disposable diaper + washing machine does NOT = clean diaper.

I will call today, the day of the great diaper disaster. In case anyone was curious, you really can't wash disposable diapers in the washing machine. They weren't lying to us. And no, if you wash a disposable diaper, it does not give you a clean diaper you can use again. Too bad. I am sharing, in hopes that you can learn from my mistakes, and know what to do if this should ever happen to you.

Really though, that's not what I was doing, or trying to do. My guess, is that a certain small person, snatched a diaper out of the clean diaper basket when no one was watching and dumped it into the laundry basket, because he loves to hide things in other things recently. Of course, I don't inspect every piece of clothing before tossing it in the wash, I check the pockets of things that sometime have things in them (Like Jay's work pants) Other than that. Nope, it all gets tossed in there together for the most part! Never had a problem before.

EEW

But, much to my surprise, today when I opened the washing machine to switch the last load of laundry to the dryer, there was a big, slimy, pile of goo, on the inside rim of the washer and all over the door. At a glance, it looked kind of similar to when you run a piece of paper, or a tissue through the wash, but there was a lot more. Then, I decided to touch it. Gross. I don't recommend doing that. Thankfully, it's not toxic or anything, (obviously, since it goes in diapers) but it was slimy and gross. Blech! As I began to pull the clothes out, I started to realize the huge amount of this goo that was covering absolutely ev-er-y-thinnng! 

My first reaction was to pull everything out onto the floor so I could find the cause of this goo. (this was a bad idea, as it caused the goo to go all over my kitchen floor.) Of course, as I dug, in the very back, bottom edge of the washer, there sat a huge, exploded, wet, disgusting diaper. I knew it. So I tossed it out. then panicked again, because how does one get sticky diaper goo out of a full load of laundry AND the washing machine?! So I came over to my handy Internet machine, and luckily one of my fellow Mama-friends, knew what to do. She told me to put salt in with the load, and run a cycle through, then an empty rinse cycle with salt to make sure it's all out of the machine.

So, I tried this. I was running out of time since Joshua was in his crib talking to himself, on the verge of a screaming fit because he wanted out. And Jay wasn't home to distract him for me while I cleaned up the goo off the floor and myself. So I (stupidly) shook the clothes out onto the floor, then reloaded. when it was about half full, I dumped in about a quarter cup, I'd say of plain old table salt. (I have a front loader so I didn't want to put it in the soap area or anything. then I also put about the same about inside of a sock that was going back in, in case the loose stuff didn't cut it. I also threw some more detergent in, since I felt like i was going to have salty clothes if I didn't and I didn't feel like washing everything 3 times if I could help it. 

Happily this worked! While it was washing through, I cleaned my floors with a wet paper towel, then the swiffer wet jet to make sure I got it all before I brought the human vacuum back upstairs. 

Everything turned out OK in the end. Floor is clean, laundry is clean, baby is clean... And I guess lesson learned. Always check the baby's laundry before tossing it in the wash. And if I do miss a stray disposable diaper ever again, I will know how to fix it, and you will too! SALT! 

My helper

The "goo"

poor, poor, floors.