BabyKicks Hemparoo® Care Instructions:

BabyKicks Hemparoo® Diapers and Joey-Bunz are made from 55% hemp and 45% cotton.

Please wash your diapers three times in hot water with detergent, drying them each time before you first use them. They'll continue to increase in absorbency with use, but that should be enough to get most of the natural oils washed out.

Washing your hemp:

You may use any detergent that does not contain enzymes (as enzymes can eat away at your baby's skin once he or she wets, causing a painful rash). If you use a soap product, be sure to do a second cycle with 1/3 cup baking soda to avoid build-up. You may also want to try using 1/4 cup vinegar in the rinse.

My personal wash routine:

I wash once in cold water with either a detergent or Dr. Bronners soap (pretty much depending on my mood :-) Then I wash once in hot water adding 1/3 cup baking soda. Last comes a rinse cycle. I tumble dry on medium heat to reduce wear on the fibers.

What to do for "stinky" hemp:

Since hemp is such an absorbent material it sucks everything right to the core of the fiber. This causes smells from a residual build-up once your baby wets. You may not ever experience this, depending on your water type and wash routine.

There's a couple of things you can try to solve this.

- Try washing your diapers or Joey-Bunz in hot water with no detergent, 1/3 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup vinegar. Do this a few times until the water no longer looks soapy at the end of the cycle.

- If the smell remains, you may want to try boiling your hemp for five minutes.

-After you get the smell out of your hemp, be sure to use baking soda on a regular basis to keep everything smelling fresh.