So, I know this sounds crazy, but my 26 month old daughter recently potty-trained herself and I'm kind of sad about it. I like cloth diapers. I like the little bit of pride I get each time I change one. I may not drive a hybrid. I may occasionally buy a box of K-cups. But damn it, at least I cloth diaper. Hell, I even like the laundry. There is something so satisfying about putting a disgusting, poopy, stinky diaper into the washing machine and having it come out clean smelling.
I used to use Country Save laundry detergent. I wanted to do everything "right" so when I started cloth diapering, I had to find a detergent that had no scents, no enzymes, no fabric softeners, and no optical brighteners. It was fine at first (though my regular clothes didn't get as clean as I liked), but I always had to tentatively smell each diaper before it went into the dryer. Sometimes I had to wash them again.
Then I started to get the dreaded ammonia stink. Every time I opened the wet-bag of diapers from daycare, I almost got blown away by the ammonia smell. I tried some other natural detergents- Rockin' Green and Nellies were a couple that I tried without luck. And tt make things worse, Anna got blistery type diaper rash when we were using the Rockin' Green. That had to go. Finally, I caved and did what many cloth diapering moms before me have done. I bought a box of Tide. And I love it. It's like magic. Turns out the enzymes are q good thing. The only thing that I don't like is that for HE washers (which I have), the only real option for me is the Original scent. Now I say the only "real" option because I don't like liquid. It doesn't seem to work as well and leaves dark spots on my darks. The "Free and Gentle" version for HE is a liquid only. And also, I have heard that these "free and clear" type detergents cause leaking/repelling in diapers anyway. So, you can read my upcoming post if you are interested and I will detail my wash routine and how I get clean diapers in my HE front loader. Every time. And the "Tide" smell is minimal.
I used to use Country Save laundry detergent. I wanted to do everything "right" so when I started cloth diapering, I had to find a detergent that had no scents, no enzymes, no fabric softeners, and no optical brighteners. It was fine at first (though my regular clothes didn't get as clean as I liked), but I always had to tentatively smell each diaper before it went into the dryer. Sometimes I had to wash them again.
Then I started to get the dreaded ammonia stink. Every time I opened the wet-bag of diapers from daycare, I almost got blown away by the ammonia smell. I tried some other natural detergents- Rockin' Green and Nellies were a couple that I tried without luck. And tt make things worse, Anna got blistery type diaper rash when we were using the Rockin' Green. That had to go. Finally, I caved and did what many cloth diapering moms before me have done. I bought a box of Tide. And I love it. It's like magic. Turns out the enzymes are q good thing. The only thing that I don't like is that for HE washers (which I have), the only real option for me is the Original scent. Now I say the only "real" option because I don't like liquid. It doesn't seem to work as well and leaves dark spots on my darks. The "Free and Gentle" version for HE is a liquid only. And also, I have heard that these "free and clear" type detergents cause leaking/repelling in diapers anyway. So, you can read my upcoming post if you are interested and I will detail my wash routine and how I get clean diapers in my HE front loader. Every time. And the "Tide" smell is minimal.
So what was the title of this post again? Oh yeah. Anna has potty learned- mostly. She still wears diapers when she sleeps and will hold her poop for days and days unless I put one on her when she starts telling me "Mommy, poopy!" So, my cloth diapering days are all but over and I feel sad about that. Maybe I need that third kid after all.
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