My Cloth Diaper Laundry Routine

Here is how I wash my cloth diapers in my Frigidaire Frontloader Washer and Dryer. This is what works for me with my washer and dryer, my well water, etc. It may or may not work for you; everyone seems to have their own variations.

Soiled diapers go into a dry pail. In our house, this is a white plastic "kitchen" trash can with a foot pedal with a Wahmies Pail Liner. I definitely recommend a can with the foot pedal; you won't always have a free hand with dirty diapers and babies around. :) Poopy diapers get rinsed with a diaper sprayer attached to the toilet before going in the can. I have two pail liners, so while one is in the wash, the other one is in the can. I also put a couple of drops of Tea Tree Oil on the little cotton square inside the bag. There is NO smell whatsoever in the nursery. Obviously, there's a little smell when you open the can to put another diaper in, but nothing outside the can. Nothing like what Ryleigh's room smelled like when she was in sposies.

Every two or three days I carry the pail liner down to the laundry room. I dump the bag into the washer, turning it inside out as I push it into the washer. This means I never touch anything except the outside of the bag, no dirty diapers.

I run a cold rinse cycle with a spin. I then run a second cold or warm rinse cycle with no spin. This is because I am using a front loader which uses less water. Diapers are meant to soak up water. By filling the diapers with water before the wash cycle, I get more water in the washer. I was getting stinkies when I did this without the first rinse and spin cycle. My theory is that I wasn't spinning the dirt away. So now I rinse and spin and rinse again.

Next I add my soap and run a heavy cycle, which is a hot wash with an extra rinse. I alternate using EcoNuts soapnuts and Rockin Green Classic Rock. If I feel like my diapers are starting to get a little stinky (I notice it sometimes in my overnight pocket diapers -- see post on my stash), I make sure I use the Rockin Green on the next load, and that takes care of it.

Finally, I do another warm rinse and spin. I added this step at someone's suggestion when I first started getting minor stinkies. I'm thinking about taking this step out, especially when I use the soap nuts. At least trying it.

My diaper covers, snap-in gLiners, and bamboo gFlappers get hung on a drying rack in the sun (outside in warmer weather, in my sunny dining room window when it's too cold for outside). The sun is AMAZING at getting out stains. Try it. When my gFlappers are mostly dry, then they go in the dryer, along with my cloth wipes, half inserts, etc.

That's it. It's really simple. It was more complicated to type this with a wiggly baby on my lap!