So confused about cloth diaper laundry

Megan928

Hi all,

I've posted questions about cloth diaper laundry here before, but I'm still confused. We have an HE front loader washer. We usually use Tide for our normal laundry and I've been washing baby's clothes in Seventh Generation Baby. I have all these cloth diapers (organic prefolds, Thirsties covers, Prorap covers, Fuzzibuns pockets dipes, Gro Baby diaper and some other brands similar to these) but I have no idea how to wash them properly. I've purchased some Charlie's soap because I read it is good for cloth diapers, but now I'm reading all this bad stuff about it (causes burns, etc). Also, I don't want to wash my own clothes and towels in this (I'd rather just use Tide), but the directions say I have to clean out my washer before washing diapers by running an empty cycle with Charlie's or washing a load of rags. Seriously? I feel like I'll be doing 900 loads of laundry a day with this system. Also, Charlie's warns that it doesn't disinfect. How do I disinfect the diapers if the soap doesn't do that? Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm going crazy trying to figure this out! TIA for any help you can offer.

P.S. - I believe we have hard water, but I'm not really sure. 

KeepingFaith

We have been using ECOS laundry detergent(I am from Canada so Im not sure if its available in the states).  I googled and found out it was safe to use on our cloth diapers so thankfully we wont have to do a empty load inbetween washes, and it works with HE front loading.  For our cloth diapers we will be using the sanitize cycle so that will disinfect the diapers.

HTH:-)

babyluv617

you do not need to wash your washer before washing your diapers. maybe charlies wants you to get rid of any build up initially. I never did that. I use Rockin' Green and LOVE it. Just used their hard rock formula and love it too. It's worked the best for me. I've tried Crunchy Clean, Purex free and clear, and Tiny Bubbles.

So are you looking for a specific routine?

Here's what I do: 

cold rinse
then hot wash with cold rinse with 3 T in my top loader
before the hard rock i did another cold rinse but I don't think I have to anymore

 

GL!

hamilton.ja

The Charlie's instructions on washing your machine out are specific to that detergent and if you were using it you would want to use it for ALL your laundry, not just the diapers, for that reason. That said, I didn't like Charlie's at all for my diapers or regular laundry.

We tried a ton of different detergents and finally found that Tide Original works best for us. I would HIGHLY recommend emailing Stephanie at Abby's Lane if you have any specific to your machine/water/diapers questions. But otherwise the women here give excellent advice. I would just use the Tide Original HE version for your clothes/towels and diapers and if you feel inclined then use the gentler baby detergent you bought for the baby clothing and blankets and things like that. 

 

smittysoup

I just use all free n clear.

We do one cold wash with 1/2 cup baking soda (1/4 the amount of detergent used in a normal load).

Then I do another wash (hot w/extra rinse on cold) and add 1/2 white vinegar to the fabric softener slot. 

Works perfect.