Cleaning Cloth Diapers

Before I started using my cloth diapers, I read a lot of things about how to clean diapers.  Seems like everyone has their own system and opinions about what is best.  It was interesting to see what people do, and it helped me figure out my washing routine.  This is what works for me.

The Diaper Pail:

A simple garbage can works well.

I use flip top garbage can for the diaper pail.  I have a Planet Wise reusable pail liner I bought online.  I use a dry pail.  I do not put any solution in it, and I do not soak the diapers in anything before washing them.  I also put all prefolds, diaper covers, reusable wipes, fleece liners, pocket diapers, and inserts into the pail.  If there is poop on the diaper, I dump the poop in the toilet.  Usually that is a pretty easy job especially with the fleece liner.  For more messy poops, I use the diaper sprayer that I installed.  You could also just swish the diaper in the toilet bowl if you don't have a diaper sprayer.  That sounds really gross, but you can do it without actually putting your hand in the toilet.  If there is no poop, I just throw the diaper into the pail.

Diaper pail liners.  Get 2 because you'll want to wash them.

With the pocket diapers, I often forget to pull out the insert.  It isn't a big deal though because they usually work their way out during the rinse.  And if they don't, it is a lot more pleasant pulling out the inserts after the rinse.

Also, if you have velcro diaper covers or velcro pocket diapers, remember to attach the velcro to the laundry tabs before throwing them into the pail.  They scratch up the prefolds.

At first I was afraid I'd have a big stink problem, but I do not.  I think it really helps to flush the poop before putting it into the pail.  I wash the diapers about every 3-4 days.

Washing Routine:
I have a front loading machine.  I put the contents of the pail liner into the washer.  I'm able to turn it inside out into the washer and avoid having to touch the actual dirty diapers.  Then I throw the liner into the washer too.  

I do a rinse cycle with cold water.  On my machine there is rinse and extra rinse.  I do both.  The cycle is about 30 minutes.

After the rinse, I check the diapers to make sure none of the inserts are still stuffed inside the pocket diapers.  Most of the time the inserts will come out by themselves.  Occasionally I need to pull a few out.  I also double check the velcro tabs if there are any.  They scratch the prefolds and make them snaggy.

After checking the diapers, I do the wash cycle.  The soap I use for my diapers is Rockin Green.  http://rockingreensoap.com/

This soap has worked well for me.

I'm sure there are many great soaps out there for cleaning diapers.  This is the only soap I have tried.  I really like it, and I haven't had any issues.  Rockin Green has a hard water version which is perfect for Colorado.  One bag of the soap lasts about 6 months for me.

From what I've read, you should choose your soap wisely.  Some soaps (even free & clear) can build up in the diapers, and cause them to be less absorbent and leak!  Also never use fabric softener with the diapers.  This also causes them to be less absorbent.  Different websites have different opinions about soaps, so you have to figure out which soap works best for you.

Using too much soap can also cause them to be less absorbent.  I use anywhere from 1-2 tablespoons of soap depending on how big the load is.

I wash the diapers in extra hot water.  My machine has a sanitary mode.  I also do the extra rinse.  The entire cycle lasts about 2 hours.

Drying the Diapers:
In the summer, I hang everything outside to dry.  They seem to dry a lot faster out in the sun.  I live in Colorado, so we get a lot of sun.

During the winter I dry the liners, wipes and prefold diapers in the dryer.  I do not use dryer sheets.  I use wool dryer balls.  I air dry the diaper pail bag, diaper covers and pocket diapers.  The pocket diapers say they can be tumble dried, but I haven't done it.

I know this looks like a lot of work, but it really doesn't take very long.  The washing machine does most of the work.

DIY Cloth Diaper Cake

Making a Cloth Diaper Cake

This past summer, one of my good friends had a baby.  So I decided to make a cloth diaper cake for her.  I ordered some prefold diapers off of Amazon.  In this cloth diaper cake I used 18 Size 1 Osocozy Prefolds and 12 Size 2 Osocozy Prefolds.  I also made some fleece diaper liners and flannel reusable baby wipes (useful and decorative).

Materials to Gather:

18 Small Prefold Diapers
12 Large Prefold Diapers
Ribbon
Floral Pins (optional)
Reusable Baby Wipes
Reusable Diaper Liners
Anything else you want to decorate the cake with

Building the Cake:

Begin by rolling the diapers.  Fold the diapers in half, and then roll them.

I used a floral pin to hold the diaper roll together.

After you have rolled up the diapers, gather all of the small diapers.  Arrange them in a circle.

 Keep adding rolls until you have included all of the diapers.

Then use a long piece of ribbon to tie the rolls together.  Wrap the ribbon around the outside of the bundle.  Wrap it around several times tightly, and then tie a bow. You want it to be easy to disassemble.

Then gather all of the large diapers.  Do the same steps with the large diapers and then tie them together with a ribbon.

After the diapers are tied together, remove the floral pins.

Since I had more small diapers than large, I used the small diaper bundle for the bottom layer of the cake, and the large bundle of diapers for the top layer of the cake.  Depending on the number of diapers you use, you can decide what will look better for your cake.

Decorating the Cake:

Now that the cake layers are built, you can focus on decorations.  For my decorations, I used reusable baby wipes and liners.  I folded and rolled the liners and wipes into flower-like shapes.

Fold one edge of the liner.

Then roll the liner diagonally.

Keep rolling.

Then twist the end and fold it down. Use a floral pin to keep the end in place. 

After rolling several of the liners, you can bunch them together and tie them with ribbon.  After tying them, remove the floral pins.

I also rolled and tied flannel baby wipes.

Decorate your cake with other accessories.  I added a pack of Snappies too.

Then the cake is finished. 

I had to play around with the cake before I was happy with the final result.  Good luck!