Perhaps the most important question every parent asks themselves before investing in cloth diapers is – “how are we going to wash them?” or “will I manage to fit in washing as well in my already hectic routine?”

The answer to the second question is – Yes; with a little bit of a learning curve, you can fit washing cloth diapers into your routine as well. And as to the first question – read on!

Machine wash OR Hand Wash

Cloth diapers can be easily washed by both machine wash and hand wash.

Steps: 

1. Choose a Good Detergent: The detergent should have no added fragrances or chemicals. Eg. (Indian) Surf Excel Easy Wash, Surf Excel Matic, Rustic Art Power Laundry, Coco Custo. Liquid Detergents except Amway SA8 are not recommended. Fabric Softeners and Disinfectants like Dettol and Savlon MUST be avoided.
2. Rinse and Wash off: Knock off solids into the toilet or use a sprayer to wash off liquidy poop preferably immediately or not later than at the end of the day. Only peed diapers can be rinsed and hand wrung and hung to dry on the sides of the bucket (if not washing daily). However, this is optional if you wash the cloth diapers daily.
3. Prewash with detergent: Use a little amount of detergent and run a quick cycle in the machine or hand wash with agitiation. Prewash removes the ammonia content and is an important step. Temperature for prewash: Upto 40 deg for Easy Diapers and Easy Nappies and upto 60 deg for Flats and Prefolds.
4. Main Wash with detergent: This step can be done with other baby clothes. Detergent dosing: Use dose recommended by the detergent according to the wash load. For eg: Full Load for a 7kg washing machine = 1 scoop (most common). Titrate according to machine capacity and load. For eg: Half Load = 1/2 scoop, 1/4th load = 1/4th scoop and so on. Handwashing can be done effectively using plunger.
5.  Line Dry: India is blessed with a lot of sunshine, which is great for drying cloth diapers! Line drying diapers is recommended, however, machine drying can also be done for Flats. Avoid machine drying for Easy Diapers and Easy Nappies, except when unavoidable. 
6. Enjoy Fresh Smelling Diapers: There is something therapeutic in doing the laundry of cloth diapers! Thousands of moms around the world say that there is nothing more calming and enjoyable than a drawer full of clean and fresh cloth diapers to be reused again and again!

Experts recommend that a diaper should be changed every 2-3 hours when baby is awake. However, night diapers or diapers used during nap time can be left for a longer time, so that sleep is not disturbed.

Keeping this in mind:

Newborn – 4 months:  needs 4-5 diapers during day time and 2 diapers during the night time – a total of 7-8 diapers a day. If washing every day, you will need a total of 15-16 diapers which covers alternate day diapering.

Which means you will need a total of 16 Easy Nappies to last for 2 days.

4 months – Potty training: frequency of urination goes on decreasing and hence so does the need for diapers. Approximately, a toddler less than 1 year of age will need a total of 5-6 diapers a day and 1 night diaper for the night. 

Which means you will need a total of 12 Easy Diapers and 2 organic cotton/ BOCS prefolds for the night – to last for 2 days.

A toddler older than 1 year needs 3-5 diapers a day and 1 night diaper for the night. 

Which means you will need a total of 10 Easy Diapers and 2 Organic Cotton prefolds/ BOCS flats – to last for 2 days.