So your cloth diapers are all used and dirty. Now, how do you wash them? Your diapers may have come with instructions for washing. Please follow them! I cannot stress this enough. I ruined my first set of diapers by not washing them correctly. You can also follow my cloth diaper wash routine below.
*This post contains affiliate links. That just means if you click through one of my links and purchase something, I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy.
My Cloth Diaper Wash Routine
Dump the Solids
First, you need to dump the solids into the toilet. If it’s not dumpable and stuck, you can use a cloth diaper sprayer. If you don’t have one, you can use an old spatula to scrape it off or just swish it around in there until the bulk of it comes off. I bought this showerhead with a strong jet setting as an alternative to a diaper sprayer. It was cheaper and I like it better because I can spray with hot water, which helps tremendously if I forget to spray the diaper right away and it’s pretty stuck on there. Check out this post for more reasons to use a showerhead instead. If you are using a diaper sprayer, you might want to invest in a Spray Pal. It has a clip to hold the diaper while you spray and shields the tiny droplets of poo water from going everywhere.
When the solids are off the best you can do, store them in a dry pail. It’s nice to have a couple of pail liners so you can just dump the whole thing in the wash and toss it in there with the diapers. You can also use pillowcases as pail liners!
Wash Day
I normally wash whenever our diaper pail is full, about every 2-3 days. On wash day, empty the pail into your washer and do a pre-rinse cycle with warm water. No additives.
Then, wash on hot with a cloth diaper-safe detergent. Tide original powder is what I use and is supposed to be safe for cloth diapers.
Rinse again in warm water.
Dry
Tumble dry absorbent parts on medium. And hang up diaper parts that contain plastic snaps or elastic!
This is where I ruined my first diapers. I didn’t have anywhere to hang my pocket diaper shells, so I would always dry them in the dryer. But, close to potty training Garreth, my dryer broke to where max heat for the longest time was the only setting it worked on. After a couple of months of drying them like this, I had at least one snap broken off on each diaper and every single leg and back elastic was shot.
Since then, I bought this handy clip hanger that I love! It can clip onto your shower rod or something similar. I clip it on our swing set when I want to sun the diapers to get the stains out. You could hang it on a small tree branch, too.
If you want a way more in-depth article for washing your cloth diapers, check out this post at Mom Loves Best!
Now for the printable! I like to have wash instructions written down for when I start using a wash routine, otherwise, I’ll forget. It’s also really nice to have for your spouse or anyone else that ever has to wash them. My husband doesn’t do laundry very often, so I guess I should really print this off for us too!
Download the FREE Cloth Diaper Wash Routine Printable
You can get the FREE cloth diaper wash routine printable by signing up below. Plus, you’ll get access to all of our other free printables in the exclusive Printables Library!
Do you have your own cloth diaper wash routine, or do you follow the diaper’s instructions?
Related Posts:
Cloth Diapers – 16 Reasons You’ll Love Them
Cheap Cloth Diapers – 10 Tips To Getting Them Free Or Cheap
11 Cloth Diaper Accessories I Wish I Had From The Start
Finished With Cloth Diapers? What To Do With Them