Above picture: 9:15 am- stains visable on prefolds
-picture to left-11:30 am same day stains removed
One of the most common questions I get asked is how to remove stains from diapers. If the stain is organic(ie poop/ or food related..ie you are eating a plate of spagetti over your baby as you nurse and you drop some red sauce on the diaper-don't laugh this has been done-by me), then the stain "should" come out by simple washing and hanging in the sun. Keep in mind some foods stain more then others: carrots/blueberries/prunes/peas are some of the ones off the top of my head. The prefolds are washed with The laundry tarts all natural soda, and then hung to dry in the sun. Morning sun works the best, and also the diapers need to be wet. In the summer time if the stain is still there after 2-3 hrs, we put the hose on the diapers and rewet. In the winter months the diapers are still hung to remove stains, however they are only removed from all the lines when it isn't -30 degrees. If it is too cold the clothespins will rip the prefolds, as well my fingers get frostbite.
Another solution is to use soap nuts. When you add 3-5 soap nuts into a spray bottle, add boiling water- it will turn into a natural stain remover. If you are dealing with a stain that isn't organic(ie grease), the best solution I have found is Buncha farmers stain stick- available at Tag along toys in kanata. Simply wet the material, wet the stick- rub on and then wash as normal. This has removed marker from sofas/grease stains/ and even breastmilk-as it can stain too.
If you are using pocket diapers, or any diapers with fleece inside beware of using diaper creams. All diaper creams stain, and can cause build up. Natural or zinc. The natural diaper creams contain beeswax, and/or oils in them which will make liquids repell (ie urine will hit the diaper and repell off and therefore causing leaks), zinc will cause buildup-so that you can see it and scrape off with a fingernail. Zinc will also repell and stain as well. Sample of a prefold with zince diaper cream used on it below. You can see after numerous washings it still has zinc on it, and has beaded up. If using diaper cream is a necessity, then use either a fleece liner with your diapers, or a Bio-liner. Bio-liners are very thin(almost like toliet paper) you place on the diaper use cream, and then you can toss into green bin, or flush in toliet. If you don't desire to head outdoors in winter and freeze to remove stains, you can also hang in front of a window and then can sun out that way as well.
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