Washing Diapers without Hot Water

[Mhorai]

Hello,

I now live in South AFrica and am expecting my 2nd child in June. I briefly tried cloth diapering with my now 2 1/2 year old son when he was a newborn, but at the time it was the one more thing (and he only ever fussed about having a dirty diaper when it was cloth). Now I'm in South Africa and diapers are pretty expensive...and I am fortunate enough to have a nanny who would be able to help a lot with the washing.

My question is, is it feasible to use cloth diapers without having a hot water wash option for my washing machine? The machine is pretty basic and only attached to a cold water lead. Does anyone use cloth diapers without washing them in hot water? If so, what's your system? Any particular kind of diapers your recommend or discourage? Thanks!!

Oh, and any diapers I used would likely need to be ordered and brought over by a friend by May....so I likely won't be using a lot different picky sizes....thanks!

[fruitfulmomma]

Natural fabrics would work best, as synthetics tend to hold stink more heavily than something like a cotton prefold.

You could also add a pot of boiling water into the machine every once in a while to help out.

[kickinitbabystyle]

A lot of people use cold water only. I think prefolds and flats wash up the easiest so that may be an option you like. Plus with sizes its very easy, just get a couple dozen of each size and covers. It will be cheaper that way too. If you wanted to do pockets I think that would work as well, maybe just get OS pockets and some small pf's for the newborn stage. I say pockets because they seem to be easier to clean than AIOs since they come apart.

[redvlagrl]

What sort of cloth diapers do they typically use in South Africa? I ask because in Australia the norm/typical is a terry towelling flat which is actually awesomely absorbent. We brought some bakc with us and they are our most absorbent diap - heaps better than regualr PFs.

If you're planning on using pockets, I would wash the pocket in cold but boil up the inserts.

We had a lot of problems with yeast rash until we found out that our washer puts a whole lot of cold into the tub toward the end of the fill cycle (even on the hot setting).

I would probably get your nanny to boil several large pots of water and put them in teh machine. I have handwashed diaps in cold (long power outtage) and they didn't get very clean.

[Mhorai]

Thanks for the suggestions... please keep them coming! I'm a bit nervous about trying cloth at all, and with the extra difficulty of not having the hot water, I'm just not sure it's going to work. I will look to see what kind of diapers are available here, it's just a whole new world! Thanks.

[justmama]

I would go with flats and covers and just do the cold water. Since flats are only one layer, you can be sure they are washing clean without hot water AND they dry super fast. Plus you never have to size up because they are one-size and they work from newborn to potty training. I would say get like 4-5 dozen of those and a few covers and call it a day!