You are washing your diapers with WHAT?

Well now that you have your diaper stash and it is all prepped and ready to go what about that washing thing? I mean using cloth diapers that is sort of unavoidable.  The issue many run into here is that there are about as many wash routines out there as stars in the sky. So what is the right way?  The right way is the way that works for you. Your diapers have to get clean, be stink free and your baby has to be rash free.  But where to start. Well for starters get familiar with your water. hard water reacts different from regular or soft water and you need to know what detergent works best in your water. You can read reviews and google it until your fingers are numb from clicking but the only real way to know what will work is to actually try it out. Here are my basic recommended detergent, I will post about them later:

Country Save
Rockin Green
Bum Genius Detergent
Nature Clean
Charlie Banana Soap
Nellies

I have had good luck with all of these detergents but Country Save is my favourite by far.

A basic wash routine looks like this:
Wash every 2-3 days
Do a cold rinse to remove any pee and poop particles that may be on the diaper
Do a hot long wash with your detergent
Do an additional cold rinse to remove any left over detergent.

I have been using the above routine successfully for about 9 months. I do a warm rinse first instead of a cold one because I have found that it helps remove stains better. Bonus for me, because in Northern Canada the days are short and the light rays are not intense enough to sun well in the winter.

Now in February I have decided to take on a challenge. Lots on people only have cold water as an option. In other countries cold water washing is the only way to go, including diapers. Some diaper companies like Charlie Banana, Giggle Life, Alva and Kawaii all suggest cold or warm washes. Can cold water really work as well? 

One argument in favour of hot washes is that your detergent works better in hot water. Get a cold water detergent. Country Save, Nellies and Nature Clean all dissolve well at all temperatures. Charlie Banana Soap is made to use with cold or warm washes specifically.

A second common argument is that you need hot water to sanitise the diapers. True, but you would need a minimum of 160 degree water to do so. Most homes have their hot water set to 130 so it comes out of the tap at 120 or less. 

So here is my wash routine for the month of February:   Same as above but using only cold water....

We will see what happens, keep checking for weekly updates.