I tried stripping, but they won't rinse clean

[Rose-Roget]

Help! I tried stripping dd's prefolds using Dawn (2 drops). I have rinsed and rinsed, about 12+ times, and there are still little bubbles and film! Anything I can do to get rid of the build-up faster? Our water bill is going to be outrageous at this rate! Not to mention, I need to wash other clothes.

[mommajb]

Well, if you need the diapers or the washer you could stop where you are, catch up and then start again with the stripping. You won't be undoing any progress you have made. Are you using hot water? You could skip rinses as they are rarely hot and hot water is more effective.

I rarely see it mentioned but something got you in this mess so something needs to change if you want to see different results. There is toilet learning, changing detergent, using a water softener (appliance or laundry additive) and probably more options but I thought I would throw the idea out there.

[Rose-Roget]

Thanks for the feedback, mommajb. DD is 3 mo and I'm just not patient enough to do ec. We use Country Save, which is the only cd recommended brand available in our area. Could be the hard water - I can look for some Calgon. Also, in an attempt to combat thrush recently, I used vinegar in all washes (since I use a diaper as a burpcloth sometimes), and I just read that the acidity of vinegar may react with hard water minerals.

[Galatea]

This is why I don't recommend Dawn ever for any reason.

Vinegar is fine to use with hard water if you use it in the prewash. Don't worry about that.

To combat buildup and help with the hard water, try adding Calgon water softener to every hot wash.

Also, why were you stripping? Were the diapers repelling or did they just smell bad? Stripping is only necessary if the diapers are repelling, and in that scenario, you just wash them on hot with no detergent until no more bubbles form.

If they just smell bad, then you don't need to strip - you just need a bit of bleach in the hot wash to kill the bacteria in the diapers and then they will stop smelling.

[Rose-Roget]

I was stripping because they were smelling bad and they started to feel rough. I figured there was build-up.

I think I figured out why they weren't rinsing clean, though. We have liquid All F/C for our other clothes and somehow the bottle had leaked (it sits above the washer). When I'd cleaned it up, I didn't get all of the detergent out of the space where the top opens, so some had seeped inside and a few drops were dropping into the washer each time I closed the lid. Once I discovered that and got it cleaned up, they rinsed clean quickly.

Thanks for the advice - now I have a better idea about stripping.

[mommajb]

Galatea, you are so right. I just though maybe bleach was a no-no on this site. It does get the stinkies with just 1 tablespoon in a wash. It doesn't have to be used everytime.

[Galatea]

Personally, I have no problem with bleach for two reasons: my kids will get a bleeding rash from bacteria buildup, and a tiny bit of bleach has to be more environmentally friendly than 12 hot wash cycles. And I want people to like cloth and not give up bc of the smell. If people are really opposed to bleach, then they could use only flats, or replace their diapers more often. But it seems like half the diapering threads at any given time are about smell or stripping, and it doesn't need to be so hard. There is a lot of confusion and rumor about chemistry of washing and it causes people so much difficulty. I'll get off my soapbox now.

[Rose-Roget]

I'll try the bleach next time. Thanks for the advice.

[Cameron's Mommy]

is it possible that you actually have soft water and not hard? cause there may look like soap in there from bubbles but it may just be from having soft water?

[Rose-Roget]

Originally Posted by Cameron's Mommy

is it possible that you actually have soft water and not hard? cause there may look like soap in there from bubbles but it may just be from having soft water?

No, there is no way we could have soft water. It's very hard. Too bad - I'd love soft water!

[octobermom]

Dawn CAUSES horrid horrid I'll never ever use it again build up with our water. Does it in any form in the laundry with dishes ect I know it works for many but I cringe when I read suggestions for stripping using dawn. Here even a tiny amount will have diapers literly foaming for weeks on end.. My DD diapers after rinsing for an ungodly amount of time still bubbled up whe ever she wet when we tried using dawn. We have the same problem if we use it to wash dishes everything permently tastes like soap because the stuff will NOT rinse..

Deanna

[octobermom]

Originally Posted by Galatea

Personally, I have no problem with bleach for two reasons: my kids will get a bleeding rash from bacteria buildup, and a tiny bit of bleach has to be more environmentally friendly than 12 hot wash cycles. And I want people to like cloth and not give up bc of the smell. If people are really opposed to bleach, then they could use only flats, or replace their diapers more often. But it seems like half the diapering threads at any given time are about smell or stripping, and it doesn't need to be so hard. There is a lot of confusion and rumor about chemistry of washing and it causes people so much difficulty. I'll get off my soapbox now.

I agree we started using bleach (like a table spoon worth per large load) after we had a bad round of staph after an infection that spread, and then jsut endless diaper rashes that would be open and bleeding.. Bleach with in one wash stopped the bleeding and by the end of the week we had nice cream colored skin again I'd forgotten how a clear bum really looked if we went more than a wash or two with out the bleach the rashes started to return. We could also clean diapers in one cycle (I did use the extra rinse option) and amazingly the bleach RESTORED many diapers I had leaky AIOS and covers I thought was jsut cause they were old and DD was out wetting them but nope the bleach totally fixed them no more leaks no more stink and no more rashes. The biggest effect was my unbleached prefolds lightened up.

Deanna

[is it puppies?]

just a question I am new in this area but wouldn't vinegar also kill all the germs? I have been using strictly vinegar to clean/disinfect my house since I read it kills as many germs as bleach... and I really don't like to have bleach in my house any more mainly because I am too careless and end up with bleach spots on my good clothes!

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by is it puppies?

just a question I am new in this area but wouldn't vinegar also kill all the germs? I have been using strictly vinegar to clean/disinfect my house since I read it kills as many germs as bleach... and I really don't like to have bleach in my house any more mainly because I am too careless and end up with bleach spots on my good clothes!

No, it doesn't kill germs like bleach does.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by is it puppies?

just a question I am new in this area but wouldn't vinegar also kill all the germs? I have been using strictly vinegar to clean/disinfect my house since I read it kills as many germs as bleach... and I really don't like to have bleach in my house any more mainly because I am too careless and end up with bleach spots on my good clothes!

I get the same thing with bleach. Get the He version of bleach. It's a bit more expensive, but the formulation is a bit thicker, so there's no spattering. I <3 it! No more bleach spots!!!

Ami

[jildez]

hum, how do i know if i have hard or soft water? I just moved and have well water for the first time, i've been decreasing my detergent from 1/2 the recommended b/c it was so sudsy, but maybe its too soft or too hard?

I would love to hear your opinions!

[Cameron's Mommy]

I'm pretty sure sudsy means soft water, you would know if its hard because you would see build up in your tub and around your sick... looks almost chalky