prepping cloth diapers for the first time

[CloudBee]

We have about 25 new BG and FB newborn cloth diapers.

What's the best way to prep them?

Should I wash darks and lights separately a few times from the get-go?

I'm due in March but want to get the newborn diapers and newborn clothes washed one weekend soon.

Thanks!

[shevacc]

I used pre-folds and covers through the newborn stage but I did buy and prep some new BG dipes (that I still use daily at 8 months old, but as covers for my prefolds since I found I hated stuffing the pockets ). They were easy to prep as compared to the prefolds -- just one wash and dry using your planned diaper wash routine. If you don't have a "planned wash routine" just try something and it'll probably be fine. If it doesn't work, you'll realize it soon enough (smelly dipes or rashy baby) and modify it until you find a routine that does work. For me "one wash" is actually 2 wash cycles since I found it works best with my front loader. I do a cold "quick wash" cycle with a low spin speed and no detergent (low spin speed so dipes retain more water) then I do a normal hot wash cycle with half the recommended detergent amount and 2 rinse cycles.

A few notes: Pick a CD safe detergent that's available in your area...I use Planet but I think it's more widely available on the west coast than elsewhere. I've heard to put the covers through the dryer at least once (on low or medium heat, I think) because the heat is supposed to help seal the waterproof PUL material. Most of the time now I hang dry the covers.

I've never washed dark and light covers separately (all my inserts/prefolds are either white or "unbleached") but then again I don't wash my light and dark underwear separately either :-).

[bugandbibs]

Since they are all synthetic fabrics, you can prep everything together. Wash everything on hot and dry everything (including the covers) in the dryer on medium. This is of course, not how you will wash them when you start using them. You don't need to separate the lights and darks.

I use Tiny Bubbles detergent. I bought a case from costco.com- it's basically a lifetime supply if you only use it on CDs. We use it on clothes too.