What's more important - prewash or extra rinse?

[Everrgreen]

The machines in my building have no extra settings, they just wash with one rinse, that's it. So my thoughts are that I will just wash them twice (I guess I could wash them 3x, but that gets expensive and time consuming, but if you all think it's necessary I will consider that). Soooo, I can do a wash cycle with no soap on cold to rinse out the diapers before I wash them, or I can add the soap to the first wash, and then do an extra wash with no soap. Or should I do 3 washes?

What does everyone think?

[averlee]

Until my daughter was about a year old, even her poopy diapers were no big deal to wash. I pretty quickly just started washing them just like any normal laundry, and before long I wasn't even bothering to keep them separate- just washed clothes, towels, blankets, sheets, and diapers all together. I just use regular detergent, cold water, normal cycle, and everything always came out plenty clean.

[KristyDi]

Personally I run a cold/cold cycle w/ no soap then a hot/warm cycle with soap, but I'm washing in my own machine. In public machines w/ who knows what residue, I can see the extra rinse afterward being more important.

[Blueone]

I would say they both are. I usually run a pre rinse, wash, extra rinse. The prewash or rinse gets rid of poop and urine build up, then it goes through the wash with water that doesn't have a lot of poop or urine in it. Then it goes through the last rinse to remove extra residue that would otherwise cause build up.

However, you can avoid the pre wash cycle by just soaking them in a bucket and then draining the water somewhere.

[karika]

I do EC but I have used cloth also. First I would say try to catch all poops in a potty to eliminate having poopy diapers, or as many as you can. When I did have diapers used they would only have pee. I have my own machine. I would always have a cold water soak going which I would spin out prior to washing. Then I would do a prewash then a full cycle, then an extra rinse. In your case, with machines outside of your home I would do two cycles at least. The first with cold and the second with hot. It is hard to say since for me removing the soap residue was so important. Now I make my own laundry soap and it doesn't seem to leave a residue...

[finnegansmom]

Can you rinse in your pail with cold water to save a wash?
I have a sprayer and spray really (really really) well so at times I could get away from a real cold first rinse (I have my own washer but I do rinse anyways).
My son had really sensitive skin so we had to do an extra rinse with everything of his because of detergent.

[lifeguard]

I think I would do the first wash cold/cold with no soap & then the second wash hot with soap. If you find you are getting stink/build-up you can always reevaluate.

[octobermom]

I have my own washer I don't bother wit ha prerisnes but our machine does automatic second rinse...
We did coin laundry for a long spell with our first.. Poo diapers got rinsed before they hit the pail anyways.. I did one wash on Hot and called it good never had an issue...

Deanna

[chase_mommy]

When visiting with my brother I had to use coin Laundromat in their apartment building. I did not like the idea of having to buy a bunch of wash cycles so I would rinse all the diapers really well in the bathtub and then take them down and wash. I would definitely rinse on my own and then second rinse in the washer to help make sure there is no residue left on the diaper.

[hildare]

i'd vote second rinse as most important. most of the ick comes off in the wash but getting that buildup off the diap will make or break the leaking factor. if you choose to do it otherwise, i'd strip them more frequently & use waaay less soap.

[mamadelbosque]

I'd wash on cold/cold w/ lots of detergent, and then on hot/hot w/o and be done with it - the soap will help get them clean the first time through, and a bit will almost certainly be left for the hot wash, while making sure to not have any left! Its what I do here at home :P

[Everrgreen]

Thank you everyone for your opinions. I think the extra rinse is really important to me regardless, just because of the soap residue. I like the idea of prerinsing the diapers too, so that they aren't being washed in pee-water. But maybe it isn't that big of a deal, and they will get clean enough anyway? Or I could rinse them myself. My son's poops are pretty solid now, and even when they are messy I rinse poopy diapers in the toilet really well. So the prewash would really just be to rinse away the urine. I think I'll stick with doing the first wash with soap (I had been doing this on hot, but maybe it should be done on cold?), followed by a second rinse-wash (hot again?) and see how that goes.