Recommended Care for Soakers and AIOs:
  • Dispose of solid waste in the toilet. Using a mini shower to rinse or flushable liners will help keep your hands clean!
  • Wash your diapers on warm with sufficient detergent.
  • Tumble dry
Recommended Care for Shells:
  • Always tuck your tabs under the laundry tab loops on wash day
  • Wash on WARM (not hot or sanitize cyles)
  • Hang to dry. If drying outside, dry mesh side-up:
    Do not tumble dry
TROUBLESHOOTING: THINGS TO AVOID DOING WITH YOUR CLOTH DIAPERS:
Stains! 
The simplest way to treat stains without chemicals is to expose them to UV rays by hanging the soakers in the sun right after they have come out of the wash, and before they are dried. Even if it is cold or overcast outside, placing soakers in indirect sunlight through a window will still significantly lighten stains.

Stinky diapers coming out of the wash!
Add more detergent to your wash load and see if that doesn't help! Everyone's washing machine and hardness of water is different, so it is impossible to guarantee that every detergent manufacturer knows exactly how much you need individually, so don't be afraid to increase incrementally until you know your diapers are getting clean enough!

Stinky diapers as soon as they are wet!
Try adding an extra rinse at the end of your wash cycle, Sometimes if detergent residue builds up in your soakers because your rinse cycle doesn't have enough water in the cycle then it will cause the diaper to smell after it has been wet. This combination of urine & detergent residue can also cause redness on the baby, so it is important to be sure you are getting enough of a rinse.

Stinky Hybrid Shells!
Try separating your shells out from the soakers and storing them in a separate wetbag to keep them from absorbing the moisture and odors from within the wetbag. Also, try washing them with a traditional detergent in a regular load of laundry, but remember to hang them to dry! Also, hanging them in the sun, mesh side up should help too.

Can I PLEASE dry my Hybrid Shells in the dryer?
It isn't recommended! If you look at your shell carefully you will see that there is only the mesh layer covering the elastic. This isn't enough to protect the elastic and keep the dryer's heat from literally cooking and melting your elastic. Additionally, our unique nylon loop does not like heat. They line dry in just an hour anyway!

Leaks!
Are your diapers fully prepped? How frequently are you changing the diaper? Is it time to add more absorbency? Most often it's new diapers that are still getting the natural oils washed out that leak, it takes time but is worth it in the end! If your soaker is completely saturated and dripping wet when you get leaks then you need to either change more frequently or add a booster.
Using petroleum-based rash creams.There are many alternatives without zinc in them, and the petroleum bonds to your cotton and causes it to repel rather than absorb liquid.

Using detergents with plant oils in them, which can also bond to the fabrics and cause your diapers to repel.

Elaborate wash routines. Keep it simple. The more washes and rinses and spins done on your diapers the faster they will wear. Organic cotton is a wonderful material because very few babies have allergic reactions to our cottons and they are super soft. They are super soft, however, because they do not have finishes and additives that other synthetics help them hold together through lots of abuse. Love your cottons but don't wash them to pieces.

Skimping on diapers. If you want your GroVia system to last from infancy to potty training, you will need enough soakers and shells to rotate them adequately. 6 shells and 12 soakers might be enough to get you through a day and a load of laundry, but if you wash those soakers every single day they will show significant wear before baby is ready to potty train. We suggest a minimum of 24 soakers and 12-14 Shells for full time diapering, 36-50 if that full time diapering is needed for 2 or more years. A healthy stash keeps things working longer.

Detergents

There seems to be no ONE detergent that works for everyone. Different water types, machines and diaper stashes means that you will get a variety of recommendations for detergents. You can also go to just about any store and buy their store brand of detergent: TidePurex, and Gain, to name a few. ALL will clean your diapers well. Just stay away from detergents with lots of plant oils, fabric softeners or bleach.
RECOMMENDED ECO/SCENT FREE DETERGENTS: COMMON SENSE LAUNDRY TIPS:
• Tiny Bubbles
• Thirsties
• Allen's
• Charlies
• Country Save
• Mountain Green Baby
• All Free and Clear (military version)

• Dropps Scent and Dye Free
• Boulder Eco Detergent
• Ecos Free and Clear
• Tide Free
• Sun Free and Clear

 

There is a ridiculous amount of laundry information out there but here are our top diaper laundering tips. No, these tips are not on our care labels, but these are just good common sense rules of laundry:

  • Keep it simple
  • Use enough detergent
  • Warm or regular hot wash + one extra rinse is enough. If you have stinky diapers, they generally aren't getting clean.
  • "Stripping" should be needed rarely if at all. Tweak your detergent (switch brands or increase amounts) before thinking you need to strip your diapers! To get diapers clean you need to expose them to the proper concentration of detergent for at least 45-50 minutes.

You have to remember that diapers are garments that get peed and pooped in and need to get clean. You shouldn't need to baby them, but also know that they (especially cotton ones) will wear out over time.



Preparation:

Wash warm with detergent and tumble dry, repeating this process 3 times before first use to remove the natural oils found in the absorbency layers. (They will continue to gain absorbency with more washes.)

 

 

 

Wash:

  1. Remove as much solid matter as possible.
  2. Place soiled diaper in dry diaper pail -- no soaking, please!
  3. Wash within 2-3 days on warm with detergent. Tumble dry low. DO NOT use bleach or fabric softeners.

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