• PRE-WASH - COLD WATER, NO DETERGENT AT HIGH WATER LEVEL
  Empty Diaper Pail Liner into the washer and use pre-wash cycle(or a rinse cycle) to rinse out urine and fecal matter. I recommend 2 cold pre-washes, especially if you try to rinse out the NB "poop"! If you find that your diapers are very smelly, you can add 1/4 cup of baking soda to the pre-wash - please note that the baking soda will shorten the life of your covers, all-in-ones and pocket diapers - use rarely!
  
• MAIN WASH - REGULAR CYCLE, HOT WATER AT HIGH WATER LEVEL, 2nd RINSE
  Add detergent (a little less than directed if you use regular detergent) Every two or three weeks you can add a little Oxygen Bleach. You can add a small amount of Vinegar to the rinse cycle, however it can make your covers smell with hard water. So if you find that your covers are getting a strange smell, stop using Vinegar! Once your diapers are washed you can test if they are clean by holding them at your nose and take a deep breath - they should smell very fresh! If they do not, run one more hot wash cycle without any detergent. If you feel that you're diapers aren't getting as clean as you'd like, add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil to the detergent - this works wonders and leaves your diapers smelling fresh!!! Do not use the Tea Tree Oil or any other oils on the any of the Pocket Diapers, as the oil will adhere to the fleece. When washing diapers it is really important to have an idea about the quality of your water - if you have hard water, use less detergent and you might even have to run your diapers through a hot wash without detergent after a regular wash cycle every month or so. In hard water the detergent does not rinse well and your diapers can start smelling, if you use too much detergent or do not rinse well enough. I generally recommend to do 2 cold rinses at the end!
  
• DRY - PUT DIAPERS IN THE DRYER OR SUN DRY DIAPERS TO GET THEM EXTRA WHITE
  Keep the Dryer on a low heat setting. Leave the covers out to air dry (without sun, the diapers may show stains from poop - however, they are clean!) Please also remember that the dryer is hard on any waterproof fabric, so if you want to extend the life of your pocket diapers, all-in-ones and covers keep them out of the dryer as often as possible.
  
• DONE…your diapers are clean and ready to use!!!
  

• PRE-WASH – COLD WATER, RINSE and SPIN CYCLE
  Empty Diaper Pail Liner into the washer and run the RINSE and SPIN cycle 1 or 2 times. (If your machine does not have this cycle, run a regular wash cycle with cold water and no detergent)
  
• MAIN WASH – LONGEST CYCLE, HOT WATER, 2nd RINSE
  Add detergent. Every two or three weeks you can add a little Oxygen Bleach. You can add a small amount of Vinegar to the rinse cycle, however it can make your covers smell with hard water. So if you find that your covers are getting a strange smell, stop using Vinegar. Bac-Out works great in the rinse cycle! Once your diapers are washed you can test if they are clean by holding them at your nose and take a deep breath - they should smell very fresh! If they do not, run one more hot wash cycle without any detergent. If you feel that you're diapers aren't getting as clean as you'd like them add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil to the detergent - this works wonders and leaves your diapers smelling fresh!!! Do not use the Tea Tree Oil or any other oils on the any of the Pocket Diapers, as the oil will adhere to the fleece. When washing diapers it is really important to have an idea about the quality of your water - if you have hard water, use less detergent and you might even have to run your diapers through a hot wash without detergent after a regular wash cycle every month or so. In hard water the detergent does not rinse well and your diapers can start smelling, if you use too much detergent or do not rinse well enough. I generally recommend to do 2 cold rinses at the end!
  
• DRY - PUT DIAPERS IN THE DRYER OR SUN DRY DIAPERS TO GET THEM EXTRA WHITE
  Keep the Dryer on a low heat setting. Leave the covers out to air dry (without sun, the diapers may show stains from poop - however, they are clean!)
  
• DONE…your diapers are clean and ready to use!!!
  

What Detergent do I use?

With the many 'high-tech' fabrics around, this has become an increasingly difficult question! We know for certain that Dreft and Ivory Snow, Trader Joe's , Seventh Generation etc, as well as any detergent containing fabric softeners, optical brighteners and stain protectors are defitely NOT OK to use - all these detergents include substances and oils that will coat the fibres and prevent your diapers from being absorbent and will cause them to leak.
Many of the natural soap products have also gotten mixed reviews, due to the fact that in hard water the soap will leave a residue that can also coat the fibers. I have used Bi-O-Kleen for many years now and have had good results, however I made a point of never using more than the allowed amount, did 2 rinses after the wash cycle and added a little vingar every now and then - this all helps to get rid of the extar soap that can build up. The real factor seems to be the water quality - in soft water you can use most detergents, but always use less than directed. In hard water, you need to use much less detergent and definitely rinse super well. If you have hard water and are using pocket diapers, I suggest to check the diapers every couple months to see how well they perform and "strip" them if neccessary.
Allen's Naturally and Country Save are detergents that seems to works well with all diaper products, no matter what the fabric. Country Save has been tested and rinses out 100% - the feedback from it has been fantastic! I also hear that soem of your regular detergents like Tide, Arm & Hammer etc do a good job in most waters, however, you will have many stronger ingredients in these products.
When it comes to washing your diapers find out what water (hard or soft) you have and never use too much detergent. Check your diapers frequently and change detergents if you detect a problem. For just the prefolds, you will be fine with something like Bi-O-Kleen. It works great! I still recommend a second rinse though and maybe run them through a hot wash sycle without detergent every other month.

DIAPER 911!

If you notice that your pocket diapers are starting to leak or that they don't keep your baby dry, or that your diapers have a persistent smell and that the rinse water is still sudsy, you will need to do a 'special clean'. You can also test problem as follows: Take a clean pocket diaper, place an insert inside it and pour a little water onto the fleece. If it pills off or if the inserts stays dry, you know you need to change your detergent and you will need to "strip/clean" your diapers as follows ( do this when your diapers are clean):

1. Run all your diapers through a hot plain water wash.

2. Run your diapers through a hot wash with the full recommended amount of detergent - I suggest to use a good detergent like Allen's Naturally. You might have to repeat this step if the problem was bad.

3. Follow this with 2 cold rinses and dry your diapers on low or in the sun.

4. The second option is to use Dawn Dishsoap - it is super strong, so all you need is to add a few DROPS into a hot wash cycle of a top loader. Then follow this by 2 warm rinses, after which you will need to do several cold rinses (4 - 6) until no more suds appear in the rinse water! DO NOT ADD DAWN DISH SOAP TO A FRONT LOADER! For Front Loaders, you will need to add one drop of Dawn to the fleece of the diaper. Then you rub the fleece together by hand (or use a soft toothbrush), rinse the diaper with cold water and then you can run it through a hot wash cycle in your machine using no detergent. The Dawn foams too much and will ruin your front loader if you try to use it directly in the machine! Dawn "cleans/strips" the diapers really well!

• The diaper pail we suggest using is the size medium Diaper Pail with Carbon Filter, or, if you want a really big pail, the American Diaper Association approved 54 QT Diaper Pail. We sell them at Diaper Safari! They are nice and big andboth have a slot for a Citrus Circle which helps eliminate odors.
  
• Try using a mild and environmentally safe detergent like: Bi-O-Kleen, Allen' Naturally or ECOS. You can also use Arm & Hammer for sensitve skin or Sensi Clean - do not use Dreft!
  
• A Citrus Circle or a little baking soda some tee tree oil in the bottom of the diaper pail liner will help against odors.
  
• Diaper Pail Liners can be our re-usable waterproof pail liners or standard 13-gallon kitchen trash bags.
  
• Sprinkle a few drops of BacOut Stain & Odor Eliminator on the diaper if "poop" got onto the diaper itself.
  
• Adding a few drops of Tee Tree oil to the main wash leaves diapers smelling fresh and kills bacteria - not for pocket diapers.
  
• Sun-dried diapers and covers become snow-white. Try this as often as the weather allows.
  
• Use the dryer for a few minutes to soften sun-dried diapers that get stiff.
  
• Wash and dry new diapers one to five times before wearing - for unbleached diapers this will remove the natural waxes and will fluff up the cotton, which gives the diapers their absorbency. You will only need to wash the covers, Fuzzi Bunz and AIO once or twice at the most.
  
• Spray any solids off with the Mini Shower - it makes makes cleaning cloth diapers very easy
  
• Don't let wet and clean diapers sit in the machine overnight.

• For serious stain you can try something like Spay and Wash.