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If you're a cloth diapering mama, then you know (or should know) that you need to strip your cloth diapers once every 2-3 months for routine diaper maintenance. Stripping your cloth diapers gets rid of the extra build up that forms overtime that reduces the absorbency of your diapers. Most of the time this build-up (caused from using too much or too little detergent) may cause rashes, leaking, repelling, and FUNK!
There are several ways to strip your cloth diapers depending on the problem you are having with them. Here's the routine that works best for me: Wash Diapers, Strip Diapers. It is very important to strip CLEAN cloth diapers. If you strip dirty diapers, you won't really know if the process is working, and you will just ruin your diapers.
Washing:
- Throw dirty diapers into the washer
- Run a cold rinse (no detergent)
- Run a Hot Wash (with detergent)
- Run a Cold Rinse
- Followed by another Cold Rinse
Stripping:
- Throw your diapers in the washer and add a few drops of Dawn liquid dish soap**.
- Run a hot wash (Your washer will be filled with a lot of bubbles).
- Keep running hot washes (or rinses) until there are no more bubbles (3 hot washes or so)
- Run a cold rinse.
- Hang your diapers to dry or tumble dry on low heat.
This process doesn't take me longer than 2-3 hours.
Other points to mention:
There are also several additives you can use in your hot wash when you strip your cloth diapers besides Dawn dish soap. Some people use BioKleen Bac-Out which is an odor and stain remover. Others use Baking Soda, Oxi Clean, or White Vinegar (helps with ammonia-smelling diapers).
There are also several additives you can use in your hot wash when you strip your cloth diapers besides Dawn dish soap. Some people use BioKleen Bac-Out which is an odor and stain remover. Others use Baking Soda, Oxi Clean, or White Vinegar (helps with ammonia-smelling diapers).
I hope this helps! Good luck stripping your diapers!
**If you're using Dawn, a few drops goes a long way, don't over do-it! Dawn helps to remove the oily film my diapers have when they need to be stripped and help remove the extra minerals inside the inserts, too.
11 comments:
Hmm.. I've never used Dawn, but I might if I'm desperate. So far a good 1-2 hour soak in Rockin' Green and Very hot water once a week is working for us.
This is fabulous information. I don't cloth diaper my little baby because there's no way I could frequent the laundromat enough to wash them (stupid apartment!), but my sister is due for a baby in November and she's planning on cloth diapering. I'm gonna have to give her the link to this blog post. Thanks so much!
Thank you for this post I loved the step by step instructions.
Great info!!! love it!
I've used baking soda a few times in my pre-rinse, but i haven't actually done a good stripping. i'll probably get some oxi-clean, thanks!
Wow, Thank You so much! I cloth diapered and never did this. I ran white vinegar or baking soda through but I never knew to strip. Now my four are grown but I taught my daughter and sil to cloth diaper but not to strip. Thier diapers get used a lot too as they only have 4 so far. Eek better run tell her, thanks for the post!
Gladys P
I've heard about using Dawn for stripping but never an amount or # of rinses, etc. Thank you for the full details. I'll be trying this for sure!
i'm new to cd so this post really gave me new insight! thanks :)
I had never heard about this! Thanks for the info!
Thanks
This is a big help! Thank you!
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