Bleach?

[beansmama]

Okay - so I know a lot (most?) of you are against using bleach on cloth diapers...I always was too.

That being said, with this baby we are in an apartment, no w/d of our own and plan on using prefolds (exclusively). Our apartments washers are front loaders - and i'm not sure how well they'll do getting the dipes clean. We do have a laundromat down the road that I think has top loaders, but i'd like to avoid using them if possible, as it's less convenient.

We aren't rich. I'd like to be able to do one long cycle, hot wash on the diapers. I bought those flushable diaper liners so *hopefully* there wont be TOO much poo in the machine - which should help lessen the clean time, methinks.

Anyway, I'm wondering if using a little bit of bleach per load would make the diapers cleaner? Like, a tsp. or tbsp. per full load?

Opinions? experience? advice?

TIA!

[hjrowan]

So we have a FL and use PFs mainly and stink has STILL been an issue even with no microfiber). I don't use bleach every time but do use it occasionally (like 2 Tbsp once a month, with lots of rinses).

As for the flushable liners reducing poopiness of the wash, well it depends what kind of poos you're talking about! Even using liners, DDs toddler poos are so huge that some always "escapes" the liner and ends up on the PF and/or cover. So I'd highly receommend doing a cold rinse/spin before your main hot wash to get rid of any remaining "stuff" - also means less pee in the wash too....

If you did: cold rinse/spin, then hot wash with an extra cold rinse (using a HE/diaper-friendly detergent, that would be pretty economical). Unfortunately I end up doing a lot more rinsing and have battled stink issues for months (when I don't use bleach) but that's a whole other story......

To tell you the truth, if I known I was going to be CDing (and had done my research) I wouldn't have chosen the FL I got (cheapest LG, bloody awful). But we live and learn!

Cheers!

[Gabes Mommy]

Every now and then shouldn't be too bad. I also use vinegar sometimes, which also helps. The liners should help, but won't get the poo 100%. Good luck!

[Chloe'sMama]

I had a terrible time with stink in my diapers and yesterday I tried Tide and the stink is gone. WOW....

Anyways, my front load HE washer seems to get them clean even if there is a bit of poo residue if I do a cold rinse then the hot wash. I have used bleach a few times, but don't like to on a regular basis.

I think if you put it to the 'heavy soil' setting it gets more water in the load.

Good luck!

[Lineymom]

Not to highjack this thread but I have been wondering about a scent-free color-safe bleach. I noticed one by Country Save on amazon.

[poppan]

IMHO the key to washing in an FL is to have somewhat clean diapers by the time the wash part of the cycle starts, so the detergent can do its work. This is because FLs use so little water, so if there's a lot of poop (or even pee) in the dipes, the water gets too dirty to do any real washing.

I can select the "pre-wash" option on my FL, but that is usually not enough. If you really want to do it all in one cycle, I would recommend that you get a sprayer to spray off all the poop, plus that you wetpail, soak or hand-rinse any poopy and totally saturated pee dipes (like overnight dipes) before putting in the washer.

Also, play around to see if you can find the cycle with the highest water level that will still allow you to wash on hot. Permanent Press and Delicates usually use more water, but may not let you select hot wash -- it just depends on the machine.

Another tip is not to overload the washer with too many dipes. Just keep in mind that FLs do not use much water but dipes take water to get clean. My washer can take a maximum of 12-15 dipes and still get them clean, any more than that and it's too little water to dipes ratio.

[Galatea]

We have well water which is not chlorinated. I use one tablespoon bleach once a month, well-diluted, with no adverse effects on the dipes. It helps freshen everything up. If you use it every time, you are going to wear out your diapers pretty quickly, but prefolds are inexpensive, so you may not mind. I do think you NEED the cold prewash, though, or else you are washing in dirty water.