[mommy2abigail]

This is what I always did for my cd's and covers. I usuallly used fitteds and when we did use covers, aside from wool, I used BSWW. Wash on hot, 1/4 amount of cd approved detergent, extra rinse cycle, vinegar in the rise once a week. Dry on HOT. Never had a build up problem, never had stink issues, diapers and covers seemed to survive alright. Now I am reading that alot of you ladies wash on cold? Do you do that for electic savings purposes or cd saving purposes? And how do you dry? (If you use a dryer) Next babe, I am planning to use mostly ipf and either wool or bsww, so I think th ipf should be ok on the hot settings right? TIA

 

[MyckelsMommy]

ive been washing on hot, then once more through in cold, and drying on hot.

 

[cheygirl]

I wash everything in hot, with a cold rinse. Then I dry everything on medium, pick out the PUL stuff (pockets, bummis) at the end of the cycle, and then restart the dryer on a hot cycle to finish drying the pf's and fitteds. Maybe that step's unneccesary; I notice a lot of mamas just dry on hot.

 

[mom2mygirls]

I have always washed on hot the 5 years I have been cloth diapering

 

[Katia]

I used to run the load through a cold cycle, no detergent. Then follow with a hot wash with detergent/cold rinse cycle.<br><br>
I read at some point in the last year that I should swap those. Hot cycle (cold rinse) first, with detergent, followed by cold/cold cycle, so that is what I do now.<br><br>
I honestly haven't noticed a difference at all.<br><br>
I have always dried the diapers in the dryer on hot OR dried on the line outside and then zapped them in the dryer on hot for 10 min to soften them up. I always hang dry my diaper covers.

 

[box_of_rain]

I wash on cold and line dry. Always have. No problems. This is one way I try to save energy and decrease my ecological footprint. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">

 

[3 Little Monkeys]

I always do a cold rinse, hot wash (with detergent) cold rinse then I'll put them in the dryer. In the winter they dry completely in the dryer, in the spring/summer I'll pull them out after about 10 minutes and hang them outside to finish drying

 

[tinkerpuppet]

Its interesting to read what others do, I think I may lose one of my steps.<br><br>
I do a cold wash with detergent (longest cycle/highest water setting). Then I do a hot wash with no detergent (again longest cycle/highest water setting). I do it this way as I heard that the first cold wash is better for protein stains. But I'm thinking about just doing a hot wash (which has a cold rinse). That would cut my washer use in half.<br><br>
I pull all my covers out of the wash and hang dry them, all diapers go into the dryer on hot (and will soon be going outside on the line if spring ever chooses to show up!).

 

[octobermom]

I always washed hot and dryed hot, honestly I wouldn't mess with a good thing if your methods worked keep it up.

 

[skueppers]

I use a setting on my fancy front-loader that starts out cool and ramps up to hot, which is supposed to be better for stains. I dry on "normal" -- if I only had BSWW and prefolds, I would dry on hot, but since I have a few covers that aren't supposed to be dried on hot, I compromise by drying on normal.<br><br>
Every now and again I wash the prefolds with no detergent on the sanitary cycle, which is hotter than a regular hot cycle. I find that this helps get them super-clean, sort of my version of "stripping". <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
Oh, and unlike a lot of people, I use whatever detergent I happen to be using for the rest of the laundry, though I don't use anything with "bleach alternative" or fabric softener in it.