Adult Cloth Diapers: How to Effectively Clean Them

Proper cleaning of cloth adult diapers
is important from a health perspective

When you use adult cloth diapers to manage your incontinence problems you have to worry about how to wash the diapers along with other things like how to keep them sanitary. Some people will toss them into the wash with other clothes where other people prefer to wash then in the sink soon after they change out their adult diapers. It is important that you do understand that the cloth diapers will require more work on your part than what you deal with when you use the disposable adult diapers that you can toss right into the trash bin.

If you do not properly clean your adult cloth diapers it can lead to serious problems. The bacteria left on the adult diapers can cause skin rashes and infections to occur. Using the right type of soap and the right temperature on your water will be able to help reduce your issues with bacteria that can arise when you are using washable incontinence products.

The type of incontinence you are dealing with can also impact how easy it will be for you to keep your adult diapers clean. If you have urinary incontinence it is usually easy to clean the diapers but when you are dealing with fecal incontinence, it can be harder. You will need to make sure you are cleaning the diapers thoroughly as fecal matter will easily lead to a lot of bacteria and can easily cause an infection to occur. If you have fecal incontinence you may want to look into the adult diapers that come with a liner. This way you can easily toss the liner and replace it with a new one, saving you from dealing with the cleaning of fecal matter.

                                Watch this video - how to choose the right incontinence product

Keep some disposable or latex gloves in the bathroom so you can use them when you are changing your adult diapers and to use them when you are cleaning the fecal matter or urine from the diaper. This is a great way to help with the sanitary issue surrounding washable adult diapers.

Use the sink and fill it with hot water and place the adult diaper in the water. You need to allow the diaper to soak up the hot water and then empty it. Now add more hot water to the sink again and this time you will add about ¼ Cup of Vinegar to the water and let the adult diaper sit in the water for about 30 minutes. You can choose to wash them in the washing machine at this point or you can rinse then and then add hot water to the sink again with a little bit of detergent. You need to make sure you are using HOT water as this is what will kill the bacteria. If you have multiple diaper changes each day you may want to use this method where you end up having a bunch of diapers that have been soaked in vinegar and then will be ready to transfer over to the washing machine at the end of the day.

You also need to make sure you are using laundry detergent that will not be harmful on your skin. Sometimes laundry detergent can cause skin rashes so you need to test your skin to see which detergents will be able to kill bacteria but won’t cause you to have a skin rash problem. Unscented detergent is usually the best for individuals that react to detergents with a skin rash. You may also consider adding a little bit of vinegar to the wash as well just to make sure you are killing the bacteria.

Once the adult diapers are washed the best option to dry them will involve hanging them outside in the hot sunlight. The sun can aid in killing the bacteria. You can also use the dryer if you don’t want to hang them outside.

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About The CareGiver Partnership. The CareGiver Partnership helps caregivers and their loved ones with answers to their caregiving questions, including information about home health care products and supplies, from our Wisconsin-based team of Product Specialists who are all current or former caregivers. The company’s Web site provides the largest online library of resources on subjects most important to caregivers — from arthritis to assisted living, and Parkinson’s to prostate cancer — as well as access to more than 3,000 home care products for incontinence, skin care, mobility, home safety and daily living aids. The CareGiver Partnership was founded in 2004 by Lynn Wilson of Neenah, Wisc. Visit http://www.caregiverpartnership.com to learn more or call 1-800-985-1353.

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