Hand Washing!
*My HAND WASHING Post I made to clothdiapering today!*
I live in an apartmend building with shared washing machines and dryers. My son's skin is SO sensitive that everytime I washed his diapers...no matter how I washed them, he would get an awful burn-like rash.
Finally (after using cloth for close to a year) I realized that yes, Jack has very sensitive skin and that yes, he was reacting to the detergent build up in the machines...his rash would be worse if whoever used the machine prior to me used something he was allergic to.
(This conclusion took a lot of trouble shooting...)
I took a cloth diapering break out of frustration and the want to give my little boys behind a break!
What's a mom to do? This month, I decided, okay kid...disposables are gross, we are making this cloth diapering thing WORK! So I decided that hand-washing Jack's diapers is just how it's going to be.
I checked the tags and I didn't find the hand-washing tags very helpful, so let me tell you how I do it!
Every time I change Jack's diaper, I take the wet/dirty diaper and rinse it very well with cold water right away. (We use flushable liners- I don't really want to mess with toddler poop- ick!)
After a thorough rinse, the diaper goes into the wet bag.
Every other day, I fill up a 5 gallon bucket with the hottest water the tap will give me, (and a kettle full of boiling water to make it a little hotter), put in a 1/4 amount of the reccomended detergent (we use Wind Fresh from Walmart) and add the already-rinsed diapers. Then I use a ladel (LOL) and aggitate the diapers with all my might. I do this for about 5 mintues, then pour out some of the dirty water and add some warm water and aggitate again. One more time for good measure.
Then I hand rinse the diapers in cold water again, one diaper at a time in the sink.
Ring and hang to dry...and sometimes, for extra fluffyness, I will pop them into the dryer for 10 minutes.
I am pleased to say that Jack's bum has been RASH FREE since I started hand-washing his diapers! I'm sure people think I am nuts...but I feel better having him in cloth, and if this is how it's going to work, then so be it! (And wow, am I ever saving money...the shared machines were costing me $4 to wash and $1 to dry...ONE LOAD, ah!)
Oh and also, I'd like to add that after doing this a few times, I can now wash all of Jack's diapers in an hour...and that's during commercial breaks, hahaha!
I live in an apartmend building with shared washing machines and dryers. My son's skin is SO sensitive that everytime I washed his diapers...no matter how I washed them, he would get an awful burn-like rash.
Finally (after using cloth for close to a year) I realized that yes, Jack has very sensitive skin and that yes, he was reacting to the detergent build up in the machines...his rash would be worse if whoever used the machine prior to me used something he was allergic to.
(This conclusion took a lot of trouble shooting...)
I took a cloth diapering break out of frustration and the want to give my little boys behind a break!
What's a mom to do? This month, I decided, okay kid...disposables are gross, we are making this cloth diapering thing WORK! So I decided that hand-washing Jack's diapers is just how it's going to be.
I checked the tags and I didn't find the hand-washing tags very helpful, so let me tell you how I do it!
Every time I change Jack's diaper, I take the wet/dirty diaper and rinse it very well with cold water right away. (We use flushable liners- I don't really want to mess with toddler poop- ick!)
After a thorough rinse, the diaper goes into the wet bag.
Every other day, I fill up a 5 gallon bucket with the hottest water the tap will give me, (and a kettle full of boiling water to make it a little hotter), put in a 1/4 amount of the reccomended detergent (we use Wind Fresh from Walmart) and add the already-rinsed diapers. Then I use a ladel (LOL) and aggitate the diapers with all my might. I do this for about 5 mintues, then pour out some of the dirty water and add some warm water and aggitate again. One more time for good measure.
Then I hand rinse the diapers in cold water again, one diaper at a time in the sink.
Ring and hang to dry...and sometimes, for extra fluffyness, I will pop them into the dryer for 10 minutes.
I am pleased to say that Jack's bum has been RASH FREE since I started hand-washing his diapers! I'm sure people think I am nuts...but I feel better having him in cloth, and if this is how it's going to work, then so be it! (And wow, am I ever saving money...the shared machines were costing me $4 to wash and $1 to dry...ONE LOAD, ah!)
Oh and also, I'd like to add that after doing this a few times, I can now wash all of Jack's diapers in an hour...and that's during commercial breaks, hahaha!