I got my diapers! Now what?

Put them on the baby, duh! 

Not exactly. You have to prep and wash them first. Prepping is the process of preparing diapers to be worn. You have to prep natural fabrics differently from synthetic ones, but once that's done, you can wash them together.  Why is that? Well, natural fabrics are covered with oils that can cause your diapers to not absorb, or repel, moisture. This leads to big leaks and messes, the opposite of what you would want! The oils that are released into the wash water can coat synthetic fabrics in the washer and you get the same sort of repelling. Synthetics don't have these oils. 

Prepping Natural Fabrics:

There are two methods of prepping natural fabrics, washing and boiling. If you want to prep them in the washer, you have to wash the five (yes, five!) times in the hottest water you can manage. Some people manage to get their water hotter by adding boiling water if they have a top loading washer or a towel soaked in boiling hot water if they have a front loader. You must be really dedicated to try that last one! Others turn the boiler up in their homes to make the water hotter. I've read a lot about prepping natural fabrics and the jury is out as to whether you have to dry them between washings. You might have to check with the diaper manufacturer if you're not sure.

I don't know about you, but I think that five consecutive wash loads is a lot! It uses a lot of resources to accomplish between the water, electricity and whatever you use to run the water heater. Boiling uses much less water. Just toss your diapers in a large pot and boil them for 30-45 minutes, then wash them as you would the rest of your diapers (more on that in the next post). Easy, right? And it is that easy, unless your diaper has plastic snaps, Velcro/aplix, or anything else that could be damaged by the heat, such as on your covers or fitted diapers. If you do, then you're better off putting them in the wash. You don't necessarily have to run five loads dedicated to the diapers. You can wash them with other clothes as well, as long as you're washing them the way you would wash your diapers.

*Important note: do not boil or wash wool in hot water! It'll shrink and you'll have diapers for your daughter's dolls. Refer to the manufacturer's instructions for those.
**ETA: One of my friends is my go-to chick for everything CD, breastfeeding, babywearing and just about anything natural you can think of.  She uses only natural fabrics on her children and told me that she only washes her prefolds five times.  Her fitteds get washed once and go straight on the baby's bum.  I trust her judgement.  You do what you think is right.

Prepping Synthetic Fabrics:

Wash them. Seriously, just wash them. Since synthetic fibers don't have any oils to get rid of,  you're just getting them clean since they're going to touch your baby's bottom. They might have dust or dirt on them from the manufacturing and shipping process. You wouldn't want dirty diapers to go on the baby, even if there's no poop in them.

So now you know how to get the diapers ready to be worn. If you need help figuring out how to size them, fold them or put them on, YouTube is your best friend. I'll talk about that if it comes up as I review things later on.  Enjoy your fluff!