Can you share your wash routine?

JCM083009

It seems like there are so many different routines (hot or cold rinse first? no rinse, just wash and an extra rinse at the end?, etc) that I am seriously terrified to wash dirty diapers in the next few weeks!

I'm almost done prepping and my green mountain diaper prefolds came with a HUGE packet of "instructions" for CDs that just confused me more. 

 Can you tell me what the simple wash routine would be to start off with or what you find works best? Right now I am using 7th Generation Delicate Care detergent (rated one of the highest on pinstripes and polka dots) but will probably switch to crunchy clean when I run out of this. 

Normally when I do laundry I just put our close in and press start, not paying attention to the different cycles, so I'm pretty confused about what the best way to go about it is.  If it matters I will be washing mostly prefolds and KL0's, but I also have a few BG AIO's (and of course covers, all thirsties, bummies...)

AJplusKev

I do a cold rinse, then a hot/cold wash (with CC), then 2 more hot/cold rinses. Then in the dryer they go (it usually takes at least 1.5 cycles to get the GMD PFs dry)

babybird7

cold rinse, hot wash with half the recommended amount of detergent with two cold rinses.  Dry on medium

 

Ours is pretty simple.  The main things to remember is to not use too much detergent and rinse it all out.  Prefolds especially are hard to mess up.  They can withstand a lot of washing abuse.  Good luck.  It's not as scary once you dive in.

JCM083009

Thanks, I think I can handle this!

Temp76535187505890

We have a front loader so that kinda makes a difference I think but here's my routine:

short wash (I do the complete short wash instead of just rinse because with our machine just doing the rinse doesnt rinse them well enough)

full wash on hot and I make sure to set it on heavy for the soil level (that's what determines the amount of water for our machine) and then I have a button for it to do a second rinse.

Then I toss in the dryer on medium but I pull out all of my BG 3.0, covers, & pail liners to air dry.

Brittany FreyBox

ArmyGM what type of detergent are you using? I am doing the same routine with a front loader but I still think they smell sometimes when I take them out of the dryer. I am using CC.

GypsyEsq

With the caveat that I'm very new at this -- we have a top loader and I've done a cold rinse followed by a full wash in hot/cold.  I use half the recommended amount of detergent - Purex F&C - and have checked the rinse cycle for suds and so far so good (knock on wood).  We then line dry.  I'm hoping to avoid that second rinse but we'll see how these diapers do as we've now gone through our entire stash once and if there's a problem I expect it to start showing up now.

Temp76535187505890

Brittany FreyBox:

ArmyGM what type of detergent are you using? I am doing the same routine with a front loader but I still think they smell sometimes when I take them out of the dryer. I am using CC.

Planet.  But I'm looking to change but not sure to what yet.  I was using Planet powder and was happy with that but not with the liquid. 

AnnaBananaBelle

Cold Rinse, I usually splash in some BacOut or Simple Green

Hot wash with detergent (either 2 tbsp CC or half the regular amt of Tide)

Dry On Medium

LClaire

1. Cold Rinse with a tiny squirt of Dawn

2. Hot Wash with Crunchy Clean + Calgon(our water is hard and this helps a lot)

3. Smell the diapers - if they smell clean, I do an extra rinse. If they still don't smell clean(not often at all) I do one more hot wash, then an extra rinse.

JCM083009

Thanks everybody - so helpful! I'm copying this thread to a word doc to have around when I am half asleep and trying to get clean diapers in a few weeks! haha