Stains on my diapers? NEVER!

OK, so we all know that diapers, cloth or disposable, have one purpose. To catch poo and pee. So does that mean that you are destined to deal with poop stained diapers?  Not in this household! Yes stains happen and really they are not that big of a deal. But, I do show off my cloth often and there is nothing like showing a non cloth diaper using, sceptical mom your super cute Charlie Banana diaper with a massive poops stain inside. Kinda gross, don't you think? So what the heck are you to do to make sure that you have as little staining as possible?

1. Get a liner

Fairly simple. Using either a flushable (some brands are better than others) or fleece liners in all your diapers keeps stains at bay big time. A fleece liner is super easy to rinse off and washes clean. They are really inexpensive too. You can buy a 10 pack of Bummis fleece liners for about $5 or make your own by buying the thinnest fleece you can get and cutting it to the size you need.



2. Deal with the poop

Simple laundry 101. The longer a stain sets in the harder it is to get it out. I rinse all my poopy diapers ASAP with a diaper sprayer and if the stain is bad I do pre-treat right away.



3. Switch to a warm pre-rinse

Stains come out best at the temperature they were created at. So poop stains tend to come out better with warm rinses than with cold ones. My machine only does cold rinses so I normally start my wash routine with a short warm wash cycle. The warm cycle also helps deal with super stinky diapers.



4. Diapers don't worry about skin cancer

I was totally sceptical about this before I cloth diapered, but yes the sun is amazing at bleaching out stains.  You don't even need a clear sunny day. You need direct sun light in the form of UV rays, and there are plenty of those floating around.  This means you can sun your diapers in the winter when it is below freezing. I live in Northern Canada so believe me when I say it gets COLD! Like -40 Celsius cold in the winter.

This is my way of sunning in the winter. I hang my clean and wet diaper on a coat hanger using clothes pins and then hang the hanger off the curtain rod. Yes I probably get a few stares from passerbyers.



5. Lemon juice makes awsome sunscreen

Well maybe not for people but for diapers it is a great helper. On stubborn stains squirting half lemon juice half water as it dries in the sun help lift out the stain.



6. Stain Treatments.

There are tons of options here. I used a few on my diapers with great results. Don't use them all together of course.

Buncha Farmers Stain Remover.  This is great stuff. You wet the stick and rub it into the stain before tossing the diaper in the pail. I use this on all kinds of stains from cloth pads, food and greasy work clothes.

 

Nature Clean Oxygen Bleach. I add about 1/4 cup to my pre-wash or first rinse. This is 100% Natural and will not harm your diapers. You can also add 1/4 cup to your wet pail if that is the storage method you are using.  For keeping stains at bay a wet pail is a better option but keep in mind that PUL doesn't like to soak. If you are going with a wet pail I would only use it for inserts, prefolds, flats and maybe fitteds depending on what they are made up of. I personally find a wet pail more cumbersome than what it's worth.

Nature Clean Oxy Stain Remover. This is basically a powdered version of the oxygen bleach. About 1 tbsp in the prewash or first rinse usually does the trick. You can also add this as a detergent booster to your regular laundry.

And last but certainly not least, good old Baking Soda. I use about 1/4 cup baking soda to 1 gallon warm water and soak my diapers for a few hours or overnight then wash as normal. I found this baking soda also works great on new to me diapers that smelled a bit, well, off if you get my drift.

Now some diaper fabric do stain more easily than others. Cotton like the insides of a GroVia AIO or a BumGenius Elemental are examples. These do sun out really well though. At the end of the day stains will happen. If all else fails they will get lighter and lighter the more you wash the diaper.