New and question for experienced CD Moms!

[LJGMama]

Hi! I'm very very new to CD. I have 3 children... all of whom have been in disposables. Our 5 month old baby developed a yeast rash while in disposables a few weeks ago. She's been a very very rashy baby anyway, and I could never seem to quite get rid of her bumps and redness altogether. Finally I borrowed a stash of CDs from a friend and amazingly... her rash cleared up almost on it's own and in the past week she has not developed any other rashes. I LOVE CD!! I cannot believe we never used them before. After reading lots of articles on the chemicals found in disposables.... shudder.... I wish I would have been doing this all along.
I have a few different kinds on their way to my house now so that I can see what will work the best for her. In the meantime, I'm still using my friend's CDs. They are a pocket diaper that I have been stuffing with prefolds. They seem to be working very well. Not even a single blowout this week... and that's a big deal for my daughter.
Here is my question... I washed the pocket diapers twice already and some (not all) of the covers have a lingering poop smell. Here is what I have tried.
I do a cold wash w/ Tide Free detergent and baking soda, then a hot wash with baking soda followed by two more cold rinses. The prefolds are fresh and clean, no problem. It's the pocket diaper that still has a funk. Any suggestions??
All the smell aside, I am still in love with CDs... and I will never EVER go back to disposables!!!!!!!

[tallulahma]

personally- I have never used a detergent of any kind.

I do a prewash with cold water, a hot wash with baking soda and sometimes with oxiclean or a squirt of dawn original if its a heavily soiled load, and then a rinse with vinegar.

thats it.

I think maybe the tide is leaving a little bit of a resiue and not letting the diapers rinse as well, which in addition to the stink problem you may develop a repelling issue.

I CD my now 4 year old for over 3 years and am currently CDing my 13 months old and I have always used this routine.

hth!

[Juliacat]

Pocket diapers (and any diapers that contain synthetics like polyester) tend to stink, that's why I don't use them. But you could try NOT using the baking soda and see if that helps. Also hanging them in the sun sometimes helps.

I'm glad your baby's rash is better.

[katie9143]

its probably 2 things, you are probably using too much soap, try using half of what u usually would and also, turn up your hot water heaters mixing valve so the water that comes out on hot is hotter. i actually have mine turn up all the way and that seems to be the only way i dont have stink. half the det and super hot water.

GL!

[Michigan Mama]

My normal routine is cold rinse, then hot wash with detergent (I use 1/2 scoop Country Save), then an extra hot rinse. I might try putting the detergent in with the hot wash, then do an extra hot rinse to make sure everything is out. I personally think hot rinses are more productive than cold...

Welcome to cloth! I love it, too! Keep asking questions if you have any other trouble.

btw, some people use tide without problems, but for other people it doesn't work well. Diaper Jungle has a great detergent list on their website if you want to try somehting else.