Help me make a cheat sheet

Jessrof

So I just bought a box of 210 newborn diapers from a warehouse store and spent $42!  I could have bought at least 2 (if not 3) pocket diapers for that cost!  So needless to say I am very happy with our committment to cloth diaper and I want to get this baby's butt in cloth ASAP! 

So with that being said, I was hoping you ladies could help me make a cheat sheet for our CD laundry.  I am going to post this in our laundry room so whomever decides to get motivated can wash the diapers.  Our stash is mostly pockets with a few AIOs and we have some prefolds for the nb stage.

Now, I have a few questions:

I know we need to rinse.  Is this in hot or cold water?

We are using rocking green detergent so I think we will start at 2 tablespoons and adjust accordingly.  Does this sound good?

Should I specify that all covers/pul be hung out to dry?  Or is the occasional dryer spin ok?  I am just thinking that I will hang them up but if my hubby or MIL wants to help I would just rather they throw them in the dryer (don't want to discourage peopel from helping )

EBF stains?  Should I sun out after every wash or is this overkill?  I know stains won't hinder the diaper's performance... Also, is oxy clean ok?  If so, regular oxy or oxy free? Should I use a bit every wash?

Should I try to strip on a schedule?  (like monthly, weekly?) Also should I add in my schedule a vinegar rinse or something of that nature?

 

Thanks so much!  I have learned so much from lurking and asking.  This board has really helped me be armed against all the naysayers and my own self doubts

PS  Feel free to add anything I might need to include. 

lindy27

I will just tell you what I currently do, but I have only been doing it for about 9 weeks so I'm sure I will learn a lot more with time.

I wash everything together in my HE machine.  I do a rinse/spin cycle with no detergent first on a warm cycle about 50% of the time, sometimes I'm just too lazy.  I then put detergent in (use Tide Ultra almost up to the 1 line) and do a hot/cold heavy duty cycle with an extra rinse.

I dry my inserts and wetbags on low heat and hang dry the covers in the laundry room.  I only sun out EBF stains every once in awhile, they don't always have stains.  You can dry the covers on low heat, the elastic will just wear out a bit faster.

I haven't stripped yet because I have had no smell issues so far.

namara5532

I have a link to a cheat sheet I wrote up in my signature if you want to look at it.

I don't have experience with your exact brands, but for my wash routine I prerinse in cold, wash in hot, rinse in cold, second rinse in cold.  Prefolds and inserts go in the dryer on high, covers and shells get laid on top of the dryer to dry.  Hope that helps! 

Jessrof

namara5532:

I have a link to a cheat sheet I wrote up in my signature if you want to look at it.

I don't have experience with your exact brands, but for my wash routine I prerinse in cold, wash in hot, rinse in cold, second rinse in cold.  Prefolds and inserts go in the dryer on high, covers and shells get laid on top of the dryer to dry.  Hope that helps! 

Your cheat sheet is great and is now printed out   Thanks!

So why a cold rinse when other people say warm?  Just trying to decide what is best for us...

Jessrof

Also what about the oxy clean? And should I separate prefolds from pocket dipes and wash separately? Thanks!

prasad007

I wouldn't worry about adding oxy clean-- keep your wash routine as simple as possible, that way if you run into any issues it will be easier to problem solve. A rinse (in warm or cold), a hot wash with soap, and another rinse seems to do the trick for most people. I have a finicky fl washer that pretty much just spits water on my diapers, so I have a more involved routine in order to get them clean. Also, I have heard that oxy clean can turn your diapers (or maybe just mf inserts) blue!

Wash everything together-- pockets, inserts, prefolds, covers, wet bags and wipes. No need to separate them.

Simple is best!  

TheBuddha

Instead of oxy try borax. After I run my cold rinse I add detergent and borax (a little less than a half cup dumped right into the machine on top of the dipes)

 

The borax really helped with some stink issues I was having.

namara5532

Jessrof:

namara5532:

I have a link to a cheat sheet I wrote up in my signature if you want to look at it.

I don't have experience with your exact brands, but for my wash routine I prerinse in cold, wash in hot, rinse in cold, second rinse in cold.  Prefolds and inserts go in the dryer on high, covers and shells get laid on top of the dryer to dry.  Hope that helps! 

Your cheat sheet is great and is now printed out   Thanks!

So why a cold rinse when other people say warm?  Just trying to decide what is best for us...

As long as you're doing the prerinse to get the poop off, you're probably ok doing warm or cold rinse.  Cold is more commonly used, but if you have issues getting diapers clean, it's worth trying the warm rinse.

angelfire02

I could be doing this totally wrong but all I do is this (We have the BG Freetimes): 

Put all diapers and wet bag (seperately of course) in our HE machine.  Use 1T of the Rockin' Green detergent.  Wash on Normal cycle with Hot water and do an extra rinse.  If I am running really low I will dry them in the dryer but even on the drying racks when I lay them out it takes less than 24 hours for them to dry.  I haven't had any smell issues, I do have some staining but I haven't put them in the sun for it yet because I'm just too busy with two babies.  

dizzycooks

I use regular oxy-clean about half the time and I don't have any issues.  Sunning my diapers has also helped when they don't smell quite so fresh.