So since darling A turned 1, we switched her over to cloth diapers. I love my Grovia hybrids. I wasn't a big fan of stuffing pocket diapers, and I didn't like how long the all in ones took to dry, or how much room they took up. So the Grovia hybrids seemed like the perfect balance of everything I wanted. Snaps make it harder for my little houdini to break free, the soaker liners snap in and out easily and quickly during diaper changes, the flushable liners made dealing with the poopie diapers a breeze, and they are simple enough for a Grandma to use when they have time with her.
Like many mom's who decide to cloth diaper I have spent hours and hours reading, researching, and chatting with people about tips, tricks, successes and failures. I thought I had it figured out. Things were cruising along wonderfully....then the smells started, and ammonia irritated her little bottom, then the leaking and the whole house smelling like pee because she scooted around with a wet bum, leaving little bum shaped plop-prints up and down the floor.
I had been using the cloth diapers for close to two months, no leaks, no worries, happy momma. Now, a very frustrated, ready to cry momma because we were back full time on disposable diapers, and those things aren't cheap! I try to be frugal in many places in our lives, finding ways to save money without sacrificing simplicity, or comfort too much. Which is why I wanted to cloth diaper in the first place (not to mention it's better to not throw all those diapers away) and couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the fancy laundry detergent specifically for diapers. So I just used what I already made.
BIG MISTAKE!!
Like I said, at first it was fine. Then we started getting the ammonia smell that wouldn't go away, so I started researching and changed my wash routine. Since I have a wonderful HE Front loader, I started doing a rinse cycle, then washing with pre-wash, doubled the detergent, and heavy soil with extra water. Smell was gone, but now her bum was constantly irritated, so back to the internet I went. Maybe it was too much detergent? But when I backed it back down, it was getting ammonia smell again. So back up, and added an extra rinse to the end of the wash cycle. All seemed to be back to smooth sailing.
After a few weeks of diapering happiness, I started to notice that leg of her pants was wet, but when I went to change her, the diaper was barely damp. I thought it might be a fit issue, so I started playing with the sizing, After peeing through every diaper, and changing the shells every diaper change I had had it.
I started looking up troubleshooting guides, even contacting the company itself. It basically came down to, either the fit is wrong due to sizing or failing elastic, or the diapers are not absorbing like they should. Well that's an easy test. Using warm water I poured a little on a clean dry diaper....
NOTHING.
It just sat there, mocking me.
So I pressed with my fingers to simulate the pressure from little A's body and the water just rolled off the side. I found my problem. I had a build up of something on the diaper.
SO I started looking at detergent for diapers, to see what was in them. The brand Grovia recommends is Tiny Bubbles and at .22 cents a load, it was nearly three times as expensive as my homemade laundry detergent which works up to roughly .08 cents per load. If you don't have any desire to make your own, Pinstripes and Polkadots has done a wonderful job compiling a list of detergents and how well they work on cloth diapers.
Tiny Bubbles brand has the Ingredients: Sodium carbonate, Sodium sulfate, Sodium
percarbonate, natural chelating agents, Sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate,
Linear alcohol ethoxylate
These ingredients sure sounded familiar....I checked my tub of 7th Generation Oxy, and lo and behold....
Sodium carbonate (washing soda),
sodium percarbonate (mineral-based oxygen stain removal that works by breaking down in water to peroxide and oxygen), sodium sulfate, sodium silicate.
So I guess I'll use that as my base for diaper detergent. WHat's missing from Tiny bubbles still is the natural chelating agents, Sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate, and
Linear alcohol ethoxylate. Just what are these?
Natural chelating agents are mineral transporters that grab on to minerals like ammonia crystals that can build up on pee diapers. A natural chelating agent is citric acid, although I have no clue what is in Tiny Bubbles. I have Citric acid on hand for canning,
Sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate, and
Linear alcohol ethoxylate are surfactants, that help to remove dirt.
So for my surfactant, I decided on baking soda. So I mixed up equal parts, baking soda, washing soda, and 7th generations oxy. After 5 washes, I still couldn't get water to absorb, so I broke down and scrubbed the diapers with Dawn dishsoap, rinsed well and washed again.
FINALLY! They adsorbed water almost instantly!
Now to use and test my new mix for detergent. If I find it lacking, I will add some citric acid in small amounts and test.
My biggest take away from this, is that just like any other aspect of parenting you learn as you go, and sometimes that learning curve is a steep climb, but it's always well worth it.
Happy diapering!
I am not affiliated with any of the companies or products mentioned in this post, and get no money for mentioning them.
