Thursday, June 25, 2015

Washing Stinky Diapers!! How to get your wash routine righted!

The Smell! The Odor! The Horror! 
Oh My!!



Getting the CORRECT wash routine is just about the most important thing when it comes down to cloth diapering in my opinion.  You can have all the pretty diapers you want but if they just plain STINK.... there is no point!  I thought that I had my wash routine down perfect.  I followed all the popular generalized directions for the "best"  ways to wash and strip your diapers.  How could I have been more wrong! 

I had never used cloth until having my 3rd son! (yes 3 boys!)  My cousin introduced me to cloth and after much research I found SoftBums!  So having found THE diaper was just about the best thing ever!  I decided to start clothing him from the beginning.  A few weeks ago I decided to embark on the quest to diaper my middle boy.  It was scary going from EBF (exclusively breast fed) poop to regular poop!  I noticed however that my son's pee was super strong, and I mean STRONG!  I'd open the door to his bedroom in the morning and get smacked in the face by a urine soaked skunk smell!  YUCK!  I just about lost all hope in cloth diapering him, I just figured hey... he pees a lot and must have super strong pee!  I guess cloth for him won't work.   After discussing it over with a friend, we went over my wash routine.  Turns out..... it was wrong!  I never thought to look at my wash routine because I thought I had fixed it early on by following the directions of a popular site! 



Here is What My Wash Routine WAS...

1st WASH
1/4 cup borax (because of hard water)
1/4 cap detergent
wash on cold on small load
2nd WASH
1/4 cup borax (because of hard water)
3/4 cap detergent
wash on hot on heavy load

NOW my NEW and Fixed Wash Routine is.....

1st WASH
  1. 1 TBS Washing Soda
  2. 1/4-1/3 the recommended amount detergent (so if the cap has a #1 line, you need to use 1/4 up to the #1 line) 
  3. Wash on COLD with options: Permenant Press, heavy, low spin, extra rinse, pre-wash


2nd WASH
  1. 1 TBS Washing Soda
  2. NO Detergent
  3. Wash on HOT with options: Permenant Press, heavy, high spin, extra rinse, pre-wash



Sigh of relief, yes I can continue to cloth diaper my middle son, and youngest.  The thought of having to go to disposables again stressed me out.  With things being so tight cloth was the obvious answer, and the very thought of having to go to disposables makes me cringe.  The leaks, the waste, the money, the chemicals, the REAL horror!  I am so glad that after a good stripping of my diapers, I'm ready to go again!  And this time with no stink!  

Written by Kate mom of 3 boys, user of SoftBums Diapers

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7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This might be a stupid question, but what is washing soda? I'm trying to decide upon a detergent and washing routine. Thanks!

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    1. washing soda comes in a box in the laundry detergent section. It looks kind of like a GIANT box of baking soda, but its made for your wash. :)

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    2. Thank you! I'll be looking for it tomorrow!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Not trying to sound rude, but if you're using NO detergent in your main wash, how are your diapers being cleaned of human fecal matter? Genuinely curious, I figure that since diapers are extra dirty laundry, they'd probably need more detergent than average clothes, not less...

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    1. The detergent is used in the first wash to clean the diapers. The second wash is mainly to remove any residue from the detergent that can prevent absorption causing leaks. Most of us use way too much detergent on our regular clothes too. Try washing some clothes without detergent and I bet there would still be suds in your wash :)

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