CD Washing/Drying Routine in Detail Please

[Nantucket]

I did a load of DS's diapers for the first time yesterday (mom left ) and some of the explosively poopy dipes still had yellow stains on them...

My mom was super religious about taking the poopy dipes to the basement sink and handwashing off the poop and soaking it in a tub of slightly soapy water... which got them really clean... I do not have that kind of time or energy...

I have a top load washer and can't have the wash on hot and rinse on cold unless I come and change the setting... so yesterday I washed and rinsed in warm water..... is this the problem? Should I get my lazy heiny to the basement to change the water setting?

I use Charlie's soap 1 T (although if it's liquid, I think yo have to use 1 oz as I learned on the CD forum).... I'll use the correct amount of detergent next time... but maybe CDs don't ever get spotless clean?...

Curious as to what other mamas' washing/drying routines are (in specific detail if possible please...)

[AGlimmeringHope]

I'm not caring about stains at the moment, but my wash routine is as follows:
-Dump diapers in washer
-Add 1/4 cap (like 1/4 of the way to the fill line) All F&C (Reese had a reaction to Dynamo)
-Add a small dash of borax
-Couple drops of TTO if the dipes are particularly stinky or we have rash issues

Hot wash/cold rinse, and then the same thing with no detergent or additives.

[vagabonder]

I have a FL washer. I add in a fourth a cup of Purex F&C and set on hot water cottons mode. I also set the "heavy duty" option with "rinse." My machine doesn't do a cold water rinse, either, so I just do it all on hot. Then I dry all on medium heat. I do this every other night and so far no problems with staining. I also just dump straight from the bag into the washer - no extra steps.

What kind of diapers do you have? How often are you washing? I'm guessing hot water setting might work better for you than warm?

[YummyYumYumMama]

our changing table and hanging pail liner are right by the bathroom. after a poop, i blast the diaper with water in the bathroom sink for about 90 seconds or less, wring it out, & toss it into the pail liner. (otherwise the poop doesn't always come out, forget staining - there's real poop! - and i have to do a 2nd load. not so fun w/coin op laundry.) i find it easy to rinse - i'm washing my hands anyway and it takes hardly any time. to wash, we use maybe half or less of the capful of purex f&c and toss everything in - including the pail liner and her regular clothing laundry - and run it on the whites setting which on our machines is hot wash/cold rinse. then it goes into dryer on whites aka high heat. anything not totally dry like AIOs are hung on our laundry drying rack.

[erica990]

With my first, I soaked them overnight in the washer and almost never had stains. Then I did a hot wash, cold rinse. This time, I just do a light wash on cold first, and that seems to do almost as well. I would soak overnight, but this washer doesn't have a "soak" setting, so if I want to soak, I have to go back and stop it before it completes the cycle, and I'm way too distracted for that.

Oh, and I use a little baking soda in the first wash, and then a little All or Purex F&C in the 2nd with some Oxyclean.

I always thought that the cold soak/wash first was the key to keeping out stains, but I could be wrong!

[kittywitty]

Dry pail
Cold soak in machine ~20 mins
hot wash with gain
hot dry

No fuss.

[matey]

Dry pail, cold wash in machine with bio-kleen, hot wash with a smaller amount of bio-clean, rinse, dry

When the bio-kleen runs out I will get something cheaper. Also, I dont use it on the covers or any dipes with waterproof layer, just prefolds. I want something I can use on everything.

i have had some faint stains, but it doesnt bother me, they are really faint and come spring/summer i can just put them out in the sun.

[wholewheatmama]

dry pail

cold rinse - i think this is the step t6hat keeps stains away for me
hot wash/cold rinse with <1/4 cap Allens powder (~1tbsp)
hot dry

my laundry is in my basement, so that first cold rinse requires an extra trip down the stairs of doom, but i think it pays off

[lesliesara63]

I've been having some stink issues so I've been fiddling with the routine a bit. Generally though its a cold prewash, then hot wash/cold rinse. That is the setting for my machine, but I don't think a warm rinse would be a problem. DD doesn't poop much but usually it comes out no problem on the first wash. If it leaves a little bit of stain, its gone on the next wash. In the summer I'll hang them out to dry.

We've been having stink problems with my microfibre inserts & the BG dipes. I've used Dawn in the prewash, oxyclean, baking soda & TTO. The tto seems to make it worse if anything. The dawn & oxyclean both work. Someone just told me the other day to turn up my hot water heater so I tried that last night. We'll see how they come out of the drier. The thing is they smell clean coming out of the wash & nasty when they are dried?

How do you like the Charlie's? I've been using Tide Free HE since I got a whole bunch on sale before dd was born. For my own laundry I actually miss a scented detergent and may switch back. Charlie's is something I'm really thinking about though when I run out of Tide Free.

[Friday13th]

Okay we have a portable washer/dryer combo so this means very little in terms of what I'd do with a regular washer.

Dry pail, 30-45 minutes before I'm going to do a load, I do a hot soak with Borax.

Warm or cold wash (depending on how much time I have, cold takes 3 hours for a wash and dry, warm takes about 4) with Arm and Hammer Free.

There aren't many stains and once it's nice out I'll start hanging things outside to dry and sun and that should take care of them.

[Elsaraw]

dry pail

i don't rinse poop (dh does *when* he changes a poopy dipe)

cold wash w/ generous squirt of bio-kleen (love it- it's the cheapest on drugstore.com) & scoop of trader joe's laundry soap (have charlie's to try when it runs out)

hot wash w/ another scoop of detergent

long dry cycle

i only have two slightly stained prefolds

[Sihaya]

Originally Posted by wholewheatmama

dry pail

cold rinse - i think this is the step t6hat keeps stains away for me
hot wash/cold rinse with <1/4 cap Allens powder (~1tbsp)
hot dry

my laundry is in my basement, so that first cold rinse requires an extra trip down the stairs of doom, but i think it pays off

This is what we do only I use a full scoop of Allen's and rinse each dipe with cold water before putting it in the pail (just like Muffin). We do have some faint yellow stains and I could care less about them. As my DH says, we bought the diapers to be pooped on. In case it matters, we only use prefolds and covers, no fitteds, pockets, or AIOs.

[Nantucket]

Originally Posted by vagabonder

What kind of diapers do you have? How often are you washing? I'm guessing hot water setting might work better for you than warm?

I have prefolds and pockets.. I have the dirty diaps soaking in a little bit of oxy clean in the basement right now... and will do a hot wash with Charlies next time...

I like Charlie's because it seems to be very mild and is non-scented... there are lots of people who've had bad experiences with it.. check out the CD forum....

[YummyYumYumMama]

Originally Posted by Sihaya

We do have some faint yellow stains and I could care less about them. As my DH says, we bought the diapers to be pooped on.

lol totally. but i've found that sometimes the stains go away on their own. i dunno why. i've had some totally stained diapers go through a couple wash/dry cycles and then come out looking brand new again.

[Sihaya]

Originally Posted by MmeMuffin

but i've found that sometimes the stains go away on their own. i dunno why. i've had some totally stained diapers go through a couple wash/dry cycles and then come out looking brand new again.

Yeah, that's happening here, too.

[matey]

I have also had tha happen; I swear I had three with stains and now they are all white again. Whatever, just so they're clean.

[VickV]

I dry pail, but I do use my mini shower and spray off poopy dipes first.

-Cold 'rinse and spin' cycle
-Hot 'whitest whites' wash + heavy duty + presoak + extra rinse cycle w/ a tablespoon of bi-o-kleen
-hot dry

[seaheroine]

We dry pail too, no pre-rinsing, and are now using almost all Thirsties and Fireflies since her Kissaluvs can't handle the absorbency any more!

Washing every other day, I:
-Cold wash/rinse with no detergent
-Hot wash/rinse with All Free and Clear
-Extra rinse

No staining or stink here yet and its been two months! Crossing fingers it stays this easy!

[Right of Passage]

I put all my diapes in a giant wetbag (as my daiper champ sits lonely longing for pee and poo soaked diapers to fill it)
I do a short wash on cold
then a hot wash with a tiny amount of all f&c (maybe 2 tablespoons)
dry on high
stuff pockets, fold prefolds, sort covers, put away

The only time I get stink is if Tate's diaper didn't get rinsed after he pooped. But I fianlly figured out the paper liners so now I just have to peel to poop away.