laundering "new" used diapers

[saoirse2007]

i just bought a bunch of used diapers...they were washed in ivory snow.

-meos and old school kushies aio and various others

they were stained and gray/dingy

i am soaking them in oxyclean and i think i should use some bleach (for sanitization)

should i just add bleach to a rinse cycle? or soaking?
the oxyclean is chlorine free

- i think i should buy some calgon and strip them as well???

am i on track?????

thanks .... i love meos dipes

[saoirse2007]

ps....
i also got some meos airflow covers...do i need to strip those?

[Lily's_Mom]

I have 5 MOES, 1 snug-to-fit, and 7 flannel doublers that friends gave me (all used). I had our hot water heater cranked up because I was stripping our new unbleached prefolds, so I decided to strip the used diapers. So, that was half a dozen fitteds, and half a dozen doublers; no detergent or anything, I just threw them in the hot water, and this is what came out of the diapers:

Bubbles!

I couldn't believe all the bubbles! It took 5 hot washes before most of the bubbles were gone...from 6 diapers!

Anyway, so my tip is before you start adding any more products to the diapers, try to see what is built-up on them and get that out to start with. First, just hot water and nothing else. Then maybe some water softener (washing soda or Calgon) if the build-up is stubbon. Then if they are still dingy, go for the oxyclean, and if you're concerned about any lingering germies/yeasties throw in a little bleach.

Good luck!

[saoirse2007]

thank you for the great reply...help is so much better than winging it

well i have already had them soaking in oxyclean for 2 days

i will ring them out and crank up the water heater!!!

we have hard water, so i heard that i should use calgon periodically

it is sooo expensive...i hope i don't need too much or too often

i def need bleach...these came frome a complete stranger so i want to be sure

[thefreckledmama]

I wouldn't use bleach,...even a little is going to break down the fibers slightly-leading to faster wear out. Peroxide bleach kills germs just as effectively, but without damaging fibers.

[weliveintheforest]

I would not use bleach either... but I would strip them.

[mommy2abigail]

nak- anytime I got used diapers I would boil them for 10 minutes to strip and sanitize and then wash in the machine on an extra HOT cycle with a capful of bleach, double rinse. Follow up with another full HOT wash cycle with our CD detergent, double rinse. Dry on high heat in the dryer. Never had any issues with this method. Edited to add: I used to never use bleach, but after hearing horror stories about staph infections being passed via used CD's, I decided that a little bleach one time is the lessor of two evils.

[saoirse2007]

i used bleach

i will wash them again....is that to get the bleach out?