Are They Made of Unicorn Hair?

beautiflaw · October 2011

I am new to cloth diapering so forgive me if I sound clueless.

My baby is only 6 weeks old and she is my first and I've been cding since day 1. (I literally brought my dipes and wetbag to the hospital when I gave birth lol) And I have noticed that a lot of the washing instructions on the cds I have are really... persnickety. FYI I am a AIO and pocket dipe user. I have bumgenius, gpants, fuzzibunz, thirsties, and grovia, and I just recieved an ohkaty and a rumparooz order today. It seems like they all have to be washed in their own special way. Like cold rinse, wash hot, rinse cold, extra rinse again in the tears of a virgin, place in the light of the full moon, do the hokey pokey, tumble dry low.

Do they really have to be washed like that? I have so many different diapers all with different instructions that I made up a cheat sheet that I laminated and posted in my laundry room with all the different instructions so that me and my H can remember how to wash them all the right way. It was 5 pages long!! (I did break down the washing instructions to a step by step level for my H's benefit though) But one night I was exhausted and I just threw them all into the wash and washed them all the same way. I haven't noticed any problems. I haven't done it again since then though.

I am also confused about washing products. I looked at a bunch of different websites online to find out what detergents to use and the only one I can find at a store on a regular basis is All and Mighty free and and clear with no optical brighteners/additives. I use white distilled vinegar for disinfecting and fabric softening, and sometimes use borax to boost the efficacy of the detergent. Then today I read that one of the cd brands I am looking into (I don't remember which one because there are so many) say not to use vinegar. Why is vinegar not okay? What are some alternatives to vinegar I can use?

I also read somewhere that its okay to use Purex Crystals on cds because they don't effect absorbency like other fabric softeners do. Has anyone tried this? I use Purex Crystals on her baby clothes because they smell amazing and don't effect the flame retardant material of her jammies, but I am unsure about using them on cds.

LetsBeNice · October 2011

Honestly, with the exception of wool, I wash all of our CD's the same way. Prewash cold, hot wash, cold rinse, cold rinse. I use Tide Ultra Powder (2 TBSP) in my top loader that I put in w/the hot wash. I have had no issues. I occasionally (like 1-2 times a month) use Ecover fabric softener on the fitteds, but nothing else. I line dry when I can, and dry in the dryer for 30 minutes once they are mostly dry (about 24 hours later).

pixy_stix · October 2011

Yup, cold rinse, hot wash, cold rinse, cold rinse. Except I use Dropps.

I tumble dry on low (two cycles).

norman25 · October 2011

I ditched the 'special' detergents after a few months of horrible stink from them not getting clean. I pretty much follow prerinse then regular hot wash (no additional rinse is necessary for us), with Tide or whatever detergent is closer. They haven't melted yet Stick out tongue

lynn97 · October 2011

pixy_stix:
Yup, cold rinse, hot wash, cold rinse, cold rinse. Except I use Dropps. I tumble dry on low (two cycles).

This is my exact was routine as well but I only dry my inserts in the dryer; I hang all covers and wet bags to dry. We use Charlie's soap.

kdello · October 2011

Yeah, forget trying to wash them differently. You will need to do a "wash routine" where you do a couple washes with a CD safe detergent (or Tide).

We do cold rinse/spin, hot soak, long hot wash, extra rinse.

MsAng02 · October 2011

Uh yeah- I got nothin'. But wanted to say you are one funny lady!! I LOL at Work and got shushed! LMAO

I wash mine "cold rinse- hot wash", toss my inserts in the dryer and hang up my covers to dry.

GL!

tokenhoser · October 2011

Rinse-and-spin no soap, hot wash with extra rinse with soap. It's not that bad, and I don't even look at directions for varying brands.

I wouldn't use softener. They don't need it. Why add more crap to your kid's clothes/diapers if it's totally unnecessary? I don't really get softener at all... I think it's just more chemical junk we've been talked into.

audrey9786 · October 2011

AUDREY SOPHIA?!?!!? My name is Audrey and my daughter's name is Sophia!! Needless to say, I think you have a beautifully named daughter! Hahaha congratulations! Sorry this doesn't answer your question I just saw your siggy and my mind exploded!

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