Hi all!

Re: Hi all!

• unaveragejane member

  January 2015

  Lots of people here use powdered Tide with no problems (although I'm not sure if Free comes in powder). My LOs are allergic, so I use Nellie's or Tiny Bubbles. There are lots of good options depending on your water and washer.
  
  I prefer to wash diapers every other day. Some get by with washing less often, but you can run into mold and stink issues like that, especially with microfiber.
  
  I haven't used an Ubbi. I prefer a large open trash can with pail liner or a hanging wet bag. There are several threads about pails vs wet bags if you do a search.

               

  
  

  

    

      
  

   
  

  
  

   
  

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• haileyq member

  January 2015

  melanie1422 said:

  Hi everyone, I'm Melanie & I'm new to the board. I'm currently pregnant with my first, but I've used CDs for years as a nanny. I started with basic prefolds, snappis, & old school plastic pants with a diaper service, and then moved on to a family that used fuzzibunz & then bumgenius. My old roommate used fb, bg, & charlie banana. However, I really like the bg os best and so over the years, I've bought quite a few through my local craigslist, usually from people who bought them but never were brave enough to use them. I have some 3.0 & some 4.0, some h&l & some snaps. I also have some newborns too. I am a little concerned about washing and dirty storage. I was never responsible for the wash with any of the families I nannies for (just the stuffing!), & my roommate... She would wait way too long to wash, often losing a diaper for weeks, & then she refused to use any soap, instead using just a smidge of baking soda. As a result, her stash was stinky and stained. I'm super allergic to lots of detergents, so I'm a little nervous about using something I've never tried on myself. I usually use Tide free or Honest brand. I've read that the Tide is not great bc of brighteners and enzymes but the Honest might be ok? Anyone have any experience with Honest products? How often are you *supposed* to do diaper laundry? For dirty storage, I have an ubbi, but I'm not sure it will hold enough dirty diapers - would I do better to just use one of the big wetbags? I'll store the clean ones in my dresser w changing pad. I have been reading your discussions for a little while and I love all the opinions and personality on this board! Thanks in advance for any advice!

  Ewww, poor baby's bottom! There are lots of detergents out there depending on if you want something easily accessible at the store or something a little "greener". I personally use Tide original powder and love it, but we don't have a lot of sensitive skin around here.
  
  I think a basic wash routine is (EOD washing, as @unaveragejane stated):
  Cold pre-rinse with spin, no detergent
  Hot heavy wash with detergent, and an extra cold rinse at the end.
  
  Some other popular detergents I hear around here are Country Save, Nellie's, Charlie's soap, and  Tiny Bubbles. It really depends on what works best with you water. Welcome and good luck!
  

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• freezorburn member

  January 2015

  Free & Clear detergents are generally not recommended. According to the detergent page at Jillian's Drawers, a lot of people using them have reported stink issues. They think it might be because of the microbiostats, which are supposed to suppress things like dust mites. But you wash your diapers so frequently and in hot water, that dust mites should never get a chance to get established in your diapers. At any rate, I'm pretty sure we have at least one person in this forum who is using Tide F&C with no issues. Since you are already using it, you could try it with your diapers and if an issue arises you could then consider switching to something else.

  
  

  If you don't want to use a mainstream detergent, there are basically two types of CD-safe detergents. There are the ones that use vegetable-derived (usually coconut) surfactants, such as Charlie's, Nellie's, Allen's (? not sure) etc. and there are those that use salt-based surfactants, like Country Save and Tiny Bubbles. Some use a combination. If you have a coconut allergy, go for one that is salt-based. Otherwise, figure out what you are able to buy locally (or on Amazon) that fits into your budget.

  
  

  If you have hard water you may need to add a softener to your detergent, depending on how hard the water is and how effective your chosen detergent is with your particular water.

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• mrshudson618 member

  January 2015

  Powdered tide has worked best of everything we have tried.
  
  We wash 3 days a week- MWF, so the longest they sit is from Friday to Monday. For a while I tried switching to 2x a week since I have a big stash, but I could really tell that was too long.

  Married 6/18/11

  BFP #1 10/26/12 DS born 6/30/13

  BFP #2 10/30/13 MC 11/25/13

  BFP #3 1/18/14 DS #2 born 10/7/14

   

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

    
  

  
  
  

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• SaraL1175 member

  January 2015

  I'm also new and have been lurking--I follow the washing ritual described above using the Purex version of free and clear. I switched to cloth diapers a couple of weeks ago. My stash is for my toddler, and includes 3 used fuzzibunz OS, 6 used flip inserts, 2 new flip covers, and a dozen prefolds that I inherited from a girlfriend (all seem to be DSQ, and they even include a few Curity prefolds). I also have a few Dappi nylon covers that are functional if needed but nobody's favorite.
  
  So far no stink issues. I dry the fuzzibunz covers in the dryer with inserts and prefolds, and line dry the flips.
  
  I do wash diapers every day (small load) but I am also a SAHM with 4 children, so adding one more easy load (no sorting, no ironing) seems like no big deal so far.
  
  Expecting a new baby in February, so I will keep in touch as I start putting together a newborn stash.

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• melanie1422 member

  January 2015

  Thank you all for your suggestions! Should I do anything special to my stash before the baby comes? Its been in a large Rubbermaid tote in a closet for a long time...

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• melanie1422 member

  January 2015

  @missmimsyy‌ How much do you use? I know it depends on my water and my machine, but it would give me a starting point....

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• rlb284 member

  January 2015

  I've also always used Tide F&C powder (almost a year) without any issues. My newborn stash was cotton prefolds and fitteds and I needed to the Line 2 or more. With my one size stash of mostly pockets, I use to Line 1 and wash every 2-3 days. Start with Tide F&C if that's what you like, and you can switch later if you have issues.

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• Kelly11235 member

  January 2015

  melanie1422 said:

  Thank you all for your suggestions! Should I do anything special to my stash before the baby comes? Its been in a large Rubbermaid tote in a closet for a long time...

  
  

  You say you bought them second hand.

  
  

  My 2 cents worth: with secondhand diapers, you don't know the history, only what the person that sold them to you said was the history.However, I'm a pessimist and generally think people suck and are liars.

  
  

  If you trust the people that you bought them from, then I'd suggest washing them at least once with detergent.

  
  

  If they were my diapers, I'd run them through a bleach wash (1/4 cup of bleach in washer, or whatever amount your washer's dispenser tells you to use), use detergent, and you'll probably want to add an extra rinse or two.  Basically, rinse until you can no longer smell the bleach on the diapers.

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• melanie1422 member

  January 2015

  I did buy them second hand, but at least half still had the packaging. Will the bleach damage the cover part? I was considering bleach for the inserts, since they're white anyway.

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• Kelly11235 member

  January 2015

  The NIP diapers should still be washed before using them though, that's just normal prep.

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• melanie1422 member

  January 2015

  Ok, im going to try a bleach wash and then a regular detergent wash. I have a HE machine - how many diapers should I wash in a load?

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