What's your front-load washing routine?

[jhrabosk]

I think that one of the things that's holding me back from trying cloth is not feeling confident in how to wash them in a front-loader. It seems that the recommended washing instructions everyone gives are for top-load and I'm not sure whether they translate.

Do any of you use a front-load machine? What's your routine for washing your diapers?

Thanks!
Jessica

[kristenk]

I think that I might actually rinse more than I need to b/c I have a front loader and can see bubbles through the front window! If I had a top loader, I'd most likely be blissfully ignorant of any bubbles b/c I wouldn't remember to check at the proper time! :)

The basic routine boils down to:
prewash on cold
heavy wash on hot/cold with "extra rinse" selected
regular wash on cold with "extra rinse" selected

I can add lots of details, though, so here's what I actually do:

Prewash on cold - prewash is a super short cycle on my machine

While the prewash is going, I put a big pot of water on the stove to heat up. I don't think that our hot water heater gets the water as hot as I'd like for it to be for washing dipes, so this is my work-around.

When the water's hot (the prewash generally finishes first), I dump all of it into the washer. Yes, because it's a front-loader, I have to use a gigantic measuring cup and pour it in that way.

Then I run a hot wash on the heavy wash setting with 1/2 tablesppon of Allen's. I will occasionally add a little bit of vinegar to the "fabric softener" dispenser in the washer to act as a softener.

When that finishes, I run a regular wash cycle on cold to get rid of excess suds.

I think that I could probably mess around with detergent amounts, etc. and substitute some sort of rinse for the cold wash at the end, but I'm satisfied with this routine even though it can take forever!

[o_mom]

We use a dry pail (30L metal step can with a nylon bag as a liner) and wash every other day. The baby's dipes go straight in the pail, which has a nylon bag for carrying. The older one we use rice paper liners so the majority of the poo goes in the toilet. We also use cloth wipes and those also go straight in the pail. Inserts are removed from pocket dipes. I keep a can of baking soda on the changing table and will add a few shakes after any particularly smelly changes, but for the most part there is no odor.

Every other night (which works out to every night with two in diapers) we take the full bag downstairs and turn it inside out into the washer, putting the bag in with the diapers. We have a frigidaire front loader, one of the older models (7yrs). Here is the wash routine:

1st Wash: Cold water, small amount of Wisk or other HE detergent with enzymes, 1/4-1/3 cup baking soda. Short wash with extra rinse.

2nd Wash: Hot water, small amount of Purex HE, vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser. Long wash with extra rinse.

Dry on high heat for the longest time possible, hang dry pocket diapers and pail liner. Covers are washed with regular clothes.

It may be overkill, but this has been our routine for two years now, and the diapers always come out clean and fresh. This was true both with and without the water softener we install 3 months ago. I tried to just do a prewash cycle in place of the 1st wash, but it didn't remove all the poo and stained some of the prefolds. The reason for two different detergents is that Purex is much cheaper than Wisk, Tide, etc., so I only use Wisk when I need something with enzymes.

[RwnMayfair]

Honestly, I think they've been easier to clean on my front-loader than they were in a top-loader. But that may be because my front-loader has a soak cycle, too. ;)

Anyway, I throw them all in for a soak cycle with a scoop of baking soda. Once the soak cycle is done, I do a hot cycle with a bit of detergent and an extra rinse. Usually that's enough, though every now and then I've done an additional cold cycle with nothing added just as an extra rinse. I don't do that very often though, since I don't think it needs it most of the time. Anyway, after that, I just pull them all out and throw them in the dryer. I used to seperate out my FuzziBunz and hang them on a rack to dry, but since my daughter arrived I've been lazy and have been just throwing them in the dryer with everything else. ;)

You'll find that everyone has their own method for washing cloth diapers, though. I'm sure mine varies from other people's methods and so forth and so on. :)

-Melissa

Taran, November 20, 2003
Elowen, August 20, 2005

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
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[new_mommy25]

We have the Kenmore HE3 washer.

Cold Wash, nothing added to rinse out all the pee and lingering poop. Every now and again I throw in some baking soda.

Hot wash on Whitest whites with some HE detergent. I buy whatever is on sale. The Whitest whites cycle has two rinses. If necassary I will skip the detergent and use a squirt of Dawn. That stuff works miracles. I also very occasionaly use some white vinegar in the rinse cycle.

Hot wash on whitest whites with nothing added. Sometimes I add a few drops of TTO.

That's my current routine. I change routines constantly when it seems that nothing is working. So far I like how this is going though I do realize that some people might balk at the amount of water.

[nohomama]

I use a dry pail for wet diapers and a wet pail for poopy diapers. With poopy diapers, I shake what's shakable into the toilet, spray off what remains with my homemade mini-shower attatched to the spigot of my utility sink, and throw (not literally) the wet diaper into a two gallon bucket filled with water and kept in the utility sink. Sometimes I add a smidge of detergent to the water, sometimes not. Come wash day I drain the water from the bucket into the utility sink and toss those diapers along with the diapers and liner from the dry pail into the washer. I run one "heavy" wash on hot/cold with a capful of Sportswash followed by a second "normal" wash on warm/warm with one cup of vinegar. I dry the diapers on medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour and finish on the line. Easy peasy.

[tarahsolazy]

I think mine is the easiest so far:

I have the Kenmore He3.
Cold rinse, 21 minutes

Whitest whites long hot wash with two rinses, 90 minutes

I use BioKleen laundry powder, and switching from Tide HE to that seems to have gotten rid of any lingering stinkies.

If things seem a tad stinky, I add about 5ml (1tsp) of bleach in the bleach dispenser. (Where's the hiding under a chair smiley?) That's only about once a month.