How to Get Cloth Diapers REALLY Clean

Thank you to Tide for sponsoring this post. 

Are you thinking about cloth diapering but worried about how you are going to get your diapers clean? We have a cloth diaper cleaning routine that will help keep your cloth diapers smelling fresh.

If you had told me when I first became a mom that, not only would I end up cloth diapering my babies, but that I would become mildly obsessed with cloth diapers (there are just so many cute designs!) I would have thought you were crazy. Why would I choose to cloth diaper when there were perfectly good disposable diapers?

The truth is though, cloth diapering isn’t nearly as hard as you might think it is, and it has some major benefits:

• Cloth diapers are more economical. You buy them once and can use them until your child is potty trained. I used mine for multiple kids so I know that I saved some serious cash.
• Cloth diapers limit your environmental impact. I felt good about using cloth diapers. We had less waste, which also meant we didn’t have to deal with super stinky trash cans.
• Cloth diapers are gentle on your baby’s skin. My kids had SUPER sensitive skin. I never liked using disposable diapers on their skin because they used to break out in rashes. With cloth diapers, I knew exactly what was on their skin and they did much better with them.
• They are super cute. You can get so many fun designs on cloth diapers now. They were so cute that I probably bought way more than I needed to.

How to Get Cloth Diapers Clean

One of the biggest concerns that moms have though, and its a valid one, is how do you get cloth diapers clean?  No one wants diapers that have a lingering smell and diapers that aren’t completely clean are really rough on baby’s skin.

I had a bit of trial and error before I came up with a washing routine that really worked.

Knowing my kids’ history of sensitive skin, I really wanted to use a plant-based detergent. The problem was, the natural detergents I was using just weren’t strong enough to get my diapers clean.

I tried almost a dozen different brands and nothing worked. At that point, I was desperate. My babies were getting rashes from diapers that weren’t as clean as they needed to be. Listening to the recommendation of a cloth-diapering friend, I made the switch to Tide. I learned really well that not all detergents clean cloth diapers well. You may be able to get away with any old detergent with your regular laundry, but cloth diaper laundry is a completely different ball game.

Tide got my diapers super clean and I never looked back.

Now there’s another option . . . 

Tide purclean is the first plant-based liquid laundry detergent that has the cleaning power that you expect and deserve from Tide, even in cold water. I love that this is a greener version of my tried-and-true Tide that I’ve used for years. It is free of dyes, chlorine, and phosphates, which make me feel good using it on my cloth diapers. They don’t even send any manufacturing waste to a landfill and the formula is made with 100% renewable wind power electricity, so I love knowing that it’s a more sustainable choice.

Tide purclean is available in Honey Lavender and Unscented. I usually can’t use scented detergent on anything that my kids wear but they do just fine with the plant-based Honey Lavender and it smells amazing.

Cloth Diaper Cleaning Routine

After cloth diapering 5 out of my 6 babies, I’ve come up with a cloth diaper cleaning routine that works really well. I’ve changed this over the years, tweaked things here and there when I needed to, and now I have a cloth diaper cleaning routine that I’m really happy with.

1. Dump solids into the toilet. Use a diaper sprayer if you have one.
2. Rinse in cold water. What worked for me was filling up my washing machine with cold water after I had done my laundry for the day and dumping all diapers in to soak as we used them. Pretreat stains with liquid purclean and let sit for 5 minutes before rinsing.
3. Drain the rinse water from the washing machine and wash in the warmest water setting that meets the care instructions on your diapers using Tide purclean.
4. For extra dirty loads, or loads that I had taken a bit longer to getting around to washing, I’d do one final rinse.
5. Tumble or line dry, following the care instructions on your diapers labels.

For more information on how to clean cloth diapers check out Tide.com.

Having a great cloth diaper cleaning routine makes such a huge difference. You may have to make minor adjustments if you have hard or soft water, but sticking to a great routine helps you keep your diapers nice and clean. You can purchase Tide purclean here.