My Cloth Diaper Wash Routine

Well it’s that day again. That day I look forward to every other day. My day of organization. My day of routine. My day of fresh clean smells … well, by the end of the day anyways. It’s diaper laundry day! Don’t ask me why I love diaper laundry day. I actually hate doing any other type of laundry. Weird huh? There’s just something about it that makes me happy. It’s my little Zen time. I just get in the routine and I go. Plus I love sorting through all of my Lincoln’s cute little fluff.

In honor of diaper laundry day I thought I’d share with you my diaper washing routine. I know everyone has their own groove that works for them, but this is what works for me and I’ve used the same routine from day 1 of cloth diapering without any problems.  No buildup.  No Stinkies.  And I rarely have any stains.  Can't get any better than that.





Step 1: Make sure all hook and loop closures are fastened to their laundry tabs and all inserts are removed from their pockets. If your child is to the point of eating solid foods then make sure that all poop is sprayed off of diapers. I always complete Step 1 after each diaper change.

Step 2: Remove pail liner of dirty diapers from diaper pail and put extra pail liner in diaper pail so it’s ready for the next diaper change.

Step 3: Dump diapers out of pail liner into washing machine. Turn pail liner inside out and put into washing machine. I do all this without ever touching a diaper or the inside of the pail liner.

Step 4: Set washer to highest water setting. Set temperature to cold. Run a rinse cycle.

Step 5: Keep washer set to highest water setting. Set temperature to hot. Set washer to run an Extra Rinse Cycle. Add Tide Ultra Original Scent up to the “2” line (quantity will vary depending on your washer and water type). Run a super wash cycle.

Step 6: If you’re still trying to figure out your detergent quantity level then check on your diapers during the agitation of the Extra Rinse Cycle. If you see suds then you’ll need to run another Rinse Cycle. This will also tell you that you need to use less detergent next time you do diaper laundry. Repeat this step if you still see suds during the next rinse cycle. Keep repeating till there are no suds. Once you have your routine down you can eliminate this step and just do it periodically.

Step 7: Hang dry all diaper covers, All-In-Two shells, and pocket diapers. I actually have a wire shelf in my laundry room that I dry all my diapers on. It helps to save the elastic by laying them flat instead of hanging them to dry. Once in awhile I’ll lay them in the sun outside to get all the stains out and brighten everything up.

Step 8: Throw all the All-In-One diapers, wipes, inserts, liners, doublers, wetbags, & your diaper pail liner in the dryer. Make sure that no PUL is exposed (turn all wetbags, diaper pail liners, and AIO diapers right side out). Set dryer to 45 min on Medium heat. If you want your diapers to dry faster you can throw in some dryer balls or a dry towel. Note: Do NOT use dryer sheets!!!

Step 9: Remove wetbags & diaper pail liner. Note: If everything feels dry at this point then you’re finished. Normally my AIO diapers, thick cotton inserts (GroVia snap in inserts), and hemp inserts will need more time.

Step 10: Set dryer to 45 min on Medium heat. If anything is still wet after this then I lay it out on my wire drying shelf. 


Step 11: Fold all wipes, stuff all pocket diapers, and organize all doublers and liners. When putting away all my diapers I rotate all the old diapers to the front and the newly washed diapers to the back. This keeps all my diapers in rotation and keeps my favorite diapers from getting worn out because I use them too much. 

So that’s my diaper wash routine. I’ll admit that even though I love diaper laundry day I still don’t keep on top of it like I should. Life gets in the way and I usually end up folding, stuffing, and putting away my diapers the next day or even the day after that when I start the next load. I guess that’s what happens when you have as many diapers as I have and can afford to have a whole set of diapers out of rotation. Does that mean I have too many diapers and a diaper addiction? Haha! Yeah, probably.

I’d love to hear about your diaper wash routine. I know everyone’s routine is different and it’s always helpful to hear about different routines till you find one that works for you. You can post your routines in the comment section below. Thanks for sticking with me through this journey and I hope you’ll join me again for more Adventures In Fluff.