how to clean poopy cloth diapers

Many of my friends are hesitant to try cloth diapering, because they feel icky about cleaning the poopy diapers. Yes, you can dunk the poopy diaper in the toilet bowl and swirl around to clean the diaper. However, this may not be the most conveinent. You can make this job a lot easier. Here are two most common things you can do to clean the poopy diapers without much fuss.

1. Get a diaper spray. Hook it up next to your toilet bowl and voila you're done and you can simply spray away the poop. Some mothers use a big bucket on top of the toilet to prevent splashes while spraying the diaper. This is not necessary. And it could be cumbersome if you live in an apartment with one toilet available for the entire family. You have to move the bucket every time you use it to wash the poopy cloth diapers. Once you get used to the diaper spray, you will develop control to limit the spraying out of the toilet. Place the poopy diaper close to the toilet bowl. Spray close to the diaper and towards the toilet bowl, not towards the sides or upwards. This prevents splash and mess around the toilet bowl.

2. Use flushable liners. Flushable liners are similar to toilet paper, except it's more sturdy to hold the poop. Place the flushable liners on top of the cloth diaper. When your baby poops, the poop will be on the liner and you can simply drop the soiled liner in the toilet and flush. Some mothers use the liners at every diaper change. Other use it only when they are out and about with their baby. During the first few weeks of your baby's life when she is pooping 12 times a day, flushable liners can be convenient to use. When your baby gets older and poops only once a day during a regular interval, you may use the liner only when you anticipate a poopy diaper.

During the first few weeks of baby's life when the poop is light and buttery, some mothers do not even bother cleaning the poopy diapers before storing it for laundry. They just let the laundry machine take care of the cleaning. This may be convenient, but it is not recommended by the manufacturers of the diapers.

Keeping the poop stained diapers wet until laundry time will help reduce staining. When baby is older than 6 months and poops 1-2 times a day, some mothers hand wash the poopy diapers with soap immediately after spraying it. I highly recommend using the Imse Vimse Wash Away Stain Soap for reducing the stains.

• Rinse away the poop with diaper spray.
• Keep the stained diaper wet in storage before laundry.
• Washing cloth diaper - Do cold rinse to prevent staining.  Then, wash in HOT water with zero-residue detergent.

• Put on rubber gloves. 
• Place the poopy cloth diaper in the towel bowl and spray away the poop.
• Place the cloth diaper in a sink.
• Handwash the stains with Imse Vimse Wash Away Stain Soap.
• If the stain is persistent, rub the prefold cloth diaper with Imse Vimse Wash Away Stain Soap and soak it in cold water for few hours. It is not recommended to soak any diapers (such as fitted, pocket, or AIO) with elastics. I only soak prefolds.
• Store the wet diaper in the wet bag until next laundry.
• For washing the cloth diapers, I skip the cold rinse. I simply just do one HOT wash with zero-residue detergent.

• Place the flushable liner with each diaper change.
• Throw away the poopy liner in the toilet bowl and flush.

Cloth Diaper Flushable Liners

Bummis Bio-Soft Liners	Imse Vimse Flushable Liners	Tiny Tush Disposable Liners

Cloth Diaper Accessories

bumGenius Diaper Spray	Thirsties Pre-Wash & Super Wash Value Pack	bumGenius Diaper Detergent	Wash Awasy Stain Soap