Taking care of your diapers right is almost as important as your choice of diaper. There are a few general care instructions that are the same for all diapers. We will cover these first, and then go on to specifics for certain diaper types.
General Care
Stripping instructions
Drying
Diapers with PUL
Care of Accessories
General Care:
Wash all diapers in hot water with an enzyme free, softener free detergent. We do have a page with a list of Diaper Safe Detergents here.
Add tea tree oil to your wash cycle, just 3-5 drops will do. Tea tree oil is an anti-bacterial. It will kill the bacteria that makes the the ammonia smell. This will go a long way to your diapers smelling fresh!
Every 3-5 washes you should strip your diapers. Stripping your diapers cleans out all the detergent build-up that will collect on your diapers making them less absorbent and more prone to smell.
Stripping instructions:
Put the diapers, the laundry detergent, and the tea tree oil in as normal.
*Add in 1/2 c. of water softener here if you have hard water.
Run just the wash cycle over and over until all the bubbles, or at least most, are gone. Then finish off the rest of the cycles. Some people like to use Dawn dish soap in this process, but I never found it necessary.
Drying:
Most diapers can be dried in the dryer, but… we are big fans of SUN drying cloth diapers. The sun is amazing. It will bleach clean the stains and help kill the bacteria. If you reach a point that your diapers smell we suggest sunning them. Even in the cold, as long as the sun is shining it works! DO NOT use fabric softener on your diapers. Fabric softener leaves a water-repelling residue on your laundry. When left on your cloth diapers (and towels), this residue makes them less absorbent and less useful. If your diapers NEED softening add 1/2 cup baking soda to the rinse cycle of your wash. We like to fill a softener ball with 1/2 c. vinegar and throw it in. You can also use wool dryer balls.
Diapers with PUL- (polyurethane laminate):
Most diapers that are AIO’s or pocket diapers, (that don’t need a cover) have a PUL layer in them. When you first get your PeachyKeen Pockets, or if they start to leak badly, you should throw them in the dryer, the heat will reseal the PUL. You don’t want to do this all the time though! Maybe about once a month you can throw them in the dryer, but for the most part you should let these air dry. Air drying is less wear and tear on the fabric. You can also purchase waterproofing sprays to help your PUL work better when it starts to slack off.
Care of Accessories:
Wet bags and Pail liners: You can use a pail liner made with PUL and their care is the same as above. You can also jsut use a pillowcase to put in your diaper pail. If you have a fabric one just throw it in with the wash and dry along with your diapers. If you have a wool wet bag then you need to follow the wool care instructions on the wool care page.
Cloth Wipes: Cloth wipes are the logical thing to use when you cloth diaper. They can be thrown in the wash with the diapers and reused. If you don’t have cloth wipes and don’t want to buy or sew them you can also use disposible wipes. After using them you just throw them in the wash. Then you can at least throw them away clean, or since they are clean you can find another use for them.
