getting stains out of cloth diapers

[knaidel]

When I was pregnant and readingf up on coth diapering, a lot of the sites said "Cloth diapers usually don't stain! and if they do, sun them"

well, many, if not MOST, of my diapers are stained, and sunning them isn't an option! (not so much sun around here this time of year!) And anyway, i live in an apt. and don't have an outdoor clothsline.


Any suggestions on poop stain removal? My kid is mostly breastfed.

[lizajane]

zout stain remover. it works really well. let it sit on the dipes for 5 minutes before tossing in the wash.

you could also try soaking them in oxyclean, or washing with some clorox 2. i don't know if clorox 2 is a bad idea for general use, but we have used it once or twice without any problems.

[KrisM]

Make sure you're using enough detergent. I was getting lots of stains until I figured out that I wasn't using anywhere near enough detergent. Now, I have very few stains. Most came out and I don't get new ones.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Do you do a cold water soak before you wash them in hot? The only time I have had stains is when I am away from home and can't do my usual cold presoak for a couple of hours.

I read somewhere about how the hot water sets the stain, but the cold water soaks out the poop before it can set. Or something like that.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
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[mudder17]

That's supposed to be the case (it certainly is for blood), but for some reason, I'm able to start my cycle with hot water and not get any stains. HOWEVER, maybe it's because I spray the poopy diapers with copious amount of cold water (minishower) before washing, so it sort of acts as a cold soak?


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtickers/ticker/16994.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amber_9m.gif Breastfed 11 months and counting

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Yes that might do it. I don't spray at all.

I also use Zout on poopy diapers when I remember and have it handy. I spray it on when I put the diaper in the pail.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
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[squimp]

A second vote for Zout, Zout, Zout. It works even after I have dried the dipe.

[tarahsolazy]

I agree with everyone, LOL! Also, do you have a front-loading or otherwise high efficiency washer? I have a front loader, and wash my dipes on the long hot cycle. All my infant PFs got BF-poo stains, although they got clean. I found that doing a cold rinse and spin prior to the wash helped. Now that my son is on solids, we spray off all the poopy dipes in the toilet (mini-shower type sprayer) before putting them in the pail, and no stains that way, either, although DH is washing dipes these days and doesn't do the pre-rinse.

[knaidel]

Well, Nathaniel and I took a little field trip this morning and bought some Zout, so we'll try that.
We live in an apartment building, and the buildings' machine doesn't have an option for a pre-soak or anything. You can just choose: hot, warm, or cold. That's the temperature for both the wash and rinse.
The other option is to run a whole cycle on cold water before washing. There are 2 problems with that: one is that it'll cost extra money, and 2) I don't really want to be hogging up the machine.
Any other suggestions for a pre-rinse that might help with stains?

[tarahsolazy]

You could look into the minishower, or other diaper sprayers. They cost about $35 I think, from places like www.lilbunz.com and www.naturalbabies.com Both of these retailers are fabulous, and ship quickly! It took about 5 minutes to hook ours up. You can then spray all the poopy off into the toilet, I don't even wring the dipes out, its just straight into the pail. I think DH wrings them out with rubber gloves... This is what Eileen does, too, and it has worked well for her, I believe. The minishower could easily be taken off your toilet and reinstalled elsewhere, too, so even if you moved, etc, it wouldn't have to stay with your current rental.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

You could try using a wet pail, where the diapers essentially soak in cold water in the pail all the time.

But I am not sure how you would spin out the water before you wash them. I guess you could pour it out into the toilet as much as possible before you take the diapers down to the laundry.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
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[pritchettzoo]

Some options:
Fleece liners
Rice paper liners
MINISHOWER!--especially if you're using a communal machine. ;)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and One More (coming July '05)

[knaidel]

How would rice paper liners contain the BM? How does that work?

Also, regarding the mini-shower: what's the difference between this and holding the diaper under a strong stream of rumming water? Or is it the same thing, just the poop is going down my toilet, and not into my bathroom sink?

[pritchettzoo]

The rice paper liner goes between the butt and the diaper, so the poop would be on the liner and you can pick it up and flush it (liner and poop) away. Peed-on liners can be washed and re-used. I've never used them personally because we have a septic system.

Fleece liners would work similarly, except you don't flush the liner ;). The poop comes off the fleece much more easily than most diaper fabrics IMO. It also tends not to stain, especially if you use a colored fleece. I have off-white no-pill fleece from JoAnn's because I'm crazy and wanted the liners to "match" my diapers. My mom got some and cut some out for me, and she bought purple and pink. I'm trying to adjust.

Yup, that's the difference! I think the minishower has a pretty strong blast of water to get rid of the poop.

Bac-Out is supposed to be great for stains too. It's made by Bi-o-Kleen (I think I got the hyphens right) and I found it at Whole Foods. I don't have a stain problem (fleece liners), but I'm hoping it helps with my stink issues.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and One More (coming July '05)