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09 February 2010

On the subject of Cloth! Part 2

My Laundry Routine!


A little late, but as promised, here is my laundry diaper routine!!! If you missed part one, click here.


When changing cloth diapers, I change them the same way as "sposies" (disposables). Wipe the front of the diaper on the baby bottom, so that I don't need to use many wipes*. After the quick swipe, the diaper, naturally, is folded in half. Any and all wipes that are used are placed on top and then are rolled into the diaper again. You may be able to tell from my first picture.


Cue Laundry Day!           You have a dry pail (meaning no water/detergent/ or anything other than diapers are in the pail), full of cloth diapers. Your baby may be wearing the last clean cloth diaper, or you have lost track, and now have to resort to using a back up sposie on your baby.

 




Step 1.   Pull a single individual dirty diaper roll out of your bucket. (Note that I am using a pocket diaper for this demo). Place wipe(s) into wipe bucket. Or if you are using cloth wipes, toss wipes into washer. 



Pull Inserts out from inside of your pocket diaper.

 

Now, simply toss all parts of the diaper into your washer!

Step 2.  Adding detergent.   This is the detergent that I am currently using. It's BioKleen Free & Clear (meaning no scents have been added, thus no residue will be left on your diapers).


I add only about 1 tablespoon of detergent. 

 
 

I toss the whole lid in so that there is no mess on the bottle itself. I tried to capture a picture of it falling into my washer. That's didn't work well! LOL!

 
 
 
  

This is my wash cycle settings. I use cold water! No need to use hot water with LolliDoo brand cloth diapers.  Cold water is actually the preferred wash cycle of LolliDoo!! However! As with any fabric, you do need to wash these before being worn 2-3 times in hot water. It helps release any oils the fabric has gathered that could cause sensitivity. It also gets rid of any residue left by machines, that can cause your diapers not to function properly. Moral of the story - PRE-WASH 2-3 times in hot water before allowing your little one to wear them! 


Step 3.    Machine settings. The more water the better. Sounds funny, but it does help! So here are my settings, which will be changing very soon! I'm going to get a front loader in the next couple of weeks! When I do, I will post an update for this section!!!


 
  
 





Step 4.    Drying.  There seriously is nothing to drying! I toss all diapers and inserts into my dryer, pick my towel setting (50 minutes). And turn it on. It's a high heat.  Now, again, when I have my new front loading washer, the diapers won't be as soggy, so I will be able to use my (17 minute) dry cycle!!! I'm sooooooo looking forward to that!

Alright...I'm waiting on a new heating element that will be here and installed this week! So, until I have pictures of my dryer with diapers in it, here is a picture from the laundromat. I washed  a large load of kids clothes (right dryer) and a medium load of clothes belonging to hubby, baby and I. Diapers were tossed into this load (left dryer)! Everything was dried on high heat for 43 minutes. I checked for dampness 10 minutes before finishing, and everything was very dry!!! 

Bad picture, I know...again, when my dryer has it's new heating element installed, diapers are going in first, no matter how small the load!

 




Step 5.   The final step!  Stuffing!!!
For stuffing my pocket diapers, I use strips of blue and yellow ShamWow's and microfiber shop towels!! Really simple, no?



I first fold my microfibers into thirds
I place the micro fiber on top of the yellow ShamWow, the little blue ShamWow on top of the folded microfiber towel.


I then fold the flap of the yellow ShamWow up, like so,


Finally I stuff this, yellow end first, into the pocket diaper.
 
  

That's all there is to it! Very simple. It may seem like a lot to do. I know it did for me. After 2 or 3 times, I had found my groove.  Hubby even does it now! Can you believe that he panics if we don't have a clean one?! Crazy huh?! 


My next post on the subject of cloth will be on the topic of diaper types!  So stay tuned!!!






*I have not yet transitioned to cloth wipes, I am still using one use disposable wipes.

8 comments:

Amy said...

Looks like a lot of work. Good for you! I don't think I could ever do that

Cathi said...

Wow. When my kids were babies I used the old fashion (do they even sell them anymore?) white diapers. I rinsed the dirty diapers in the toilet and put them in a diaper pail full of soapy water. Dumped it all in the machine on spin cycle. Rinse cycle. Wash cycle with an extra rinse cycle. Hmmm... just as much work huh? LOL

My earthy momma odyssey said...

OK that Sham Wow is the FUNNIEST thing ever.

For what it's worth - I never take out the inserts - my washer separates them for me.

Amy - it's maybe 1 minute more work then a disposable diaper and your baby isn't exposed to dioxin, SAP or Tribultyll gell - all causing cancer and sterility. It's worth a try and you'll be leaving your children a clean(er) planer.

Diana said...

So do you put the shamwows into the washer/dryer with everything else? I've read that putting them into the washer gets fuzz all over everything and that drying them makes them non-absorbant?

Mom's Place said...

Diana - I do wash and dry with everything else. They have not lost any absorbency at all. I've never had any problems with linting or fuzzing at all. The only time I have had to pick fuzz, was when hubby didn't secure a few velcro closures! Even then, everything came right off with little fuss.



Ali - I tried your suggestion! Only 1 item remained in a pocket. I thought it was cool!!!!! Seeing as it still got cleaned, I pulled it out before drying!

Mom's Place said...

Amy - It isn't any more work than doing disposables and normal laundry. I'll show you when I come out next month!

Candace said...

Definitely not any more work than disposables and I want to add for the readers of this bloig and your journey, that you will find much less poopy blowout leaks in cloth! I never had one single blowout when my youngest son was in his cloth diapers as a newborn!

Candace said...

Forgot I wanted to say to the first commenter. I said the same thing before. But then I tried it and it was completely much easier than I thought. Most pocket inserts are one piece so its easy.