So I have won a few cloth diapers and bought a few cloth diapers in the past month or so and now I need to get them ready for baby girl's arrival! I'm due in 10 days and the diapers are all still neatly stacked in her nursery! WTH!?!? I need to get on the ball here people! I know myself and if they aren't ready to go when I bring her home from the hospital, I'm going to put off washing them and thus put off using them.
This brings me to my next round of cloth diapering questions...How do I wash my new cloth diapers for the first time? Do I put them all in together to wash? Do I have to wash them more than one time? How will I know they are ready to use? I won some Rockin' Green Soap too...so I know to use that, but just use the amount it tells me to or less since they aren't dirty? I have a front loading HE washer too and am not sure exactly how to go about washing them. HELP!!
Once again, thanks for the advice, here and on Twitter...it is much appreciated!
Most require more than one pre-wash and some more than others. If you have anything hemp, it takes at least 5-10 prewashes. You should be able to throw them all in together or with your other laundry since they aren't dirty. I use about 1 1/2 tbsp in my front loader.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any questions you can send me an email- saywah_j at yahoo dot com and I will be happy to help you with any specifics. :o)Good luck!
DON'T wash hemp the first time with everything else!!!
ReplyDeleteUnless prewashed (the LoopyDo & SuperDo are prewashed, and others might be), they will still have hemp oils in them, which will then go into your other diapers and cause them to wick.
So wash them separately. You could wash them with clothes or such.
Likewise, it is recommended to wash organic cotton separately - i'm guessing you won't want to wash it with the hemp the first time or two around. So stick it in a different load of clothes.
Both hemp & organic cotton will need at least 3 prewashes. The last prewash you can do with your diapers.
Microfiber, PUL, suedecloth, etc, etc -- that is, the bulk of your diapers, can be washed together, and only need one prewash.
Wool is another story and I have no experience there, so you best google that one.
Prefolds I think need to be prewashed separately as well - the company you got them from should have something about that. Again no personal experience.
The recommended wash cycle is one cold rinse, one hot wash (check all your labels, some say only warm wash - the one i know of is GroBaby), two cold washes. Dry on low or line dry. If your liners are taking a while to dry, you can dry them on medium or high, but make sure you have taken all PUL and elastic out of there (like, all covers, pockets, AIO, etc).
As far as amount of laundry detergent, it should state on the package. Go with the smallest recommended amount since they are new - unless there is a smell.
If you have used diapers, I'd recommend doing a "rock a soak"... which is soaking them in either a bucket or the washing machine for 30-60 minutes, or if esp smelly, overnight. I'd recommend overnight for inserts.
hope this helps. i was right where you were a month ago, except i already had my kid.
congrats! :)
i meant to say inserts, not liners, when i was talking about drying. :)
ReplyDeleteso. i was going to leave a comment, but i think simplymerry covered it quite well!! how fun though!! i can't wait to cloth diaper a newborn in july. we've never done an newborn!
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