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Stripping your cloth diapers in a washing machine: Step 1 First wash your cloth diapers as you normally would. It is important to start with clean diapers. If your diapers are soiled when you begin the stripping process, you may set stains in the fabric. Simply run your cloth diapers through a normal cold wash cycle with a small amount of detergent, and rinse as usual. Step 2 Run your cloth diapers through a hot wash with no detergent. Turn up your water heater if necessary to make sure that the water is really hot (but be sure to turn it back down afterward for safety). Note: check washing instructions for your particular cloth diapers. If you are using all-in-ones or pocket diapers with waterproof covers, too-hot water may damage them. You may want to use just a drop or two of original blue liquid Dawn dish detergent to this wash to help cut some of the oils, but it's not always necessary. You can also add a bit of baking soda to absorb odors. Step 3 Be sure to do an extra rinse at the end of your wash cycle. Add some white vinegar to this final rinse to remove all detergent residues from your cloth diapers. Don't worry, your cloth diapers won't come out of the wash smelling like vinegar. When the diapers dry, all the vinegar smell will disappear. Step 4 Rinse, rinse, rinse. Run your cloth diapers through as many rinse cycles as necessary until no suds appear. This may take up to three or four rinse cycles, or even more if there is a lot of detergent residue in your cloth diapers. Hint: to prevent detergent from building up too much, use one- fourth to one-half of the detergent you would use on a regular load of laundry when washing your diapers normally. Your diapers will still get clean, but there won't be as much residue left behind. Step 5

Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

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Great instruction on how to strip your cloth diapers using a washing machine or by hand- AWESOME picture tutorial found on diaperswappers on how to strip cloth dipes by hand.

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Page 1: Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

Stripping your cloth diapers in a washing machine:

Step 1First wash your cloth diapers as you normally would. It is important to start with clean diapers. If your diapers are soiled when you begin the stripping process, you may set stains in the fabric. Simply run your cloth diapers through a normal cold wash cycle with a small amount of detergent, and rinse as usual.

Step 2Run your cloth diapers through a hot wash with no detergent. Turn up your water heater if necessary to make sure that the water is really hot (but be sure to turn it back down afterward for safety). Note: check washing instructions for your particular cloth diapers. If you are using all-in-ones or pocket diapers with waterproof covers, too-hot water may damage them.

You may want to use just a drop or two of original blue liquid Dawn dish detergent to this wash to help cut some of the oils, but it's not always necessary. You can also add a bit of baking soda to absorb odors.

Step 3Be sure to do an extra rinse at the end of your wash cycle. Add some white vinegar to this final rinse to remove all detergent residues from your cloth diapers. Don't worry, your cloth diapers won't come out of the wash smelling like vinegar. When the diapers dry, all the vinegar smell will disappear. Step 4Rinse, rinse, rinse. Run your cloth diapers through as many rinse cycles as necessary until no suds appear. This may take up to three or four rinse cycles, or even more if there is a lot of detergent residue in your cloth diapers. Hint: to prevent detergent from building up too much, use one-fourth to one-half of the detergent you would use on a regular load of laundry when washing your diapers normally. Your diapers will still get clean, but there won't be as much residue left behind.

Step 5Sunlight is a natural germ-killer and stain-remover. If you have access to an outside drying line, hang your cloth diapers in the sun to dry. If this isn't an option, it is not absolutely necessary - the previous steps in the wash are more important.

It may be necessary to strip your cloth diapers as frequently as once a week, or as little as once a month. Strip your diapers as often as necessary to keep them absorbent and fresh.

NEXT PAGE STRIPPING BY HAND! Put some abbreviation explanations in “ ( )” and colored red for better understanding

Page 2: Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

Best BEST tutorial I’ve ever found, great practical technique

Boiling prefolds to prep them...a picture tutorial DIAPERSWAPPERS Forum Tutorial

Katherine Registered UsersJoin Date: Dec 2006Location: OhioPosts: 4,213 Ratings: 153Feedback: 100%

I spent yesterday morning prepping my new unbleached gmd (Company/Website name, Green Mountain Diapers) orange edge prefolds, and after searching here for info on boiling them, decided to post a picture tutorial to help others out.

So here you go!

This is the first time I've boiled new pf's (Prefolds). I have boiled pf's from fsot (wha?) and have used the washing machine to prep new UBIPF's (UnBleached Infant Prefolds) before. I wanted to try this to see if it really did save washes and dryer cycles.

First: the subjects - 2 dozen Unbleached Green Mountain Diaper Orange Edge prefolds. Not all are pictured here - some were already boiling. All of them perfectly filled a flat rate priority box, to give you an idea of the volume.

Second: The setup - I have a smaller stockpot on the stove and a laundry basket lined with an old towel - that way the dipes can be damp/dripping and not flood my floor. I would have used a larger stockpot - mine was dirty from Easter - i should have taken the time to clean it rather than do several extra boils with smaller batches.

Page 3: Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

Third: the process - I filled the pot almost all the way, added a squirt of dawn (to help draw out the oils) and let it boil. Then I added three pf's and stirred them occasionally. I let them boil for 20-30 minutes/batch. Most people in threads I read said they do it for 10 minutes at a time, but I figure the longer the boil, the more prepped they'll be. Not sure if that's true.

After boiling, I picked them up with tongs and kinda wrapped them around the tongs and squeezed them against the side of the pot to get excess water out, then plopped them in the basket. The water turned yellow after a batch. After one batch, I'd add 4-8 cups more water to fill it up again and another squirt of dawn. After the second boil, I dumped the water and started over.

Page 4: Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

After boiling, the pf's were noticeably smaller than the unboiled ones.

After they were all boiled, I put the entire 2 doz. in the washer with no detergent (figured there was still dawn in them) and did a cycle w/ a hot presoak, a hot wash with high agitation, and an extra rinse (in cold, I think). then dried them on hot.

After the first wash/dry, they were fluffy and soft, although some (about half) were a little flatter than the rest - they were still as soft, just not quite as quilty and a little bigger - I figure that's from uneven boiling times. The one son the left are the fluffier and smaller ones.

Then I put them back in to wash with 3 tbsp synthrapol (clueless here ladies, thinking this is a cloth dying prep chemical…sorry) and 2 tbsp washing soda (that's what the synthrapol said to use to prep fabrics for dyeing). If I hadn't had the synthrapol, I would have just used the detergent I normally use for dipes. Then I did a wash like the one above, and dried again.

Page 5: Boiling AKA Stripping Cloth Diapers

After that wash/dry, they were all a bit quiltier and softer, and there wasn't such a difference in size, although I could still find 10 that were just slightly flatter and larger.

All in all, the volume of the pile of dipes about tripled from before prepping.

They're still kinda pilly, so could prob. use a wash or two, but I believe they're fully prepped. I probably wouldn't have done the second wash/dry, but I want to dye them and wanted to make very sure all the oils were out of them.

All in all, I think I def. saved time and energy boiling them - if I had it to do over again, I'd change the following things:- used a bigger (much bigger) pot and done 6 at a time- Time the boils and only done 20 minutes a batch, so they were all done evenly.\- finished before dh (husband) came home, b/c he made fun of me for photographing the process