Washing Cloth Diapers in a Front Loader

There is quite a method to washing CD's in a front load washer and it took me a long time to perfect. First off, if you use (or are planning on using) CD's and are thinking about buying a front loader, DON'T DO IT! And don't let the salesman sell you the front loader by talking about how convenient it will be for cloth diapers. If I had it to do all over again, we would have a top loader, but alas, we didn't.

Now, one plus to front loaders (when washing regular articles of clothing) is the minimal amount of water they use. When you look at a load of laundry being washed, there's only a few inches of water in the drum. However, stick a bunch of really absorbent diapers in there, and what do you think happens? Yep, they soak up all the water, and you just have a bunch of damp diapers rolling around in there.

I've heard that there are front loaders out there that have an "Extra Water" option, however, mine is not one of those.

As mentioned in my Cloth Diapering 101 post, I use a wet pail for my dirty diapers. That way, my diapers are already drenched in water when they go into the washer.

I run them through a speed wash to get the Oxi-Clean out, with my "no spin" setting, so they hold as much water as possible for the main wash.

Next, I add Rockin' Green and do a hot wash, and two cold rinses.

A note on Rockin Green...I was using Tide Free & Clear for months on my dipes, then my sis let me try some of her Rockin' Green. They advertise themselves as being a detergent that rinses clean. Since I was having such a problem with getting all the detergent out, I decided to give it a try. After only 2 washes, I noticed such a difference in the softness of my diapers. With the Tide, they were a bit stiff, but with Rockin' Green they come out super-soft every wash. I HIGHLY recommend it! I buy mine here. They even have special formulas for extra hard or extra soft water, but when it doubt, start with the Classic Rock which is a good middle-of-the-road detergent.

You have to make sure all the detergent is out. If it's not, it can start to smell after pee hits it, and it could bother baby's skin when it's wet on their bottom too.

So that's that.

I really don't recommend front loaders for CD's. And don't let the salesman tell you you're crazy for wanting a top loader if you'll be washing CD's in them. We both know he's probably never washed a CD in his life and doesn't know what he's talking about.