We recently moved to El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz in SPAIN! Big jump from the beautiful Whidbey Island where I can brag about my wash routine for Cloth Diapers. Well, for the last 3 months, I have been looking for my new wash routine and I think I am finally getting the hang of it!
One of the people who left a big impression on my CD journey is Jessica Fisher, she said "it shouldn't be able different than a regular load of laundry". Ever since I adopted that mindset, life became different.
Do we have Hard Water?
YES! With lots of calcium deposits.
Do we have to test it?
You can if you want to! You can buy a test kit from the petstore (aquarium section).
Can I rinse the diaper on the bidet?
I normally use a liner on poop hours (Emma poops in the morning just after you change her diaper). After you rinse off the poop, I found out the bidet is actually really easy to use for rinsing and disinfecting. Our bidet has a super strong stream so get most of the poop out then rinse.
What washing products do you use?
In Europe the recommended water softener is Calgon, the recommended detergent Persil or Ariel (similar to Tide) and the stain treater is Vanish. Grovia Mighty Bubbles is good too!
What is your washing Machine?
Our washing machine is a Balay 6kg capacity front loader,
How often do you wash?
I wash about 25 diapers and their inserts every 3 days. This will be about 3/4 full but I also throw in a towel if it doesn't look like enough load since I use mix type of diapers
What diapers do you have? And what's the set up?
Alvas pockets and AIOs, WAHM pockets and covers, BG Freetimes, G-diapers (their inserts are just amazing!) and some random China cheapies pockets. All diapers are used with 1 hemp and 1 charcoal bamboo insert except the BG Freetimes and AIOs which are used as is. For overnights (8pm-7am) I use any cover/pocket with 3 charcoal bamboo inserts and 1 small hemp booster and sometimes wool cover.
The Wash Routine
- Every load gets ran twice.
- First time on the rapido with rotations at highest and intensivo on (soap on the detergent, line 2 of powdered soap + half cap of Calgon)
- second time on the longest wash cycle intensivo on and rotations at highest (Wash on this setting with line 4 powderd detergent, full cap of calgon), heavy duty settings on and highest rotation settings on.
Some people use the extra rinse but I often miss the opportunity to refill the tub with calgon, once the water drains, it will reload with fresh (hard) water with no calgon, if that makes sense.
How do you dry?
In the winter, I use the dryer (cotton setting) for the inserts and line dry the pockets/covers.
In the hot sunny months everything gets line dried. Spanish sun has some magic, so far all the stains are gone!
Any last words?
I think we all use a slightly different routine so it's a matter of trying out and figuring what works for you. The main thing to remember is we have hard water so you'll need Borax/Calgon and an HE detergent for the front loader.
