Posted by KarenC on March 17, 2004 at 08:04:22:
In Reply to: Removing Old Stains from Diapers posted by Angie on March 16, 2004 at 23:11:56:
Other than sunlight and time (repeated washings will at least fade deep stains) there aren't really any miracle solutions as far as I know. You can always try Oxy-Clean or chlorine bleach but I wouldn't recomend either (especially the bleach) unless you're terribly desperate. Both will shorten the life of your diapers and the bleach can outright ruin them if you're not very careful.
There are a couple of tricks you can try to reduce the amount of new stains though. First, in my experience, wet pails tend to reduce the number of stains. It's really just like any stain, if it's allowed to dry it will be more difficult to remove. That also means that you should make sure you wash no less often than every 2-3 days. The longer the diapers sit the more they're likely to stain.
Don't pre-rinse in warm, do it in cold instead. I'm not sure why ME would recomend doing that in warm. As far as I know it serves no real purpose (warm isn't enough to kill germs and you're doing that with the hot wash afterwards anyway). Heat is known to set stains (never pre-wash in hot for example) so it's only logical (at least in my mind LOL!) that warm will set stains more than cold.
You can also use liners (fleece or disposable) to try and keep as much poop off your diapers as possible. The less gets on, the less it can stain. Also, be sure to get as much poop as possible off the diaper before putting it in the pail (dunking isn't pleasant but it does help with stains). You can get a diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet. You use it to spray your diapers clean over the toilet. Less messy and works better than dunking.
And finally, remember that stains may be bothersome but they hurt no one and usually you're the only one that sees them!
Karen.