First, toss poop from the diaper directly into the toilet bowl. Then use a spray bottle full of water or a diaper sprayer (a small showerhead that attaches to your toilet) to rinse away as much residue as you can. Rinsing the diaper with water is key to helping stains come out in the wash.
Wash off soiled diapers
It's absolutely safe to wash cloth diapers in your washing machine, but you shouldn't mix them with any other clothing items. It's also highly important you wash off soiled diapers before adding them to the machine. It's best if you give them a quick rinse immediately after they are soiled.
Swish and Dunk
Although cloth diaper parents with diaper sprayers swear by them [me included], you can successfully cloth diaper without one. You can simply use the swish or dunk method. Dunk the whole diaper, swish around until most of the poo comes off of the diaper.
Most parents who use cloth diapers wash a load of them every two to three days. Any longer than that and they'll start to stink and stains could set in. So make sure you have enough clean diapers on hand to last you at least a couple days.
Pop your dirty baby wipe into the mesh bag insert of your mucky baby wipes container (or out and about travel bag). With your next wash load on, pick up the mesh bag, loosen the drawstrings at the top (hurrah, no poo contact there) and chuck it into the washing machine.
Be prepared to notice some old stains if you are in the used cloth diaper market. But don't let stains bother you so much. Most stains will eventually come out with repeated washing. Some parents are chill about stains and will let time take care of it.
DON'T Let stained clothes dry.
Wash out fresh poo stains by hand with cold water (hot water sets the stain), then spot-treat and throw them in the washing machine on warm.
You don't want to let the diapers sit too long, as that can result in odor, stains, and mildew, and impact the diaper's absorbency. Generally, we recommend washing a load of cloth diapers every two or three days.
You can use the sink to clean a dirty diaper if you want, but we suggest taking them off the baby first.
We recommend to change a cloth diaper every two hours. We recommend to change a cloth diaper every two hours. This prevents your child from having urine against the skin for long periods of time, with the risk of redness. The more absorbency there is in the cloth diaper, the less wet it becomes when the child pees.
Small amounts of easily removed stool can be cleaned with toilet paper and flushed down the toilet. Wash clothes in a washing machine, preferably with hot water, using household laundry detergent.
You don't want to let babies sit in a soiled diaper for too long, so it's best to change them as soon as you get a whiff of what's happened (otherwise, poop can irritate your baby's skin or even lead to bladder infections, especially in girls).
Wipe And Clean
It's important to get your baby's bottom squeaky clean when you change a poopy diaper. Letting them sit in a dirty diaper too long or leaving them with a dirty bottom can set them up for skin irritation and diaper rash. This is why wiping and cleaning their skin thoroughly is so important!
Don't wash diapers with other laundry: Diapers need to be washed all by themselves. You may be able to put some diaper covers in with a load of diapers but don't put other clothes, especially baby clothes, in with diapers.
In this case, baking soda is a great choice because it can improve the instance of odors by taking it into itself. "Sodium in baking soda is what gives the compound its ability to absorb musty and other terrible odors," says Dr. Coster.
Poop. If your smelly cloth diaper problem smells like poop, it is probably because your diapers are not getting clean enough. One trick to try is to hang your cloth diapers in the sun to dry. The sun naturally kills bacteria which causes stains and smells.
There are lots of possible reasons for why your cloth diapers stink, but the two most common are: Detergent buildup. The diapers aren't getting cleaned enough.
Always use cold water—hotter temperatures risk setting the stain. You might also need to soak the garment. The longer the poop stain has been there, the longer it'll need to soak.
Immediately wash the load in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent + ½ cup Clorox® Regular Bleach2. Air dry and check for success—lighter stains should come out but super heavy stains or items that require cooler wash temperatures may need a second treatment.
Using cloth diapers for overnight periods is certainly possible. But longer sleeps naturally require a little extra protection. Overnight cloth diapers may leak if they become fully saturated. There is no need to look for special nighttime cloth diapers for overnight periods.
Hot water is the most effective way to remove soiling. Nappies are heavily soiled laundry, if soiling is not removed it will lead to smells and stains. All laundry detergents can be used in cold (30°C), warm (40°C) or hot (60°C) water, however, a hot wash will outperform every time.
“Plus, you can use cloth diapers for two to three years, on average, and probably longer if you take good care of them,” she says.