Hello friends!
I’ve been asked about our wash routine enough times, that I thought it’d be helpful to go ahead and write a blog post on our current routine. We’ve tried several things, and our current routine is my favorite one yet!
I didn’t take photos of this process, so I apologize in advance for the poor quality screenshots. I’ll try and grab some actual photos next time I wash his diapers and update them (if I remember).
But here’s our system!
Here’s the video walk through of what we do every time we wash:
Okay, so first things first: a wet bag. This is the game changer (IMO).
We buy our everyday wetbags from Monkey Foot Designs and I 20/10 recommend you spend the extra to get this. They are *super* high quality and do an EXCELLENT job keeping the dirty diaper smell contained… Which is probably the most important part because nobody likes dirty diaper smells.
Then for us, we end up washing Malakai’s diapers usually about every other day… mostly because that’s what I’ve found keeps the stink at bay, and we otherwise run out of diapers because we have a pretty humble stash.
If you’re curious: we have about 20 pocket diapers that we use on rotation. Our favorites are the the Simply Being Cloth Diapers. They’re pocket diapers with a gusset… which basically means that it does a REALLY great job keeping poo from leaking out and getting everywhere.
So any diaper that keeps blow out explosions at bay is a win in my book.
Anyways, I take our full wetbag of dirty diapers and bring them down tot he laundry. I throw everything in (including the wetbag) and do a “rinse” cycle.
Our laundry doesn’t have a warm rinse cycle – so now I do a “normal” wash cycle. Previously I was doing the cold rinse cycle, but I found that the diapers had a smell after they were “clean” and realized that the initial cold rinse wasn’t really getting everything out.
Which BTW, if you’re having trouble figuring out what’s “wrong” with your wash routine, I highly, highly recommend you go to the website “Fluff Love University.” They have suuuper in depth articles, that are easily organized and explained, to help you troubleshoot any issues you might be having (this is where I figured out my initial cold rinse cycle wasn’t cutting it).
Anyways, if I feel the diapers are super dirty, I’ll add in just a pinch of detergent to this rinse cycle. I don’t actually think this is “recommended” – but it’s been working for us (because I think we’ve just had some build up). We’ve been using Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent.
So after that cycle is done, I will then go through the diapers in the cycle and pull out any inserts that are still inside the pockets.
I don’t do this beforehand, mostly because I’m pregnant and the dirty diaper smell is overwhelming to me. And I haven’t had any issues with doing this during the second wash… so it works for us.
Once I’ve removed all the inserts from the pockets, then I’ll add a scoop of the “Rocking Green Laundry Detergent” to the inside of the washer and then do a hardcore rinse cycle – on our washing machine it’s called the “whitest whites,” aka a wash cycle on hot and then an extra rinse cycle at the end.
From what I understand, the extra rinse cycle at the end is super important… so definitely make sure it has that.
AFTER THAT: It’s time to hang dry!
We personally just hang dry our diapers, because I’ve read it helps them last longer, plus it’s more cost efficient (because dryers use a tooon of electricity). But if we’re in a pinch and need more diapers sooner, I’ll sometimes dry the inserts so that we can use them sooner than later.
I try and sun dry them if it times out well, but otherwise we just let them hang dry inside the house. Usually if I’m doing laundry during the day and let them dry overnight, the pockets and microfiber inserts are usually dry the next day. Though some of the hemp and bamboo inserts take a little longer to dry.
