I have been one Cloth Diaper Mommy for almost 3 years. Up to this point, I must say that I am happy and contented and one loyal Cloth Diaper (CD) user. Baby Hambali's Cloth Diaper stashes is a mix of first hand (newly bought) & preloved and very happy to state that those newly bought are still in good shape.
Want to know how I care my junior's stashes? Here are few simple tips & tricks that I did. Noted : It is up to you follow this tips & tricks at your own risk.
1. Do pre-wash your cloth diaper at least two times before first use for the brand new ones. Some cloth diaper materials like bamboo requires more pre-wash. Always check the laundry instruction tag and follow it wisely considering our water supply and our weather.
2. If it is a preloved cloth diaper, do wash it though it looks clean to you. For the Muslim mommies, do 'samak' [clean with dirt (tanah) & 'doa' recite] them. You can never be sure of the condition from previous user handling.
3. Wash your cloth diaper separately from your other clothing. Apart from cleanliness, bear in mind the material of cloth diaper is different from our normal clothing.
4. I only rotate each cloth diaper to be used once a week. I believe this could be the possible cause of the longer lifespan of each cloth diaper. Logically, the frequent usage of any fabric material do shorten its lifespan, isn't it?
5. You can even put all your cloth diaper inside the laundry net during wash-time too. I did this few times before but I found, it became tangle & the swishy room is insufficient. You see, I recommend that you wash no more than two dozen diapers at one time, too much friction can cause pilling. Cloth diaper needs enough swishy space to be thoroughly clean.
How to store dirty cloth diaper and wash it?
1. All you need is a diaper pail or wet bag or a combination. Some moms used diaper liner to line inside the pail, but as for me, I never have one. I just toss all dirty diapers inside diaper pail & cover it.
2. I wash two days once for cloth diapers. Never soak (rendam) your cloth diaper. If you can't stand the smell, you can squirt a few drops of tea tree oil or dettol.
3. For poopy diaper, simply dump any solid poop into the toilet and flush away the residual. Rub some soap detergent on the dirty poop area. Rinse few times under runny water. If it is the laundry day, toss it together with other diapers. If it is not, store them with the rest dirty diapers.
No worries about the faint or stubborn stain. The sun is the best bleacher to remove them. For breastfeed baby, you don't need to brush the suede. It will come off ater you wash it in the machine. If it is a must to brush your diaper, just use old toothbrush and brush it lightly. (I never brush our diaper but some Cloth Diaper Mommas recommend this method)
4. The best part on being Cloth Diaper user is that you need less washing detergent. And you don't need those powerful detergent complete with enzyme, bleaching, whitening, softener or fragrance. The basic and simplest detergent like Trojan wll do. As for me I used Pureen HAD (both powdery & liquid form). Take note on it's ingredients. And I used a quarter (1/4) than the recommended usage label.
5. Once in a while it is essential to wash your diaper in moderately hot water or perform strip washing. Strip washing can be done when your diaper getting smelly or having issue on leaking.
How to perform strip washing?
1. Build up residues left by detergents, fabric softeners, diaper rash cream and other substances used to clean diapers. It may cause your diaper to leak. Stripping refers to the removal of residue on diapers.
2. To do stripping, simply hand wash your diaper with your regular dish soap (like Sunlight brand) and this gets the oils out. Just add a bit of dish soap to the fleece or suede (the inner part of cloth diaper).
3. You can rub that part a bit and turn inside out and repeat on this side. Rinse few times ensuring the water runs clear.
4. Toss in the washing machine and wash it without detergent.
5. There is another way to do strip washing. Last night, it's about time I do this another method of stripping. All I do is mix the detergent together with few drops of Distilled White Vinegar and 1 tablespoon of Natrium Bicarbonate inside a full load laundry. And the second cycle, a few drops of Dettol to cast away horrid smell. The third cycle is simply water for thorough cleaning with no hint of urines, feces, ammonia or other unpleasant odours.
Lastly, never ever wring (perah) your cloth diaper. This will harm the elasticity of your cloth diaper.You can just used dryer or line dry under the sun.
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