Too Much Stripping!

Let’s talk about stripping (cloth diapers, that is). Spoiler alert… It’s getting out of hand.

One group heavily recommends soaks and DIY stripping recipes.

Another is really pushing RLR.

Lots of people say just use Mighty Bubbles.

It’s all gotten so complicated I’m actually surprised people want to still cloth diaper after they spend 2 minutes in any cloth diaper group. I wholeheartedly believe cloth diapers are better for the planet. I believe they are a great choice for almost any family.

What I cannot support is the ONE BEST way to wash them.

Just because someone has a Facebook group, it doesn’t make then an expert. That includes myself. We all (even you) have access to the same information. Any recommendation or opinion, even in a specialized cloth diaper Facebook group is just that… a recommendation, not a law.

There are no degrees in cloth diaper laundry. No peer reviewed papers or studies. The recommendations you see are purely based on that person’s or group’s interpretation of what they have read and their own experiences.

That’s not to say it’s bad just because it’s coming from one group or the next. I’m just saying think about it first and use common sense.

DO NOT blindly follow ANY advice or recommendations (including mine) without doing your own research. Without first thinking about how it will work for YOU and YOUR family. I’m talking about washing cloth diapers but this really applies to anything.

Enough with the stripping. Yes, it has its place. But not in as many places as I’ve seen it.

A few things to keep in mind: (This is not an exhaustive list, but instead a starting point.)

• The longer you go between washes, the harder it becomes to get them clean. That doesn’t mean it gets impossible at 5 or more days. Just that they have less time to ‘bake’ if you wash before that.
• The more layers an insert or diaper has, the harder it becomes to get them clean. For night diapers, which often have multiple layers, consider rinsing them with hot water and wringing them out before storing for wash day.
• If you are having issues: clean your washer, try hotter water, try more agitation (this can mean longer cycles or making sure the water is right in non HE machines.)
• READ YOUR MANUAL! Google it if you need to.
• If your clothes aren’t getting clean either, check into whether the machine is even working correctly.

No matter how you strip cloth diapers, if you don’t get the wash routine right, the issue will just come right back.

REMEMBER, there is no one way to do this. Try really hard to not over complicate any of it. Diapers aren’t made from unicorn hair. They are just really dirty laundry.

Finally, keep asking questions and questioning what you are told.

You got this!

If you need some help from me, start here: http://www.allaboutclothdiapers.com/top-10-tips-on-washing-cloth-diapers/

My friend Bailey, from Cloth Diaper Podcast, was the one who encouraged me to make this into a blog post. I like the way she does things. I think you will too. Check her out if you haven’t already!

Jennifer Reinhardt

Jenn is a long-time cloth diaper educator and a passionate small business advocate. She has worked in the reusable diaper industry for over a decade, helping millions of families via her websites All About Cloth Diapers, Thinking About Cloth Diapers and Cloth Diaper Geek as well as hundreds of small businesses during that time. Her goal always to provide simple, reliable information.