Help CD users! There is soooo much built up detergent in LO's inserts!

[Stellae]

The BG 4.0's we have are super, super built up with detergent. I made the mistake of asking hubby to wash them, and our front load HE uses so little water you have to be really careful with following the wash routine and also add in bucketfuls of water through the detergent drawer. Well hubby didn't add enough water, and then I made the mistake of thinking they had ammonia build up so I soaked them in even MORE detergent. AAAHHHHH.

I rinsed them in the washer with extra water added four times, then gave up and used a bucket to rinse them TEN more times. The soap just won't go away! In the meantime LO is in a combo of 'sposies and Econobums because he's getting irritated from the BG's. How can I save the inserts and get the soap out?? (I use Rockin' Green detergent).

 

[Rachel_C]

So have you followed the Rockin Green strip washing method? I think it says it on the packet... maybe!

If you have, you probably just need to keep rinsing until the bubbles are all out. Don't stop and start - if the detergent dries in it'll be harder to rinse out when you start rinsing again. If you need to stop and use the washing machine for something else, just dump them in a bath of water for a bit. Apparently, warm water is better for rinsing than cold, so you could run your longest warm wash cycle without detergent - that'll reduce the number of rinses you need to start too.

If that's taking too long, you can try some bleach. The bG instructions say it's fine once a month so it won't harm anything. They recommend washing up liquid in the washing machine to strip wash but I wouldn't do that with a front loader as the suds might get out of control! As a last resort, you could scrub them by hand with WUL, rinse as well as you can by hand then finish the rinsing in the machine when it's not so bubbly but I would exhaust every other option first as that will take days! Before that, I would personally try boiling the inserts - you could do a boil wash in the machine but it might be safer to use a big pan on the cooker so you can keep an eye on the snaps (I've used the 90 degree C wash in the machine but only on microfibre inserts without snaps). Don't let them catch on the bottom of the pan or anything! Obviously you can't boil the covers so you'd just have to keep rinsing them, but with fewer in the washing machine it shouldn't take so long.

ETA - Have you tried Funk Rock? Or sometimes if build up is caused by one detergent, using a different brand to strip can work better.

 

[Stellae]

Ooo I didn't think of using a different detergent. I have some cotton babies samples I could use instead. I'm just going to keep running those suckers until there's no suds, then do a run through with bleach and more rinses just in case ammonia is also an issue (as my nose indicates!)

Thank you!!!

 

[Rachel_C]

Good luck, hope it goes quickly

 

[Noo]

How did it go?

 

[Stellae]

Not good, the front of the inserts STILL smell slightly when totally dry. I soaked them in a 50/50 of vinegar and water for 15 hours and they're in the wash noes hopefully that does it. If not I'm out $80 bucks to buy new inserts!

 

[Rachel_C]

Did you try boiling? That should sort them out - either a boil wash or two in the machine or on the cooker for 20 minutes or so. If you're going to buy new ones anyway, doesn't matter if they don't like being boiled... although they should be fine.

 

[Rachel_C]

Oh and I don't suppose you have any rain at the moment do you? Rain water is good at rinsing out crap!

ETA - Not literally crap, although I suppose it'd work for that eventually.

 

[Stellae]

I haven't tried boiling, I'm afraid I'll melt or wrap the snaps on the inserts. I might give it a try if the vinegar failed. I'm just so frustrated, I've been washing diapers for four days!!

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I have read that baking soda is better for detergent build up rather than vinegar. I've never had to try, though I use baking soda all over my kitchen to clean. I would try soaking the inserts maybe?

I would also consider washing soda and/or borax. NOTE- I don't care about the warranty, but any number of things can void it, as it was so nicely pointed out to me.

When my dishcloths get funky I soak them in borax and washing soda (a tablespoon each maybe?), then run through a regular wash with detergent and the smell is gone

 

[Stellae]

At this point all the detergent build up is gone, but there is definitely ammonia build up that is really, really stubborn and not going away. I think I might end up buying osocozy unbleached flats and folding them up into inserts! I was going to get flip organic cotton inserts, but they're soooooo expensive and a flat looks to be basically the same darn thing.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Oh man what a predicament lol

Hopefully the vinegar works for you!

 

[Rachel_C]

Definitely try boiling them then. Snaps can be replaced (I think it cost me about £10-15 for a pair of snap pliers and a million snaps from ebay), plus a pair of normal pliers needed to smash out the old snaps

 

[Stellae]

Well after half a week, dozens of washes, bleach and a vinegar soak, about half my stash of inserts smells perfectly of nothing. The other half smells a little chemically where DS pees, but just barely. I'm going to rinse them a few more times just to be certain! If he still gets a rash after this so help me God lol!

Rachel I'm just too nervous to boil, and too lazy to go buy snaps and pliers lol!

I think if I do like the flats I'm buying as inserts I'm just going to switch to those for all of them.

 

[Rachel_C]

Sounds you like sussed it then

Ebay for snap pliers btw... think mine came from China, no way I was going out to get those .

 

[Stellae]

Lol nah, I'm just going to keep rinsing them, if the others finally got clean these should too.

The flats work really well as inserts, albeit a bit bulkier. LO doesn't seem to mind though and they feel soooo much nicer than microfiber, I hate that microfiber-gripping-your-skin feeling on dry hands in the winter! I have more a reason to use my econobum covers now too.

I've started rinsing the inserts in the toilet before putting them in the pail. We don't use a sprayer, just soak covers if they're poopy, I'm hoping that'll help keep the build up from coming back?

 

[Rachel_C]

Ack yes, the microfibre feels horrible to me too, even when brand new it's still a bit catchy... and what mum doesn't have dry hands sometimes?!

Extra water on the inserts should help.

 

[adrie]

Not sure if this is still an issue for you, but I would suggest an RLR strip if you have any measure of hard water. Many times, people think build up is strictly detergent, when in fact, if they have hard water and are washing incorrectly, the hard water minerals build up and trap bacteria and detergent and don't allow the detergent to clean effectively.

I would NOT be boiling anything ever. It's honestly not necessary and I've heard it reeks at best!

You can research hard water build up and its effect on cloth diapers as well as RLR. Or, you can make your own RLR with 1 tbsp borax, 1tbsp calgon and 1tbsp washing soda (NOT baking soda). This is enough for one half bath tub full of water with which to strip.

Depending, I might suggest a bleach soak after the mineral strip to get things back to square one.

 

[adrie]

Ammonia build up requires a BLEACH soak. You will be battling it on and off (at best) until it is properly taken care of.

 

[adrie]

Please do not boil anything other than natural materials like hemp, bamboo, etc. Boiling microfiber will likely ruin your inserts because it breaks down its material composition. Boiling shells and will likely ruin the snaps and elastics, if not the PUL. And who's got time for that? I would ONLY suggest such a measure on the shells if it was the absolute last thing and you decided to toss them if it didn't work prior to doing it.


So you have a faint ammonia smell on your diapers? Can you walk me through your *exact*stripping method? If you used bleach, the proper dilution is needed for the most effectiveness. Do you have hard water at all? If you have hard water, I would do a mineral strip and then a proper bleach soak and wash afterward and your issues will likely be gone!