Washing Diapers 101 – The Best Way To Wash Cloth Diapers

Washing cloth diapers should be simple. Really. You shouldn’t need lots of special rules or excessive rinsing or additives or stripping on a regular basis to keep your diapers clean and functional. Follow these quick and easy steps to worry free cloth diaper washing. With a good wash routine, your diapers should come out clean and smelling fresh every time.

#1) Rinse – Do an initial rinse, pre-rinse or short wash cycle without detergent or with a small amount of detergent. Any temperature is fine. The goal here is to flush out as much urine as possible before the main wash cycle. Many heavy duty wash cycles already have a pre-rinse type function build into the cycle which makes it super easy.

#2) Wash – A HOT heavy duty wash with detergent. Use the proper amount of detergent for your load size and type of washing machine as recommended on the detergent package regardless of whether you use a commercially available brand or a cloth diaper specific brand. What detergent should I use.

#3) Rinse (optional) – This additional rinse is optional as all wash cycles are followed by a rinse anyway. So, this ends up being a rinse on top of that rinse if you feel it's necessary. If you aren’t having smell, repelling or rash issues and you don't have super soft water from a rural well for example, then don’t worry about it.

▶︎ Remember, if your baby isn't an exclusively breastfed newborn, shake or scrape those solids into the toilet before washing or look here for tips on what to do with the poo 💩.

▶︎ Remember, keep it simple. Skip laundry additives, scented products, fabric softeners and dryer sheets.

*The above washing suggestions apply to any washing machine whether it be a top loader, front loader, high efficiency (HE) machine or not.

There you have it. Easy peasy.

IF you have leak, smell or rash issues then reference the linked articles to troubleshoot. And remember, if you're having issues, many of the brands we carry here at Cloth Diaper Kids feature brand level customer service where you can get dedicated and personalized washing assistance. For example, Thirsties, Kanga Care and Esembly have a wash expert on staff that you can contact anytime for free - amazing customer service accessible to you anytime (when you purchase those brands) so you can feel confident about your ability to use and wash your cloth diapers.