CD Mamas come in! Laundry questions...

LunaBug924 · April 2014

So I'm a CD newb, clearly. I've got a decent stash starting, and I've been lucky to inherit a good chunk of my stash from a friend who jhas been passing items down as her kids outgrow them. I have a bunch of new cotton prefolds and fitteds that I know have to be "prepped", but I have some questions about the rest:

1) Do new micro-fiber or fleece inserts for pockets need to be prepped like cotton? And can they be prepped together?

2) Do pockets and AIOs get prepped/washed together? Or do they have separate instructions(for the new ones)?

3) My inherited stash is a mix of prefolds, covers, pockets, and AIOs. They are clean; obviously I will re-wash them, but do I need to do more than that? Do I need to strip them if there are no stains, smells, or absorbency issues?

4) And as a general rule for regular washing, can all that stuff get washed together? Or do you separate covers from prefolds, etc?

FWIW, I did try looking this stuff up on Kelly's Closet, but the info given there was pretty vague, so I'm coming to the experts! TIA!

pistolpackinmomma · April 2014

I had always heard to prep the natural fibers separately because of the oils on them possibly crossing to the synthetic fibers. The oils are why they need washed/dried multiple times and become more absorbent with use.

pistolpackinmomma · April 2014

Once prepped they can be washed together though.

daisyemerson · April 2014

Yes, what @pistolpackinmomma‌ said.

The synthetic fibers (AIOs & covers) need to be washed just once,
But the natural fibers need to be washed minimum 3-5 times to be fully prepped. You can certainly use them before 3-5 washed but they won't be as absorbent and you shouldn't wash them with the synthetic fabrics until then or the oils from the natural fibers can cause repelling and problems on the synthetics.

I recommend lurking in the cloth diaper board, the ladies who post there regularly are extremely knowledgable and are always troubleshooting and helping people solve problems

Divine0chaos · April 2014

Exactly what pp says also I've heard non wool covers do not need prepping at all. I know that's the case with hybrid grovias.

frasey · April 2014

check out this site: https://clothdiapertesting.com/prepping-testing/

She did experiments to test prepping absorbency. We just toss everything together, for both prepping and washing. For used dipes/inserts, yeah Id do a bleach strip bc you never know what's in there.

bumpuser9353653 · April 2014

Copy and paste your post into the Cloth Diapering board. They are pretty cool over there and have tons of good advice. But fair warning - don't post today b/c it's April Fools Day and they are pretty much guaranteed to give you non-legit responses mixed in with real ones.

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CD Mamas come in! Laundry questions...

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