This is really the easy part. When the baby is a newborn, and if the baby is breastfed, the diapers can all
just be washed in the washer. There is no need to dunk and soak and fuss over the poop. Breastmilk poopies
are very water-soluble and wash right out.
When your child gets older and they start eating solid foods, you will notice that they poop changes.
Most of the time, I just roll the poop into the toilet and then wash the diaper. If your baby tends to have
a bad day and a bit of what i call "Chiang Kai Shek's Revenge" (as compared to Montezuma's), I tend to dunk
a bit in the toilet to get some of the solids off, then straight into the washer.
Okay, so do I need all of these special liners (some disposable liners which are flushable)?
No, but I have heard it makes the solid clean up easier on older babies.
Do I need to use bleach?
NO. In fact, bleach will ruin your diapers because it breaks down the fabric and will cause them to degrade faster.
Do I need to wash in hot water?
I don't. I do soak all of my diapers in a bucket of hot water (as hot as the tap will get) once in a while with a bit of borax added ino rder to brighten them up a bit. But, I figure when the sun is shining in Taiwan (which even in the rainy season is usualy the case int he early mornings) the sun will bleach your diapers. It does a great job.
What kind of soap should I use?
Depending on your aby and his or her sensitivity to detergent, basically the same laundry soap you use will be fine for your diapers. If you have fleece diapers you must use detergent and not a castile or regular type of soap. Regular soap decreases the water repellant qualities of fleece.
I have heard of all sorts of complicated routines... wet bucket, dry bucket, soaking, dunking.
Sure, you could do that, but as I said, cloth diapers are a bit more work than disposables, but why add all of these unnecessary steps? I do the following and it works for me:
Wet Diapers- Put into a pail with a lid, lined with a nylon bag. About every few diapers (if I let them build up)
I sprinkle a bit of baking soda on top of the diapers to reduce the urine smell. Wash with regular detergent
(using about one half the recommended amount and rinsing 2 times to get rid of the residual soap), and hang dry.
Poopy Diapers - When my son was exclusively breastfed, I just throw them into the washer, run one cycle
without soap to "rinse" and then add the wet (urine) diapers and wash as above. Now that my son is having
more solids, his poop has changed consistency. Unless he has diarrhea (then it is a quick dunk in the toilet),
I just shake the poop into the toilet, and then wash with regular detergent (using about one half of the
recommended amount, and rinsing two times to get rid of the residual soap), and hang dry.
