Easiest Wool Cloth Diaper Wash, How to Wash Wool Diaper Covers
When I first decided I wanted to cloth diaper, I really wanted to use wool cloth diapers, but the thought of handwashing, lanolizing, and "wool care" all intimidated me. It took me several months before I felt brave enough to try it, and let me tell you, I will never go back! Cloth diapering with wool is the easiest thing ever and I wish I had known about it sooner! Today I share with you my wool diaper "care" routine and just how easy wool diapering really is!
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Wool Care: Think Soak not Wash
When I finally decided to try the wool cloth diaper thing, I held my breath and went online to see what "wool care" entailed. It was within the first ten ti fifteen minutes of searching that I realized it wasn't all that hard. All this stress and anxiety over "wool care" which really ended up being nothing more than just soaking the garments once to every other week. Talk about easy! Here I was thinking I would have to jump through hoops just to keep my wool clean, when in reality, it was as easy as a quick "soak". So enough about all that, Let me very simply walk you through the "wool care" process so that you can also see just how easy this method really is!
1. Wash The Wool aka Soak it
Because of the antibacterial nature of wool and its delicacy, wool can be used multiple times before it needs washed, unlike most cloth diaper inserts. A good rule of thumb is if you have a smaller stash, wool should be "washed" once a week, but it you have more than two diaper covers and more than three inserts you can wash your wool every other week. Additionally, if you have a poo, you will want to wash your wool. So wool washing. Let me lay out the steps of how to wash your wool.
Ingredients
-
- Wool Wash*
- 4 Quarts of Lukewarm Water
- Bowl or Container to Soak Wool
Steps
-
- Fill the container with lukewarm water and wool wash. May need to stir together.
- Place wool in water and completely sumurge. May need to place weight on top of wool to keep from floating above the water
- Wait 20 Minutes.
- Remove wool and Carefully Rinse with cold water. *if you need to lanolize your diaper, skip the last few steps*
- Gentlely press and fold out the water. DO NOT ring or twist.
- Optional: to dry quicker, place on a towel and fold or roll wool into the towel and apply light pressure/
- Lay to dry.
That is all. And depending on how "dirty" your cloth diapers are, this is all you will have to do. I put an astrid beside the wool wash because there are two washes to use. If your cloth diapers are very dirty, meaning that your baby had a huge poo or was playing in the dirt than you will want a wool wash without lanolin. Lanolin is the oily sustance that is in wool that provides a waterproof barrier, causing your wool to be waterproof. When your cloth diapers are extra dirty though, you will want to completely wash them and the lanolin from the diaper to ensure the wool really gets clean. A good lanolin free wool wash is . If you do this, that is when you will have to "re lanolize" which we will talk about in a minute. However, if you are just doing your normal weekly or bi-monthly wash routine than you will wash your cloth diaperss in a wash solution that has lanolin. This will clean your cloth diapers while also reinforcing the lanolin or your diaper. By using a wash with lanolin, you will not need to lanolize your diapers, and you will be good to continue using your diapers once they are dry.
2. Lanolizing Your Diapers
Now you may already be getting anxious, because lanolizing the diapers is where I got hung up, but truly it is just as easy as washing your wool - literally. You are simply going to soak your wool just like you did with the wash. And in fact, if you have both the lanolin-free wool wash and a lanolin wash, you can actually just use your lanolin wash to "re-lanolize" your diapers.
Ingredients
-
- Wool Wash with Lanolin
- 4 Quarts of Lukewarm Water
- Bowl or Container to Soak Wool
Steps
-
- Fill the container with lukewarm water and wool wash. May need to stir together.
- Place wool in water and completely sumurge. May need to place weight on top of wool to keep from floating above the water
- Wait 20 Minutes.
- Remove wool and Carefully Rinse with cold water.
- Gentlely press and fold out the water. DO NOT ring or twist.
- Optional: to dry quicker, place on a towel and fold or roll wool into the towel and apply light pressure/
- Lay to dry.
As you can see, the process is exactly the same. If I need to re-lanolize a diaper after washing it in a lanolin-free washing solution, I skip the drying part and immediately put it into the lanolin solution, making this process even easier! The lanolin wash I use is by Babee Greens. Although wool wash with lanolin does work to lanolize the diaper, sometimes you may want additional protection and a "thicker" layer of lanolin. In this case you can purchase lanolin conditioner and apply it the same way. The only difference is the actual conditioner has more lanolin and no wash. This means you are applying an additional layer of lanolin to the diaper and not washing the diaper from any dirt or grim. You can purchase lanolin conditioner from Babee Greens as well.
Now some people like to make their own lanolin solution. And if you are feeling brave enough, I'll explain how that is done. It is a slightly longer process, but still just as easy. Anyone can do it, but it may be easier if you are already feeling intimidated to just go with a lanolin wash or conditioner. This method provides the diapers with a heavy lanolin solution and can be customized to fit your cloth diapering needs. If you need extra protection, add more lanolin, if you are simply trying to make a wool wash that reinforces the lanolin but isn't as heavy, use less lanolin and more soap. However, it is recommended that if you do this method that you do wash your lanolin first so that you are applying the lanolin to clean wool. Below are the intrustions.
Ingredients for Lanolin Solution
-
- Pea Sized Amount of Solid Lanolin
- Baby's Bath Wash; I use Babo Botanicals
- Hot Tap Water
- A cup or small container
Steps
-
- Fill the container halway with hot tap water
- Add a pea sized amount of lanolin to the water. If you are looking for additional protection, add two pea sized amounts.
- The lanolin will not combine with the water, so you must add stir in small amounts of baby bath wash until the lanolin completely disolves. The lanolin will almost look like milk or make the water "milky".
- Your solution is ready to be used. Follow the steps of lanolizing above and use the entire lanolin solution in the cup.
As you can see, even making your own lanolin solution is quite easy, although it does require a few additional steps. I have used this method before and it doesn't take hardly any additional time. I was surprised when I finally got down to it, how easy "wool care" really was.
3. Storing Wool
If you are like me and cloth diaper from newborn on, you probably have some wool cloth diapers that you need to store for your next little. As a note, because wool is a natural fiber with natural oils (lanolin) it will draw the attention of critters. The best method for storing wool diapers is to place them in something that is sealed but breathable. A drawstring or zipper cotton bag is a good choice. Placing cedar chips or lavender sachets inside the bag will also deter any sort of bugs or critters from invading your wool. So far, I just sort our wool in the closet, and haven't had any issues with it, but if you are storing your wool for several months in an attic, basement, or storage buidling, you may want to consider this method.
3. Sanatizing Wool
The last thing I want to touch on for "wool care" is sanatizing your wool diapers. If you are like me and buy your diapers second hand, this is probably a priority for you, and you've probably already discovered that bleaching your wool is not an option. If you haven't let me warn you against bleach for wool, as it will literally disinigrate your diapers. Hopefully you didn't have to discover that the hard way... Because wool is antibacterial, sanatizing it should be heavily considered before taking action. In fact, Fluff Love University does not reocommed doing anything beyond a lanonlin-free wash for second hand diapers. I personally bought all of my wool second hand and did not sanatize any of them. In fact, I do not know that I would sanatize wool, and I have never personally used this method. I am only sharing it for those of you who do want to take the extra step in ensuring your second hand diapers are fully sanatized for your little one. But be warned: do so by your own discretion. I am not responsible for any destroyed cloth diapers! Now on that note, here is what I found on sanatizing wool diapers.
Ingredients
-
- Lanonlin-free Wool Wash
- 4 Quarts of Lukewarm Water
- Stove Pot
Steps
-
- Fill the pot with lukewarm water and wool wash. May need to stir together.
- Place wool in water and completely sumurge.
- Very slowly bring the temperature of the water to a boil. This should take a long time, otherwise if you heat the wool too fast, it will ruin the wool.
- Only bring to a boil. Once the pot begins to boil, very slowly bring the water temperature back down.
- Allow the pot to cool naturally on the stove. Do not try to exellerate this process or you will shock the wool.
- Once the pot is completely cooled, press your wool to dry.
- Optional: place on a towel and fold or roll wool into the towel and apply light pressure
- Lay to dry
Again, I do not personally use this method nor would I try it. But if you have some second hand wool that you got for dirt cheap and want to see how it goes, by all means try it. No professional cloth diapering company has ever recommended or meantioned this practice and I have only heard of this method by other individual cloth diapering parents who may or may not know what they are doing. So take that as you will. Otherwise, feel 100% confident that your normal wash routine will do the trick for second hand diapers.
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