Cleaning Cloth

Warning: If discussing diaper contents is not for you, neither is this post.

When I talk about making the switch from disposables to cloth diapers, some friends are intrigued, and others think I am insane. Regardless of which camp they're in, the biggest question remains, "How do you clean them?"

The simplest answer is that I just throw them in the washing machine. Really. There's no swishing diapers in the toilet or soaking poopy diapers in pails at our house. Those would be dealbreakers for me. It's true that choosing to be more environmentally conscious requires a little extra effort, but cloth diapering has been an easy change for us to make. Our routine adds maybe ten minutes to my day, and that's rounding up. While everyone has a slightly different method, if you're thinking about using cloth diapers and want to know the specifics of how we do things, read on.

1. Put dirty diapers in the dirty diaper pail.
Clean diaper from the basket goes on the baby's butt, dirty diaper goes into the pail. Pretty similar to diposables, huh? Except that, rather than a trash bag, I put a washable pul pail liner in the tall kitchen trashcan that we use as a diaper pail. If I put a flushable liner* in the diaper, the liner goes straight into the pail with the wet diaper at changing time. (In addition to being flushable, the liners are also machine washable, up to 3-4 times.) If there is poo in the diaper, I pick up two corners of the liner, drop it in the toilet and flush.** Then, I put the diaper in the dirty diaper pail. Occasionally a little bit of poo gets on the diaper, but it will come out in the wash with no special treatment.

2. Wash the diapers.
We've experimented with doing diaper laundry at different times of the day, but starting it after bathtime works best for us. I carry the pail liner full of diapers to the laundry room and dump the contents into the washing machine, making sure to turn the bag inside out and leaving it in the machine to wash. There's a fine line between using too little detergent and not getting the diapers clean, and using too much and ending up with lots of soap bubbles in the fabric, but filling the measuring scoop half-way to the first mark seems to work for us. I program the washing machine to do a pre-wash, a hot wash with cold rinse, then an extra rinse to remove the last of the soap bubbles, and around an hour later, the diapers are clean!

3. Dry the diapers.
I take out the pail liner and any diaper covers*** we've washed and hang them to dry (the dryer can ruin the waterproofing after awhile). Then I put everything else in the dryer, along with a dry bath towel to speed up the process. The next morning, I take the diapers out and put them away. If any diapers aren't completely dry (which occasionally happens with our all-in-ones), I hang them over the shower curtail rail until they dry or just turn on the dryer for 10 more minutes.

And that's it! We generally do diaper laundry every night, but our stash is finally large enough that we may switch to an every other night schedule soon. If you'd like to know what brands we use, send me a message and I will be more than happy to share. If you are looking for more opinions, the Diaper Swappers forum is a great place to get ideas on everything cloth diaper-related.
*We started using Imse Vimse flushable liners when W started solids. In my opinion, they're optional since the poo usually flips into the potty easily. My husband disagrees. When babies are eating solely breastmilk or formula, the poo diapers can go directly into the wash. They don't need a liner and the poo doesn't need to be flushed. Yes, your machine will be clean after washing the diapers. I promise. :-)

**Whether using cloth or disposable diapers, once your baby starts solids you should be flushing their poo. Human waste in landfills creates very serious health hazards, such as ground water contamination and airborne viruses, spread by flies and other insects.

***Fitted diapers require a waterproof cover that are washed on an as-needed basis. All-in-ones do not have a separate cover because, as the name suggests, it's one piece. We have a mix of both kinds of diapers.