photo by Allison Hanlon Peterson
Stripping? Umm, what? Simply put, stripping (in this sense) means you’re removing the buildup of detergent or diaper creams from the fibers of your cloth inserts. With time, despite your best intentions and care, you may find that your cloth inserts aren’t absorbing as well as they once were. The culprit is most likely detergent build up, or diaper creams, if you’ve been using them. This happens with all cloth diapers and is easily remedied by stripping your cloth diapers. Stripping also helps when cloth begins to take on an ammonia smell. An easy test to see if your inserts need to be stripped: put the cloth insert into the little gPant pouch and slowly add a cup of warm water. Let it rest for at least one minute. Gently place the palm of your hand on the water (to simulate the flesh contact from baby). If the water pools on top and doesn’t absorb even with the pressure from your hand, it needs stripping. Here’s one method on how to strip your cloth:
- Before stripping, you may need to pull apart the 4 layers of fabric, as they may have become stuck together with detergent.
- Boil on the stovetop for 30 minutes, then wash without detergent after boiling.
- Check your laundry rinse cycle. If there are suds in the rinse, then the diapers still have build up. Repeat boil until a rinse cycle runs clear of suds.
For thicker buildup you may want to add a bit of a de-greasing agent to your strip routine. Good old fashioned Dawn dish soap (the blue stuff) is great at tackling stubborn build up on cloth. Hand-agitate the de-greaser directly into the cloth inserts and then wash on hot (no other detergent). Check your rinse cycle for suds. Once the cloth is free of suds, you should be free of build up and back to peak performance.
Do you have hard water? Hard water makes laundering difficult in general, but can be particularly troublesome for cloth diapering, since it’s hard to wash out detergent with hard water. You may want to add a water softener to the hot part of the wash, to keep your diapers soft and absorbent.
*tip* If you want to use a diaper cream, use flushable gCloth liners on top of your cloth inserts. Not only will the liners prevent the cream from caking to the cloth fibers, but they’ll also do the dirty work of catching the bulk of baby’s solid messes (aka, poop). Check out the video to see gCloth liners at work.
What about bleach? I understand chlorine isn’t best for delicate bottoms and that it can also break down fabrics quickly. Is bleaching ever recommended with gCloth or not? I can’t find the “official” word. I throw a little bit in each wash (less that the bottle recommends by about half). Is this a no-no? I don’t do this with the liners or pants, just the cloths. So to bleach or not to bleach?
Well, first I want ask you why you want to use bleach? Is it to kill bacteria? Or to keep materials looking clean & white?
For germs & bacteria, hot water is key. If you still get an odor perhaps just a touch of ammonia can neutralize odors-whether this is recommended by gdiapers-I don’t know.
If you are wanting to keep the cloths looking clean & white I would highly recommend adding Borox to you wash.
I emailed and asked that, too. I believe it was either Gillian or Heather replied and said that non-chlorine bleach is okay, but not necessary.
I’ve found the best bleach is the sun….just hang wet diapers or inserts in the sun. After a few hours, stains and stinkies are gone! It even works inside through a glass window for those that live in cold weather.
When doing a normal wash with these diaper cloths, which “diaper friendly” detergent should i be using? any recommendations on which one?
Check out this detergent chart. They know they’re stuff. http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
Is it OK to use Borax to help strip the diapers if they smell like ammonia? If so, how often should I use it? Or, does Dawn do the trick just fine on it’s own?
J
This seems like a silly question but I have to ask.
I was attempting to strip my gCloth by boiling them. I have been using them for 9 months and they smell like ammonia really bad when wet. I put 24 of my 60 gcloth into 2 of my largest stock pots, filled them with water, and put on the stove to boil for 30 minutes. The problem I had is that they float to the top and I doubt those ones sitting above the water are getting stripped. Am I doing something wrong? I filled the pot about 3/4 full with diapers and covered with water – I have 60 gCloth to strip and it would take me about 3 cycles of boiling to get them all done. Do I have to put fewer diapers in each pot? Am I missing something obvious about this process?
Thanks!