So Fed Up! What Am I Doing Wrong? (Long rant)

beautiflaw

I am this [ ] close to switching to sposies completely right now. I am so fed up with DD's diapers right now. I have done everything I am supposed to do but they just will not come clean!

CDing had been going ok for us (or at least I thought it was) for a while until DD got a bad diaper rash. I had just stripped her diapers and I found out that part of her rash was from yeast and I needed to bleach all her dipes, even the newly stripped ones. She has a little over 60 diapers and I am STILL bleaching them all, because I can only wash 15 diaper pieces (wipes, inserts, shells, liners, whatever, there can only be 15 things in the washer at a time or everything won't get clean like its supposed to) at a time.  Her rash went away a couple of weeks ago. All together the diaper laundry is over 200 pieces. She's been wearing disposables until I can catch up on bleaching everything. Because of how many rinse cycles I have to do (at least 10!) one load of laundry takes literally all day long. Even with only 15 items and the washer filled up completely with the hottest water.

Apparently when I stripped her diapers I didn't do it well enough, because there was a lot of bad soap buildup in the water. I use Calgon in every wash but I guess that doesn't help like I thought. 

I do have hard water. I live in Florida near the beach and our water practically goes clunk when comes out of the faucet it is so hard. My relatives who visit me who have tasted the tap water here refuse to drink it. Even after its been through a Brita filter the water still tastes disgusting, so I'm not surprised by what its doing to the diapers.

I have got almost all her diapers clean (I have about 3 loads left to do, so about 3 more days of laundry) but I am worried about next time. What do I have to do to keep them clean and not get build up again? I have spent A LOT of money on diapers, thinking that I would be CDing DD and the next baby, but after having her we decided that DD is going to be an only child, so I almost feel like I've wasted a lot of money. Its not just diapers, its our water and electric bill too. having our water heater on all the time from washing diapers (we normally turn off the water heater when we aren't using hot water to save energy) has cost us a whole lot, and the water used from the million rinse cycles is crazy. I am not even putting in enough laundry for a small load, much less a full load, but that's how much water I have to use to get these things clean! I don't understand. I have been following all the tips I've read on blogs and on these boards and nothing has helped at all. I hate sposies and the kind that DD has to have (or else get a rash after only 30 mins of wear) are so expensive. 

I could finish bleaching and stripping these diapers and sell them off on ebay/to friends, and use the money to buy her ridiculously expensive sposies. I wouldn't have to worry about yeast or diaper laundry anymore, but I would have the environment and the possibly harmful chemicals on baby's bum on my conscience. At this point the money sposies cost isn't the biggest thing on my mind, because the amount of money we've spent on our power bill, water bill, diapers, detergents, rinse aids, etc it probably evens out to being about the same as sposies when I add in what my time is worth.

Or I could keep on keeping on with the CDing and hope for the best. I want to keep on with CDing, but something has got to change. I know that if I give up and switch my friends and family are gonna give me the 'told you so' the next they see DD and she's wearing a sposie.

Here's what I do: Please tell me where I have it wrong. 

From dry pail, rinse off solids. Separate laundry so there's only 15 items in the washer. Do a soapless cold rinse to get rid of more yuck (sometimes I see some suds from soap build up come up during this cycle. Really ticks me off to see that). Hot wash with All Small & Mighty Free & Clear with no optical brighteners (this is what we use on DD's dipes and clothes because its the only kind we have found without brighteners that we can buy in the store and don't have to order online. As far as I know you can only get it in military commissaries because its made for camis) I fill up the cap to about an 1/8 full. It suds big time and my diapers don't have urine stink so I know they are getting clean. I use one capful of Calgon. Sometimes I put some baking soda in a really yucky load. I rinse in hot water until I no longer see suds, which is about 10-12 times. But I've noticed that if I add Calgon again after I see no more suds, more suds will appear. Should I keep adding Calgon to every rinse? Because if so I would use almost a full bottle of Calgon in one load of laundry!!

When I strip I hand scrub everything fleecy with a bristle brush and blue Dawn. For everything else I use Bac-Out.

Tell me that there's hope.

sosoph

2 things.

1.Your first rinse needs to be warm to dissolve the oil in any residue.Otherwise, you're just rinsing out pee and nothing else.

2. When you have hard water, you have to use more detergent, not less. The detergent acts as a softener, so then there's none left to actually wash your diapers unless you have extra detergent. Free and clear detergents are not good for diapers or with hard water. Since you're having so many problems, I'd switch to Tide ultra powdered, use up to line 2. (there are other more eco ones that might work, but tide definitely will and since you're already frustrated....). in the wash cycle use one dose of calgon, not again in the rinse cycle

hispenguin

I definitely think it's time for a detergent change. I have hard water and I had horrible results with a free and clear detergent as well. It is more expensive to order an actual CD detergent, but I've had much better results that way. I recently bought a couple samples of tiny bubbles to try as I've heard that's a good detergent for hard water. I would also try adding more detergent to the laundry as well.

 

lwsnake

I have hard water as well and after some build up issues I switched to the powdered tide, and it's been all good. I can cut down on the Calgon and the build up issue seems to be resolved. Liquid detergents apparently contain lots of things to keep the detergent from separating that don't rinse out.  Also if the suds disappear after a second or two they are just agitation bubbles, not detergent residue, which got me all frenzied for longer than I would like to admit. 

 My other question is why only 15 items? Is it a portable washer? Especially in front loaders but even in top loaders, things need to agitate against each other to get clean. Good luck, it sounds very frustrating.  Approach it like a fun science experiment to see what works

ToastieSimons

have you looked into putting in a house water softener?  It uses salt to soften the water and help absorb the minerals.

I would also add more calgon and detergent to each wash.  Are you using a detergent for hard water?  Are you using powder?  I find that liquid detergent + hard water is a recipe for disaster.  I cannot get the detergent out of my dipes if it's liquid.

Have you tried soaking everything in a tub and then just using the washing machine for the final rinse cycles?

Oops, I just reread your post and saw you're using liquid ALL.  I would try a powder detergent (maybe Tide if your LO doesn't have sensitive skin).

And just because your diapers don't smell when you take them out, doesn't mean they're clean.  Do they stink after she pees?  You could still have a lot of buildup and they smell clean when they come out.

I would also try adding RLR.  You can add some to every load in the rinse cycles to help strip any excess detergent out of the diapers. 

beautiflaw

I can't install a water softener because we rent an apartment and we aren't allowed. I would LOVE to if I owned this place though!

That really sucks about free & clears not working well on cloth, because I am afraid to use regular detergent on anything of hers. Her skin is super sensitive, but I think I may try the tide since it seems like that's what a lot of people use. Now I wish I hadn't given away the tide coupons I'd gotten in the paper... 

beautiflaw

Where do you get RLR? I want to try it but I can't find it anywhere! I assume it would be in the same aisle as cleaning stuff at the grocery store right? Do you have to order it online?

Would Gain powder be okay or is that too perfumey and cause issues? We have a ton of that already since DH thinks Gain is the only detergent worth buying.

I've never tried soaking because I read that it would cause PUL to break down if soaked for too long, and I don't know how long is too long and didn't want to risk it.

They do smell pretty bad after a pee... dang...

I'm glad ya'll have so many ideas to try. I was just about ready to give up but I really don't want to if there's more I can do. I guess I will try not using free and clear liquid and just see what happens.

kacelle

When we had yeast problems, we just added some grape seed oil to the rinse cycle when we washed the diapers.  And we washed a lot more than 15 pieces at a time.  It sounds like you need to change to a CD detergent recommended for hard water, which you may have to buy online.  You should never have to do 10-12 rinses a load.  We only do one or OCCASIONALLY two and don't have issues with build-up.  Just use Calgon in the wash load, and use warm water for the initial wash.  

ToastieSimons

beautiflaw:

Where do you get RLR? I want to try it but I can't find it anywhere! I assume it would be in the same aisle as cleaning stuff at the grocery store right? Do you have to order it online?

Would Gain powder be okay or is that too perfumey and cause issues? We have a ton of that already since DH thinks Gain is the only detergent worth buying.

I've never tried soaking because I read that it would cause PUL to break down if soaked for too long, and I don't know how long is too long and didn't want to risk it.

They do smell pretty bad after a pee... dang...

I'm glad ya'll have so many ideas to try. I was just about ready to give up but I really don't want to if there's more I can do. I guess I will try not using free and clear liquid and just see what happens.

I would try the tide, if you have a regular top loading machine (not a high efficiency washer) you can get a small box of tide pretty cheap.

I find RLR in our grocery store with the laundry. https://www.cadie.com/laundry.html  ours look like little plastic containers (2nd one down on their website on the right hand side).  They're hanging in front of all the laundry accessories (oxy clean, spray starch, stain fighters, etc)

I also had some success just doing a hot soak in double the calgon with no detergent.

When they say extended soaking I think they mean if you were leave them soaking overnight EVERYTIME you did laundry.  But most companies recommend an overnight soak (even on PUL) to help with buildup.

I haven't tried tied, but I did like Rockin Green Hard Rock (you'll only be able to find this online or in a specialty store). 

GypsyEsq

Lots of good suggestions here.  I agree that original Tide may be the way to go.  Hard water and liquid are not good.  No, Gain is not an option.  Have you looked at the pinstripes and polkadots website and list of detergents?  That's a good start.  But Tide is the easiest most readily available.  At 7 months, even if your daughter has sensitive skin, I think you'll find Tide will be fine.  But do try to get the original (so no scents).  It's also easier if you just switch your whole family to one detergent. 

I also think that with a new detergent you won't end up with the 15 item limit.  Are you using a top loader or front loader?  Either way...15 items is a tiny load.  

Also rinse solids before they go in the pail.  And ya, I'd soak overnight.  You didn't say what your diapers are but we used ours for two years and did a soak pretty regularly - post-rinse - and they were fine.  We had/have a mix of BG, Rumparooz, HH, and Fuzzi Bunz plus GMs and B4s.  

One other thought - if you are using baking soda you do need to occasionally use vinegar to restore pH.  But I think with a switch to Tide you can probably abandon the baking soda too.  Although we did and do use vinegar as a natural fabric softener now in most rinse cycles.

lwsnake

What kind of diapers do you have btw?

beautiflaw

I have a big mix. I have FB, BG, flats and prefolds, Rumparooz, gpants, Mommy's Touch, itti bitti tutto, some home made ones from dishtowels and muslin and flannel, Grovia, Thirsties, Kiwipie fitteds, Kushies contours, and probably more I can't think of off the top of my head. I jumped in with both feet and wanted to try every kind of diaper because I thought I was going to CD another baby, so DD was going to 'try out' all the different kinds, so for the next baby I'd know which kind I liked the best. Now that DD will be an only child I wish I just bought all one kind of diaper to make it a bit easier on myself, but then again I do like the variety... and TBH its hard to choose a fave.

beautiflaw

If I'd known you can soak them in a tub and and rinse them to strip I would have been doing this all along! Sounds much easier than what I've been doing. How do you strip them in the tub? I feel like such a dummy!

BrendaLou1969

For Yeast:   add 1/4 cup bleach to the wash load and 20 drops tea tree oil and around 10 drops of grapefruit seed extract to the rinse.  The bleach kills the yeast, the TTO & Grapefruit seed extract kill the spores.  Which need to be killed or you get another yeast rash again.

Change detergents.  Liquid detergents have solvents that suspend the detergent in the liquid.... not good for cloth diapers.  Try Tiny bubbles (which really isn't that expensive per load)  tiny bubbles is great for hard water.

CALGON:  USE IN THE WASH CYCLE not the rinse cycle.  It needs to soften the water for the detergent to work effectively.  if your water is as hard as you say it is, I would personally use 1/2 cup of calgon. - you can also try a couple of tablespoons of borax.  It doesn't work as well as calgon but it does help

Strip:  Buy some RLR on amazon or Kelly's closet has it now I think, it is only 2 bucks or so a packet.  

Washing:   Diapers get clean in the washing machine when they have something to agitate against.  If you have a front loader, put more diapers in.  I wash 24 diapers, inserts and cloth wipes together regularly.  Instead of a prerinse, do a quick wash cycle with no detergent as your initial rinse (if you have that option on your washing machine).  Always do an extra rinse.  I lived in Ft. Lauderdale and our water was superhard too so I know where you are coming from.

Wash routine, Try a cold or warm rinse (I prefer cold) wash on a heavy duty cycle with 1/2 cup calgon and a different detergent..perhaps tide if you don't want to buy anything off the internet.  Oh, tiny bubbles is available by the case on Costco.com for $60 for six boxes and each box does 60 loads.  That works out to be .17cents a load, that is really inexpensive.  Last time I calculated out the price of tide here in colorado it was .29 cents a load.

Rinse your diapers off when you take them off of the baby if your baby is on solids.  Do you have a sprayer?  I saturate the diapers with the sprayer, gets the urine out and gives it "water to soak in" until wash day, then my initial rinse gets everything out.

 

BrendaLou1969

I missed a few things on my previous reply....If you need that many rinses to get the bleach out you are using way to much bleach.   1/4 cup is sufficient.  You can use the bleach in the prewash that way it has the entire wash cycle and the one extra rinse to be removed.

Megan.10.06

Okay, first, you are dealing with 2 seperate issues at once.  You need to strip, and you need to bleach.  And you do NOT need to limit to 15 diapers!

You also need a new detergent.  Undeniably.  I only have moderately hard water, and I had ridiculous build up after 2 WEEKS with All F&C.  I had to do a full strip. 

Put 2Tbsp of Blue Dawn in your empty bathtub, fill with hot water and get it fully dissolved - then put your diapers in the tub.  Let them sit overnight - then wash hot without soap in the morning, and rinse rinse rinse.  With 60 already clean diapers, you can do soak them all in your tub at once, but split them in to 2 for the washer.   When the bubbles are gone, then add 1/4 c of bleach to a wash with a double rinse cycle and you'll be done.