We started using cloth diapers 2 weeks after Ben was born and immediately liked them better than disposables. They contained messes better, didn’t leak, and looked fluffy and adorable on his little bum! We used prefolds and covers (PUL, fleece, and wool) exclusively for 4 weeks and started mixing in our BumGenius 4.0 diapers when Ben was 6 weeks old. We’ve been using the 4.0s ever since but have also bought 5 BumGenius All-in-Ones, which I love. Maybe I’ll get into the hows and whys of our cloth diaper routine in another post.

When we started our cloth adventure, I had an old top loading washing machine that we had gotten with the house. It worked well but wasn’t very water efficient so we knew we wanted to upgrade eventually. I found a great deal on a Whirlpool Duet Steam washer on Black Friday/Cyber Monday and couldn’t wait for it to be delivered! My washing machine is almost like another member of the family and I know it will get to be more so as our family grows.

I have always heard that you have to be careful washing cloth diapers in a high efficiency front loader because they don’t always use enough water to fully rinse out the diapers. We have been using this same series of steps to wash the diapers since we got the machine in December and haven’t had a problem with smell yet!

1. Load the diapers into wash. Set the washer to Rinse/Drain and Spin and change spin speed to low. Add 1 c. vinegar to the main wash section of the soap drawer OR 2 Tbs of Funk Rock (once a month) into the drum with the diapers. Make sure temp is set to cold (should automatically be set to cold). Timer should be set to 30 minutes. Start!

2. Set the washer to Normal/Casual. Set temp to hot, spin to high, soil level to heavy, push the buttons for presoak and extra rinse. The timer should be set to around 2 hours and 8 minutes after all the options are selected. Add an almost full scoop of Charlie’s soap OR 1.5 Tbs of Classic Rock to main wash section of soap drawer. DO NOT ADD FABRIC SOFTENER!

3. Unsnap all inserts and unfold burp cloths. Dry on heavy duty (high heat) all inserts, prefolds, burp cloths, and fitted diapers. All pocket diapers, covers and the wet bag are line dried. If the weather is warm and sunny, I bring the inserts, All-in-Ones, and pocket diapers to the back patio along with the drying rack and let them dry outside. I keep hoping that we’ll get a retractable clothes line (like this one) installed this summer.

Questions? Comments? Feel like cloth diapers are more trouble than they’re worth?