My Wash Routine

The wash routine is by far, the hardest part of cloth diapering. It has nothing to do with the amount of washing, it's just all the adjusting to find what works for you. Ill list the steps I do first, then ill explain why I do them at the end. 

I do my CD (cloth diaper) washing every other day. I start by emptying my wet bag into te washer, I just turn it inside out so I don't have to touch anything. I put the wet bags in as well. 

Set my washing machine to rinse & spin with an extra rinse. This removes any left over poop particles. 

Then I fill my diaper pail with water and one loads worth of detergent. I then remove all the inserts from the diapers that didn't come out on their own in the rinse cycle. I also unsnap the rise settings, then all the dipes and liners go into the pail for a soak. The soak is for at least an hour. I set the wet bags aside. 

 

Following the soak, I put everything back into the washing machine including my wet bags.  I squeeze some of the water out but I try to leave them pretty wet. Without any detergent, I set the washer for super wash with an extra rinse. I repeat this wash twice. 

Then I take the inserts and put them in the dryer for 60min with no dryer sheet. The diapers dry on a drying rack along with the wetbags. 

Once everything is dry, I re stuff all the diapers and snap down the rise. This just makes it easier when you go to grab a dipe. 

In the beginning I was having troubles with the inserts still smelling and some leaks. My washer is an HE washer therefore it uses the least amount of water needed for the weight of the load. By adding the soaking step I'm adding as much water as I need and I'm ensuring the detergent has enough time to wash out any bacteria (causes the smell). The double wash cycles with no detergent removes all soap residues from the diapers. These residues build up and prevent  absorption, causing leaks. 

So far this has been working perfectly. It sounds a lot more involved than it is, the washer does most of the work. 

What's your wash routine like?