Sunning Diapers in less than Ideal Weather

Many cloth diaper parents love sunning their diapers not only for stain removal but for killing bacteria. The Sun’s UV rays are magic in my opinion! But what do you do when the weather is less than ideal for sunning, or what about during the winter- especially if you live in areas where it snows heavily?

I've come up with a list of things that I do and what I've found others do, during times like these, to ensure their diapers stay clean.

Personally, I do not take my diapers outside during freezing temps. We live in an area where it snows A LOT and the temperatures drop into the negatives. I’d be afraid of the wear and tear on my PUL that would happen after freezing and defrosting them so much. Instead, I like to sun dry next to a window that has full on sunshine coming in. It’s not the full effect of the Sun’s UV rays, studies show windows let in about 50% of the UV rays, but in my opinion half is better than none during those cold winter months! If you choose to do this it’s helpful to have a drying rack, but even just laying diapers in a window sill or on a table next to a window will work.

Racks like these can be found in the laundry section of many retail stores.

Call me crazy, I’ve even made use of our car when needing to sun diapers. Our car’s dash gets a lot of sun shine during those winter months- better than the windows of our house. We've used that lovely warm dashboard for sunning diapers!

In my time as a cloth diaper parents, I’ve come across many other options that people choose when it comes to sunning diapers. Some are completely ok with sunning their diapers outside in any time of weather- sunshine, rain, freezing snow. They swear by it! They say during freezing temps, sun your diapers on a rack and when they are done, move the rack back inside to defrost before moving any of the diapers off the rack. Like I said before, I’d be afraid of the wear on the PUL from freezing and defrosting but maybe it wouldn’t be any worse than it is on PUL washing them in hot water or drying them in the dryer. Myclothdiaperstash.com has some creative ideas for how to hang out diapers and inserts up inside the home to attain the best sun exposure. Another mother said she lays her diapers on her tanning bed to sun during the winter! I would assume you could purchase a UV light bulb to sun your diapers with, but I’m not sure how long that would take to sun a whole stash with one light bulb ;)

How do you sun your diapers during the cold, winter months?