Adventures in Cloth Diapering

Since cloth diapering started a few months ago I have had my ups and downs. Yeah I know what possible ups and downs could there be when it comes to diapering? Well, I had to first figure out the best way to wash the diapers and accessories. Believe me it isn't as easy as it might seem. You can't just put the diapers in the wash and that is that. NO!! So, here is my diaper cleaning procedure.
1. First is a short cold wash with no detergent.
2. Second a hot wash with detergent.
3. Third a short hot rinse.
4. Forth another short hot rinse.
5. Dry liners, cloth wipes, inserts etc in the dryer without a dryer sheet and line dry the diaper covers.

Let me tell you, I was super overwhelmed at first. "What did I get myself into?" Now that I have been doing this for a few months it is so easy!! Ok, so than after I finally got a rhythm going Luke ends up with a rash. I couldn't tell what kind of rash so I just assumed it was a yeast rash. I found the rash sometime in the morning and started treating it right away. I put Luke in disposables cuz you can't use some diaper creams with cloth diapers. Some creams cause the cloth diapers to repel and you really don't want that to happen!! So than I did some research on how to disinfect the diapers. Let me tell you, I was not happy about this whole thing!! There were a few different ways I could disinfect but I chose to use tea tree oil and a cloth diaper oxygen bleach.

Ok, so after disinfecting the diapers I did a repel test. This just meant putting a little water on each item to see if the water soaked right in or stayed on top. Most of the cloth diapers and accessories were fine but a few were repelling the water. I decided just to be safe I needed to strip the diapers. When I first heard about stripping cloth diapers I didn't understand what the big deal was. Now I get it!! Stripping a diaper just means getting rid of all the things (buildup-urine or minerals). Stripping the diapers was really easy. I just replaced the detergent with 1-2 tablespoons or regular dawn, but everything else was the same.

Since that yeast episode I am back in the cloth diapering groove!! As I look back at the last few months things really haven't been that bad: )