Stripping Sucks - Nothing is Working - HELP! - Page 2

[SubliminalDarkness]

I'm scrolling back through my e-mail archives. I don't remember if it was published on their site, but when you e-mailed them(they're also CottonBabies) they would often recommend Tide. It was talked about quite a bit on DiaperSwappers.
Additionally, they also tested Tide with users, as well as other detergents. One of my friends was a tester for All Free & Clear and bumGenius.

Tide comes up a lot on diaper sites, like DS. There's a lot of people(myself included) that have a hard time believing that detergent makes something "stink." Something dirty stinks. When diapers stink, in most cases, they're not clean enough. Stuff like Charlie's will in many cases not clean diapers well enough. Yet people are led to believe they have detergent build-up, which is really practically impossible with such a product.

I have never used Tide w/ Bleach with my diapers. I have always used liquid, original Tide since switching to it.

[clovergirl]

Personally, I have experienced diaper stink from build-up of detergent (the first 3mo of my son's life my husband was using twice the recommended amount of cloth diaper friendly detergent per load!). I have numerous friends who have as well (one of which I just finished doing rehab on her diapers, it was a long process, as she has soft water but didn't know it- the amount of gunk and suds that came out of her diapers was unbelievable!), so I know it exists. I'm not saying that detergent build-up is always the issue when people are experiencing smelly diapers, but that it can really be a problem. If the detergent does not rinse cleanly from your diapers it can leave a residue (and this is more common in detergents that have optical brighteners and the like that are designed to stay in the fibers even after washing) and that residue mixed with the bactieria from pee and poop can be absolutely horrible.
In my experience (worked in a brick&mortar store that sold diapers for 5 years before starting my business in addition to cloth diapering all three of my own kids), if your water quality is decent (not too hard or too soft) chances are you can use just about anything, provided you rinse well, without problems. If you have soft water or hard water you may very well wind up needing to use something more then regular recommended cloth diaper detergent (particualrly if you have hard water) or tweak your washing routine to find what works. Again, if Tide works for you (and I mean the general "you") then that's awesome. But if it doesn't, well, it doesn't. But the same can be said for all of the cloth diaper friendly detergents too. Different water qualities, different washing machines, how often you are washing... all of these factors can come in to play. Hopefully they won't and you find success with the first detergent you try, but if not, it can be a hard road.
OP, I hope you find something that works for you soon!