Maria asked us this month to share about a hurdle to cloth diapering and how we overcame it. She says:
This month’s topic is the fact that cloth diapering isn’t always fluff & rainbows, unicorns & sparkles; most of us have had some sort of hurdle with cloth diapering. I want to know what hurdles you encountered, and how you overcame them.
Did you have trouble with your wash routine? Detergent? Fitting cloth into your budget? Getting your family on board? Something else?
I’ve had my share of issues in the past nearly 5 years. Just like with any other laundry, chore, or item on your to-do list, sometimes cloth has its’ trials. My toughest issue was moving to a place that had ‘city water’ so we assumed that it was softened. After a year we discovered that it was hard water– off the charts hard. All my microfiber inserts smelled like barnyard coming out of the dryer. Even using an off the shelf detergent wasn’t enough for long term, we had to bleach the inserts once a month to keep the stink down. Once they’d been ‘polluted’ then it didn’t seem like it mattered, they’d been used for 2 years, so they were old. It was time to replace them. I could get all microfiber and hope it didn’t happen again, or trade in for more natural fabrics.
That’s where my Fabulous Flats posts come in! I recalled that with prefolds at the newborn stages, and other natural fibers, I had zero issues. So, I ordered some flats, a few different kinds. I figured, at around a dollar or two apiece, what could it hurt? Minimum I could use them as towels, right? I was not surprised when they worked well. I was surprised at HOW well they worked, though. No stain, no stink, no bleaching. Also, it cut my wash routine down considerably. From 2 washes with 5 total rinses to a rinse, wash, double rinse, my water usage was cut in half and the diapers smell CLEAN no matter what!
I first started off with a detergent I got at WalMart. I didn’t think it mattered if you had hard or soft water. Once I found out we had hard water, we switched to Rockin’ Green Hard Rock. I actually noticed a difference. I think the detergent and washing routine might be one of the biggest challenges for cloth diapering moms.
Awesome! Flats are so much easier to clean than microfiber. I’m thankful I’ve never dealt with super hard water since we have a softener!
I have a front loader, HE washer and have found that my microfibre and AIO’s just don’t do well in it. They require too many rinses to get clean and ongoing stripping. All my natural fibres are fine as well as pockets and AI2’s. I have started using my old microfibre for mopping instead:) I have yet to try flats but would like to just for the experience!