Focus cloth diapers

In this blog post, you will find tips and advice on how to wash and care for your fabrics so that they last a long time and have as little environmental impact as possible.

Cloth diapers are an excellent choice for the environmentally conscious. They have significantly less environmental impact than disposable diapers and can also save you money. For the first child, one can save several thousand kroner by using cloth diapers and taking care of the diapers in the right way, they last for several children. Here are our best tips to keep diapers odor-free and make them last a long time.

Washing recommendations

• Throw poop in the toilet. It is done most easily by using a disposable insert but is always good (also if you use disposable diapers you avoid smelly garbage bags and garbage cans).
• The diaper can be rinsed immediately to remove most of the pee, but should not be soaked. It is also fine to put the diaper in a pail or bag directly without rinsing first.
• Place the diaper in a dry diaper pail, large diaper bag, or similar container.
• If the diapers are very dirty, first run them through a rinse program, either with a small amount of detergent or without.
• Use a long and warm (max. 60 degrees) program, with detergent.
• Hang the diapers to dry or run them in the dryer on a low temperature. Tip! If the diapers feel stiff after air drying, throw them in the dryer for a short time and they will soften again.

Additional laundry advice

• If your washing routine works. Continue like that! It doesn't have to be complicated.
• Remove inserts from pocket diapers and attach Velcro tabs so that the diapers do not stick together.
• If you don't have a full machine, diapers can be washed with other items. Fill the machine with other laundry after the diapers have been rinsed in the rinse cycle.
• Please use environmentally friendly detergent.
• DO NOT use fabric softeners or detergents that contain chlorine.
• If you need to use cream containing zinc or petroleum on the baby's bottom, use a disposable pad so the cream does not stick to the diaper. Cream stuck in the diaper can reduce absorbency. If the baby easily gets a red bottom, it is good to be without a diaper as much as possible, or at least for a little while after each diaper change so that the skin can dry completely and air out.
• Preferably use a long washing program so that the nappies get properly clean.
• Wash the diapers every other day so they don't start to smell. If you don't have a full machine, it's fine to fill it up with other things, e.g. baby clothes or towels if you don't want to wash diapers with your own clothes.
• Shell diapers in PUL can be washed in a laundry bag to keep them nice.
• Tips for the elastic to stay: Hang the diapers over the line instead of using clothespins, or hang them horizontally. The confession of wet diapers can stretch the elastic. If you use a tumble dryer, use a low temperature setting. If you put diapers away, e.g. between children, or when waiting to give away or sell, wash them on a short program after a few months so that the elastic does not dry out and break.

Wool diaper pants

Washing instructions

• The wool nappy pant only needs to be washed every few weeks, provided it is treated with lanolin and does not get dirty.
• Wash the wool diaper in cold water, hand wash or wool program in a laundry bag.
• Treat with lanolin approximately every fortnight.
• Do not use bleach.
• Do not use a tumble dryer.

Lanolin treatment

In order for your wool diaper pants to function optimally, they need to be treated with lanolin (wool grease). Lanolin is the natural oil in wool that keeps the sheep dry in the rain. In order for the shell diaper to be waterproof, it needs to be treated with lanolin every two to four weeks. Lanolin can be found in some pharmacies, baby stores and online stores that sell products to mix your own skin care.

• Fill a bucket or sink with about 5 cm of hot water. Add a piece of lanolin, the size of a pea, and let it melt in the water. Then cool the water down with cold water.
• Put in the wool nappy pant and squeeze it a little to distribute the lanolin evenly over the wool fibres. Then leave the diaper soaked for a couple of hours or overnight.
• Do not rinse the diaper when you pick it up, just squeeze out the water.
• Roll up the diaper in a towel to remove as much moisture as possible, then lay it flat to dry (not in the sun).
• Treat the wool diaper pants with lanolin every two to four weeks, or when they start to smell bad!