Are cloth diapers sanitary? Facts you should know
Yes, cloth diapers are sanitary, sanitary just means clean and cloth diapers are surprisingly easy to clean.
There are laundry additives that aid the cleaning process, treat stains and some even disinfect, so there is no reason to be concerned about cloth diapers being unsanitary.
If you want to know more about how to tell if cloth diapers are clean check out my article below
How to sanitize cloth diapers?
There are a few ways to sanitize cloth diapers, but keep in mind that you have to careful when sanitizing your cloth diapers to make sure you don’t void any warranties and/or damage your cloth diapers.
If you are worried that sanitizing your cloth diapers will ruin them or void warranties I suggest that you ask the makers of your cloth diapers, they will definitely have some good suggestions.
| Product name | Does it disinfect? | Does it remove smell/stains |
| Bleach | Yes | Yes |
| Lysol laundry sanitizer | Yes* | Removes smell |
| Clorox laundry sanitizer | Yes | Yes |
| Grovia Mighty Bubbles | No | Yes** |
| OxiClean laundry & home sanitizer | Yes | Yes |
| RLR | No | Yes |
Bleach
Pretty sure bleach is the first thing everyone thinks of when it comes to sanitizing, but bleach is extremely hard on fabrics (especially bamboo) and elastics.
The vast majority of cloth diaper brands will flat out tell to absolutely not use bleach on their cloth diapers, so if you do use bleach expect any warranty to now be void.
If you absolutely must use bleach for some reason, or you just don’t really care about keeping the warranty (I might be guilty of this one 😉 ) make sure your bleach isn’t expired.
Yes, that’s right, bleach expires 6-8 months after its manufactured and once its expired it no longer kills the germs and/or bacteria that you are counting on it to.
Lysol laundry sanitizer
Yes that’s right, Lysol makes a sanitizing product for your laundry!
Lysol laundry sanitizer is gentle on most fabrics and has no bleach, if you are worried about this product damaging your cloth diapers or voiding a warranty make sure to reach out to the cloth diapers manufacturer/retailer.
Since this product doesn’t contain bleach I would assume that it would be fine for cloth diapers but always better safe than sorry.
Even without bleach Lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of viruses and odor causing bacteria when used as instructed.
Lysol laundry sanitizer also kills Candida Albicans which is the type of yeast responsible for yeast diaper rashes, so this is a great option for killing yeast without using bleach.
ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR CLOTH DIAPERS MANUFACTURER IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT POTENTIALY VOIDING WARRANTIES.
Lysol laundry sanitizer at lysol.com
Clorox laundry sanitizer
Clorox laundry sanitizer also kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria and is safe for most fabrics that can be washed in a washing machine (not safe for silk or wool).
Clorox laundry sanitizer at clorox.com
Grovia Mighty Bubbles laundry treatment
While Grovia Mighty Bubbles isn’t exactly a laundry sanitizer, it is something you can use once in awhile to give your laundry an extra boost.
While Grovia Mighty Bubbles is typically used as a “stripping” agent (stripping is the process of removing mineral build up from cloth diapers) it also contains oxygen bleach which does disinfect.
You can purchase Grovia Mighty Bubbles at Grovia.com*
If you want to learn more about stripping cloth diapers check out my article
OxiClean laundry & home sanitizer
OxiClean laundry & home sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses when used as directed, it is also excellent at removing stains.
Since it’s not a Chlorine bleach it should be okay for cloth diapers, but if you have concerns always ask your cloth diaper manufacturer or retailer.
OxiClean laundry & home sanitizer at oxiclean.com
RLR
There is also a product called RLR that helps remove mineral buildup in laundry, it also helps to remove stains.
It doesn’t disinfect, but it will add an extra boost to your laundry.
Keep in mind that RLR is only intended to be used once per month.
RLR on amazon.com
If you would like to learn more about sanitizing/stripping methods check out
Can cloth diapers spread infections?
I can not find anything that says that cloth diapers can spread infections.
Most things would be removed during the washing process, high heat in the dryer can also kill germs (Check that your cloth diapers can handle high heat first).
Other things die within a few hours of being outside of the human body.
The one thing I do know can be spread by cloth diapers is yeast diaper rash, yeast can live on surfaces and in fabrics for a very long period of time.
To be clear, the yeast did not come from the cloth diapers (unless they were bought used & not properly sanitized when they arrived) and the yeast was not caused by the cloth diapers.
Your baby would get the yeast rash, the yeast would get in the fabric of your cloth diapers, and until the yeast is killed the contaminated cloth diapers will re-infect your baby every time they wear them.
This is one of the times its extremely hard to avoid using bleach ( EXPIRED BLEACH WILL NOT WORK) but Lysol laundry sanitizer does kill yeast, so that could be a good alternative.
Also remember to clean your washing machine, it’s recommended to clean your washing machine about once a month.
There are products specifically for cleaning washing machines, however most people just run a hot wash cycle with bleach NO CLOTHES just bleach and water.
Are cloth diapers safe for preemies?
Cloth diapers are definitely safe for preemies, as a matter of fact cloth diapers actually make it easier to monitor baby’s output which is important for baby’s health.
There are even special preemie cloth diapers!
Preemie cloth diapers at greenmountaindiapers.com Article on preemie cloth diapers from greenmountaindiapers.com
Resources
Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) from qualifying purchases made through those links. * Indicates an affiliate link
Grovia mighty bubbles at grovia.com*
Preemie cloth diapers at greenmountaindiapers.com
Lysol laundry sanitizer at lysol.com
Clorox laundry sanitizer at clorox.com
OxiClean laundry & home sanitizer at oxiclean.com
RLR on amazon.com
Article on preemie cloth diapers from greenmountaindiapers.com
New York Times article on how to kill germs in laundry Here
Exposed to air = not sterile CDC.gov
