Wash with baking soda and rinse with vinegar every time

Um, why is baking soda bad for PUL?? I haven't heard this before and I've been ONLY using baking soda lately (no detergent!).

Worrying!
Liz

It breaks down the laminate over time.

How do you tell if the urine is highly acidic? My mom is a chemist and she always uses vinegar on urine because it reacts with the urea and breaks it down to there is no smell.

I heard that both are bad too! *looking for where I read that*

Man, I didn't know that, and it seems like I just figured out a good wash routine too - that includes baking soda......

i sometimes sprinkle baking soda over a layer of dipes in the pail- combo of pul, cotton & hemp. not so good?

I use baking soda often, but if I use vinegar in the rinse, Emily gets a rash. I have no idea why... and we have soft water too.

With hard water, I have heard that vinegar can make your diapers stink. I'm not sure.

I'm still using Sport Wash with great results. My water must like it.

Teri

Vinegar will make your diapers stink worse if you have hard water, it took me a little while to figure that out and it took even longer to get them not stinky anymore.

I really hope bs isn't bad for pul because I wash everything once a week with tto and baking soda and sometimes use it in the washer when I use detergent on the other days to remove stink and stuff.

How does baking soda break down PUL? It's not an acid... I've been using baking soda for years and my PUL is fine.

I have always used baking soda in my wash and vinegar in my second rinse, and NEVER had a problem with my PUL.

I just started doing my own cloth diapering (had a diaper service until a month ago). Sorry to be so ignorant, but what does PUL stand for?

Quote:
Something or other laminate, I can only remember the L right now. The water proof outside of pocket dipes like fuzzibuns and other companies that make covers, pocket dipes and certain aios.

It seems strange to me that either would be bad for any of the materials since they have been touted for who knows how long as excellent, extremely gentle household and laundry cleaners. I can see how the vinegar might cause something to stink over time if it built up.

What I've been doing lately is washing with a little bit of detergent and 1/2 cup baking soda, adding 1/3 cup vinegar to the first rinse and then running a second rinse with nothing. I sure hope that helps to get everything out. I've only been CD for about 2 months so I'm pretty new to all of this. I don't use PUL very often at all so I'm not too concerned about that. I just want a way to make sure my dipes don't get stinky over time.

You cannot tell except by experience, really (or if you know a chemist who would test it for you, I suppose, as you mentioned).

But the acid in vinegar can definitely combine with the acid in urine, and cause permanent stains (and smells, for that matter).

PUL = Polyurethane laminate. And just an FYI, this is exclusive of whatever fabric it is applied to; anything can be laminated, and not all fabrics are suitable for cloth diapering simply b/c they have been laminated this way.