First, let me say that I do the dry method. I don't think that soaking is necessary. I have two pails, one for poopy and one for wet. Just shake the loose poopy off into the toilet, then put the diaper in the pail. Try to leave this pail by the toilet to save any drips.

Wash:

1. Throw the poopies in the machine on small load (this depends on the amount of diapers), cold water wash and rinse. My machine has a soak setting, so I use this. This step helps to prevent the poopies from staining.(Note: I have since started putting all diapers in together. I no longer seperate the diapers, saves time and isn't completely necessary.)

2. add the wet diapers. Change the settings to large load, do a cold rinse. No need to do the entire wash yet. This step gets rid of the urine.

3. Wash with a hot wash, cold rinse. I use eitherBi-o-Kleen laundry detergent or Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap you can also use Arm&Hammer™ washing soda but is not required. If you can't find this, baking soda works also. This step gets them really clean. Washing is all done.

4. Now to get rid of the detergent. I rinse once with a little white vinegar to balance the pH levels and help to make them sofer (I don't do this all the time, maybe once a month). Line dry and fluff in dryer or dry completely in dryer.

To recap:

1. Rinse diapers on cold to remove urine and poop.
2. Wash with gentle detergent on long and hot cycle.
3. Rinse once more to get out detergent.

Now, this is just my way of washing. Find what works best for you. Susie of What's Hempenin' Baby told me she doesn't use detergent, she uses the laundry disks.

The most important thing to do is use a fregrance free detergent, don't use fabric softner or bleach and to keep using your cloth diapers!!

Please don't let washing diapers intimidate you. It really isn't as big of a hassle as lots of people make it out to be. If you're still not convinced, just give it a shot. Once you get the swing of it, it's not any harder than doing any other load of laundry!

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Covers will last longer and retain their water resitant properties longer if you follow a few steps.

1. Always close velcro tabs before washing.
2. Never use bleach or fabric softners on your covers.
3. Wash your covers alone or with other like colored clothing. Never wash with your diapers!
4. Hang to dry.

To lanolize wool diaper covers you need about 2 cups very hot water, an ounce of lanolin (lansinoh works perfectly for this.) and about half the detergent you would put in a small load of laundry. This can be done in a washing machine or in a sink or bucket.

1. Melt the lanolin in the hot water, then stir in detergent.
2. Add covers to a warm gentle wash cycle using the smallest load setting, or in the sink or bucket with maybe 3 gallons of warm water.
3. Let sit or put thru longest cycle in machine.
4. Air dry only. for sink or bucket method, rinse lightly, sqeeze gently, and hang 'em up.

The machine rinses out the soap, but the lanolin stays in.

Do this about once a month, depending how grungy they get. You can easily spot clean if they just get a little poop on the edges. If you are using Eucalan you will not have to lanolize as often.