I have been using cloth diapers for 5 years straight. I have mostly used pre-folds during this time (along with some flat diapers), which means I have had 5 years to work on my pre-fold cloth diaper wash routine. Now when my mom cloth diapered me the choices were few. Now the choices for cloth diapering are seemingly endless.
It also seems as though there are just as many wash routines as there are cloth diapers. Everyone claims theirs is the best and all others are wrong. I am just going to tell you what works for me and maybe it will be useful to you.
A few things to take into consideration when choosing your pre-fold cloth diaper wash routine are the frequency of washing, your water, and whether your baby is on solid foods/ formula or is exclusively breast fed and how hard your water is.
Is Your Baby Exclusively Breastfed?
If the answer is yes than your wash routine just got a whole lot easier. Exclusively breastfed baby poop is completely water soluble. This means that you don’t have to scrape poop off the diapers at all.
Hard Water/ Twice A Week Washing
This pre fold cloth diaper wash routine is for twice a weekish washing using our very hard water. If you don’t have hard water than you can leave the borax out. However, for us it is an essential part of the washing process.
How To Prep Pre-Fold Cloth Diapers For Washing
If your baby is exclusively breastfed than prep for washing is easy. Gather all of your diapers and pull out any snappies, disposable wipes, and wool items and place them where they belong. If you are using any covers that have washing tabs or Velcro make sure that they are hooked together so that they don’t snag anything else while washing.
Also scrape off any poop that is not exclusively breastfed baby poop. Though not fun, this is a necessary step. This can be done with a diaper sprayer in the toilet or the old-fashioned way by hand. I frequently use old shopping bags for my wet bags and I find they work great for keeping ones hands clean during this step. Disposable nitrile gloves also are a great help.
Pre-Fold Cloth Diaper Wash Routine: 1st Wash
For me the first wash is more just a really, really, really good rinse than anything else. Now I will share how I am currently doing my first wash and how I did it for months before. Currently I have a two year-old and a 5 month-old in diapers. My two year-old needs her diapers disinfected every wash otherwise she gets a rash on her buttocks.
The disinfecting step I only recommend if it is needed otherwise just leave it out. Also if you have any ideas for a more natural disinfectant I would love to hear them.
After removing the foreign objects place all of the diapers, pooped on clothes and PUL covers into the washer. Start on a cold wash with a pre-soak and extra rinse. Once the washer has started to fill with cold water add in a capful of bleach to disinfect the diapers.
Pre-Fold Cloth Diaper Wash Routine: 2nd Wash
Now that your diapers have been disinfected and rinsed they are prepared for the actual wash. Start your diapers on a hot wash cycle (pre-soak and extra rinse) with a scoop full of country save and a half scoop of borax.
Drying Your Pre-Fold Cloth Diapers
You have two options when it comes to drying the diapers, line drying and using the dryer. Line drying is preferable though this summer I have only been able to line dry my diapers a handful of times. The sunlight can help get out stubborn poop stains and help to disinfect your diapers. That being said using a dryer is just fine as well. Just make sure that you get your diapers all the way dry so that they do not mildew on you.
Now you are already to use your diapers. I find that storing them in a wicker laundry basket works best for us right now.
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