Posted by: Amy Fong
One of the biggest deterrents to trying cloth diapering is laundry. Like many others, before I got into cloth diapering, the mere thought of putting a poopy diaper into my washing machine was horrifying. In addition, I did not believe that I could keep up with the extra loads of laundry that cloth diapering would entail. I worked a busy full time job, often with very long days, and figuring out what we were having for dinner each night was a challenge in itself. I had no time to deal with extra laundry, let alone poopy laundry.
As it turned out, once we transitioned to cloth diapers, the laundry was not as onerous as I had expected. We lived in a condo at the time, and the time that it took to haul our garbage bag of disposable diapers down the elevator to the common garbage room and come back up (approximately 5 minutes) was about equal to the time that it took to walk down the hallway to our washer and dryer, dump out the dirty cloth diapers from our wet bag into our top loader washer, scoop in some laundry detergent and push a few buttons. Our wash routine consisted of: 1. Cold rinse; 2. Hot wash with laundry detergent; 3: Cold rinse; and 4: Second cold rinse. The only additional inconvenience is that prior to placing soiled diapers in the wet bag, we had to properly dispose of poop in the toilet (although for environmental contamination reasons, poop in a disposable diaper should also be dumped into the toilet before tossing the diaper into the garbage -- but seriously, who do you know actually does that?). However, there are many ways to deal with poop that will get the poop into the toilet, without requiring you to touch the poop. Our preferred poop-rinsing tool is the diaper sprayer. It's great for rinsing out potties too!
One of the biggest deterrents to trying cloth diapering is laundry. Like many others, before I got into cloth diapering, the mere thought of putting a poopy diaper into my washing machine was horrifying. In addition, I did not believe that I could keep up with the extra loads of laundry that cloth diapering would entail. I worked a busy full time job, often with very long days, and figuring out what we were having for dinner each night was a challenge in itself. I had no time to deal with extra laundry, let alone poopy laundry.
As it turned out, once we transitioned to cloth diapers, the laundry was not as onerous as I had expected. We lived in a condo at the time, and the time that it took to haul our garbage bag of disposable diapers down the elevator to the common garbage room and come back up (approximately 5 minutes) was about equal to the time that it took to walk down the hallway to our washer and dryer, dump out the dirty cloth diapers from our wet bag into our top loader washer, scoop in some laundry detergent and push a few buttons. Our wash routine consisted of: 1. Cold rinse; 2. Hot wash with laundry detergent; 3: Cold rinse; and 4: Second cold rinse. The only additional inconvenience is that prior to placing soiled diapers in the wet bag, we had to properly dispose of poop in the toilet (although for environmental contamination reasons, poop in a disposable diaper should also be dumped into the toilet before tossing the diaper into the garbage -- but seriously, who do you know actually does that?). However, there are many ways to deal with poop that will get the poop into the toilet, without requiring you to touch the poop. Our preferred poop-rinsing tool is the diaper sprayer. It's great for rinsing out potties too!
Cloth diaper laundry doesn't have to be complicated. If our one-year-old can help with washing her own diapers, you too can do cloth diaper laundry! :-)
Four years ago, when we started cloth diapering with our oldest child, we coasted along for several months without any problems -- no stink, very rare leaks. Then one day, the stinkies arrived (i.e. the dreaded ammonia smell), and unfortunately, the smell didn't just magically disappear after the next wash. I was determined to tackle the problem early on before it got worse. We were washing our stash (consisting mainly of all-in-ones and pocket diapers) in natural, clean-rinsing/residue-free laundry detergents, and I was following the guidelines recommended at the time by several cloth diaper manufacturers -- which was to use only 1/4 of the laundry detergent amount recommended on the package. I suspected that the stink we were experiencing was being caused by not using enough detergent. Once I increased the amount being used to the full amount recommended on the package, the stinkies disappeared. Problem solved. (Note that in other cases, using too much detergent may be the source of problems as well.)
For our second child, the stinkies surfaced a little earlier, when she was about 3 months of age. There were some changes in our laundry circumstances. By then, we had moved to a new home and we were using a different washing machine (albeit still a top loader). In the past, we had randomly picked the diapers that we used at any given time, and therefore cycled through all of them pretty evenly. Now, we were letting our oldest pick out the diapers for her baby sister. Like many three-year-olds tasked with the responsibility of making important decisions, she was opinionated about which diaper we were to put on baby. At night, we were only permitted to use appropriately themed night time diapers, namely, the blue starry one or the black planets one. It turned out that those night time diapers were our most problematic to clean since they were saturated night after night with concentrated night time pee--our youngest was a much better sleeper than her older sister and so she wore her overnight diaper for 11 to 12 hours straight. Again I did some tweaking, and found that soaking the diapers for 1 hour in hot water and 3 tbsp non-chlorine oxygen bleach and laundry detergent prior to starting the wash cycle generally worked to eliminate the stink. Also, when our three-year-old wasn't looking, we'd swap out the baby's diaper with one that wasn't one of the pre-approved night-time options. This helped cycle through the diapers more evenly and gave the blue starry or black planet diapers a rest from potent night-time pee. Again, problem solved, without having to make any drastic changes or follow a 20-step, 8 hour long procedure.
For our second child, the stinkies surfaced a little earlier, when she was about 3 months of age. There were some changes in our laundry circumstances. By then, we had moved to a new home and we were using a different washing machine (albeit still a top loader). In the past, we had randomly picked the diapers that we used at any given time, and therefore cycled through all of them pretty evenly. Now, we were letting our oldest pick out the diapers for her baby sister. Like many three-year-olds tasked with the responsibility of making important decisions, she was opinionated about which diaper we were to put on baby. At night, we were only permitted to use appropriately themed night time diapers, namely, the blue starry one or the black planets one. It turned out that those night time diapers were our most problematic to clean since they were saturated night after night with concentrated night time pee--our youngest was a much better sleeper than her older sister and so she wore her overnight diaper for 11 to 12 hours straight. Again I did some tweaking, and found that soaking the diapers for 1 hour in hot water and 3 tbsp non-chlorine oxygen bleach and laundry detergent prior to starting the wash cycle generally worked to eliminate the stink. Also, when our three-year-old wasn't looking, we'd swap out the baby's diaper with one that wasn't one of the pre-approved night-time options. This helped cycle through the diapers more evenly and gave the blue starry or black planet diapers a rest from potent night-time pee. Again, problem solved, without having to make any drastic changes or follow a 20-step, 8 hour long procedure.
Finally, let's talk laundry detergent. Detergent can be a touchy subject. Everyone has a different opinion on which detergent to use. We can't provide you with a chart of detergent recommendations. Because what works for one person is not necessarily going to work for another. Everyone has different chemical sensitivities, water composition and pH level, machine type, machine cycles, water temperature-- there are just so many variables. Just because your brand of detergent is not recommended by someone else does not mean you should stop using it. But if the detergent you are using isn't working out, and you want specific recommendations, the best thing to do is to ask people who are local to you, in similar circumstances (e.g. water, machine type, diaper type) and who have been cloth diapering successfully for some time. Take any recommendations you are given with a grain of salt. Including mine, of course.
No matter which detergent you end up using, I think it's important to make an informed choice. While washing machines generally do a great job of rinsing out detergent, trace amounts can and often do remain on your clothing. Much of this residue comprises chemicals that aren't even necessary for cleaning -- such as fragrances and optical brighteners. They are formulated to stick to your clothes (and your washing machine, and everything else they may come into contact with) to make you think that your clothes are getting cleaned. Even detergents which are labelled as "fragrance-free" can contain synthetic musks, which mask smells and are suspected to be endocrine disruptors.
Washing cloth diapers doesn't need loads of time or a hefty instructional manual to figure out. If you do run into a problem, tackle the issue early on, tweaking your routine by adjusting one thing at a time. And once you have a routine that works for you, stick with it!
No matter which detergent you end up using, I think it's important to make an informed choice. While washing machines generally do a great job of rinsing out detergent, trace amounts can and often do remain on your clothing. Much of this residue comprises chemicals that aren't even necessary for cleaning -- such as fragrances and optical brighteners. They are formulated to stick to your clothes (and your washing machine, and everything else they may come into contact with) to make you think that your clothes are getting cleaned. Even detergents which are labelled as "fragrance-free" can contain synthetic musks, which mask smells and are suspected to be endocrine disruptors.
Washing cloth diapers doesn't need loads of time or a hefty instructional manual to figure out. If you do run into a problem, tackle the issue early on, tweaking your routine by adjusting one thing at a time. And once you have a routine that works for you, stick with it!
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