Worth it's weight in gold...

And, no, I'm not talking about that premium diaper you've had your eye on!  I hope this post will be worth it's weight in gold - the golden rays of the sun, that is!

This post may seem like an odd first diaper-related post, but I wanted to introduce so you can try this before some of us cloth diapering parents in the latitudes further North begin losing our precious hours of sun.  Sun and cloth diapers were made for each other! The sun provides several benefits to those parents who cloth diaper. By line-drying in the sun, you realize some energy savings by foregoing the use of the dryer, have the benefit of the UV rays' sanitizing effect, and (my favorite!) you have the stain-blasting power of the sun's rays.  The energy savings aren't enormous per load, but at a cost of about $0.40 per load x ~3 loads per week x 16 weeks, that's close to $20 savings.  Could you buy your favorite diaper with that? ;) The areas of the diaper that are directly exposed to the UV rays are subject to a sanitizing effect.  This wouldn't help the inside of an all-in-one, but every little bit helps! 

My favorite benefit is the topic of the remainder of this post.  When UV rays hit a stained surface of a wet diaper, magic happens!  The most important detail of this concept is that the diapers MUST BE WET OR DAMP!  It doesn't even matter if it's partly cloudy - the UV rays that are most responsible for this effect are UVA rays.  UVA rays penetrate clouds, clothes, your skin, etc.  On a sunny day, you have the "benefit" of UVA and UVB rays, but even on a cloudy day, the UVA rays are around working their magic. 

Here are some photos demonstrating the sun's impact on stains.  These are pocket diapers with microsuede interior and microfiber inserts, and were freshly washed, but still stained with EBF poo. NO photoshopping was done to these photos other than cropping!

On a partly cloudy day "before"...

...and "after"! I got this set damp one more time, and it was perfectly white!

On a bright, sunny day "before"...

...and after!  Perfection occurred after only about 45 minutes!

Just a few more things to note from my personal experience.  When I hang the diapers on the line, I face the surface that has the most stain toward where the sun will be the majority of the time the diapers are out. I've found that the sun's effects are nearly perfect on microsuede and microfiber in just one shot on a sunny day. It works "very well" on microfleece, although after numerous sunnings this summer, my microfleece pockets still have some shadows.  Sunning still works well on natural fibers such as cotton and hemp, but it may take several rounds, or you may need to use some advanced stain-fighting techniques (another post!).  This past winter, we had almost no sun, but I did the best I could in windows on a sunny day. The house we live in has some UV-blocking function in the glass, so I had stains for a few months. When I started drying them on the line this spring, they were gone within a few washes! The most important thing to remember, is that the diapers MUST BE AT LEAST DAMP!

Happy sunning!
~Prima~