Talk me out of checmical laundry detergent

[Adaline'sMama]

Im just sick of stripping, changing detergents constantly, soaking, ect. Diapering just became A LOT of work in the past 6 months and Im done with it. I want to just wash the diapers and hang them up to dry and fold them and put them away. Ive tried 10 different detergents, including three that I made myself. Ive tried the "one drop of dawn diswashing liquid." Ive tried adding vinegar and borax and washing soda. Ive tried changing up my routine of how I wash (cycle wise). I have tried everything I can think of.

Right now Im washing my pee diapers seperate form my poops (I put poops in a bucket, pees in a wetbag, so its not like I have to seperate them out). With my pees, Im using All free and clear mixe with Rockin Green (basically to use it up and because it smells like lavendar). Im using All free and clear and 1/2 cap of bleach on poopies. I do an extra rinse cycle after the bleach.

This is kind of my last ditch effort at asking for help. Here is what Im looking for: Laundry detergent that works. And keeps working for longer than just a month (Im tired of stripping). Please, ladies who have used the same laundry detergent for more than 6 months and dont have poop or urine smells in there prefolds, tell me what you are using! I will pay for the expensive stuff if I know it will work.

Ps. I have a top loader, I dont use more than the recommended amount of detergent, I always do a pre rinse, I use a BG diaper sprayer to spray out poops, I mainly use prefolds and covers. My covers dont stink, my prefolds do.

Thanks so much!

[Petite Bottoms]

What detergents have you used? Are you using the right formula Rockin Green? It looks like you either have soft or regular water, unless you have a well.

A basic wash routine is warm rinse, long wash on warm with detergent, warm rinse. You have a top loader so you can use as much as 4T of the Rockin Green.

[Adaline'sMama]

I usually use 4 tbsp. I have tried all three types (I got samples) the hard rock works the best, but still not very well. I don't know what kind of water I have, but it isnt well water. I assume it was hard water since the hard rock works the best. I've also used:


seventh generation
arm and hammer
365 (the whole foods brand laundry detergent)
Mrs. Meyers
Eco Nuts
Greenshield
and three that I made myself

Also, I have use Biokleen odor remover, but I had to use about three times the recommended amount to get the smell out.


As far as wash routine goes, Ive tried warm, warm, warm; warm, hot, warm; cold, hot, warm; warm, hot, cold; and cold, hot, cold.
Ive cycled through these with just about ever single different laundry detergent (once I wash a few times and the stink wasnt gone, I spent the rest of the bottle trying to figure out how to make the stink go away. )

[Midwesterner04]

I have been using Nellie's Laundry Soda for 9 months now, in hard water at my home and in some softer water during a 2-week visit with family. It has worked very well for me--no stink, no skin irritation, no build-up. My usual routine is a full cold wash cycle with no detergent followed by a full hot cycle with half a scoop of Nellie's and sometimes up to a scoop of Oxobrite. After that I run an extra hot wash to make sure the diapers are thoroughly rinsed.

One little note is that Nellie's, like Rockin' Green, is a "clean-rinsing" detergent, so you might need to clean/strip your washing machine (running a couple of hot washes with just vinegar and water did the trick for me) and remove buildup from your diapers with a Rockin Green or Nellie's soak and lots of hot rinses before it works its best.

[Drummer's Wife]

Do your diapers stink?  Build-up?  Are they not getting clean?

We are no longer cloth diapering (youngest of four kids is 4 years), but we are happy with Charlie's Soap, even with really hard well-water. 

I'm not above buying and using a splash of bleach in extreme cases - sometimes there is bacteria buildup that can't be killed otherwise (short of boiling and sunning a million times). 

Hope you find something that works.

[Hannah32]

1 tbsp of Planet detergent. Wash on cold with the soap (6 min cycle) and then on hot (10 min cycle). 

We've used prefolds and covers for an entire year and we've NEVER had a stink issue. From the detergent list I checked online, I know that 7th Gen and Arm and Hammer are not recommended. Don't know about the rest, but Planet works great. It's available in grocery stores in our area. 

The only stink issues we've had are from using too much soap on nighttime pockets and doublers. My prefolds have always been stink free. 

[Nicole730]

TIDE!  I went from Tide (which worked, but wasn't a "diaper" detergent) to Country Save and started getting stink issues.  I thought about trying Rocking Green, but went back to Tide Powder - original scent.  No stink issues since then! :)  (Oh and I do put a teeny amount of bleach in every so often, it's probably less than a TBL) 

[Marissamom]

maybe you need to use a water softener? calgon and white castle are the brands I've heard of.

[Galatea]

Most diapers eventually develop some stink - you have bacteria going into multiple layers of fabric so it's gonna happen.  Liquid detergents, additives, minerals and too much detergent create a nice matrix for bacteria to be trapped and grow.  Something has to kill the bacteria and get rid of the residue.

First step: quit using liquid detergent.  It is more likely to leave residue.  Powders are always better and clean more strongly.  Some people like Tide b/c it has a lot of enzymes that will eat the bacteria, but some babies cannot handle it and get bad rashes.  Be very careful if you go this route as it is hard to get the Tide out of the diapers if your baby has a rash.

Second: disinfect them some other way.  We do 1 Tbsp of bleach every few weeks.  You could also sanitize them (but you have a top-loader so you probably can't, and you can only do this on non-PUL/non-elastic items.)  Some people boil them (not the covers.)  This was how they did it in the old days - they boiled every batch of diaper laundry.

Third: address your water quality.  Persistent laundry problems usually indicate hard water.  Try adding a capful of Calgon water softener to your diaper laundry.  If they miraculously smell better, then you have hard water.  At this point, treat all your diapers with some RLR (this is a hard water chelating powder meant for laundry - find it at a hardware store.)  You will need to do this every so often b/c the hard water will keep building up.  Consider a whole-house softener.

Fourth: shake up your wash routine.  This is mine and we don't have stink:

1.  Rinse cycle with 1/2 cup plain white vinegar.

2.  Cold wash/cold rinse with 2 Tbsp powder detergent - we have used BioKleen, Country Save, Allens, Rockin Green and all worked well.  (I have a front-loader and a whole-house softener and about 30 diapers in a load, so you may need to use more detergent, esp. with hard water.)

3.  Hot wash/cold rinse with nothing - this gets all the detergent out.

4.  Once a month, add 1 Tbsp chlorine bleach to the cold wash/cold rinse with the detergent.

[Adaline'sMama]

Hey, thanks everyone for the advice. I might try planet, but Im already using powder detergent (always have except for seventh generation, Mrs. Meyers, and Eco. I really dont see how Tide is any better than All free and clear. Ive used bio kleen and rockin green with vinegar and I always do a before / after rinse.


Anyone else have any other detergent suggestions that they have used for longer than 6 months that are chemical free?

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

Hey, thanks everyone for the advice. I might try planet, but Im already using powder detergent (always have except for seventh generation, Mrs. Meyers, and Eco. I really dont see how Tide is any better than All free and clear. Ive used bio kleen and rockin green with vinegar and I always do a before / after rinse.


Anyone else have any other detergent suggestions that they have used for longer than 6 months that are chemical free?

The thing is, until you address the other potential problems (buildup from old detergents and minerals from hard water), there will be no magic detergent cure.  Really investigate the hard water issue.

[Carma]

It is also good to keep the washing machine clean. If you don't run hot water washes you can have bacteria buildup in the machine causing laundry to smell. I keep the door and the detergent inlet open all the time, so it dries out completely, etc., that also helps with smell.

I second the Tide powder, I have not stripped since I switched to Tide. It rinses out quite well. I use very little and do an extra rinse, and no rash problems sofar.

I really dont see how Tide is any better than All free and clear.

 I think a free and clear detergent on average does not wash as clean as a regular one.

Carma