Should I disinfect? If so, how?

[amydiane]

DS has a bacterial infection that is presenting as sores in his diaper area. We went to the ped yesterday and he's doing a culture but we won't have the results back for a couple days. In the meantime, DS is on oral and topical antibiotics and we've switched him to sposies for the time being since I didn't know what the cream would do to the CDs. DD has no signs of it, and the ped said it should only be contagious through contact of an open sore.

I wash all their diapers together and they have been washed and reused since this first showed up. So, should I be worried about disinfecting the dipes now? If so, how? I was thinking vinegar but then I remember reading somewhere that it's not good for covers or pockets/AIO. I do have a sanitize cycle on my washer also that I have used occasionally, but I wasn't sure if that would be sufficient. I have prefolds, bamboo fitteds, PUL covers, and BG pockets and organic AIOs.

Thanks!

[mumkimum]

I think vinegar and hot washes would be fine for anything with natural fibers.

Additionally (or for stuff that wouldn't be good for) I'd consider a rinse with something like tea tree oil or grapefruit seed extract.

[lalemma]

If I wanted to specifically kill bacteria in my diapers, I would wash on hot with a quarter-cup of bleach, and then (if weather permits) hang to dry in the sun.

I doubt that a little vinegar added to the wash or rinse water (since it would be so diluted - unless you're using a gallon at a time or something) would really harm the diapers if used occasionally.

However - unless you're using a gallon at a time - I'm not sure what kind of bactericidal properties household-strength vinegar would have in this application. If you go here and scroll down: http://www.versatilevinegar.org/researchnews.html you'll find a summary of a study showing that straight 5% vinegar had a bactericidal effect on a bunch of micro-organisms. But unless you're actually soaking the diapers in straight vinegar, I'm not sure how much vinegar diluted in the rinse water would help kill bacteria.

As an aside - I recently learned that GSE's antimicrobial properties are due to the synthetic preservatives the manufacturers include in the oil, which is kinda freaky:

http://www.terressentials.com/truthaboutgse.html

[jillyofthevalley]

I agree with the bleach. If you really want to kill any nasty bacteria that's the way to go. I know quite often bleach is seen as the devil in these parts but there is a time and place for it. That and the sanitize cycle on your washer should definitely do the trick.

[amydiane]

Thanks everyone....but won't the bleach fade my colors?

[jillyofthevalley]

Originally Posted by amydiane

Thanks everyone....but won't the bleach fade my colors?

I've used 1/4 of bleach in my wash and my colours have come out just fine. As long as you don't pour directly on the dipes.