in them, but people love them. One thing to remember is even if you do use a non-recommended detergent and it 'ruins' your diapers, you can always fix them by stripping them. I'll do another post on stripping them later, but it's basically just washing it, alternating in really hot and cold water until there is no more buildup.

A few things to keep in mind:
-If you have soft water you'll want to use less detergent, since it's harder to rinse out. Hard water you'll want to use more. Some companies like Rockin Green have detergents made specifically for your type of water. They also sell test strips so you can test your water.
-If you have an HE washer, you'll want to find an HE compatible detergent. Normally this means it is low sudsing.
-Make sure to accurately measure your detergent.

Powder vs. Liquid
I haven't found the most concrete information on this topic, but here are a few notes I have found. In general, I think powder detergent is considered better for cloth diapers. One of the reasons I've read on this page is that liquid has ingredients in it to keep it liquid, and those ingredients are harder to rinse out. They also create build up quicker on your diapers and your washing machine. If you use a liquid, make sure to clean your washer out more frequently. The other side of this debate is that if you use a powder, dissolve it in water first. Some people believe that powder doesn't dissolve thoroughly and can cause buildup. Confusing much?? Another thing I read is that liquid is better for soft water because you need more surfactant and less softener. Powder would be better for hard water since it has more water softeners in it. I wish I could give you a concrete answer, but until I find one it's not possible. I think this is a preference issue and a trial and error issue. I wouldn't stress too much about this until you choose your detergent. Then perhaps use liquid if you have soft water and powder if you have hard water-then go from there. 

WAHM Detergents
Another category of detergents are home-made detergents. Work At Home Moms will make detergent and sell them on Etsy or the like. My first thought was to go with this category, however these are usually powder and made primarily with washing soda which is a water softener. We have soft water, so this isn't the best option for us. Who knew hard water could be a good thing??

For me, cost was also an issue. We moved to cloth to save money, so I wanted to keep our detergent economical. Another main reason we went to cloth was to keep more natural items on our little guys bum, so I really felt like we should try to stick with a more natural detergent. So I ended up choosing Country Save. It was approved, it was in budget, people liked it, I was sick of researching, DONE. I had to realize that this wasn't a one time purchase. I would probably try different detergents, and end up switching a few times like everyone else.

I received good advice from someone online. She said start out with an approved detergent. This way you can see the way the diapers should work. Then once you're comfortable, feel free to start trying your families favorite or any other detergent. My goal is to make my own in the future (that works well with soft water!).

Once your a little more into your wash routine, I suggest coming back to this link here: http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1040786 and learn more about detergent. It has some great information.

Summary
Did I confuse you even more?? I hope not! In summary I would suggest trying a detergent on the approved list. If you want natural and cost effective-go with Country Save to begin with. Once you see how your diapers should work and absorb, then feel free to try others.

UPDATE---------
6 Months later and I've switched detergents. I didn't feel like the Country Save was getting the diapers clean enough and my little guy kept getting rashes. I just made the switch to Tide Free and Gentle 3 weeks ago. I also use a 1/4 c. bleach. The diapers finally smell clean and the rashes are basically gone. He'll still get one it the moisture is on his skin too long, but mostly gone. Yay! 

Cloth Diapering: A Beginners Guide-The Process

This may seem like simple part of cloth diapering, but to me the process was SOOO confusing. How do you change them? What do you do with the diaper until you wash it? There's really no right or wrong way to to do this. I'll tell you how I do it and then other thoughts or things I've learned about it. A lot of this may be way basic information, but for me I was still interested.

Changing
So once the baby has soiled or wet his current diaper-it's time to change. Plan on changing at least every 2-3 hours at first until you know how your baby is doing with the wetness. Each diaper will wick wetness away from the skin differently so this will depend on which diapers you choose. You can adjust the time once you're more familiar with the process. I'm still changing about every 3 hours.

Some people have a changing station, changing table, etc. We're not that organized. We ditched our changing table once our boy got rolley polley on us. We change on the floor now with a fold-able pad. I have a drawer in our coffee table that I keep all the diapers, inserts, dry wipes and wipe water. You can set up your changing station in the babies room, the bathroom-really anywhere. I keep my wet bag in the bathroom next to the toilet.

As for the actual changing, lay the baby down, un-secure the diaper, and then depending on if it is a wet or dirty diaper decide if you need to use a wipe I don't wipe every time. I don't like to add extra wetness if it isn't necessary. If he's been in a wet diaper a while and I want to make sure all ammonia is wiped away, I'll use a wipe. Of course if it's a dirty diaper I'll use a wipe as well. We are in the process of changing to cloth wipes. I was using disposable, but it's just messier. I had to throw the dirty wipe away which is gross to keep in the garbage. It also adds to waste so as we are reducing waste with diapers, we may as well reduce wipes as well.

For wipes I got 24 wipes from www.Cottonbabies.com but really any cloth works, even ripped up t-shirts. I use a peri bottle I got from the hospital fill it with one squirt baby soap(about a teaspoon or less), 1 T melted coconut oil, and warm water. The coconut oil helps grab onto waste a little more. I squirt the cloth with the water and wipe the bum. I roll it all up in the diaper, put the new diaper on and done!

So a few notes:
1. I pre-stuff all of my diapers. I like having it done, especially since my hubby or my nanny could be the next one using the diaper. Some people stuff right before they put it one the diaper. This is good if you alter your absorbency (meaning how many inserts you use).
2. Some people pre-wet their wipes and keep it in a container or wipe warmer-this sounds good to me, but at 13 months my LO doesn't have a ton of dirty dipes and I think the wipes can get moldy if not used soon enough.
3. With the wipe water using the bottle it lasts for about a week. It doesn't stay warm but my LO is fine with that.
4. I'll talk more about it later, but be careful about diaper creams. Usually they're aren't diaper safe, but I'll go into this more shortly.

Spraying and Storing
Let's talk about 3 different kinds of diapers here:

Wet diaper only: Just put it in your diaper pail or bag. Done! Some people will separate the pieces at this point, I like doing that as I put it in the washer. It's just preference.
Younger baby without solid poop: Okay time to get a little yucky, but because of the consistency of baby poop, there's no need to spray off or put in the toilet. The cold rinse on the washer will get rid of everything and put it down the drain. For me this was hard to accept but after talking to a lot of moms, the washer stays clean. The other clothes don't smell like poop and all is peachy keen! Then place in the diaper pail or bag*.
Older baby with solid poop: You'll want to shake or plop the poop in the toilet. If anything is left on the diaper (or wipe) grab your diaper sprayer and spray into toilet. I just makes sure to get any pieces off. Anything else the washer will take care of. Once done, place it in the diaper pail or bag*.

Items you'll need:
Diaper Sprayer: I diaper sprayer is must for us. No more dunking and scrubbing diapers in the toilet. just grab the sprayer, spray off any waste and done. This can get water on the toilet so I just grab some TP an wipe off the seat. I got mine off of Ebay for about $30.
Storage: After you spray off the diaper you'll want some storage method until it's time to wash. Most people use a diaper pail. This can be any trash can, the white plastic ones work great. Some people buy liners for this as well which could help prevent you from having to clean it too often. My choice of storage is actually a large wetbag. I have the Planetwise Large bag that comes with a handle that can be hung on the door. Our bathroom is small, so this is a much better option for us than a large garbage can. The other awesome thing about a wet bag is it's water proof and keeps the smell in the bag really well. Even better, it can be just thrown in the washer with the diapers! I would suggest getting 2, so while one washes-the other on is in use.

Here is a great changing guide, step by step: How To Change Modern Cloth Diaper

*I use a product called Bac-Out from BioKleen on my diapers before I put them in the bag. This is a live enzyme spray that starts working on the poop and getting rid of the bacteria. After I spray the diapers. I do a quick spray of Bac-Out and then put the diaper in the bag. I'll talk more about this later in the Additives section.

Okay that's it on the process. Next up-The Wash!