Well I know lots of you reading this are new to cloth diapers and to you I would like to say Welcome! It has been one year since I started cloth diapering and I have learnt so much in that year. This is a bit of an if I knew what I know now type of post. These are some of the things I wish someone would have told me when I started out with cloth diapers.
First off, regardless of what you read on blogs, forums and manufacturer websites the detergent you use isn't going to make your diapers blow up into a fiery inferno. You can use what ever detergent you want to on your diapers as long as 1. your baby is not sensitive to it and 2. you are comfortable using it. While some detergents void some diaper warranties and there are many detergents with less than favourable ingredients the choice is yours. If you are using the right amount and in the right way you shouldn't have issues. Some ingredients are best avoided because they are proven to cause issues like brighteners and softeners but even so it is your personal choice. You need to be happy with the results and feel good about using it. I tried many detergents and I always make suggestions based on what my experience has shown me. I prefer natural detergents to chemical ones even if I have to source it and order it but that is my choice for my family.
Secondly, KEEP IT SIMPLE. An over complicated routine with baking soda, vinegar, bleach, oxyclean is a sure way to get in trouble. You shouldn't need any additives if you use the right detergent and have the right routine. I find that a warm rinse, a hot wash with my detergent and a cold rinse to end is all I need to keep things going. Some moms have such over complicated routines it makes my head hurt. If you use baking soda in your pre-wash, detergent and oxyclean in your main wash and then vinegar in your rinse at the end how do you know where the problem is when it arises? If your detergent alone isn't cutting it maybe you need another detergent. This being said many with hard water find that adding calgon to help soften the water is needed and that is ok. Or if you use mainly cotton and find that it is really stiff after you dry it a touch of vinegar in the last rinse is again no biggie.
Third, Please don't reach for the additives the moment you have an issue. Really, DON'T. 99% of the time a small tweak in your wash is all that is need. You have stains... sun them before you reach for the oxy. If your overnight diapers are a bit stinky... rinse them in plain warm water before you throw them in your pail before you think Bac Out, not totally clean diapers after the wash.... try warm rinses first. This list can go on and on but you get the point. RLR, Dawn, Vinegar and baking soda all have their place in the cloth world but not as a regular part of a routine.
Fourth, If you need to strip your diapers start with hot water washes. You don't need RLR, Dawn or whatever else people may tell you. Again these things have their place. RLR, great for removing hard water mineral deposits, don't need it to strip soap build up. Dawn, amazing if you get a non cloth safe diaper cream on your diapers, again don't need it to strip. Stripping is removing built up residues from diaper fibres so why add things in if you are trying to work them out?
Five, if you have to strip on a regular schedule there is a problem. I have not had to strip for anything other than new to me diapers or when I switched detergents. If you are stripping frequently maybe you aren't using the right detergent or the right amount.
Finally number six, diaper laundry is really just laundry so don't over think it.
In the last year I have run into issues twice. Once during my cold water experiment but as soon as I switched back to hot washes it was all good. Second more recent when I realised that I wasn't drying my prefolds thoroughly enough and they were getting a musty icky smell as a result. I was washing them and the doing one cycle in the dryer then hanging them on the line. Well my clothes rack was in the basement where there must be more humidity and less air circulation than the rest of the house. As soon as I moved the rack upstairs problem solve. So in a year no real issues, and I don't use Tide, bleach, BacOut, Dawn, RLR or anything special. Just me and my washer and the detergent. That's it.
I would like to close by saying a big thank you to all the wonderful and amazing women I met through cloth diapering in the last year. You ladies are truly an awesome bunch!
Happy Fluffy Journeys.
My experiences with cloth diapering from a newborn to potty trainning.
Sunday 28 April 2013
Tuesday 16 April 2013
Clean diapers shouldn't smell like a barn
So I love everything about my fluff. One of my favourite things is smelling the diapers when they are just clean and dried. I love the smell of clean fluff. But what happens when you open the dryer door and you are hit in the face with what smells more like hay and barn animals then clean diapers? Well you my friend have a problem. Not hard to solve but a problem non the less.
Barnyard smell in your diapers means that they are not clean. End of story. Thankfully it is simple to remedy. Whenever someone has stinky diapers I suggest that they first clean their wash machine. It is good practise to clean your wash machine periodically even if you don't cloth diaper. Think of all the stuff that the machine deals with. To clean it you can buy commercial wash machine cleaners but it is not necessary. You can do the job with either 2 cups of regular chlorine bleach or 2 cups of white vinegar. Simply run a hot wash with vinegar or bleach and no clothes added. Finish with an extra rinse and you are done.
So you cleaned your washer now what?
Barnyard can be caused by one of two things. First the diapers are not getting clean enough because you are not using enough detergent. This is common because the cloth community seems to advertise low dosing detergent. So if a regular load uses 2 tbsp. of detergent they will tell you to use 1/4-1/2 of that... um 1/2 tbsp. of detergent to wash pee and poop? Don't think so! I always suggest using the recommended amount for your machine. So if a regular load uses to line1 on the scoop use to line 1. Now that being said people with soft water may need to use less and people with hard water may need to use more. As a safe starting point though, go with what is instructed on your detergent.
The second common cause of barnyard stink is because either you use the right amount of detergent but it is not rinsing away or you are using a bit too much and again it is not rinsing away. if the detergent is not rinsed away it stays in the fibres along with the pee and poop residue causing the stinkies. So what do you do and where do you start? Here are my recommendations try them in the order given changing nothing else:
1. Clean your washer.
2. Swap out the cold rinse at the end of your cycle for a warm rinse or warm wash. The warm water helps remove trapped particles better.
3. Add an additional rinse to the end of your routine. Those with HE machines or front loaders may need to add water to increase the amount of water going through the diaper.
4. Increase your detergent amount slightly. ( if you have been using to line 1 go to line 2, if you use 2tbsp use 3). Keep up with the rinses from before. If you are using the amount recommended for a large or heavy load and you are still not getting the right results maybe that isn't the right detergent for you.
5. Switch to a cleaner rinsing detergent. My favourite detergent are Country Save and Nature Clean powder. Both are super clean rinsing and very gentle.
If you are still having issues you can email me at whitehorsefluffproject@yahoo.ca and I can troubleshoot with you.
Barnyard smell in your diapers means that they are not clean. End of story. Thankfully it is simple to remedy. Whenever someone has stinky diapers I suggest that they first clean their wash machine. It is good practise to clean your wash machine periodically even if you don't cloth diaper. Think of all the stuff that the machine deals with. To clean it you can buy commercial wash machine cleaners but it is not necessary. You can do the job with either 2 cups of regular chlorine bleach or 2 cups of white vinegar. Simply run a hot wash with vinegar or bleach and no clothes added. Finish with an extra rinse and you are done.
So you cleaned your washer now what?
Barnyard can be caused by one of two things. First the diapers are not getting clean enough because you are not using enough detergent. This is common because the cloth community seems to advertise low dosing detergent. So if a regular load uses 2 tbsp. of detergent they will tell you to use 1/4-1/2 of that... um 1/2 tbsp. of detergent to wash pee and poop? Don't think so! I always suggest using the recommended amount for your machine. So if a regular load uses to line1 on the scoop use to line 1. Now that being said people with soft water may need to use less and people with hard water may need to use more. As a safe starting point though, go with what is instructed on your detergent.
The second common cause of barnyard stink is because either you use the right amount of detergent but it is not rinsing away or you are using a bit too much and again it is not rinsing away. if the detergent is not rinsed away it stays in the fibres along with the pee and poop residue causing the stinkies. So what do you do and where do you start? Here are my recommendations try them in the order given changing nothing else:
1. Clean your washer.
2. Swap out the cold rinse at the end of your cycle for a warm rinse or warm wash. The warm water helps remove trapped particles better.
3. Add an additional rinse to the end of your routine. Those with HE machines or front loaders may need to add water to increase the amount of water going through the diaper.
4. Increase your detergent amount slightly. ( if you have been using to line 1 go to line 2, if you use 2tbsp use 3). Keep up with the rinses from before. If you are using the amount recommended for a large or heavy load and you are still not getting the right results maybe that isn't the right detergent for you.
5. Switch to a cleaner rinsing detergent. My favourite detergent are Country Save and Nature Clean powder. Both are super clean rinsing and very gentle.
If you are still having issues you can email me at whitehorsefluffproject@yahoo.ca and I can troubleshoot with you.
Monday 8 April 2013
The Tummy Flu vs the Fluff
So kids get sick. It is unavoidable. I have never felt as bad and helpless then when my kids were sick and beyond giving them some meds to help with their fever or whatever all I could do is try and comfort them. It is an awful experience. Another awful experience is dealing with a stomach bug when your little one is in diapers. 2 words... Blow Out. With my daughter and disposables it was a nightmare! Being that I had to go back to work early and she was in daycare full time since she was about 6 months old there was a LOT of tummy bugs. With my son I managed to avoid all that until now. I go back to work in about a week and he started daycare 2 weeks ago. After his first week we got sick!
Poor little man had the works. Fever, vomiting and runny poops. Well there was NO way I was going to use my nice hybrid fitted stash or my favourite pocket diapers while he was going through all that. I also didn't want to go and get disposables because I know how often those blow up, not kidding, blow up. So what to do? All I can say it thank goodness I have a healthy stash of cotton prefolds and Flour Sack Towels and covers.
While we were going through the tummy issues there was a day were we went through 11 diapers. Normal I need about 6-7. I used prefolds with a snappi and a cover as much as I could. That helped contain the messes a lot better that any pocket would have. Once I ran out of prefolds, I only have about 6, I used a tri-folded Flour Sack Towel. That was not as great but it did the trick. I also rinsed every diaper in warm water before I tossed them into the pail.
For washing I didn't change too much in the routine other than rinsing everything in warm right away. Once B got over the bug I did add 1/4 bleach to my hot wash just to sanitize the diapers before I put them away. I think if I stuck to my hybrids and pockets I would have been sunning a LOT. Not to mention possibly changing outfits more often. Thankfully prefolds and FST clean up really easily and seem to be pretty stain resistant.
Moral of the story? Prefolds may seem simple in design and not the most attractive, but are pretty mighty in function. Don't pass them up because you never know when you are going to need a simple, not so pretty alternative.
Poor little man had the works. Fever, vomiting and runny poops. Well there was NO way I was going to use my nice hybrid fitted stash or my favourite pocket diapers while he was going through all that. I also didn't want to go and get disposables because I know how often those blow up, not kidding, blow up. So what to do? All I can say it thank goodness I have a healthy stash of cotton prefolds and Flour Sack Towels and covers.
While we were going through the tummy issues there was a day were we went through 11 diapers. Normal I need about 6-7. I used prefolds with a snappi and a cover as much as I could. That helped contain the messes a lot better that any pocket would have. Once I ran out of prefolds, I only have about 6, I used a tri-folded Flour Sack Towel. That was not as great but it did the trick. I also rinsed every diaper in warm water before I tossed them into the pail.
For washing I didn't change too much in the routine other than rinsing everything in warm right away. Once B got over the bug I did add 1/4 bleach to my hot wash just to sanitize the diapers before I put them away. I think if I stuck to my hybrids and pockets I would have been sunning a LOT. Not to mention possibly changing outfits more often. Thankfully prefolds and FST clean up really easily and seem to be pretty stain resistant.
Moral of the story? Prefolds may seem simple in design and not the most attractive, but are pretty mighty in function. Don't pass them up because you never know when you are going to need a simple, not so pretty alternative.
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