Laundering

At your request, product specific laundering information on any of the products that we carry can be emailed to you.
If these tips vary at all from the manufacturer's recommendations, please follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Cloth Diapers

This includes fitted diapers, all in ones, pocket diapers and most PUL (polyurethane laminate)covers.
Generally, cloth diapers require no soaking. Simply empty any solids into the toilet and toss the diaper into a pail with a tight fitting lid. If your baby is exclusively breast fed, their BM’s will be water soluble-No need to rinse!
You will need to wash your diapers every two to three days. First, add a diaper approved detergent to your washer while filling with cold water. I use half of the recommended amount of detergent to avoid detergent build up; which can cause your diapers to wick or leak. Add diapers and run a cold rinse cycle. Add another scoop of detergent and run a hot cycle, then a cold rinse. Most washing machines automatically run a cold rinse at the end of the wash cycle-there is no need to rinse again after that.
Most diapers can be dried in a dryer. Please be sure to check the manufacturer’s suggestions regarding dryer use. Be sure to not over-dry! Hanging your diapers and covers to dry is more economical and environmentally friendly than drying in a dryer. The sun will also help to ‘bleach’ out any residual stains. I was pleasantly surprised at how effective sun bleaching is. Give it a try! Never use chlorine bleach on your diapers!

Wool Care-Easier than you think!

This includes all soakers, skirties and longies; knit or re-purposed.
One of the main downsides to wool is all of the care, right? The constant hand washing...what a pain!
We actually find wool easier to care for than PUL or vinyl covers as they only need to be washed once every 2 weeks. Wash your wool in rotations so that you never have all of it being washed at once. This would lead to all of it drying at once and then you would be out of covers! Not good.
You can use wool wash, or make your own solution from lanolin and baby wash. Both work well, but wool wash is easier. We carry Eucalan, which is quite widely used by cloth diapering moms.

If you are using Eucalan wool wash, all you have to do is fill your kitchen sink with tepid water and then add a tablespoon or two of wool wash. Swish it around until the water looks cloudy. Then add your wool. Gently squeeze the wool to help it absorb the wash and then lay it out flat in the sink (not balled up). We usually wash 2-3 pieces at a time and stick to washing the same shades together to avoid any dyes transferring or fluffy wool pieces getting stuck on another item that will really show. Once the wool is in place, leave it for 30 minutes. Just walk away and do something else that you need to get done. Come back in about half an hour (don't worry if it's longer...We've forgotten about wool overnight before!) with a thick towel. Lay the towel on the floor. Gently squeeze out your wool items and lay them on the towel. Roll the towel up, enclosing the wool in the roll. Gently squeeze the towel as you are rolling it. Unroll the towel and lay your wool out flat to dry. You can box or shape it at this point and smooth out any wrinkles. Leave to dry. Drying times depend on the wool. Thinner items like cashmere could dry in 24 hours. Heavier wools could take 48-72 hours. This is why I rotate my washing!

So, yes the drying process takes a while...but you really don't have to do much to launder your wool.

Making your own wool wash

You will need lanolin (lansinoh brand works just fine...yes the stuff for breastfeeding and nipple pain) and a mild cleanser like baby shampoo.
Put a small amount of lanolin in a baby food jar or small mason jar. (Small amount=about the size of 2 peas.) Add water into the jar. Stick in the microwave until hot.( If you do not have a microwave, place the jar in a pot of water and heat until lanolin becomes liquid) Put lid on jar and shake vigorously until lanolin is dissolved. Add to a sink of tepid water. Add a couple of drops of baby shampoo and swirl water around. You want the water to look cloudy and you don't want to see big clumps of lanolin or big oil patches in the water. If the water looks really oily you may need a little more shampoo to help break it up.
Now wash just as if you were using wool wash.

Eeek! The diaper leaked yuckies onto the wool!

If your little one leaks out of the diaper and gets a mess on the wool, make sure to treat it as soon as the diaper change is over. Rinse the mess off with cool water as best you can. Then use a mild soap or wool wash bar (I've used liquid baby shampoo in a pinch) and wash that stain. Use enough pressure to get the soiled bits out, but remember that you do need to be gentle with wool. Wash as usual.
If you end up with a stain, don't fret...you can always sun it out later.

(Thanks Selina for the wool wash advice!)