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Laundry Tips

My Washing Routine
A Word about Detergents
Handy Tips

My Washing Routine

I use the dry bucket method, meaning I don’t presoak my nappies. All I do is remove the flushable liner from the nappy and place it in the toilet. I spray all my nappies with a mixture of 1 part Baking Soda to 20 parts water, which helps with stain removal. Then leave in my bucket until wash day when I just wash in my machine on any cycle hot or cold using whichever detergent you chose and ¼ cup of vinegar in place of fabric softener and then line dry.

A word about Detergents

Try to avoid detergents that contain whitening agents and enzymes. These products are activated when wet and are designed to attack organic matter to help dissolve stains. Since your child’s skin is “organic matter”, it may be attacked by these enzymes causing terrible rashes. Whitening enzymes will be listed in the ingredients on the bottle.

Handy Tips

Never ever, under any circumstances, use fabric softeners of any sort. They will coat your diapers with a waxy substance and your diapers will lose their absorbancy. If you feel that your diapers need softening up, then you can add vinegar to your rinse cycle. It works just as well and won't cause absorbancy issues.
Technically, you can use bleach if you really want to. But I wouldn't advise it. Besides the environmental impact of bleach, the fibers in your diapers will break down faster and you will have worn and useless diapers before long at all. If your child has sensitive skin, you may also have rash issues if you use bleach. Fortunately, hot water, detergent, and a hot dryer are enough to assure that your diapers are fresh and clean. If you're still worried about bacteria, there is the option of adding tea tree oil to your wash cycle for its natural anti-bacterial properties. If you're sensitive to the scent of tea tree oil, you can use lavender oil or grapefruit seed extract as well.
If your baby is exclusively breastfed, you do not need to spray, dunk, or rinse the dirty diapers. Simply throw them in the bag with the rest of the diapers waiting for wash day. If your baby is formula fed or eating solids, you will need to deal with the dirty ones with your preferred method, whether that is shaking it off, hosing it down, or dunking it in the toilet.
Unless you want really ugly and pilly fleece, don't wash your prefolds along with your fleece diapers. I made that mistake only once.
The sun is a wonderful stain remover! When you inevitably find a stain on one of your diapers, take it outside and lay it stain side up to the sun for a day. If you have a particularly stubborn stain, you can squeeze a little lemon juice on the area and that should take care of it.
If you're using fitteds or All-In-Ones, it may take a couple of days to get your nappies dry if you line dry them. If you use a dryer it may take more than one dryer cycle to get everything completely dry. Flats or Prefolds are easier to dry. Line drying is more economical than using a dryer once you already have an adequate supply of nappies and is also better for the environment. Line drying will also extend the life of your diapers compared with using a dryer.
If you're worried about "crunchy" diapers after line drying, you can throw them in the dryer (if you have one) with a tennis ball for a couple of minutes to help soften them up. Obviously, this doesn't eliminate the dryer use completely. But 2 minutes in the dryer is better than 60. Besides, there's nothing more "homey" than diapers drying on the line on a warm, sunny day.