Thursday, January 15, 2009

Cloth Diapers 101: General Care

Caring for your cloth diapers:
1. Always turn your load size to the largest possible setting, regardless of how small your cloth diaper load may seem.
2. Rinse Cycle One: COLD, without detergent.
3. Wash Cycle: I use the whites setting on HOT, since it has the longest wash cycle on my machine. Use only half of your normal amount of Free and Clear detergent.
4. Rinse Cycle Two: COLD, without detergent.
5. Dry on the lowest heat setting.
*Do not use fabric softener, bleach, stain removers, or diaper rash creams like Desitin. These products compromise the absorbency of the cotton.
*If a stain occurs, try drying the diapers outside. Sunshine has a bleaching effect on white cotton. I have read that rubbing half a lemon on the stain is another natural stain remover.
It is important to frequently wash your cloth diapers. The ammonia in the urine will eventually break down the cotton, compromising its absorbency.
Let me know if you intersted in this topic. I always have more to say!

2 comments:

Laurin said...

Ok, this is so helpful! I'm thinking I might order a few all in ones and see how it goes. I think I need the easiest option to start out... :) Thanks for your help. I'm sure I'll have lots more questions.

Anonymous said...

OMG! Laura, how are you???? We are all coming to visit at the end of March i cannot wait to see y'all....i'm about to catch up on your blog!

LOVE YOU !!!

Sophie