When your cloth diapers are less absorbent and they stink like rotten radishes right out of the wash, it’s time to strip them. And in this video Mike will show you how.
Do YOU need to strip your cloth diapers?
Find out in our video, 8 Signs It’s Time to Strip Your Cloth Diapers.
What you’ll need to strip your cloth diapers
them is some original liquid Dawn dish detergent (blue formula), as well as some bleach.
The process is pretty simple. Wash your diapers once in super hot water with some Dawn dish detergent.
- one teaspoon of for high efficiency machines
- one tablespoon for regular washing machines
Also, add up to a 1/2 cup of bleach in the wash cycle. This is key.
Do a couple more hot water rinses with no detergent to completely rinse diapers clean. If you see suds at the end of the rinse cycle, keep rinsing!
Dry your diapers as normal and enjoy the absence of stank!
Isn’t bleach harsh on the diapers and on the baby?
Our diaper manufacturer, bumGenius, recommends the bleach, so we’re okay with it on the diapers. And, after several rinse cycles, we’re confident that the bleach isn’t reaching the baby. Moreover, it’s the only thing that works for us!
How often we strip our diapers
These days, we do the whole strip process once every three or four months. But we add some bleach and do extra rinses every month or so to beat the stank back into submission.
How about you?
What method do you use to beat the cloth diaper funk?
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Gimme dat STANK! LOL! Loved this. My husband and I don’t have itty bitties yet, but when we do, it’s good to know that information like this is around to help us. Awesome job, guys!
Oh, and, Mike… no more butt sniffin’, ‘kay?
Thanks Miss Dee! XO
We use Dawn as you do, but we put a drop or two of Tea Tree Oil in the wash to get the “stank” out.
Works for us. I strip ours every couple of months normally, but I add a drop of TTO every week to two of the washes (so we basically get all of them since half is in one load and the other half is used and then washed). That weekly drop of TTO in the wash keeps stinks away from all our cotton stuff and will help keep the stank down in our Microfiber inserts so they last till the next stripping.
Hmmmm, will have to try that. Thanks Samantha!
In order to avoid using bleach, I put white vinegar in my rinse cycle every time. Works like a charm to get rid of the odor. Also, I don’t use any diaper cream, just calendula ointment – doesn’t stain or leave any buildup.
Glad that works for you!
So fun. I love your videos, even if they don’t pertain to my life in the very least. You guys are just great. I love me some bleach. There is nothing like it!
Thanks Katie! Love having your here
. Your positive and fun spirit make me happy 
Our first baby will be here in about 6 weeks and thanks to our wonderful friends and community, we are stocked up on Bum Genius. We have most of the same colors that you show in your videos and I was curious about the bleach and the colors. I’ve actually never used bleach in any wash and have always thought that it would blotch out the colors. Do you find this happening or is it so diluted that it doesn’t happen?
Thanks for all of your tips! My husband and I have learned a lot from you and Mama Natural.
Aw, thanks Kessa. No our diapers haven’t faded or blotched using bleach.
I find that using the Non-concentrated Dawn cuts down a lot on the number of times you rinse. You can find it at your Dollar General or online. And Mircofiber=you HAVE to use bleach. Cloth diapering is a such a science, I find. You need to know your water type, use the right detergent, and detergent amount, which is way less than you think, and use a lot of water for rinsing. I stay away from microfiber, although I really like the BumGenius design, I just use other inserts in it, and I never need to use bleach. I wouldn’t even have to use anything but detergent if I didn’t have hard water. Making sure they get rinsed thoroughly every time (no bubbles or cloudyness in the final rinse cycle) and using the proper detergent and amount=no stripping ever!
Hmmm…. now that’s an idea! We have hard water too which is why bleach seems to be the only thing that works. But I never thought of putting in different kinds of inserts. I’m going to be trying the hemp inserts soon. Perhaps that will work since they’re more natural. Thanks mama!
I use other inserts too. Just organic cotton prefolds (green mountain diapers rejects) with an imse vimse cotton couplers. BUT I can’t give up the bumGenius casings. They are SO WONDERFUL!
Oh, and the red rimmed ones fit great
Ok, I need remedial help here. I’m not clear on exactly when to add the Dawn and bleach. Do you add them both at the same time, at the beginning of the wash? Or do you do Dawn in a pre-wash and bleach for the main wash? Also, does the bleach mess up the color of your diaper covers? Thanks!
I was always told to never use bleach on my cloth diapers that have PUL (the waterproofing laminate on the inside of pocket dipes such as Bumgenius). From what I’ve been told, and I think according to the manufacturer’s instructions, the bleach can eat away at the PUL and then they won’t be waterproof anymore. I do run a bleach load with my microfiber inserts when they get stinky though.
I think it has to be OK with BG since it’s in their directions on stripping.
We’re going on 9 months with our cloth diapers and still no sign of stank or diaper cream build up thanks to only washing our diapers in Rockin’ Green Classic Rock Bare Naked Babies: http://www.soap.com/p/rockin-green-classic-rock-bare-naked-babies-130369
Hi Genevieve! Love your site and the videos. Noticed you might have the same washer as we do. We use FuzziBunz and get the stinkies, but I think it’s been reduced lately because I’ve been adding extra water to our washer (front loader, Whirlpool Duet). I have a hose attached to my laundry sink, and I just run a bunch of water in after the cycle starts, through the detergent drawer. If you can reach a sink, you might want to try it! Also, I think the bleach is just one of those necessary evils, especially with microfiber, and all those layers that are sewn together. It’s more difficult to clean effectively, than, say, prefolds, even.
Thanks Jen for tip. Yes, I do think you’re right about microfiber. I’m going to experiment with bamboo inserts. We don’t have a sink attached but good to know for future reference!
Just FYI: I have heard cotton is the most stink-free option. Microfiber and hemp (I have all 3) have a tendency towards stinkiness. We recently stripped and changed detergent to green mnt have have noticed a huge difference. I also have started rinsing the diapers before putting them in the pail and spraying with bac-out (amazing!)
Thanks for sharing!
I am new to your site, and I am loving it! I love your sense of humor; it is really refreshing. Both of my kids were born at home, I co-sleep and nurse my toddler, and I also eat “real” foods just like you do.
And your Sh*t Crunchy Mamas say had me and my husband laughing so hard (meanwhile our 5-year-old kept asking what was so funny).
I’m really excited to try the diaper stripping technique. We’re using Fuzzi Bunz that were also used for our first child, so they can have some serious stank. Some have even been permanently retired because of the smell. Oh, one note for anyone else with Fuzzi Bunz: apparently it is okay to use bleach on the inserts, but NOT on the covers (that’s what the FB website says anyway). Looking forward to my non-stinky diapers!!
Welcome mama! So glad you’re here
. XOXO.
I put baking soda in the bottom of the diaper pail (not inside the liner), and then I put a few drops of Peppermint oil in the diaper pail liner. I use my own homemade detergent (borax, washing soda, and a bar of organic soap grated), and after the wash and rinse cycles, the diaper still smell like peppermint.
Not to mention the diaper pail smells like peppermint too, even with the dirty cloth diapers!
I loved your Sh*t Crunchy Mamas Say and my kids (not little anymore) think it’s funny, too. We thought the raw milk sale was pretty funny.
We cloth diapered for several years (three kids) and learned some things about washing. We found that everything got cleanest and lasted the longest if we washed the covers and the diapers separately. We washed the covers with our whites on warm. When we tried washing them with the diapers, they would deteriorate faster and get stinky. I’m not sure what we would have done if we used pocket diapers because then the covers get poopy and not just the diapers. I think if we used the pocket type diapers, we would have used liners against the inside so that those could be washed with the dipes and the covers could be washed with the regular laundry.
We also discovered that ointments like A&D wrecked diapers and would actually make rashes worse due to the zinc oxide not washing out of the dipes. Our favorite ointments were and still are miracle salve and miracle salve plus from Kerry’s Herbals
We washed the diapers (the absorbent part) with a soak before the wash and two rinses after. Sometimes we used vinegar in the rinse and sometimes we soaked for a few hours in Biokleen Bac-out. You have to use cool water for this soak because the enzymes in Bac-out are destroyed by heat. Also, don’t soak overnight like we did for a year or so. Our washer ended up getting rust in it from the long soaking.
Anyway, as long as we didnt use zinc oxide or other greasy ointment, our diapers stayed fresh even though I was lazy and often didn’t wash for 5 days or so.
Very nice!
We have stripped with vinegar and several whitest white cycles. We use cotton inserts for day and microfiber at night. When I notice ammonia smells, I strip and switch detergent. We go back and forth between country save and ecos brands. It works great for us.
My stripping was a success (sounds funny!)! I used a few drops of Dawn and 1/2 cup of baking soda in the wash cycle. I ran 2 hot washes and maybe 6 rinses (I only have the option for cold rinses). I also added about 1 quart of boiling water to each hot wash to make the water EXTRA hot. Worked like a charm and my baby boy is skunk-smell free!
Very nice and good thinking, mama!
We actually have a laundry pure Hooked up to our washer so we cannot use hot water. How important is that hot water rinse? I never had a problem with the smell of the diapers, they are just very non-absorbent now (gdiapers). I just assumed it was the brand. They’re now going to be a back up.. Your other video talked me into ordering the bum genius.
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