Cloth diaper update

Well, seeing as though Black Friday is coming very quickly, I thought I'd give a quick update on how it's going with the cloth.

Truth be told, I'm a little frustrated, as they continually get the stinkies. This is when detergent doesn't get completely washed out, and next time baby wets the diaper, the urine mixes with the trapped detergent and creates a strong ammonia smell. Then next time they'll not only have trapped detergent, they'll have trapped urine, too. Compounding the problem is that we have very hard water.

I've altered my wash routine many times, and I still haven't landed on the one that works. Right now, it's a warm rinse with no detergent, a hot wash with 2.5 Tbsp of powdered Tide and same amount of washing soda (to help with the hard water problem), and a few short, cold washes, as I usually still see suds after the hot wash. I've tried more detergent, less detergent, no soda, Dawn dish soap, different temps in my wash, different settings, different amounts of cycles.

Next thing I'll try is adding water manually. Since I have a front loader, it uses significantly less water, and as I pointed out in one of my previous posts, you want more water with cloth diapers. I should have just started using more water from the beginning, but I'd read many wash routines from women with my same washing machine, and most didn't need to add water. So I trusted it'd be the same for me. Nope, not looking like it.

I've already stripped all my diapers 3 times, and today I noticed "the smell" again, so another strip will be happening soon. My prefolds are the worst culprit, but fortunately, they're the easiest to fix, even if only temporarily. All I have to do is boil them for 15-30 minutes and then run them though a rinse. The first time I did this, I couldn't believe the grossness of the water after I was done. It was cloudy and yellowish. My other diapers are trickier, because you can't (or shouldn't, rather) boil them since they have elastic and/or plastic snaps. I don't want to completely destroy the diapers, so I use RLR. I still haven't figured out what's in it, but needless to say, it didn't really help much. But I did ALL my diapers, so next time, I'll boil the prefolds and do RLR with my covers and pockets... that way the load will be smaller.

And all I could think of is that I might be super lucky that Matthew hasn't developed ammonia burn or diaper rash from this yet. I might have to strip diapers every month, but if it means he's rash-free, then I'll gladly do it.

Anyway, I've been making a list of new diapers to buy for Black Friday. Won't be a lot, and DH is fighting me over buying more, but some of the diapers we have are sized, and Bubba will soon outgrow them. I have also added a few single diapers of brands I haven't tried yet, but get good reviews. This one I'll have to rein myself in on.

To buy:
6 Thirsties Duo Wrap diaper covers, size 2
4-5 FuzziBunz perfect size diapers, medium
1 swim diaper
2-3 trainers
1 diaper sprayer
RLR
CJ's BUTTer

Looking at:
Rumparooz OS diaper
BumGenius Elemental
BumGenius FreeTime
Kawaii Baby Goodnights
Thirsties fitteds
SoftBums Omni

Yes, you read correctly... I put trainers on the list, even though Matthew isn't even 5 months old yet. And knock on wood, but judging from the fact that he H.A.T.E.S. to be wet, I want to be prepared in the off-chance that he'll potty train early (as in, before Black Friday 2013). I just have to find the right trainers, because if he does PT early, he'll be smaller, and if he doesn't go early, the small sizes won't fit him. So I won't get many, and I'll just sell them off if he doesn't fit them.

Overall, it's going pretty well with the cloth diapering... stinkies aside. Sometimes I just wish I could slap a disposable on him and call it good, but that's not too often. DH even likes cloth, which is surprising. Now if I could only get him excited about buying more of it... :)