How to Care for Your Diapers

Store wet and dirty diapers in a dry pail. Older babies’ solid waste can be removed by gently shaking the diaper over a toilet.The fleece will release solids easily – there is no need to rinse them before washing.

Washing instructions for pocket diapers and trainers:

• Remove the inserts
• Cold Soak for 10-20 minutes depending on the level of dirt
• Wash on hot with slightly less than 1/4 cup of detergent
• You can add a downy ball of vinegar to the wash if the diapers have a heavy urine scent. I recommend a downy ball because it releases the vinegar at the right time - no need to wait by the machine.
• Rinse well to ensure all detergent is removed from diapers.
• Dry on high heat. The high heat of the dryer will keep your Happy Heiny functioning like new. We personally dry our PUL products on high heat and although we have had prolonged use with these products we have not noticed any break down of our PUL.

The Scoop on Detergents

What to look for in a Detergent?

At best, a detergent to be used on your baby's diapers would NOT contain enzymes, dyes, perfumes, optical brighteners or any other component designed to be left on your diapers after washing.

Specialty detergents with fabric softeners or wrinkle guards will not be suitable; however, a detergent with non-chlorine bleach or oxygen bleaching capabilities may be fine.  And just to be clear, soaps are not detergents, and soaps are generally not suitable for washing diapers.

Top Mainstream Detergent Pick

The top mainstream detergent that we recommend is Tide in all forms. Over the years Tide has proven itself to be one of the most stable and readily available detergents on the market. The HE variety for HE machines has been the one detergent that our customers have not reported build up problems with.

Top Environmentally Friendly Detergent Pick

Our favorite top environmental detergent is Country Save. Country Save has no enzymes, brighteners, scents or dyes. Country Save is one of the few environmentally safe detergents that our customers have stated works wonderfully for their heavily soiled work clothes as well. Some other environmentally safe detergents that we recommend are:Allen's Naturally Powder/Liquid Standard & HE compatible, Mountain Green Free & Clear Standard & HE, Mountain Green Free & Clear Baby Standard & HE, Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda Standard & HE, Planet Ultra Liquid, Planet Ultra Powder Standard & HE compatible and Planet 2X Ultra Standard & HE.

Detergents to avoid:
Natural soaps often contain various oils. These should NOT be used because they will leave a residue on fleece, causing it to repel liquids.

The use of any of these detergents listed below will void the warranty of our products. The use of any free and clear formulas may cause a waxy build up that will cause the diapers to repel and no longer work. We also very specifically do not recommend the use of Sportwash, Sensi-Clean, Charlie’s, due to the possibility of severe burn like reactions that can happen the first time of use or months after successful use. Due to the nature of these detergents the use of them will void all warranties of the Happy Heinys products. The use of chlorine bleach will also void all warranties and can lead to the breakdown of the waterproof layer of our fabric making the diaper unusable.

Avoid: Dr. Bronner’s Soap • 7th Generation • Bio-Kleen • Ivory Snow • Dreft • Charlie’s • Any ALL free detergents • Sport-Wash & Sensi-Clean have the potential for detergent burn in babies.

Never use fabric softener of any kind on reusable diapers. Liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets both leave a waxy residue which causes fleece to repel urine and decreases the absorbency of other diapers.

Diaper rash creams can also cause repelling. For best results either place a small wash cloth on top of the fleece or use a liner.

Caring for Hemp Diapers

Your hemp product has been professionally washed and dried once. It will need up to 8 more washings and dries before it is fully absorbent. The first few times you wash hemp products you should NOT wash them with fleece products. Hemp has natural oils in it and the oils can coat your fleece. After your hemp has been fully primed you may wash it with all of your diapering products.

Caring for Heiny Huggers

Wash new diapers before use. You may notice that they produce a bit of lint in the beginning, this is normal for Sherpa.

• Cold rinse
• Warm-hot wash
• Same detergents as the HH
• No chlorine, no bleach, no fabric softners.
• May be dried on high heat.

Occasionally you may notice that your Sherpa diapers are not as soft after a few months of use as they were when new. All you need to do is rinse the diapers a few times in the washer without detergent. Add vinegar to the rinse cycle. This will help to restore the natural softness to the Sherpa.

Caring for Fleece & So Simple

We all know how much wetness babies produce. Fleece is 100% polyester and allows air to circulate through the cover. This reduces diaper rash caused by prolonged exposure to wetness. In addition, it is soft to the touch, dries in a flash, and can withstand laundry abuse.
Caring for your fleece covers just can't be any easier:

• Machine wash in hot, cold, or warm water.
• Tumble dry.

Fleece is the *wonder fabric* of the reusable diapering world. Dryer sheets can help to make it even more water resistant. I do only suggest this as a last resort though if you have some leaking. I normally wash my covers with any old load of laundry as long as it isn't really soiled and needing special attention. In a world full of *diaper washing no no's*....here is some relief. There is almost no wrong way to wash fleece.

Tip: If you suddenly find that your fleece is leaking, simply switch laundry soaps (use Dr.Bronner's for a change or even mild dish soap). This should solve the problem. If it doesn't, Nikwax products will come to the rescue.

Caring for Wool

Hand wash your wool cover in cold water with like colors. Hang to dry. You may have a bit of shrinkage after the first washing. You may re-lanolize as needed. We recommend using Eucalan wool wash to care for your covers. It has natural lanolin right in the bottle. You never have to worry about when to lanolize. It is done for you each time you wash.

**Note** Dark colored wool will bleed. See the note below to fix the dyes.

*Tip* For bleeding wool:

• Mix 3 cups white vinegar with 3 Tbsp salt
• Wet wool in lukewarm water
• Add to vinegar/salt mixture.
• Microwave for two, 3minute sessions.
• Allow to COMPLETELY cool
• Rinse in lukewarm water
• Wash
• Re-lanolize.

(if you rinse before allowing to completely cool, you may unintentionally felt your garment)

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