Easy and effective, this is the best method for washing cloth diapers! You can follow this simple cloth diaper laundry routine to keep your diapers clean and odor-free.
Quick Look at the Tutorial
- 🧺 Detergent: Tide, any detergent without softeners or fragrances, or homemade
- 🔢 Basic Steps: Rinse if necessary, wash 2x, dry covers and inserts separately
- 🌿 Tip: If diapers aren’t getting clean, check water hardness, load size, detergent amount and type, and give the diapers time to soak.
All My Questions: Answered
As an already busy mom, when I was debating if cloth diapers were worth it, I had lots of questions about the laundry routine.
Would it be difficult? Would the diapers come out still dirty? Would I need lots of expensive laundry products?
I quickly learned that the answer to all of these questions was “no”! Learning how to wash cloth diapers was easy with this simple method I’m excited to share with you.
Supplies Needed
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Rinse the diaper
After you change a dirty diaper, the first step is to rinse off any poop. If the baby is exclusively breastfed or if there’s only urine in the diaper, you can skip this step.
Using a diaper sprayer attached to a toilet is the easiest and cleanest way to do this. After rinsing, squeeze out the access water.
Step 2: Place in diaper bin
You can buy bins specifically made for cloth diapers, however, I simply place a waterproof diaper bag inside of a trashcan with a lid.
Before you place the diaper in the bin, first separate the insert from the cover (if applicable) and completely unfold the diaper. This will make laundry much easier!
Step 3: Wash the diapers
It’s best to wash cloth diapers every 2-3 days, however, some people even wash them every day depending on how many diapers they own or the size of their washing machine.
First, put the diapers and diaper bag (turned inside out) into the washing machine. You want it to be pretty full for maximum agitation but not overfilled.
Add the laundry detergent of your choice, making sure to use the proper amount stated on the container. Resist the urge to use extra. This can cause buildup on the diapers which decreases absorbency and harbors bacteria.
Then wash the diapers using cold water on the shortest cycle that agitates the diapers and doesn’t simply rinse them. The name of this cycle will vary depending on your machine.
This first wash cycle with cold water will help to remove stains and start the process of getting them clean.
Next, add more detergent (again using the amount stated on the container) and wash the diapers a second time with hot water on the longest cycle. Again, the name of the cycle will vary depending on your machine, but on my machine I use the “heavy” cycle.
Step 4: Dry the diapers
To help your diapers last as long as possible, dry them outdoors on a clothesline. If convenience is more important (or you don’t have a clothesline), follow the dryer instructions below.
Place all of the diaper inserts in the dryer, leaving the diaper covers (if applicable) and the diaper bag in the washer. These can’t handle the heat that’s best for natural fiber diaper inserts. If you use microfiber diaper inserts, dry these with the covers and diaper bag.
Dry the diaper inserts on medium heat with a few wool dryer balls (optional, but they speed things up). The time this takes will vary depending on your dryer, the number of diapers, and the number of dryer balls.
To dry the diaper covers and diaper bag, place them in the dryer on an air only cycle. I find that throwing a dry towel into the dryer with them significantly reduces the time it takes for them to dry.
You now have perfectly clean diapers ready to be used again!
Not sure how many diapers to buy? Check out my post on figuring out how many cloth diapers you need!
How to Remove Stains from Cloth Diapers
Cloth diaper stains typically only happen with breastfed babies, and the stains don’t mean that your diapers aren’t clean.
If you want to remove the stains, you can sun-bleach them by hanging them outdoors in a sunny location for a few hours.
It’s also okay to occasionally use bleach on diapers, but it will wear them out more quickly. I don’t recommend using bleach solely to remove stains. However, it’s helpful if you suspect there’s bacteria or fungal buildup on the diapers.
Troubleshooting Cloth Diaper Washing Routines
If your diapers still smell after being washed or your child is getting reoccurring diaper rash for no apparent reason, there are a number of things you can try to determine the cause of the problem.
Do you have hard water?
Most homes in North America and many throughout the rest of the world have a level of hard water. If your water is lower on the scale, it may not cause an issue, but extremely hard water will lead to problems.
To combat this, use a detergent with water softeners or add your own water softener to the laundry. Borax and Calgon Water Softener are popular choices for this.
How many diapers are you washing at once?
The load size is extremely important to keep diapers clean. The washing machine needs to be pretty full to agitate effectively, but if it’s overfilled, the diapers won’t get clean.
How much laundry detergent are you using?
You always want to start with the amount recommended on the container. However, if that doesn’t seem to be working, you can try increasing it slightly.
If you discover you were using more than what is recommended (many people unintentionally do this), reduce the amount back down.
If you have soft water, you may need to use slightly less detergent than the recommendation.
What type of laundry detergent are you using?
Depending on the water type, washing machine, and laundry routine, certain homemade detergents work for some people, but others struggle when using them. I’ve had great success with my homemade diaper detergent, but that may not be the case for you.
However, if you are having any issues, make sure to use a mainstream laundry detergent that’s known to work well for cloth diapers. Tide is the most popular brand for this.
Does your washer have a soak setting?
If the longest setting on your washer is not soaking your diapers for a period of time, you may need to do this manually. During the second wash, after the washer has filled with water, simply lift the washer lid for 20-30 minutes before closing it and allowing the cycle to finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
To avoid excessive ammonia and bacteria buildup, it’s best to wash them every 2-3 days.
No, there’s no need to spray off diapers unless they have poop in them.
Poop from exclusively breastfed babies is water soluble, so there’s no need to rinse it off before washing the diaper. However, if your baby receives any formula or whenever solids are introduced, you must rinse the diaper off in the toilet before washing.
Once they come out of the dryer, they should smell like nothing. If they smell or your baby is getting reoccurring diaper rashes for no apparent reason, your diapers aren’t getting clean and you need to troubleshoot your washing routine.
No, on the contrary, babies and toddlers wearing cloth diapers should get fewer diaper rashes due to the absence of chemicals in the diapers. If they are getting rashes, make sure you’re changing them frequently enough. If that doesn’t help, you’ll need to troubleshoot your washing routine.
No, as long as you use regular detergent without softeners (and preferably no fragrances either), it should clean the diapers well.
Do you have any questions about washing cloth diapers? Let me know in the comments!
