HE Cloth Diaper Routine

I recently made the switch to full time cloth diapering, which means I had to perfect my washing routine. No more getting away with tossing stuff in the sanitize cycle and walking away.

I'm no expert, but from what I've read, the most important part of washing cloth diapers is using lots of water. HE (high efficiency) washing machines are made to use as little water as possible. So that makes washing diapers a challenge.

The first few washes my diapers came out smelling...weird. Not bad, like they were dirty, but kind of musty and earthy. Clean diapers should come out of the wash smelling like nothing, so obviously that wasn't working. I read this was probably detergent build up. As these diapers came to me second hand, it was definitely possible! Because I don't have a good ol' water wasting top loader, I used my bathtub to help me strip the detergent out. I filled the (clean!) tub with cold water and loaded up the diapers. After a few swishes, it was obvious there was detergent in the diapers. I swished and swished then drained the tub and filled it again about 6 times. I then ran 8-10 rinse and spin cycles before they finally came out smelling like NOTHING. Hooray!

I hunted around and I saw that some people open their detergent drawer and add water through it. That's a great idea, except you void the factory warranty and run the risk of damaging your washing machine by adding extra weight the washer isn't accommodating for. If I owned my washer and dryer, I'd absolutely take the risk for clean dipes without 10,000 wash cycles every time, but I don't, so I had to come up with something else.

HE washers weigh your laundry before adding water so the least amount of water can be used. Diapers are absorbent, so that tiny amount of water gets soaked up in the diapers and they flop around not getting clean. So, here's what I've come up with. I am using a Kenmore Elite High Efficiency machine.

• Saturate diapers with water before tossing them in. There is a utility sink in my laundry room. I fill it with cold water and soak the diapers in it. It's a bit messy transferring the diapers from the sink to the washer
• One Kids wearcycle with detergent, on warm/warm, 2nd rinse, and auto soak options
• One Express cycle on cold, 2nd rinse, heavy soil level, no detergent
• One Rinse&Spin cycle, No detergent. After this cycle I pull the dipes out and smell them. If I smell anything they go back in for another rinse.

I sun my diapers when I can, but if I don't have the time (or the daylight), I tumble dry. Be sure to check your diapers' specifications on using the dryer!

My diapers have come out smelling fresh and clean. It takes a bit of extra work, but I am successfully full time cloth diapering with an HE machine and my dipes are pristine!

What's your wash routine? 

Cloth wipes... Again!

Since its gotten a bit colder, my cloth wipe solution isn't working for me anymore! My diaper station is right next to the window and the coconut oil solidifies in the bottle, making the solution a pain to get out of the bottle and a huge mess when it finally sprays out! I fiddled around and have landed on this recipe as my new favorite:

1T Avocado oil
2T baby shampoo
1/2tsp vitamin E oil (or one capsule broken open)
5 drops GSE
10 drops TTO
10 1/2 cups distilled water

You can adjust the recipe if you feel this makes too much, I just like to make a lot at once so I don't have to worry about it.

Tea Tree oil and grapefruit seed extract are both antibacterial and fungus fighting. Because this makes such a large batch, I like to have the essential oils in to be sure no bacterias can grow. Alternatively, GSE is wonderful against yeast. If you're fighting thrush or yeast diaper rash, up the GSE by a few drops.

I keep my solution in a spray bottle and wet each individual wipe before I use it. Soaking the wipes in solution and then storing them wet sets up the perfect breeding ground for nasty bacteria, so if you decide to pre moisten your wipes, add a bit extra tea tree oil to combat the bacteria (but be aware of your baby's sensitive skin!).

A few people have asked if I use disposable wipes for outside the home. I don't. Instead, I have a small bottle (a little plastic spray bottle from the travel section) full of solution and a couple wipes in the diaper bag for when we go out. Dirty wipes go in the wet bag and come home with us!

Let me know how this works for you! :)