Washing Cloth Diapers in a HE Washing Machine

One of the questions that you see people pose over and over again about cloth diapers is "How do I really get them clean in my High Efficiency Washing Machine?" If you use cloth diapers, chances are you care about the environment and you try to make eco friendly choices everyday. One of those choices may have been to buy a high efficiency or HE washing machine. Then to only discover that so many are up in arms about HE machines don't clean cloth properly - which may put you in a small stage of panic. Don't let it.

You can successfully wash your cloth in an HE washer!

One of the reasons that so many believe that cloth diapers don't come clean is because they feel that HE machines don't use enough water. Now, I'm no scientist and I'm not claiming to be {or chemist, plumber, whoever can make these scientific proclamations}, but I can attest to the fact that I've been washing my cloth diapers in a HE washer for over 3.5 years quite successfully! You may have heard of the "Wet Towel Trick" - where you put in a wet towel with your diapers to "trick" your HE machine into thinking the load is heavier and it will use more water. I can't say if this works or not, really, who can? Sure, your HE machine may use less water in a load than a traditional Top Loader, but if you put your diapers through a long enough wash and rinses, they will come clean!

   

 I have been successful for the last 2 years with a cloth diaper wash routine that looks like this: Warm Rinse {no detergent} Warm Wash w/ Extra rinse {with detergent} Warm Rinse {no detergent} While some may say you need to use a Blanket Setting, I've always used the same cycle as I wash my clothes with no issues. This step may not be necessary for you, but it ensures that our HE machine is truly using enough water to rinse the detergent out of the cloth diapers. Two important things to remember on top of a good wash routine: A load size, for any washer for that matter, should be around 12-15 diapers. Too few diapers could mean that you're not getting enough agitation and too many diapers could mean it's too crowded in there. Washing every 1-2 days is ideal, no matter your washer as well. The longer you leave stinky diapers brewing, the harder they will be to get clean.

Happy Washing!

  Lindsey is the author behind the So Easy Being Green blog. Once she decided to use cloth diapers on her children, she started making green-er choices in all areas of her life. SEBG is a resource for parents who want to make small changes that will make a big impact on their path to a green-er life.