"Stripping" Diapers
You NEVER have to do this with our diapers, because the absorbent
part is 100% natural cotton.
We are including this information here as a service to customers
who have tried fleece diapers and had the unfortunate experience
of having them become water repellent (after having paid a high
price for those diapers). After some use, apparently the fleece
diapers get a build-up on them and need to be "stripped".
From the comments of mothers who have had this happen, here is
the cause of the problem:
* HE (high efficiency) washers use a minimal amount of water--not
enough to thoroughly clean a load of diapers
* warm water will not thoroughly sanitize diapers--HOT is needed
* poopy diapers are being put into the washer without being rinsed
* diaper creams & lotions are leaving greasy deposits on fleece
fibers
* people are adding oils like tea tree oil and lavender oil to
diaper pails or laundry, and the oil is clinging to the synthetic
fleece fibers
* using lots less than the recommended amount of detergent will
not sufficiently clean diapers; using more than the recommended
amount will leave a residue on the fabric
* hemp has a natural oil in the fibers and when used inside fleece
diapers, will leave an oily water-repellent coating on the fleece.
* soap will leave a greasy deposit on fabric that will build up
over time, especially if you do not use hot water. Be sure your
laundry product says "detergent" not "soap".
Do not use homemade detergent containing soap.
For clean, absorbent diapers, it is really simple!
1. Diaper liners make it easy to clean a poopy diaper without
rinsing. We are talking about the liners that catch the poop,
not the ones intended to add absorbency. If the liner is disposable,
just flush the whole mess away. If the liner is the mesh fabric
reusable type, just rinse the liner in the toilet.
2. If you are not using diaper liners, you MUST rinse poopy diapers.
Dunk while flushing the toilet, or use a diaper spray hose (available
from us). You can keep a pair of rubber gloves in an old yogurt
container by the toilet, just for that purpose. Wet diapers can
go into the laundry without being rinsed.
3. Before washing your diapers, put them through a rinse cycle
to rinse out urine and poopy water.
3. Use a TOP-LOADING washing machine, NOT an HE machine. Use the
full amount of HOT water, the recommended amount of detergent,
and add washing soda if your water is hard*. Never use chlorine
bleach. If you need to use bleach, use oxygen bleach (powder or
liquid).
4. NEVER use fabric softener on baby clothes, especially on diapers.
It contains silicone, preservatives, dyes, and fragrance and will
leave an oily, water-repellent residue on the fabric. Babies often
have a skin reaction from it.
5. A SMALL squirt of dish detergent in your HOT laundry water
will "strip" build-up on your fleece diapers, as dish
detergent is very efficient grease-remover. Rinse well.
If you change baby as soon as the diaper is wet, your baby will not get a rash and you will not need to use diaper rash remedies. If your baby has a rash now, use ozonated olive oil. Do NOT use any ointments containing zinc (it is a carcinogen). The rash will not come back if you keep baby DRY. "Dry" means "no moisture in the diaper". Keeping baby for hours in the same fleece pocket diaper, or microfiber and other liners will not work--baby's skin will show it if you try to cheat! Your grandmother did not mind changing baby when he was wet, it was just taken as a fact of daily life as no one wants to tote their pee and poop around with them...is it modern to be LAZY?
STAINS???
If you wash diapers every day, you will NOT have problems with
staining. If you are changing baby every time he/she is wet, you
will have enough diapers to do a load every day. If you don't
have enough for a load, you are not changing baby often enough--with
a likely result of diaper rash and an uncomfortable baby. Set
a time for your daily laundering and it soon becomes a habit so
that you don't even have to think about it. If you are a stay-at-home
mom, mornings work well. If you use diaper liners, it's easy to
get the poop off the diaper right at the time of the diaper change.
If not, you MUST rinse them, immediately after the diaper change,
before putting them in the diaper pail. Expect stains if you do
not promptly rinse poopy diapers and then leave them sitting in
the diaper pail for more than a day! When baby is teething or
when you first start solids like beets or carrots, the poop may
stain because it is incompletely digested, but if you follow the
tips above, the stain will be a minor one that will wash out after
the next use.
Do not add oils (tea tree, lavender, etc) to laundry at any stage.
Do not combine hemp with other fabrics in your diaper system.
See our Laundry Instructions page, and you will see how easy it is to wash our cotton diapers! In 23 years, we have never had a customer who has had to "strip" their diapers. Cotton is the choice of experienced cloth-diapering parents because it is natural, highly absorbent, and very soft. Synthetics can cause skin reactions on babies---most synthetics are made from petroleum chemicals. Synthetics do not biodegrade in the landfill sites--they will take as long, or longer,to biodegrade as disposable diapers! Microfiber feels "icky" to both moms and babies--the tiny fibers cling to the skin in a most annoying, irritating way.
The difference between Washing Soda, Baking Soda, and Borax,
and when to use them:
Washing soda is Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3), baking soda is Sodium
Bicarbonate (NaHCO3), and borax is Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate
(Na2B4O7*10H2O). Arm & Hammer makes both baking soda and washing
soda--two different products. Washing soda is intended specifically
for laundry, as the name indicates. It boosts cleaning power of
detergents by changing the pH of the water. Baking soda can also
be used in laundry for the purpose of a deodorizer in the diaper
pail or wash water. So, washing soda for washing, baking soda
for baking (or deodorizing).... Calgon is another brand of water
softener, usually more expensive than washing soda. Borax is used
to whiten and deodorize, so it is especially suited for washing
diapers.
Washing soda and borax are found in the laundry section of every
supermarket. Customers with allergies find they can use just 1/2
cup of each as a detergent substitute on clothing. However for
diapers, a basic cheap unscented detergent without enzymes, bleach,
or fabric softener is best.