BS Tuesday: Washing Cloth Dipes in an HE Machine

Don't worry - the BS stands for Bite-Sized! ;)

Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be my Bite-Sized days since they tend to be busier. By Bite-Sized, I mean a post written in under 10 minutes and that only takes a minute or two to read.

So for today's topic, a few quick hints about washing cloth diapers in an HE washing machine:

• Use as much water as you can set on the machine.
•  If you can't set the water level, you either need to add more water by pouring it into the detergent slot or make the machine think there are more clothes in there by putting a wet towel in with the diapers. 
• Not adding extra water or tricking the machine with more weight can still result in clean diapers, but you may need to run it a few times extra than normal or wash the diapers more often - as in every other day - to prevent them from getting ammonia build-up.
• It takes forever. Make sure your diaper-washing day doesn't have any other immediate clothes washing concerns, since the HE cycles take forever.
• Remember to use HE-friendly detergent, and still use only a fraction of the amount.

I much prefer washing with a standard washer but have used HE in the past. It's not so efficient when it comes to washing diapers, but has its perks with regular clothes.

Hope your Tuesday is much less foggy and rainy out than mine!

How To Create Your Own Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

The biggest fear for me when entering the world of cloth diapering was not washing the diapers correctly. I heard horror stories of ammonia build-up searing the nostrils and leaving terrible rashes on baby's behind, of diaper smell that permeated the washing machine, of diapers melting and tearing and becoming useless.  I read all sorts of articles on the best way to wash the diapers, and the tips were overwhelming (use only detergent made for cloth diapers - don't leave the diaper sitting in the pail/bag for more than X amount of days - you'll have to strip them every couple months - only dry in the sun - use cold water - use hot water - separate the diapers by covers and inserts - and on).

Now that I have several months of cloth diapering behind me, using about 5 different brands, 2 different categories of diaper, and 3 different washing machines, I realized something.

There is NOT a set way to wash cloth diapers.  It really depends on you, your diapers, and your washing machine settings.

Here are the main things to keep in mind when setting your routine: