I've cloth diapered off and on over the last five years. When I had one child it seemed really easy. When the second one came along it was similarly easy...at least at first. Now? Instead of having only one child in diapers (like I did after my second was born) I have two children in diapers.
The annoying laundry problem that I've had the entire five years I've used cloth diapers now seems rather insurmountable. It feels like it's more trouble than it's worth. Still...buying disposable diapers is getting to be expensive since the only diapers my youngest can be in without having breastfed baby poo exploding all over is the Pampers Swaddlers and I've got two children in diapers for at least through the summer.
I have MEOS. They are the same MEOS I bought with my oldest. With the exception of a few diapers they all have a lot of use left in them. My problem? Stink. More often than not it's a strong ammonia smell. Other times there's this lingering bm smell.
I usually put the dirty diapers in the washing machine and run them through a full cycle to rinse them. Then I was hot, rinse cold with about half the recommended amount of detergent. I try not to over crowd the washer and I use the highest water setting.
I have a top loading washer with soft water and I think I've tried just about every possibility: Allen's, Charlies, Tide (ME recommends this), All Free & Clear, BioKleen (liquid and powder), Country Save, Sun, and Soap Nuts. I've used vinegar and no vinegar, baking soda and no baking soda, borax and no borax, a little bit of bleach in the rinse and no bleach, oxygen bleach and no oxygen bleach, tea tree oil and no tea tree oil, GSE and no GSE. I've line dried and used my dryer. *NONE* of the suggestions I've received over the years seems to work.
I've tried stripping with Dawn, with very hot water and peroxide, and with just plain water. I've never had all that many suds that show up in the water when the washer is agitating meaning I'm not all that comfortable assuming that it's build up.
All I want to do is put my diapers in the wash and have them come out clean and smelling like nothing at the end. I want to put them on my child and when I change their diaper not be gassed out of the room. I don't want the diaper to smell any stronger than what came out of the child.
My dh is game - more so than me. He'd like to stop paying for disposables and is willing to do the diaper laundry. I just need to figure out the laundry part first. Everyone always talks about how cloth diapers have changed over the years, but tbh the laundry problem I have now is the very same one my Mom had when I was a baby. It seems to me that this is the dirty little secret no one talks about (pun totally intended here...lol).
I have less problems with the prefolds than I do with the MEOS. I really don't want to have to buy new diapers - I need to make what I have work (well, outside of buying some new covers which we could use). Could you help me? Pretty please?
The annoying laundry problem that I've had the entire five years I've used cloth diapers now seems rather insurmountable. It feels like it's more trouble than it's worth. Still...buying disposable diapers is getting to be expensive since the only diapers my youngest can be in without having breastfed baby poo exploding all over is the Pampers Swaddlers and I've got two children in diapers for at least through the summer.
I have MEOS. They are the same MEOS I bought with my oldest. With the exception of a few diapers they all have a lot of use left in them. My problem? Stink. More often than not it's a strong ammonia smell. Other times there's this lingering bm smell.
I usually put the dirty diapers in the washing machine and run them through a full cycle to rinse them. Then I was hot, rinse cold with about half the recommended amount of detergent. I try not to over crowd the washer and I use the highest water setting.
I have a top loading washer with soft water and I think I've tried just about every possibility: Allen's, Charlies, Tide (ME recommends this), All Free & Clear, BioKleen (liquid and powder), Country Save, Sun, and Soap Nuts. I've used vinegar and no vinegar, baking soda and no baking soda, borax and no borax, a little bit of bleach in the rinse and no bleach, oxygen bleach and no oxygen bleach, tea tree oil and no tea tree oil, GSE and no GSE. I've line dried and used my dryer. *NONE* of the suggestions I've received over the years seems to work.
I've tried stripping with Dawn, with very hot water and peroxide, and with just plain water. I've never had all that many suds that show up in the water when the washer is agitating meaning I'm not all that comfortable assuming that it's build up.
All I want to do is put my diapers in the wash and have them come out clean and smelling like nothing at the end. I want to put them on my child and when I change their diaper not be gassed out of the room. I don't want the diaper to smell any stronger than what came out of the child.
My dh is game - more so than me. He'd like to stop paying for disposables and is willing to do the diaper laundry. I just need to figure out the laundry part first. Everyone always talks about how cloth diapers have changed over the years, but tbh the laundry problem I have now is the very same one my Mom had when I was a baby. It seems to me that this is the dirty little secret no one talks about (pun totally intended here...lol).
I have less problems with the prefolds than I do with the MEOS. I really don't want to have to buy new diapers - I need to make what I have work (well, outside of buying some new covers which we could use). Could you help me? Pretty please?
