diapers are not soft anymore

[rakishchick]

i prepared our unbleached cotton prefolds before baby was born and they were all soft and fluffy. the first wash after she used them, they were not as soft and have become almost starchy feeling. we have hard water and i have been using 2 tbsp of rockin green hard rock unscented. i do a cold rinse then wash with the detergent on hot water, then an extra rinse. we wash about 20-24 prefolds at a time with about 10-15 cloth wipes and fuzzibunz cloth diaper pail then throw everything but the pail in the dryer. we hand wash the covers. how do i get the prefolds soft again?

[Katie T]

We have hard water as well (we use Charlies though) and mine did this as well. They did get softer all on their own. I didn't have to do anything. I think they get pillier and stiffer and that translates to rough stiff diapers. The pillies come off over time and they are soft and floppy again.

Time was what helped mine. Sorry no great advise.

I know vinegar is used as fabric softener so maybe that could help.

[hoping42]

I would recommend reading through a few pages of a very long (51 pages) post on diaperswappers.com (diaper chatter Q & A forum) about washing and detergent/laundry basics. http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/....php?t=1040786

I only got through the first 20 pages one night long ago but I thought that fewer diapers in the wash at once was recommended and also adding washing soda for hard water was also recommended to help with softness etc. May be worth looking into. Also I am guessing that your detergent was not one of the recalled batches correct? If it was that might account for it as well. There was also something about using Ecover Liquid Fabric Softner on occassion as well. Hope this will be helpful.

[PoppyMama]

I use ecover softener about every third time I was my diapers, natural fibers only, and it helps a ton. I do an extra rinse on the cycles I use the softener.