Care & Use of Cloth Diapers

GETTING STARTED

TIPS on Use of your Cloth Diapers

Pocket Diapers

• Try not to over-stuff your pockets and/or stuff with an insert that's too wide where it hinders the effectiveness of the leg elastics. The elastics need to be free to gently snug around the thighs to work well to hold in messes and prevent leaks.
• The micro-fleece inner layer in SweetPea Diapers have been designed to slightly roll-out, please do not try to tuck in the micro-fleece this will effect the functions of the diaper.
• When putting on the pocket, pull upwards holding onto the diaper's front panel and the inside insert together. This will greatly help to keep the inserts at the up-most top of the diaper.
• It is highly recommended to use low residue or residue free liquid laundry detergent when washing any diaper that contains micro-fleece. Regular detergent's perfumes and softeners stick to the micro-fleece which will eventually cause your diapers to repel urine and can produce smells.
• Experiencing leaky pocket diapers? The micro-fleece on your pockets may have so much detergent build-up that it's causing repelling and you may need to "strip" your pockets and switch your detergent. For more info about stripping, please read below.

Easy Washing

Washing your Sweet Pea cloth diaper is very easy to do!

• Simply shake off any solids into toilet. If you are having trouble getting most of the solids off the diaper, we recommend investing in a diaper sprayer which connects to your toilet. Or you can use flushable liners that you lay into each diaper and flush down the toilet when soiled. Solely breastfed baby solids are runny and will wash out in the wash easily.
• Put wet and soiled diapers altogether in a dry diaper pail that has a nice tight lid. No need to unsnap quick-dry soakers, but undo all closures for optimal cleaning. Remove absorbent inserts if using pockets. We suggest doing a load of diaper laundry every 2 days or so.
• COLD water rinse with no detergent. This step will help reduce stains.
• Normal/regular wash on HOT using low residue liquid laundry detergent. We suggest two tablespoons for front loaders and three to four tablespoons for top loaders. Decrease your detergent amount if you experience build-up and repelling and increase your detergent amount if you notice an ammonia smell in the diapers.
• If the diapers are really soiled or smelly, we suggest having the diapers go through one more normal/regular wash on HOT with 1-2 tablespoons of low residue liquid laundry detergent.
• Another normal/regular wash on HOT this time without detergent. This step ensures most of your detergent residues wash away.
• Tumble dry on MEDIUM to HIGH heat for about 45-60 minutes. We use dryer balls to soften diapers and help reduce drying times. Use Low Residue or Residue Free Detergents Today's detergents have many additives that leave residues on your clothes. Because cloth diapers are made to be very absorbent, they hold on to the detergent residues more than our clothes and can lead to skin irritations, smelly diapers, and reduced absorbency. To prevent heavy residue build-up on your diapers, we recommend using only 2 - 4 tablespoons of liquid laundry detergent (if available, as we find liquid detergents wash out more than powders). Low residue detergents we have used with success:

• Charlie's Soap
• Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda (Canadian)
• Allen's Naturally
• Rockin' Green Detergent (depending on the hardnes of your water)
• Crunchy Clean
• Country Save
• Tide & Tide Free (just use the plain kind)
• Soapnuts

Just as most leading detergent companies add chemical fabric softeners, some of the main stream "natural" brands contain natural oils or natural fabric softeners that will also affect your cloth diaper's absorbency. Though these natural brands are great for your clothes and environment, we do not recommend some of them when washing your cloth diapers.

Do not use :

• All Free & Clear (and other "Free & Clear detergents)
• Ivory Snow
• 7th Generation
• Dreft
• Dr. Bronner's Soap
• Some versions of Bio-Kleen
• "Pure soap"detergents

Adding Additional Cleaning Agents

You can occasionally add one tablespoon of baking soda to boost cleaning and help reduce smells. Adding ¼ cup white vinegar to your fabric softener dispenser helps strip the soap residue off your diapers and also naturally softens the fibers a little. If your washer does not have a built-in dispenser for fabric softener, you can use a downy ball. Works great! Be careful when using bleach, as it may damage the diaper's fibers and elastics. We don't recommend using bleach. Also, avoid the use of fabric softeners and dryer sheets as over use will result in reduced absorbency.

These are general washing instructions for pocket diapers. Depending on the manufacturer, these instructions may differ from one to the next.

Store wet and soiled diapers in a dry pail. There is no need to rinse soiled diapers prior to washing. The solid waste of older babies can be removed by gently shaking the diaper over a toilet. Remove inserts from pocket prior to washing. Then:

Stripping Diapers:

Build up refers to residue left by detergents, fabric softeners, and other substances used to clean diapers. In rare instances, baking soda will react with certain minerals in water and also cause build up. If you notice a decrease in the functionality of your diapers, build up may be thStripping refers to the removal of residue on diapers. To strip diapers, simply hand wash your diaper with your regular dish soap (gets the oils out), add a bit of dish soap to the fleece, either rub the fleece vigoriously together or use a medium bristle dish brush or hard bristle tooth brush to scrub the fleece. Turn inside out and repeat on this side. Rinse thoroughly, making sure that the water runs clear. You may use this method at any time you feel that the diaper may be repelling or as a preventative measure once a week. If you are still having problems, special cleaning agents may be used to strip diapers. These options include a very hot wash using 2 scoops Oxyclean or you may also try a hot wash with 1 ball of RLR (found at Wal-Mart in the laundry aisle hanging on a clipe culprit.

Tips to Extend the Life of Your Diapers

It's important not to overstretch your elastic (by pulling at both ends roughly), this causes unnecessary stress to the elastic, especially right after a hot wash and/or dry when the elastic is warm. Also, when unsnapping snaps be careful not to stretch the fabric too much, as this will put too much wear on the fabric. To prevent stretching, hold the bottom snap down with your thumb and/or thumb nail. We recommend that diapers should not be left soaking wet for long periods of time (like leaving your washed wet diapers in the washing machine overnight or using the wet pail method) because this is not good for the diaper's fibers and can cause the newly dyed colors to run. We've tested all our hand dyed colors, so they will not run if you follow our advice. Some colors are prone to run more than others, so you must be careful with newly dyed colors, we recommend that you wash separately once and never leave your newly dyed diaper wet for long periods of time.

A Note About PUL (the water-proof outer layer)

PUL is short-form for the water-proof polyurethane laminated outer poly knit on your Sweet Pea Diapers One Size and Pockets. The beauty of PUL is it can withstand very high temperatures. So it's an amazing fabric for cloth diapers, especially because they get washed and dried a lot. If you are hanging your diapers (to extend the life of the elastics), we recommend that every couple of weeks or so you put anything with PUL in the dryer to re-seal the laminate in the PUL. We also recommend you throw your brand new Pockets and One Sizes in the dryer on medium to high for 45-60 minutes to seal all the newly sewn holes with-in the PUL laminate to prevent wicking/leaking.