Can I wash my cloth diapers with other clothes?
So many parents ask us if cloth diapers can be washed with any other items of clothing and the answer is a resounding yes! Just make sure you do one thing: prewash your diapers first.
The sweet spot for getting clean diapers is by having your drum 3/4 full to create just enough agitation - not too full where your diapers can't move around and not too empty where they get slammed against the sides of the drum. Don’t have the 3/4 full drum in your washing machine? This is where we actually recommend to bulk it up and wash with other clothing items.
When your diapers don’t make up enough to do a full load of laundry, you can do your normal prewash cycle to remove the bulk of the nasties and once this cycle is complete, you can throw in any clothes, towels, or any other laundry for the main wash cycle. The reason to wait until this longer, hotter cycle is down to hygiene reasons. You want as much poo and pee out of the diapers before the longer main wash cycle where new clean water will fill into the drum.
When you do add other items, be sure to keep velcro tabs closed, try to avoid clothing with zippers, dark and red clothing that may bleed and stain your diapers, and extremely soiled clothing, and finally, keep delicates away from your diaper laundry as it may be too harsh for such garments.
Simple really, and within a couple of weeks it’ll become second nature to you.