What Is Your Washing Routine for Cloth Diapers? I'm Not Sure I'm Doing It Right.

I do a cold pre-rinse, a wash on hot, and an extra cold rinse. My diapers have some bad staining (I can't wait to get them all outside!)

I think staining is just going to happen. Some brands stain worse than others,but they all need the sun and some lemon juice to brighten them up. I stopped worrying about the stains 2 years ago.

I also throw all of my diapers in the dryer. I know I probably shouldn't, but I like the convenience, and honestly, I've been using my diapers for 3 years now, and after getting washed every other day for almost 3 years, I am amazed at what great shape they are all in, and I have no doubt a friend of mine will be able to use a bunch of them on her next kid.

So, don't worry about it. I am sure they will last for the next baby, mine easily have --my stash is mostly BG.

I do all of my diapers with a cold rinse, hot wash, and then two cold rinses. I line dry all of my diapers/covers/inserts, but fluff them on hot for 5ish minutes after they come in. I've been following this routine for 8 months now and things are going great. I would stick with hot unless you see that your PUL backed covers are having issues.

The sun does WONDERS for stains! EBF yellow stains couldn't hold a candle to the power of the sun. Make sure you hang them out wet with full sun- sometimes I hang too early or late for full benefit, so I'll take a spray bottle out and rewet the problem areas and let them hang longer.

I rinsed the diapers in the toilet and wring them out before putting them in the diaper pail.
I washed a load of diapers every other day.
No soaking, no special treatment, no bleaching, no multiple rinses.
I wash everything in cold water. I washed diapers in cold water, used the same detergent as the rest of the laundry (Arm & Hammer).

My routine has been the same since i started CD'ing 3 years ago. I wash my diapers first in cold/cold water with NO detergent, then add rockin green (usually 2 heaping TBS) and run it again on a hot/cold cycle. My aplix diapers I hang to dry, the rest I throw in the dryer on low. It's worked for me so far and am going on my third child to be cloth diapered. Good luck finding a routine that works for you.

I always soaked mine in a bucket with water and tea tree oil until it was time to wash them. If the diapers had solid waste, I dumped it in the toilet; if it was especially icky I would rinse it off before adding it to the bucket. If you have trouble getting your detergent to dissolve, put it in a bit of hot water to do so before adding adding it to the dispenser. Or even add it to your washer as the water is filling up before adding your diapers. I know this isn't possible if you have a front load which is why you may have to dissolve it before adding. My front load has that problem with some powders so I just dissolve it first. Unless there were a lot of poopy diapers in a load, I never rinsed them first, and I would wash with hot on all of them (I had a very eclectic collection and I did not have the time to sort through them; I never ruined any diapers unless I forgot one in it's plastic baggie under a seat in the van or something.)

Why are you drying the inserts etc. on low? Especially if you know you'll just have to put them back in. You could certainly hang dry the inserts. You could even put them in on low a bit but instead of putting them back in the dryer, hang them up then. Since your stash is small, the biggest thing you have to do now is to get into a routine so you could hang dry all of your stuff but still have nice dry clean dipes for her when you need them. Yes, it is entirely possible. A friend of mine doesn't have a dryer and she has to hang dry everything; she has two little ones in diapers. She figured out how long it takes for the stuff to dry, how many dipes she needed a day (throwing in a few extras for unexpected stuff), how many cloth wipes and she went from there. It is easier when you have a bigger stash going but still possible with a small one. Until you do, if you want to hang, you will have to do her soiled diapers every day. In my routine (hanging outside in the summer and sometimes inside) I had to do mine every 2 days.

I didn't really care about the stains but I also rarely had them. The sun does take care of a lot. Country Save has a powdered bleach that I sometimes use if I feel the need.

This link has some info you may like. It's the same site I sent to my sis when her baby was born and she was asking questions (and too impatient to really listen to me. ) http://www.diaperpin.com/howto.asp

When my babies are exclusively breastfed (as my youngest is right now) I just collect the diapers in a dry diaper pail for a few days. Then run a cold rinse cycle followed by a hot wash with a touch of a free 'n clear detergent and about 1/2 c baking soda. I add about 1/2 c white vinegar to the cold rinse, and sometimes run a second rinse. I am machine drying them right now, but I hang to dry in warmer weather (run them in the dryer for about 10 min at the end to fluff/soften them). The sun really does wonders, even for old stains from the winter. You could try a stain spray, I have heard Dreft has a good one. But I don't bother, just wait for the sun. Even a sunny window will help, but it is still not as good as summer sun. As they start solids I will rinse out BMs in the toilet before dropping the diaper in the pail. I considered getting a diaper sprayer to attach to the toilet, but know that my three yo would think it was the coolest toy, probably not worth it for me. But I hear they are pretty nice to have. I am using the same prefolds I bought when my first was born (I just had my 4th) and they are still in really good shape, even still pretty white (when we see the sun). I have bleached them only 2-3 times since I got them, in general you should avoid bleach. I don't have any AIO, so nothing to add about them. I use hemp inserts as night doublers sometimes and wash/dry them just like my prefolds. Hope you find a system that works for you. Good for you for going cloth, a little extra work, but totally worth it in my opinion.
S.

It sounds like you have a good wash routine. If it's working for you and your diapers are getting clean, stick with it. Every person you ask will have a different wash routine. What works for one person may or may not work for another. Your wash routine will probably change as your baby's output changes. What worked when your baby was exclusively breast fed might not work once he/she starts solids. Just when I think I have THE wash routine down, you know, the one that is gonna work forever ..... something changes & it just doesn't work anymore. So I have to adjust my routine accordingly. It's an evolving process! I think you should be okay to wash all of your diapers on hot, but you might want to check with the specific manufacturers to be sure if you're worried about voiding your warranty or something. If you have diapers with PUL, just make sure your hot water isn't too hot or you can ruin your PUL. I think Cotton Babies (makers of bumGenius) recommend 100 degrees. Are you on facebook? If so, you should check out DiaperShops.com and look at their discussions tab. There is usually alot of discussion about laundry routines. You can learn alot from reading other people's posts. Or you can submit your own question. Stacy, the moderator, is very knowledgable!