earth huggy diaper washing information

washing cloth diapers is easy, but there are some important things you need to know! earth huggy diapers are made with organic cotton as the absorbent material, and because this is an unbleached fiber, it still contains many of the natural oils and waxy substances that are present in the plant fibers (that would be lost in the processing of conventional cotton fabric). for this reason, you MUST wash your organic cotton diapers a minimum of 4 times before using them. these natural oils will cause the urine not to be absorbed! soaking the diapers with a natural citrus-based degreaser, vinegar, or non-chlorine bleach, may help in breaking up the oils, before you perform your 4 washings... do not use chlorine bleach on these diapers, it breaks down cotton fibers, and can seriously irritate baby's skin!

once you've done your initial 4 washings, you have a lot of options, and the web is full of advice on how to best wash and de-stain your diapers. there are wet pail and dry pail methods, some methods call for double wash cycles, some call for soaking and rinsing while others call for throwing the whole enchilada right into the washing machine, right in with your clothes. you will find your happy medium among all the methods.

since you are making the wonderful decision to buy organic cotton to put on your baby, then i recommend considering carefully what products you use to wash those diapers- don't negate that good choice by soaking your dipes in harsh chemicals! also, be aware that most laundry detergents are very concentrated, and the recommended amount is often far more than is really needed to achieve cleanliness. rather than bleach, pure sunlight is my favorite method for removing stains. to preserve the absorbency of your diapers longer, wash on cold as much as possible (but you will likely want to do some hot washes periodically to freshen them up), line dry as much as possible (though waterproof fabric like the outside layer of earth huggy all-in-ones will benefit from a hot dryer periodically), and use products that are kind to natural fibers.

my personal experience is that complaints of rashes from using cloth diapers usually stem from one of three things- diapers not being removed from baby's skin promptly when wet, over-use of chemicals that remain in residual form in the fabric and cause a reaction, or synthetic/petroleum-based fibers up against baby's skin. organic cotton, thoughtfully and carefully washed, and promptly changed, is the best possible diapering choice for even the most sensitive skin!


as a side note, the earth huggy all-in-one diapers have been selling like hot cakes at the farmer's market! i am excited to be introducing lots of new colors for the outer, waterproof fabric (stay tuned for more pictures soon!) and am currently designing all-in-one pull-ups for older babies/toddlers/children! look for them in the next few weeks! Small, medium and large all-in-ones are available. E-mail me at earth.huggy@gmail.com for more info or to order!