You will need to strip your diapers if you have residue or diaper odor. Residue can be caused by
hard water, diapers than are not cleaned or rinsed thoroughly, detergents, or from greasy products such as diaper creams or fabric softeners. You could also have
soap scum if you use a non-approved soap or detergent. Following are the instructions for diaper stripping. Strip only as needed, as it can be harsh on your diapering products. Â
Standard machines: Maximum load size is 24 XS/S or 18 M/L diapers. Starting with clean diapers:
- Fill machine with Hot water on the highest water level, using a heavy cycle.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of Dawn Classic dish soap to the wash water and agitate for about 10 seconds.
- Add diapers and run wash cycle, adding two extra warm rinses.
- If the rinse water is slimy or has any bubbles during the last rinse, you should add another rinse.
HE machines: Dawn dish soap is NOT low sudsing. Please do not use dish soap in a High Efficiency machine, as this will most likely void the warranty on your machine. You will need to use a top loading machine or the bathtub to strip with Dawn dish soap. If you need to strip your diapers in an HE machine, you can use RLR. This can be found online. Maximum load size is 15 XS/S or 12 M/L diapers. Start with clean diapers, and follow instructions on the RLR package. *RLR can be harsh on components, especially Aplix fasteners. Please use only when needed.
Important: If you have residue on your diapers, you will want to strip the diapers but also take care of what is causing the problem. First make sure you are using the correct
wash instructions. If you are not using a recommended detergent, you will want to strip your diapers and change to a
cloth diaper safe detergent. Make sure that if you use a diaper cream that it is cloth diaper safe. You may want to use a liner when using diaper creams. For hard water, you will need to use a
water softener such as
Calgon Water Softener or 1/4 cup baking soda to your
wash load. Please send any questions to
support@thirstiesbaby.com.
~Sonya
I read that stripping with Dawn only works on diapers that have build up from diaper rash creams. It makes sense since dishwashing liquid is used to degrease and creams are oil-based (ergo, grease). For mineral residue from hard water or detergent build-up, Calgon or RLR are the recommended solutions.
I’m confused as to why stripping is so harsh on diapers. It seems like you’re just doing a cycle with Dawn, followed by several rinses, so how is that any harsher than washing the diapers?
we bought a yard of anti-pill fleece and cut strips to use as liners. they haven’t let any creams through to our diapers yet! :) We just wash them separately (with towels)
I was curious about the HE machine too. Though I successfully stripped diapers in a top loader with just several hot wash cycles and a dash of baking soda in the first one, no Dawn needed.
Thank you! I was just going to google this :-)
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