How to Get the Poopy Stains Out?

How long do you leave the diapers before washing them? How many diapers do you wash at one time? I have just started using the same AIO's, and love them too! This is what I've done for the past three weeks, and we haven't had a bad stain yet:

After removing poop, dunk diaper in toilet and put dripping diaper into the pail/bag.

Every night, I do a diaper wash. First, a cold water wash with 1/8 cup Allen's detergent. Then a hot wash with another 1/8 cup detergent. (Top loading washer. If you have a front loader or HE, it is supposed to be much harder to get out stains!) Once a week, I add 1/2 cup bleach to the wash. I dry two cycles on high.

So far, so good! No smells, and no bad stains! It's a pain to wash every night, but it's really worth it. My friends who wait a few days between washes really can't get out the stains, and their diapers have a terrible ammonia smell! I'm sure my diapers will wear out a little more quickly, but I love that they stay so clean...

1 mom found this helpful

dry dreft prestain spray

and vinegar.

if its baked in then its much more difficult, so from now on, rinse them in cold water, and place them in a bucket of soapy water while waiting to wash, after the rinse cycle you can pretty much tell which ones need to be treated

M

I also use BG's, and I rinse all my poop diapers in cold water before throwing them in the diaper pail. I also spray a little Biokleen Bac-Out on them (available at Whole Foods and most health food stores, like Jandi's in Oceanside). I know BG says not to use Bac-Out, but I've never had a problem and it works! I wash on hot and rinse on cold. If any stains remain, I throw them on my windowsill and let the sun get them. The sun has amazing bleaching powers! I find that after another wash or so, the stains always disappear! Good luck!
Oh yeah, I wash every two days.

We also have been using the BumGenius AIO's and love them too! My daughter just had a week of unexplained diarrhea and we had to switch back to our 7th generation disposables until the butterscotch pudding poopies subsided. When she's having normal BMs, the stain rinses out immediately after she goes...

My usual routine is to use the pre-wash setting on my machine.I do 1 or 2 cold water rinses, then a hot wash (with Arm&Hammer Essentials), then 2 hot water rinses. Then they go in the dryer on the high heat setting.

Good luck!

I personally would not worry about it. You have washed the diapers so you know they are clean. I cloth diapered 3 children and had a couple of diapers that stained with #1 and were still in use with #3. I would definitely advise against bleach as that breaks down the fabric. If it is really a problem for you, try bleaching them in the sun. Lay them outside on a nice sunny day and that really helps. You could also try putting lemon juice on the stains while soaking up the sun. But honestly, I wouldn't bother but every once in a while - they will just look stained again sooner than later!

Hi A.,

As you've heard, OxyClean works well. I also got a fantastic wash technique from my mother...soak clothes and/or diapers in hot water and Cascade powder dish detergent (for the dish washer)overnight. It has removed almost all of the stains as well as some yellowing on older clothes. Good luck!

When you initially rinse them out, make sure to use cold water. I use Ecover Stain Remover on poop stains and it always comes out. Of course you use warm water to wash them, but the initial rinse should be cold. Keep the diapers wet until you put them in the washing machine and use some oxy clean (or something similar) in addition to the laundry soap. Don't use bleach though since it eats away at the fabric and it also is not good against you baby's skin. Make sure you are using a laundry soap that is meant for cloth diapers, like Charlie's soap (not a regular laundry detergent, they build up residue in the diapers that makes them less absorbent). Also don't wash more than 10 or 12 diapers per load.

I never was able to get ALL stains out, but Borax works well without being harsh like bleach.

hopefully you didnt dry them because then the stains are baked in basically but if you havent try using the shout on them and that should help if not get some grease lighting and shout and that should get the stains out hopefully

isnt cloth diapering great!!!

do you belong to diaperswappers.com? its great.

heres what works best for the majority. first get a diaper sprayer. its the best and no more dunking. then spary with bacout and throw in your pail. when you wash, it is imperative you do a cold prerinse, with nothing or a little bacout. then wash on hot. i use oxygen bleach and tide, not sure what you use we tried enzyme free but i was getting smell. then do your extra rinse or wash cycle. if i get stains, the 2nd wash they are gone OR just sun them out. you just put them out in the sun and it takes the stains right out. i can even get some out by laying them by the closed window sometimes.

if its just the inserts though, i wouldnt hesitate to bleach them with a little bit once a month. i know your arent supposed to but just a little once in a blue moon shouldnt hurt. you can also try soaking in either bacout(i never had luck with that) or oxygen bleach(i use oxy boost purchased online). the oxy bleach does get lots of stains out. good luck and dont stress too much, you know they are clean, even if they have the stains. but get the diaper sprayer, its great help!!!

I never used cloth diapers, but to get "poopy stains" out of my infant's cloths, I pre-treated them with a stain stick (I think it was Shout!. Anything will work.) After that, I soaked them in a bucket of water with a scoop of OxyClean. (If you have a Costco membership, a big box of OxyClean is about $13 at Costco, and there's a coupon this month for a few $$ off. My baby just turned two and I'm ALMOST done with the box I bought before she was born. It's a good deal, and it gets ALL the stains out!) Actually, I kept the bucket in the laundry room and just threw in anything that was nasty during the week. I think we got just about EVERY stain out that way! The OxyClean is really gentle - I even soaked (my) Christening gown for my baby to use, and it came out beautiful.

Believe it or not, dish soap was the best method for me. When my mother first told me this, I chuckled. But, it's true. It really works. Dawn is great! I would first wash them with Dish soap, then put them through a regular wash with detergent. Good luck.

AM

Do a cold rinse cycle first and then wash hot with soap. Then do the extra cold rinse cycle. The first cold rinse is important for preventing stains. Ask the company what they would recommend since some stain removers could effect the absorbency or permeability of the diapers.

Hi A.! My husband and I are using the same diapers and we have a sprayer that is hooked up to the cold water on the toilet. That seems to get out a LOT of the stains but unfortunately if the diapers have already been washed and dried this won't work. It'll just keep them from getting more stained. I have soaked a couple diapers in something called basic-H from shacklee and that seemed to help for the really set in stains. You also might want to try oxyclean as a cheaper alternative. I haven't tried it but i know it gets out most other stains. Good luck!

I am a firm believer of Oxy Clean. Its very gentile and has gotten all of the stains out of my sons clothes. I am expecting another boy and can use all of 1st our son's clothes for him too - you'd never know they were used. I put a scoop in the regular laundry with my detergent and put the machine on soak for about 20 minutes or so. Then rin a regular wash. For really tough stains (even ones that have been washed and dried already) I keep a bucket in the laundry room and soak the clothes with a little extra scoop and let the garment soak for a little while. It really works great on everything. Good luck.
A. H

I had a good pooper too! I used oxyclean for EVERYTHING!! I soaked her stuff overnight then washed it as I normally would. I got all stains out of most everything, food, and poop. (Enough to hand down my daughter's cloths to 3 more girls!) Good luck!

I find that a day or two in the sun bleaches them out pretty well. Plus it's free! I always do a cold rinse first, followed by a hot wash, and two additional cold rinses. Hope that helps!

I would guess that they really are clean...just stained. I find that hanging them in the sun can really bleach out staines without chemicals...plus the sun is great at killing germs.