Achieving The Perfect Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

Finding the perfect cloth diaper wash routine is essential for maintaining the absorbency and longevity of your cloth diapers. With the right method, you’ll avoid unpleasant odors, stains, and wear, ensuring your diapers last as long as possible. Below, we’ll walk you through a comprehensive cloth diaper wash routine that has been proven to work effectively, with any type of washing machine but especially if you have a GE Profile washing machine. (This is the washer we own and we love it!)

1. Pre-Wash: Start Your Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

Begin your cloth diaper wash routine with a pre-wash. This step helps remove any human waste from the diapers before the main wash. A pre-wash ensures that your cloth diapers are properly prepped for cleaning, leaving no residue behind.

Add Tide powder 1-2 tbsp or Tide Free and Gentle to line 1 or 2. Tide is a highly recommended detergent for cleaning cloth diapers. Tide’s formula contains enzymes that break down proteins, helping to remove urine, feces, and other waste from your diapers. This step ensures that your cloth diapers are thoroughly cleaned and free of stains or lingering odors. On the GE profile you can use quick wash preferably on heavy soil or for a longer wash select Whites on heavy soil. Additional cleaning power comes in if you also add the Power Clean feature.

2. Hot Wash with Two Cold Rinses

During this cycle, use Tide Free and Clear liquid detergent or Tide powder, along with 1/4 cup of borax. Be sure to check your water hardness before you decide to add Borax. If you have soft water, you may choose not to add it.  Again, select the settings White with heavy soil and power clean. Add the extra rinse if you choose. We do this because we add the borax. 

• Borax: Borax is a key element in this cloth diaper wash routine, especially if you have hard water. It acts as a water softener, allowing the detergent to work more effectively. Hard water can reduce the cleaning power of detergents, so adding borax helps boost performance and ensures your diapers are spotless. It also aids in removing detergent or mineral buildup. 

Some would say that the second rinse is too much rinsing. However, we use a second rinse to make sure that all detergent is rinsed away from the wash process. The act of adding the Borax ensures there is no buildup so the second rinse will not harm your diapers.

4. Drying: Proper Drying Techniques in Your Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

Drying is a critical step in your cloth diaper wash routine to maintain the integrity of your diapers.

• Absorbent Materials (inserts, flats, fitteds, etc.): These can go in the dryer for one to two cycles. The heat thoroughly dries the absorbent parts of the diaper, ensuring they’re ready for reuse. You may also choose to line dry. Sunning your diapers is a great alternative to using the dryer because it helps to remove any staining you may have. 
• Diaper Pockets: Hang diaper pockets to dry on a line to protect the PUL/TPU layer from heat damage. The heat from the dryer can compromise the waterproof layer of your diaper shells, so air-drying is best for these. However, you can throw them in the dryer on a tumble air dry if preferred.

Next you can fold and put away or stuff your diapers so they are ready for use. Key points to remember is to check your water hardness. Soft water needs less soap and hard water needs more. Our water hardness is 170 and this routine has worked perfect for us. We use 2 tbsp of powder or Line 2 on the provided cup for the liquid. In my routine I use the powder in the prewash because it’s known to get a good clean with cloth diapers. I use the liquid in the second wash because I don’t want any lingering fragrance on the diapers. 

I do not want to make it sound more complicated than it is because I want you to enjoy cloth diapering. Once you get in the groove of using and washing cloth diapers you will really come to love it. I have 4 children and have only cloth diapered my current and last baby. I wish I would have tried cloth diapering with all of them. 

If you have any further questions please reach out to us on our Facebook page Cloth and Bottle Co or by email [email protected]

Thanks for reading and happy washing!