Parents may be daunted by the mess and complicated diaper care routines they remember from their childhood. But most modern cloth-diapering parents care for their child's diapers mainly with a washing machine, detergent and a dry bucket for storing dirty diapers.
There are some simple, modern innovations that can make cloth diapering simpler and easier. Below is an outline of simple diaper care procedures, and where modern innovations may be able to help streamline the process.
Using New Cloth Diapers
Before using brand new cloth diapers, parents will want to wash out the chemicals from the manufacturing process, which can cause a rash on some babies. Simply wash and dry (either on a clothes line or in a dryer) the diapers 3-5 times before using. For more on choosing what type of cloth diaper fits different needs, check out "Cloth Diapering Basics: How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby".
Storing Dirty Diapers
Many parents remember from their childhood the mess of storing dirty diapers in a pail of water, and of dunking diapers in a toilet. There are simpler options available to modern parents! If the child is exclusively breast-fed (doesn't yet eat solid foods and doesn't eat man-made formula), all dirty diapers can be stored in a dry bucket until laundry day. Bowel movements that are only breast milk are water soluble, and will easily wash out in today's washing machines without any prior rinsing.
If the baby eats some solids or man-made formula, bowel movements need a little more help to wash out. Excess waste can be dumped or rinsed off the diaper before storing in a dry bucket. If it's solid enough, it can simply dump into the toilet. If not, a cloth diaper sprayer, which attaches to the toilet, can spray the diapers off directly into the toilet. These are usually available for purchase over the internet, and are similar to a kitchen sink sprayer.
Diaper sprayers are much neater and simpler to use than wet pails or toilet dunking, with no buckets of water to present drowning hazards. Another option is paper liners that fit right into the cloth diaper and can be simply removed with the waste on them and flushed down the toilet. These are inexpensive, and available on the internet and specialty cloth diapering stores.
Some parents worry about diaper pail odors. One of the best ways to keep this under control is to wash frequently, at least every 2 or 3 days. Sprinkling baking soda in the bottom of the diaper pail, with a few drops of lavender oil or tea tree oil, will also keep smells at bay. There are diaper pail disks available for the diaper pail that work similar to an air freshener. It is rare to have diaper pail odors if the baby is exclusively breast-fed. Even if the child eats man-made formula or has started to eat solids, a parent will probably find these extra steps unnecessary if diapers are washed frequently.
Washing Dirty Diapers
Unless there are unusual circumstances, most soiled diapers are going to get clean with the following simple procedure. Washing every 2 or 3 days will help prevent pail odors, as well as help prevent stains from setting into diapers.
- Place load of diapers, including pail liner, loosely in the wash barrel. Be careful to not over-load, as the diapers need room to agitate to get clean.
- Wash on a normal cycle, with detergent, on cold. This gets a lot of the waste off the diapers without setting any stains.
- Wash on a normal cycle with detergent on hot. This gets the rest of the waste off the diapers and adds a sanitary step of heat.
- Wash on a short cycle with no detergent to rinse out all detergent, which can cause a rash if not completely rinsed out. If the machine has an extra rinse cycle, try using it after the hot wash cycle to see if it gets diapers adequately rinsed. Suds in the machine after the final rinse, or diaper rashes on the baby are indications that detergent is not rinsing out completely.
- Tumble dry according to manufacturers instructions, or outside on a clothesline.
Troubleshooting Laundry Problems
Smell the diapers when taking them out of the wash. If it doesn't smell clean, it's not! If parents find their diapers are not getting clean enough, some culprits can include:
- Using too much detergent. This is one of the most common culprits.
- Detergent not rinsing out well enough. If suds remain in the wash barrel at the end of the cycle, perhaps try lengthening the last wash cycle to a normal cycle instead of using short.
- Adding an oxygen cleaner on the hot cycle can help with cleaning. It's not recommended to add bleach to cloth diapers, as bleach can wear out diapers much faster. Oxygen cleaners are gentler.
Choosing a Diaper Detergent
Choosing a detergent is more complicated with the advent of synthetics. Parents will want to avoid using any detergent that contain whiteners, brighteners, or other "improvements", as they can leave build-up on diapers. The fewer additives in the detergent, the better. Some of the favorites of cloth diapering parents are: Sun Powder, Charlie's Soap (available online with free shipping), Bi-O-Kleen Laundry powder, Ecover powder, BioPac, and Seventh Generation.
Caring for cloth diapers doesn't have to be much more complicated than caring for the rest of the family laundry. Many parents find a foolproof routine that works for them after a little bit of experimentation. This procedure can give parents a good place to start with a simple wash routine, and some suggestions for troubleshooting.
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