Help! What am I doing wrong??????

[charliesmom]

I completely agree TL, both have good and bad things about them for the enviroment

Have you tried a soak in oxyclean and vinegar with a bit of water? apparently it smokes up when you mix them haha but it's supposed to be like magic

That sounds fun! I have oxobrite, which is the all natural version of oxyclean... and i'm going to be tossing it in my strip wash. The only thing is, bumgenius swears vinegar is unnecessary, and would void the warranty if I use it... should I use vinegar??

 

[mommyof3co]

I've used it...I honestly don't see how they could possibly know you used it. It hasn't like broken mine down or anything like that. If you want I can get the amounts you are supposed to use if you'd like?

 

[charliesmom]

I may get beat up for saying this... but I really don't think it is all THAT much more economical... especially when you run into problems like that. Problems like that are also hard on the environment as it uses so much water and energy to fix. Just hard on the environment in different ways. We had to turn our hot water heater up and it runs off natural gas, so is using more of that. And we are in a drought, so using more water isn't always a good thing.

That is why I think CDing is a personal choice more than an ethical one. Don't hate me!!! That's just MHO.

I got to where I would measure out my detergent with a teaspoon -- only one or two per load. That is about 10 diapers on full water. It is working better for me so far!

Oh no, I think you're absolutely right. It costs me just about as much money in the end as disposables I think. But the thought of adding another 8 non-biodegradable disposable poopy diaper out in the landfill somewhere per day is really gross. lol. Plus I actually like the clothe diapers better - they are cuter, and we have less poop in the back problems than with the disposables. But these detergent build up problems are a pain in the bum!

 

[charliesmom]

I've used it...I honestly don't see how they could possibly know you used it. It hasn't like broken mine down or anything like that. If you want I can get the amounts you are supposed to use if you'd like?

That's very kind of you! yes please

 

[mommyof3co]

No problem Here are 2 ways you can do it

Method 1 (original method): Place dipes and inserts in plastic tub and cover with vinegar. A lot of vinegar. Sprinkle 3/4 scoop of Oxyclean over the pile and mix just a bit to get it all the way in. By this time I had a lot of smoking and bubbling and it got really hot so I added 1/4 cup of water to the mix and stirred a little again. I left it alone overnight and rinsed in the washer. A lot! Then I dried in the dryer and no more stinkies. An alternate to this is that you can take the dipes and inserts directly from the tub into the bathtub, sink, or shower even and rinse the tar out of them in there. This is a lot quicker than a washer going through 3-4 rinses (or more if you have a larger load or a front loader) and waiting. I don't like to wait, lol.

Method 2: I placed the newly offending dipes and inserts (oh, and wipes too!) straight into my washer. I washed with my regular detergent (currently using Tide but I have used the military's All Free and Clear and love it) and do a single wash and rinse. It didn't get rid of the stinkies in several dipes (again, these were the one's that the babysitter forgot about for over 2 weeks ). So, I left them in the washer, wet like they already were, poured a whole bottle of vinegar over them (good thing it's cheap, lol), then I put 1 1/2 scoops of oxyclean over them and agitated it for a second on a wash cycle. I stopped it and let them sit like that overnight again (I didn't mean to, but I forgot about them, lol). I restarted the wash cycle and let it go through a full rinse cycle as well. I pulled out the two diapers that were going to take the longest to get the suds out and hand rinsed them in the sink, put them all back in for a final rinse and then I dried them. No stinkies since then either.

 

[charliesmom]

No problem Here are 2 ways you can do it

Method 1 (original method): Place dipes and inserts in plastic tub and cover with vinegar. A lot of vinegar. Sprinkle 3/4 scoop of Oxyclean over the pile and mix just a bit to get it all the way in. By this time I had a lot of smoking and bubbling and it got really hot so I added 1/4 cup of water to the mix and stirred a little again. I left it alone overnight and rinsed in the washer. A lot! Then I dried in the dryer and no more stinkies. An alternate to this is that you can take the dipes and inserts directly from the tub into the bathtub, sink, or shower even and rinse the tar out of them in there. This is a lot quicker than a washer going through 3-4 rinses (or more if you have a larger load or a front loader) and waiting. I don't like to wait, lol

This sounds like a science experiment lol. Thanks a lot. I'm going to try scrubbing with Dawn, as recommended by bumgenius first. If that doesn't work, I'm going to get down and dirty with the vinegar and oxyclean.

 

[Shifter]

I think it is totally a personal thing and depends where you live, how you get your hot water, how much sun you get per year etc. But in the UK, by and large, cloth nappies are considerably more economical and environmentally friendly than disposables - based on our fixed water rates and a good four months of the year without needing to tumble.

 

[mommyof3co]

Here in TX I could probably hang out to dry all but a couple months of the year, but really almost no one line dries anymore. Really depends on what area you are in though, TX is hot most of the year and sunny

 

[charliesmom]

I line dry my bumgeniuses, just because it says to lol. I'm a strict follower of directions. It takes over a day to dry right now, but I have enough diapers in my cycle to wash only every other day.

Also, I'm finally stripping my diapers today! Wish me luck! On my 3rd hot wash right now.

 

[TigerLady]

How did the stripping go???

Where I live, I can line dry outside about 2-3 months of the year. I can't even line dry inside very well the rest of the year. Have to use the drier or there would be no hope. And it runs on natural gas. I think switching to prefolds and covers might help cut down drying time, though.