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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

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Inspired Cloth Diaper Washing Confession

Today I read Gina’s confession about her cloth diaper wash routine. I, too, have a confession to make regarding my wash routine.

I use powdered Tide on my cloth diapers.

I’ve been cloth diapering for two years. When my oldest son started solids, we began to have issues with the wash routine we had finally perfected. Then Rockin’ Green came out with their Hard Rock formula and it worked great! A few short months later, we moved across town and, again, our perfected routine left our diapers smelling like ammonia. It got to the point where our son’s bottom was red and irritated after every single change, our dryer was retaining odor and so were our clothes.

I played with every aspect of the wash routine. I tweaked the number of diapers per load; I added towels to the load to increase agitation; I tried different temperatures of water combined with every different type of detergent I had (which by this time was 5); I stripped the diapers with hot water and RLR. Nothing was working. Finally, I emailed the gurus at Kelly’s Closet who suggested I run an empty load in my washer with some bleach, as well as wipe down our dryer with water and bleach. It still didn’t solve the problem. So, I did the last thing I thought any true fluffer would ever do.

I bought a box of Tide original powder.

I tentatively washed a load of clothing and instantly the smell in our washer was gone and the clothing no longer retained odor after being dried. After testing the washed clothing on my son’s sensitive skin to make sure he wouldn’t react, I threw in the dirty diapers. I can’t believe the difference it has made in our diapers. We no longer have the horrible smell, ammonia rashes or leaks.

Currently, I rinse the diapers with cold water. Then I run a full cycle with 3 tablespoons of Original Tide powder. Then I run another cold rinse to get the diapers squeaky clean. I know Tide doesn’t work for everyone and it isn’t the most widely accepted detergent for cloth diaper users, but it has made things so much easier for me!

Like Gina, I feel much better getting that out in the open.

Mindy Hill is mom to two beautiful children and a cloth diaper addict! She loves to read about cloth diapers and is often inspired by what she reads on the cloth diaper whisperer!

6 comments:

Kenner said...

I'm right there with you! As a CD newbie I tried to follow all the rules about washing diapers, but nothing kept them from smelling terrible! (Plus, the rest of our clothes stank after being worn for a few hours, too!) I switched to Tide (with some Oxy and washing soda!) and it's been smooth sailing ever since! I love that people are finally coming out and saying that they use Tide, because I felt like such a leper ;) Paddedtushstats.com just came out with their results of a detergent survey, and apparently a LOT of people use Tide with great results, too! So you're in good company!

Bernice said...

I admit, I use powdered Tide also. In my front loader.
-cold rinse + extra rinse
-hot wash with 1 Tbs Tide and a little bleach
-hot rinse + extra rinse

I had tried all sorts of other natural cloth diapering detergents, including soap nuts, but Tide is the only one that keeps the ammonia and burning away.

Anonymous said...

Ultra Tide is phosphate-free. The "free" version (no perfumes or dyes) is what I use. Though it is not everyone's choice, it works for me after having delt with the same issue! I'm just about to begin cloth diapering my 6th baby and have used Tide when the phosphate laws went into effect! My diapers have all worn well and I am still using some of the originals! Thanks for the post!

@GeekWillow said...

I use original Tide too! Actually, I've found that, with our water type, that using 1 TBSP Rockin' Green Hard Rock and 1 TBSP Original Tide is the perfect combo for us. Either one, by themselves, causes either stink or repelling after about a month of use, but together, the diapers get clean and they seem to fix the problems that the other one causes.

Kiersten said...

We have had ammonia issues with All F & C, Rockin Green Hard Rock, and Eco Sprout. I'm ready to give Tide a try, but was wondering whether it's okay to get the HE version. I have HE front loaders. Thanks for your help.

Kenner said...

If you look at the image in the post, it actually is the HE version ;) I've used the Ultra Tide HE powder for over a year without any problems, so yeah, give it a shot and see how it works for you!