Prepping used diapers?

[ihugtrees]

Do you need to prep used diapers the same way you prep new ones? I thought the prepping was for absorbancy, not sterilization. So what should I do with all my used dipes? Also, what about the covers?

[brietta]

Depending on the kind of diapers and where they came from (do you know the people, etc.), I would probably err on the side of using a bit of bleach on them all, just to be sure they're ready for my baby. It would be a bummer to have something like staph or yeast or whatever sorts of things might linger in cloth get passed on through the diapers.

But that's just me. I'm a bit overly cautious about these things.

[AKislandgirl]

I bleached the used diapers we were given and ran them through a couple washes without anything just to be sure the bleach was rinsed out well.

[mythreeangels]

I totally agree with using a little bleach on used diapers, especially if you don't know who they came from. I am new to this sight and am currently preparing to use cloth on my current baby due in August, but my recommendation comes from my own experience with my two year old daughter last summer. She was using disposables, but she contracted MRSA staph (this is the antibiotic resistant kind) and had to be treated with antibiotics which then she go C-Diff, which is an intestinal bacterial infection. These are both considered super bugs and having a cleaning regiment that just about put me over the edge. The staph infection was on her behind, so if I was using cloth I would of had wash very carefully. The one thing people aren't aware of is that C-Diff is a spore that is shed in the stools of an infected person and is only killed with bleach. Lysol doesn't work on a spore like a bacteria. Just to put these two infections into perspective of seriousness, hospitals have isolation areas for patients that present with MRSA staph and C-Diff. It can be passed to others by a nurse who doesn't wash her hands.

Sorry for my story, but please if you don't know who they came from be sure to disinfect them. IMO.

[Michigan Mama]

Ditto. I'd boil what I could and use bleach on everything else. With some hot rinses to make sure any detergent residues or bleach are long gone.