Thanks for this helpful article! My hemp prefolds are 6 months old now (along with my daughter!) and they are getting some stains that aren’t coming out. I hadn’t thought of using water softener, but we are in a hard water area, so I just purchased some. Hopefully that will help to get them cleaner!

I wouldn’t use 2 whole tablespoons of Dawn, even in a top loader. It took me nearly 20 rinses to get all the suds out. Very very very frustrating! I did this with a LARGE amount of Craigslist diapers in 4 batches and by the fourth batch, I only used 1/2 TEASPOON of Dawn and it worked just as well. I also had a 1/4 c of bleach (per BumGenius’ website), but I think even that is too much. I’d say 1/8 cup of bleach would work just fine if you’re doing BG diapers. Careful with other brands since I don’t think it’s allowed.

Seriously though, one extra warm rinse will not get all that Dawn out, especially if you have hard water like me. You’ll be up all night!

If you can’t use a machine or it is not fully doing the job you can try what I do since I too can’t use my machine due to warranty.

I first wash the diapers like I normally do and then I dry them. After they are somewhat to fully dry (your choice) I get a big pot that I use for soups and fill it halfway with water (so I can lift it and pour it safely later) and I bring that water to a rapid boil. I then take my dry/almost dry diapers from the dryer and place them in the (stopped up) sink. I then take 1-2 tbsp of Dawn liquid dish soap (it HAS to be Dawn) and lightly pour it across the diapers. I generally use 1 tbsp per 10 diapers. I then mix the diapers up to attempt to spread the dawn out to the bottom as well as the top.

Then I carefully pour the boiling water slowly onto the diapers in the sink. They will soak up alot of the water so as soon as you are done fill the pot again and boil… even if you don’t need it for this… you will need it later . If you do need it now be sure to fill it back up after this and start to boil again.

I use a big spoon or whatever you like to mix the diapers around in the hot hot water. I let them soak for 5-10 minutes, then comes the get your hands wet part. I use a medium sized thin plastic chopping block (you can even buy them at the dollar store, walmart, and any other store that carries dishware). I take each diaper one by one and place it on the block and with a soft dish scrubbing brush you can buy at your local grocery store I gently scrub each diaper… very gently people… don’t be mad at your husband when you do this! I scrub both sides and place it in an empty container. After I scrub all of them (again gently – make sure mother in law in not in town when you do this I then let all the water out of the sink. I rinse the diapers out by hand under the warm running water and then after they are all rinsed out I plug the sink back up and place all the wet diapers back in. You are done with the Dawn so skip that and go straight to pan with the boiling water. Gently pour it on top of the diapers. Again use a big spoon, spatula, or whatever you like and stir the diapers in the water real good. Let them soak for 5 minutes and then pull the plug and start to drain the sink. Wring by hand gently each diaper and put into a container so that you can transport them back to the washer without spills or drips.

All that is left is to wash them without detergent and dry them.

That is it. I do this every 4-5 months and never have problems with absorbency or smell. Next post will be about using diaper cream with disposables.

Tips for using diaper creams – first off you all know how good Thirsties Booty love is but sometimes you run out and before you get it in the mail you have to use something from the grocery store.

I have learned that yes you have to use a cloth layer above your Thirsties super absorbent diaper, but in my case that was not enough. I learned that I have to wash that cloth layer totally separate from all of my other Thirsties diapers. If I washed the cloth layer with the diaper cream on it with the other diapers it would just mix the diaper cream with them all. Then I would have to strip ALL of my diapers by hand to fully remove the diaper cream residue. So just an FYI – wash anything with diaper cream on it separate from your other diapers. Of course just to clarify – the first wash only… once the cloth layer with the diaper cream is washed it is fine to be washed with the rest of your Thirsties diapers.

Why Dawn Classic versus the many other dishwashing liquids out there?

“Maximum load size is 18 XS/S or 24 M/L diapers.”

Are you sure that’s not backwards?

This is great because ive never been told 2 tablespoons of dawn. I’ve just been told a couple drops which is obviously hard to determine a good amount.

Also, you recommend 24 diapers max and ive never stripped more than 15 at a time because I had no idea of the size

You also are the first company to suggest calgon for hard water. Not enough people ive asked have used it for me to try to use it. I have 37 cloth diapers so I was nervous of ruining them on accident by using a product not many people knew helped clean diapers and helped hard water.

Thanks Thirsties!
Love your diapers and especially this post

We have some staining with our hemp prefolds too and also have hard water. Thanks for the tops.

Thanks for this! I just bought some Dawn yesterday to strip my diapers, and then read this post saying that it could void the warranty on my HE machine. I think I’ll bring the load down to my building’s laundry room and use a top-loader.

Thank you for posting this – I have been having a few issues with leaks through the velcro recently on some of my Duo Wrapsand wondered if I was washing wrong. I’ll try this and see if it solves the problem. (ps – I love my Thirsties Duo wraps. They work WAY better than my pocket diapers from another leading brand!)

I just stripped my son’s pockets and prefolds for the first time this morning! This post was so helpful! I was so intimidated to strip my diapers before reading this post. I only used 1 Tbsp. of blue Dawn and that was just enough. The diapers came out squeaky clean!

I’m sorry, but Dawn is for dishes, not fabric. I am appalled at the number of “experts” telling moms to put dish soap in their washing machines!!! Stop the madness, people!!! If you stop and think about it, you’ll realize that you’ll use so much freakin’ water to get the Dawn out of the machine it HAD to do something! Or you could have saved your water and just used a really good detergent like Tide (a REGUALR scoop full, too…you are washing pee and poop out of fabric, after all!) and a few extra rinses if you’re worried about residue. Seriously. I have cloth diapered for ten years now, and this is getting ridiculous. I am posting all over the place because I want moms to know it is NOT rocket science to clean diapers. I even live in a super hard water area with no water softener and the only time I have to “strip” is about half-way through my little ones’ cloth diapering days. I wash my clean diapers once with some concentrated washing soda (a real fabric cleaning agent) and do a few extra hot rinses. That’s it. No stink, no battling ammonia and rashes. And if you don’t leave pee and poop saturated fabric (you wouldn’t do that to clothing, right?) laying around for more than two days I am just betting you might kick all those problems in the rear. I did, and I sincerely hope y’all do, too. Blessings to you all you mamas out there! <3

Under the HE section, it refers to using “one of the tricks above to add weight to your diaper load,” but I didn’t see any tricks listed above.

I just purchaed a bunch of used cloth diapers so this is very helpful! Thanks!

I’m with Lindsay, I used cloth diapers for 4 kids and NEVER had an issue with stains, stink (other than the diaper pail-which was solved with deodorant cakes) or residue. Hot water, quality detergent and extra rinse worked the best. When I was using laundromat machines I rinsed them by hand first then full wash. With a touch of laundry booster or bleach (too much and you destroy the fibres) and your diapers will be just fine. Don’t over think stuff moms!