How to wash cloth diapers- and everything I've learned about laundry

 This experience has taught me more about laundry than I ever though possible. 

All my life I've been doing laundry without much thought- I don't usually own anything super nice that requires washing in a particular way because that's just not my lifestyle. Most of the time I would just throw clothes in with some detergent and hit "run" and it worked for me. I had this same approach for cloth diapers and I learned quickly that I was doing it wrong. 

1. You have to run two wash cycles for cloth diapers in order to effectively clean them. 

The first one I run as a "quick wash" this is typically with warm water with no detergent. The goal of this wash is wash away all the gross stuff for lack of a better term.  By doing this you can more effectively clean your diapers. 

The second cycle should be utilizing your washers "heavy duty" settings. This is where you use detergent- I'll got more in-depth about this in a minute. This should also be on hot in order to effectively clean your diapers 

2. You can use too much detergent. 

Honestly I never really thought about this- I saw the lines on the liquid detergent caps and never thought much about it. With clothes it's not as big of a deal but with diapers its HUGE. First of all if you use too much detergent (which is roughly more than 2 tbsp of liquid detergent) and you have a high efficiency washing machine your washing machine doesn't know that you used more detergent. It assumes you used enough detergent based on the weight of the clothes in your washer and it uses the proper amount of water for the weight of the clothes. This means that the detergent doesn't fully rinse out of your clothes/diapers. When this happens to your diapers it may not be a big deal the first time but with subsequent uses eventually two things will happen- usually simultaneously 1. You diapers won't hold as much liquid because detergent is stuck in the insert and preventing it from absorbing. 2. Your diapers will start to smell- bad- even though you've run two wash cycles. Most people say this is a "barnyard smell". This is because bacteria from urine/feces trapped in the insert by the build up of detergent. 

What detergent should I use: 

I've found that liquid or powder typically works best. I tried using pods for a while but they still were too much for my diapers and I had the smell. 

I use regular powder tide on my diapers and only 1/8 of a cup. It doesn't seem like much but it is powerful. A lot of people have success with tide free and gentle if you have a baby with more sensitive skin. 

I have this horrible smell- how do I get rid of detergent build up 

First determine that it is detergent build up: do whats called a "swish test" fill a clear bowl with water and swish one of your inserts in the water for a few seconds and then remove. If the water is cloudy then you have detergent build up. This is a quick way to "spot check" that you are effectively rinsing your diapers after using detergent. 

The solution is to rinse and rinse and rinse. Depending on the severity of the build up it can be better to pressure rinse-like using your hose or running it under your tub. Other times just throwing it in the washer and running a bunch of rinse cycles until your swish test comes out clear. 

I have personally found my sweet spot is to have my washer rinse the diapers 3 times after being washed with detergent in order to effectively remove it. 

3. You can do too light of a load. 

So with cloth diapers one of the biggest questions new people ask is "how many do I need?" This depends on a few things 1. How often do you want to do laundry? 2. What is the minimum load weight required by your washer 

Honestly I've heard of people going longer in between washing but I wouldn't recommend going more than three days. After more than three days of sitting out the bacteria in your environment can convert the urine into ammonia and that smell is awful. Three days seems to be the sweet spot for us where it's a good load size and it's not too overwhelming with laundry. 

You washer has a minimum weight load size in order for it to be  balanced and clean the diapers effectively. From reading my manual I know that my washers minimum load size is roughly 4lbs of laundry. Each of my inserts weighs roughly .37lbs when filled with urine- so doing the math I need to wash at least 11 inserts to meet the minimum load requirements- this is at least 2 days worth of diapers for me. The maximum load weight on my washer is 12lbs so I know I could not do more than 33 inserts in one wash cycle. Figuring out the weight of everything and the minimum that the washer needs is how we came to our magic number of every three days. 

4. Learn about water hardness 

Again- prior to cloth diapering I never had a care in the world about water hardness. When someone would tell me that they have really hard water I would be like "ok cool" and really have no idea what that even meant. Ah to be so naive 

Hard water means that you have a lot of minerals in your tap water. There is a water hardness scale. Ideally you want to be in the middle of that scale. If you have really soft water you are going to be more prone to detergent build up and you will need to be very diligent about every ounce of detergent you put in your washer. If you have really hard water then the minerals buildup over time on your diapers and the detergent is unable to penetrate them and effectively clean them. 

Basically I found out that we have crazy hard water because slowly my diapers started to develop a smell. I kept doing the swish test and it would come out clear and I was so confused until I learned about hard water. I've never actually had our water tested- you can buy strips on Amazon or some pet stores will test it if you bring them a sample. I just googled our zip code and it showed the water hardness level in the area. Apparently we have some of the hardest water in Washington state... UGH. Once I figured this out it opened our eyes to so many other problems that we have been having- our skin was so dry, my hair felt like it was never coming clean- it was very much an "ah ha" moment 

How do I remove the minerals out of the inserts from hard water

The process is called stripping- not the fun kind. This got really popular in 2020 on Tik Tok so I'm sure many people are familiar with it. Basically I just purchased this packet called RLR on Amazon. I filled my bathtub with hot water and dumped in a packet. Then I threw in about half my cloth diapers and let them soak over night. In the morning I wring them out- you can tell its worked because they feel all gross and slimy- and then I throw them in the washing machine and run a heavy duty wash cycle with detergent. So far I've had to do this about every two months but it has worked and kept the stink away. It does take a little bit of planning but it's really not a big deal. 

5. Agitator Balls can help you clean more effectively 

If you have a front load washer like many of us do now a days you might want to consider purchasing some agitator balls (I found mine on Amazon) these are essentially just like dryer balls that go in the washer with the cloth diapers and "agitate" them more. By rubbing together more with the balls it helps to clean more effectively. I've also seen people use giant legos to the same effect- but I don't have any of those to try. Apparently these can also be useful in top loading washers as well and can also be more effective when you are washing larger items like sheets or comforters 

6. You're going to need to be more diligent about cleaning your washer on a regular basis 

Another factor that make it difficult to clean your diapers is how clean your physical washing machine is. Over time buildup from the detergent and mineral deposits from hard water can settle on the drum of the machine and make its cleaning ability less effective. My washing machine comes with a self cleaning cycle. I purchased these washing machine tablets called "Affresh" from amazon and throw one in the washer once a month and run it. The machine smells so much nicer after I do it and I think it really helps keep the cloth diapers (and my other clothes) clean. If you don't have a self clean cycle just use the hottest water with heavy duty cycle and it should have the same effect. 

PSA: Apparently Fabric softener is the devil- or at least thats what I've learned from this experience. Just don't use it-ever. It can damage washing machines. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole there is a whole corner of tick tok related to washing machines and fabric softeners. 

7. The sun is the best stain remover ever. 

Serious this goes for all things- but especially baby poop. Baby poop stains on the inserts even if they are washed with two cycles. I just put the inserts out in the sun and boom- gone. I also do this with clothes that have stains on them. In the winter months it's been a little hard but I have two front windows with ledges that get a decent amount of sun. I've been sticking really badly stained inserts in the windows and over a day or two the stains are gone. Totally random -I had a cloth bag that my husband left cough drops in a hot car and they got all melted and stained the bag red- I washed it and put it on the clothes line with the diapers and boom- gone. I'm hooked. 

8. Consider getting a clothes line or drying rack 

I had my husband build me a basic outdoor clothesline originally when we were without a dryer right before our baby was born but I continued to use it for cloth diapers and it is great. I think I am going to make it a little more pleasing to the eye next summer but from a functionality standpoint it works great. For winter I have a foldable drying rack that works well as well as an "octopus" drying rack from ikea that works great. I prefer to dry all of my covers on the line because it protects the snaps and the elastic and honestly they don't take that long to try at all because they are designed to repel liquid.