There is nothing like a month (or four) of unusually frequent rain to make you appreciate the sun. Not only do I, as a beach girl, naturally crave the sun, or as mom of three, desire to send the older kids outside to play, but as a mom who cloth diapers, I need it. I need it to work its magic on those inevitable stains! I need it to freshen- up the fabric. I need it to provide its super drying powers to save energy and make my dipes more absorbent!
Didn’t know about those wonderful rays? Amazingly, many don’t. We have become so self sufficient, living inside our homes, taking care of all of our needs with our great appliances, that we sometimes forget the simple, natural elements that our mothers (or mothers’ mothers) knew so well. Don’t get me wrong – I love the new high efficiency washers and dryers – they are amazing…the sanitizing cycle, programmable extra rinses, adjustable timers and tumblers, but I don’t have these. I have an old, but reliable, Maytag and the sunshine, plus a dryer for back-up. Yet, I have been confounded this extra rain (six inches over average for the first two weeks of this month!).
Every time my diaper pail fills up, it seems to be raining! A few times the sun has revealed itself in the afternoon and I have dashed to wash the cloth diapers but after the long rinse – wash – rinse cycle, the sun is dipping below the trees – Argghh! I have not been completely foiled though. I have found that a mere hour in the sun makes a difference. The stains lighten, odors fade and a long tumble in the dryer finishes them off.
Even if the diapers only see the sun every other wash, it helps to get them out there. It is winter now, after all, and those thick diapers are hard to completely dry outside anyway (the prefold diapers and flannel baby wipes do fine though). Therefore, I have come up with a few laundry boosters to supplement my sunshine.
If I can anticipate a good sunny day…
If I can anticipate a good sunny day, I get the wash done early and get it outside, cold or not, sun is best! That has been a challenge lately, however. Sooo&helli;to combat odors and stains, I add a scoop of Borax to the wash cycle. Then during the final (extra) rinse, I sprinkle a little tea tree oil.
If I have gone a long time without sunning the diapers, and stains are building up, I will rinse, then soak with a scoop of oxygen bleach, then wash as usual. I do that as rarely as possible though to retain the integrity of the fabric. Oxygen bleach is supposed to be much better for fabrics than chlorine bleach.
I then continue my wash pattern and then damp-dry them in the dryer and hang them on the drying rack to finish. My diapers to continue to look pretty good and I believe they have a lot of life left in them – even after the third child! I do contend that the sun dries cloth diapers better and leaves them more absorbent, though a bit crispy (a 5 minute tumble with the dryer balls helps to soften them), and I haven’t found a substitute for that.
Happy laundering!
P.S. The sun works its miracles on spit-up stains too!
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Jamie Walski is a SAH mother of three. She is a former teacher but now stays busy with the children, gardening, cooking, arts and crafts, volunteering, yoga, running, and DIY projects for the home. She strives to live as environmentally responsibly as possible.
Bryana is the owner of 
Becca is a part-time Spanish Teacher and part-time Stay-At-Home-Mom. She's a cloth diaper expert who enjoys spending time with her family, crafting and selling her wares in her very own
Julie is a mom to three kids including a set of identical twins. Through cloth diapering her twins she developed a passion for the industry and is an avid cloth diaper advocate. You can also find her on her blog
oh, to be able to use my clothesline. Sadly the temp here today is 15, I would get freeze dried dipes at best, but the dryer gets a six month break when the temp is above 32.
I would LOVE to have a clothesline!! But unfortunately I live in an apartment and its always humid where I live.
I have frozen dipes too, lately, but the little exposure sure helps them. I set them outside on a wooden drying rack, then bring them in and pry them off, looking more like stiff cardboard, to toss into the dryer. I’m about to put some out now…
It was really fun showing my husband how well the sun worked on a bright yellow stain! He even thought I should wash it again, when I brought it in later that night he was amazed:)
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