Well we are three weeks in and I am really on the fence with this one. I am having no issues at all getting my pocket diapers clean in cold water but my fitteds are another story. It seems that I HAVE to soak those before washing or I end up with stinky diapers.
This week I tried only soaking my overnight fitteds in warm water and a tiny bit of detergent. After all those are the ones that are on the bum the longest and should be the ones with stink issues right. Well turns out the fitteds I did not soak were a 50/50 hit or miss. It seems that some of them would come out clean and some wouldn't.
I could fix this is I soaked all my fitteds but I really don't like having a wet pail. Soaking 2 overnight diapers in an ice cream bucket in the laundry room is no biggie but all my fitteds would be a pain.
I tried adding 1 tbsp Funk Rock by Rockin Green to my pre-rinse but it did not seem to help. I ended up having to rewash my fitteds in warm every time. After the warm wash they were fine. It is likely that the warm water is needed to help the detergent do its job well enough to penetrate all the layers of the diaper. Fitteds usually have lots of layers which is great for absorbency but it is a bit of a challenge if you are not washing on hot water. According to some of the research I did there is a 50% drop in the effectiveness of your detergent for every 10 degrees your water temp drops below 45 degrees Celsius.
This week coming I am going to dial up the temp to warm washes, in my machine that is about 30 degrees Celsius and we will see if it makes a difference. I will keep using the Charlie Banana Soap and continue to soak the overnight diapers, to keep all the other variables the same.
My experiences with cloth diapering from a newborn to potty trainning.
I am enjoying reading your blog and also surprised by your results!! We actually stopped using pockets altogether because we were unable to get them as clean as easily as we can our fitteds...ammonia build-up. HOWEVER, we use prefolds at night, and that makes for an easy wash. I also have two in diapers and therefore wash daily. I wash on warm, but I really feel it is more of a "tepid" wash than a "warm" wash because my water temp is set so low, and our machine recommends warm as the most efficient setting (because it can pull water from both lines at the same time.)
ReplyDeleteI think it all comes down to your washer, water chemistry and detergent. I have a friend who test ran cold water washes and she had no issues at all either. She has mainly hybrid fitteds in her stash also. You are right prefolds are super easy to care for! It is one reason I always suggest them to people with newborns.
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