Washing cloth diapers with Chicago water--best routine?

[lulutattoo]

Hi all,
Just wondering what cloth-diaper cleaning routine folks in Chicago have found to be the best with our water? I've read so many different things on the internet--and it seems fairly dependent on the type of water one has and perhaps also the type of washer.

We just have your regular-old, no-frills top loader. To do a pre-wash/soak, I'll have to run a short extra wash cycle, by turning the dial back before it goes to rinse and spin. Same with an extra rinse cycle. So it would be great to know that those extra steps are maybe not necessary, especially since it will require running down to the basement and keeping vigilant track of time passed (which doesn't sound like fun with a newborn). Luckily we are not on a water meter, but pay the flat rate, so if I forget and it goes through the whole cycle, it's not costing us unneeded money--but it would be wasting water, which I'll feel bad about.

Are baking soda and/or vinegar necessary? What detergent seems to work best?

We're expecting the kid any day now (she's due today, in fact), and I've stocked up on a variety of different cloth diapers, pre-washed them all, and am ready to go once she uses them!

If the extra cycles really are necessary, maybe with all the money we'll be saving by not using disposables, I can rationalize buying my dream washer and dryer next year!

Thanks for any input!

[CEG]

I live in the suburbs so I don't know about city water but my trick for the pre-wash is to set it to "rinse" first and let it do the rinse and spin. That way I don't have to try to remember to stop it after the wash cycle.

[honeybunmom]

We ended up using some "Free and Clear" brand. Oh, yes, Purex. That worked well. Prior to that I was using a 7th Generation product that seemed to work well until I used 1 that had lavender oil in it. Dd broke out. Point is, it's not just our water that matters, but any sensitivities your dd may have as well. Charlies is widely recommended, but has been known to cause some kind of contact burn on some children. Also, some diapers seem to get build up on them more easily than others, so, that may be a factor. I think that was what caused me to switch from 7th Generation to Purex Free and Clear. We were using Fuzzi Bunz and getting leaks and repelling. Once we switched, they performed much better.

Good luck, mama! I'll be in a house in the City (we're in a condo now where water is included in the assessment), and have switched to a meter there, when our new baby gets here, and also switching from a top loader to an HE. I see a lot of trial and error in my future!

[ColetteInIllinois]

Hi. It's been a few years, but I have done three kids totally w/cloth. I think Chicago water is pretty good, not as bad as really hard well water.

I used Tide. When they were really little, I used Tide free and clear (or whatever it's called). Swore by it. (Now I wash everything in Ecover, but back then I couldn't find and/or afford a lot of natural products.)

I usually did a second rinse. Once in a while I'd use oxyclean to give them a boost. Sunshine for drying is always best. Borax eats up the fibers.

FWIW, I never used the fuzzy bunz or anything like that, just regular trifolds (or nice thick commercial ones). One kind of diaper I picked up at a yard sale, Gerber brand prefolds, had a SPONGE LAYER. LOL. Found out years later when they eventually started to fall apart. So I don't know about those.

Anyway, I usually just used tide, vinegar rinse, second rinse. Oh, and sometimes I used baking soda but never noticed too much difference with that. I did a dry pail and just rinsed poop off in the toilet first once they started solids, or if they had a huge breastmilk poop.

ETA: If Hub did a load of diapers, he would do whatever, and I never really noticed much difference.

[lucifugous]

We don't have to worry about "hard" water here. Which also means we get to use less detergent. I was using Country Save for the first few months of my CD journey but now we have switched to Purex F&C. I liked CS but it doesn't dissolve easily so it was just a hassle and required tons of extra rinsing. I might add a little CS and/or some baking soda to a very dirty load, and whenever I can time it right I add vinegar to rinse. Using coin operated machines, I generally never use less than two wash cycles since they're one wash, one rinse each. Ideally (no poop) I would make both washes super hot since my only choice is a cold rinse, and I would add the vinegar when I'm starting the second cycle. Otherwise I would make the first cycle only slightly warm so it doesn't set in poop stains, and then after they are "clean" I would make the second wash super hot again to get all the detergent out. But I'm no expert! Less than five months into it
Glad to see other Chicago moms who CD!! I want to meet you! I don't know another mama IRL who uses cloth. My best friend will be in a few months tho when she meets her baby

[beansricerevolt]

We use fuzz bunz and wash with what ever detergents on sale, hot with vinegar rinse.
They always go through the washer twice as my ds is sensitive to most detergents and I can't always afford the good stuff. The second wash is just hot water with vinegar.
We line dry in our apartment bathroom.

[chandasz]

I use Charley's in our top loader and have never needed to do any extra rinses or such.

Congrats on baby!!

[gorgorita]

Hi
I don't know much about CD,we EC and now at 11 mo DD doesn't really wear diapers except for the night. She usually holds it, though. So, even if she pees in a CD, it's one pee and not a very soiled diaper.
Sorry, for off topic. What I wanted to say is that Maggie's soap works really good. It's as natural as it gets. Pricey but we buy it for DD's laundry and it lasts quite long.

[jrose_lee]

We use a combo of fuzzi bunz and fitteds. I always do the following:

Rinse and Spin
Wash on Hot
Extra Rinse

We use Charleys

Have a wonderful birth!!!

[manleywoman]

We use FuzziBuns and Bum Genius. For both we do a quick rinse cycle with a small amount of Charlie's Soap in cold. Then we do a hot wash with the proper amount of Charlies. Works really well.