Diaper Laundry Routines

[Eclectic]

I started wearing adult cloth diapers at night when I was about 25. That was 30 years ago. Over the years, I’ve tried all manner of cloth laundering routines, many of which you can find on cloth diaper sites. However, those are for baby cloth diapers, which are much smaller and hold much less bodily waste.

My current cloth diaper routine consists of the following:

Night time diapers, boosters and liners are thrown in the top loader LG machine in the morning for a 20 min quick rinse and spin. I don’t add any detergent, just a cup of white vinegar. Once done, I hang them on a drying rack. Once dried, they are thrown in a dry pail, which is a white plastic garbage can with a lid.

After I accumulate four day’s worth of these I put them back in the washer. This time I wash them with a fragrance free hypoallergenic detergent (I’m allergic to the most popular detergents), add a cup of vinegar, and wash in hot water with a soak and a rinse cycle. These go in the dryer and then get folded and put back on the shelf.

Again, this is my latest routine. I’ve done lots of different versions, including using a wet pail. I’m curious to hear how others launder their soiled cloth diapers.

 

[Rita]

I don't wear cloth diaper. But I do wash my diaper covers on the softest washing machine setting and let them air dry. Mostly my ruffle diaper covers are the ones I take extra care of and hand wash .

 

[CheshireCat]

When home, I diaper using a day weight Birdseye prefold that is one size too big. The extra length is folded back down in front for extra absorption. I double that with a proper sized day weight Birdseye prefold folded as a pad down the center. I will go through 4-5 diaper changes during the day and then diaper for bedtime. Thats 10-12 prefold diapers in a day. I have an extra large high efficiency front loading washer and that's enough diapers for a good load, so I run a load a day.

If I'm not doing other wash that day, I put wet diapers straight into the washer. If I have other washing to do, I put wet diapers in a bucket in my shower.

I pour a small amount of white vinegar over each set of wet diapers when I put them in washer or pail, to soak until I run the load of diapers after changing into bedtime diapers. When I run the load, I first do a rinse and spin, then a hot wash with an all natural, plant based detergent, and add an extra rinse and spin. They go in the dryer in the morning on a low heat setting, get folded, and stacked on my closet shelf.

This is the routine my wife started nearly 30 years ago, based on her dealing with our kids cloth diapers. She used Borax as well with the kids diapers, but didn't think it was necessary with mine. I've never had skin issues from cloth diapers, only the beginnings of rash when wearing disposables.

I use snap-on plastic pants and PUL pants. The plastic pants I fully open to hand wash in the shower and hang them over plastic hangers to dry. The PUL pants I fully open, throw each one into a separate lingerie bag and throw them in the washing machine and dryer. The PUL pants get washed with whites at a cooler setting, not with my diapers.