If my diapers only have pee on them, do I really need to do two cycles?

[InMediasRes]

We almost never have poop misses anymore. If my diapers only have pee, do I really need to do a cold cycle first, or can I just skip to the hot one? I thought the point of the cold cycle was to wash out the poop stains.

It sure would save a lot of water if I could only do one cycle and maybe add an extra rinse to it. I've been doing cold with soap then hot with no soap.

[CanBoo]

You can try and see what happens. You'll know quickly enough if it doesn't work.

I know I get build-up and ammonia odors if I don't do a quick cold rinse first. I don't do a complete cold cycle, just a rinse., and then a warm wash.

[Lula's Mom]

I only ever do one complete wash in cold water. My diapers get clean and smell fresh. It might depend on your washer, your soap, your water (hard or soft), etc., so give it a try and see!

[sapphire_chan]

With pee only diapers, I don't wash them separately.

Heck, when we had poop diapers, I found that just rinsing them before putting them in the laundry hamper worked just fine. But that was with flats, so ymmv.

[riboflavin]

We have always only done one hot cycle. Like Lula's Mom said, it will depend on water, detergent, etc. The type of diapers may make a difference too. I have never had any smell with 100% cotton inners, but have had occasional smell if I used something with a synthetic inner.

[srs]

I've started doing just a cold rinse first, not a full cycle. Seems to work fine. We have mostly prefolds, a few AIO, all cotton and PUL, no microfiber.

[InMediasRes]

They are all 100% cotton DSQs and my PUL pail liner. That's it. I have an HE front loading washer, and we have very hard water here.

I'm going to try the cold rinse + hot cycle next time.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by InMediasRes

They are all 100% cotton DSQs and my PUL pail liner.

Then I wouldn't even bother to wash them separately unless you have a poopy diaper.

Since you have your own machine, it'd be worth doing a rinse cycle for a poopy diaper.

[lili-chan]

Here's our system, which has been working really well with everything coming off clean in the laundry. We rinse off poo diapers immediately and put them in a big bucket that has water and Oxy-Clean in it. Pee diapers go in there as well, without prerinsing. Once the bucket is full we pour the water out and toss the diapers in the washing machine with more Oxy-Clean and a basic laundry detergent and put it on hot cycle. We only run everything through the laundry once.

[lexmas]

we always always get build up and ammonia stink if we don't cold rinse and then hot wash. But I think we have hard water here (that's what DH says anyway!) so that might contribute. I would try it and find out. FWIW, we always just washed diapers with normal laundry until DS was like, 2, and then there's just something about toddler pee that makes it all ammonia ridden and build-up prone!

[triscuitsmom]

Pee only goes in with the regular wash here too. The way I think about it... if my older child peed in his clothes (in regular underwear) I'd not wash them special. In fact if I didn't have a kid in cloth diapers already I probably wouldn't even think twice about it (or for that matter a poop accident). YMMV but it works for us