Cloth in the ( hand ) Wash

So, I promised I would talk about our experiences so far with washing cloth diapers...

Initially I decided that there was no way I could even try cloth diapers because we don't have a washer and dryer. But after hating the disposables, I wanted to see if there was any way to use cloth. I mean, I wasn't having trouble using cloth wipes (I hate baby wipes!), so why couldn't I make cloth diapers work too?! I read a blog that talked about a 1 week hand washing challenge, and I was intrigued. If there was a way to wash by hand, I wanted to give it a try. 

Jonathan was less than thrilled when I told him what I had in mind, but somehow I convinced him to let me try. He told me he would buy me the real supplies if we decided to go this route. Until then, I had to scrounge for my supplies. 

The first two steps I don't have pictures of...

First I rinse each diaper in the sink as it comes off the baby. I don't really like to have dirty diapers just sitting around waiting to be washed. Plus, the pee-soaked diapers smell nasty after a little while! I think the disposable diapers must have some kind of chemical deodorizers in them. Gross! I don't want that kind of stuff on David's skin all the time!

Second, about half an hour before I'm gonna wash the diapers I put them in the wash bucket to soak. This isn't actually necessary since I do the initial rinse, but I usually do it anyway.

 Add about 1 Tablespoon of cloth diaper safe soap to the empty wash bucket.

Add HOT water to make the bucket about half full. 

This soap makes the water slightly cloudy. 

Add diapers and covers.

Plunge for 5 min with a toilet plunger to agitate.

Usually I take my ipod with me and just listen to a 5 min song. 

This takes a lot longer without the music.

I like to vary my plunging so that it gets the diapers really clean.

 Dump water and diapers

I like to wring some of the water out at this point.

This means less soapy water goes into the rinse water.

 

 Return the diapers to the bucket and re-fill with water.

Agitate for 1-2 minutes.

Repeat rinse until water stays clear of suds or cloudiness.

 

Dump everything out and wring it out one more time.

Once I convinced Jonathan that we were gonna do this, he made me a clothesline!!!

Before this, we would hang them over the bar in the bathtub.

Time involved:
Individual diaper rinse - 1 min each
Optional pre-soak - 15-30 minutes
Agitation - 5 minutes (this varies by how dirty the diapers actually are)
2 Rinse cycles - 4-5 minutes
Wring and hang to dry - 5 minutes

If you don't count the pre-soak I never spend more than 30 minutes cleaning the diapers. It takes at least 45 minutes to do that wash part at the laundry room. Plus I get a fabulous arm workout! I haven't noticed any changes yet, but I bet after a while I will have some killer toned arm muscles!!!


*Special thanks to my wonderful hubby who took this time to learn how to wash the diapers so I could hold a sick baby and take pictures of the process. You're the best J-man!*

Next up should be a post about which diapers work best with the hand washing situation, and what we are gonna do long term with diapering. Gotta say it here though, I'm in love!