Ironing and drying

[Mommypooh]

well here is my problem. My dryer just kicked the bucket to make a bad day even worse. Well as most of you know I cloth diaper my son. Well I was in the middle of drying the diapers when this happened. I have been told that when you hang dry items instead of useing the dryer that you have to iron them to kill the germs. Is this true or will I be alright just using them when the are dry? I have a hate hate realtionship with my iron. I can't stand to iron and that is why I use the dryer for everything.

I don't use detergent with my diapers I use 2 cups of baking soda and 2 cups vinegar in a wash. So I need to make sure that I am not going to have a germy mess on my sons butt.

I hope to have it fixed this weekend but I still have to have these to keep everything contained. I really don't have the money on top of everything that has gone wrong to go buy disposbles to use and I just end up with a really rashy bottom from using them anyways so you have to add in the cost of cream and stuff. I change him 8-10 times a day as I don't like him to sit in a wet diaper so that is a lot of dispsibles and I kick myself everytime I change one of those since they are so expensive.

So back to the original question am I alright to just go ahead and use these or do you think I have to iron them?

[BigJon]

I'm a fixin' it.

Gotta gets a part though. And some beer.

[ShawnLee]

I'd say iron them just to be sure. I mean, I doubt it, but if there's a chance... Why risk it?

At the same time, a few germs never hurt nobody (save the people who died from germ-borne disease), and might not be that bad.

But again, if it's something to think about, why risk it?

[Mommypooh]

well the dryer is fixed thank you BJ. So mow I am heading down to put all the diapers in the dryer and fluff them and make sure they are clean.

[kgsilvas]

From cotton-kids.com (http://cotton-kids.com/wasin1.html):

1. No soaking or dunking is needed. Remove the soiled diaper and dump the loose soil in the toilet, (breastfed babies soil washes out like yogurt so no dumping is needed). Put the soiled diaper into a dry pail lined with a Diaper Pail Liner.

2. On wash day, use the liner to transport the diapers to the machine, and use the liner like a glove as you turn it inside out putting the diapers into the machine. Throw the liner in the machine, also. This way you never touch a thing! Run a cold water cycle first to minimize staining and to remove excess soil. Then run A hot water wash and an extra rinse to get rid of any detergent residues.

3. Dry on highest heat or sunlight to further sterilize diapers.

We recommend washing every other day. That will give you a full load and the stained diapers will not sit unwashed for too long. The longer they sit unwashed the harder it is to get rid of stains.

The detergent and whitener we recommend are Cheer Powder (or Cheer Free) and 20 Mule Team Borax. Use about 3/4 of the amount of detergent you would normally use of each the Cheer and the Borax. They are non-allergenic, safe for the diapers, contain no strong perfumes or dyes, clean very effectively, and are widely available. No fancy, expensive mail-order detergents are needed.

Don't use any chlorine bleach or BIZ. Bleach greatly shortens the life of your diapers, damages the waterproofing, and may irritate your baby's skin. Don't worry about slight staining that remains in the washed diapers. That is normally caused by remnants of pigments from foods such as grape juice and bananas. If your diapers smell "clean", they are clean. They may not look so good in a place that no one can see. So there is nothing to worry about.