possibly stupid question #1- Tide

JNU76

I've been using Bum Genius diapers with my toddler since he was about 6 weeks old, and I always washed in Rockin' Green, and everything was fine.

New Baby is due any minute now, and I bought some GMD prefolds and workhorses. The instructions suggested Tide Free and Clear, and specifically not to use special cloth diaper detergent. I bought the only Tide Free that my grocery store had, but it was liquid, and now I'm hearing that you're supposed to use powder. (I didn't know they made it in powder.)

So two questions-

Is Tide Free liquid a problem? I prepped the new GMDs (5 washes-) do I need to strip them now?

Is it a problem to just wash them all together with the detergent I always used on my son's diapers?

Thank you!

Brandiewine11

I think if you used RnG and it was fine, go for it. It seems to work for some people and cause issues for others.

But any F&C, especially liquid tends to cause lots of problems for people. So I'd either get regular tide powder (not F&C) or stick with your RnG.

I don't think you need to strip your prepped diapers, but maybe just do a hot water wash with no detergent to make sure there are no suds and you got out all the detergent. The liquid seems to be hard to rinse out. If you do get a lot of suds, just do hot water washes with no detergent until the water is clear. I don't think it should be a big deal though.

TJ1979

I would wash them all together with your regular detergent.  Liquid isn't good for cloth diapers.

Are you talking about prepping them, though?  Or washing them?  If you are prepping them, I would wash them with your next 5 loads of sheets, towels, white clothes, etc (using cd safe detergent.)  I would at least wash them once or twice with other stuff, then you could finish prepping them with your son's diapers.

If you're just talking about washing, wash all together.

ETA: Reading comprehension failure.  Sorry.  Wash them all together.  I would maybe do a hot water detergent free wash and see if there are any suds just to make sure. 

freezorburn

JNU76 said:

New Baby is due any minute now, and I bought some GMD prefolds and workhorses. The instructions suggested Tide Free and Clear, and specifically not to use special cloth diaper detergent. I bought the only Tide Free that my grocery store had, but it was liquid, and now I'm hearing that you're supposed to use powder. (I didn't know they made it in powder.)

You must have a different set of GMD instructions than what I have. Because the version I have is like 18 pages long, and while it does make some detergent recommendations, the gist of it is that for natural fibers, you can use almost anything. There are even some liquids that they like. They don't love RNG but if you like it, use it.