I CAN NOT get my diapers clean! PLEASE HELP!

[Dancing_with_Joy]

I was just going to ask if you had hard water.

Be sure to not let your diapers sit too long in a semi-moist state.

Also, have you tried sunning your diapers. The uv rays help kill bacteria/fungus.

[blueone]

Enzyme detergent is really good. It doesn't have to be Tide, I use Cheer Free and Clear with great results! I will admit, I used All Free and Clear, it worked good I guess, but it has no enzymes and I started getting itchy from it, so back to Cheer.

[Sunny_mama]

[ QUOTE=JnS Mama;13428270]I'd go retro,

Get some He Tide. Use up to the 3 line. Wash on the hottest setting with bleach. I'd do that a couple times, in between which I'd run a regular wash setting with nothing but a cup of vinegar.

That's only to strip/kill everything in your diapers. The enzymes in the Tide will work away at the nasties, and the bleach will kill the bacteria (which is what causes that immediate ammonia smell after pee in otherwise clean smelling diapes).

Use more detergent. A buildup problem would show up as repelling. As in, drops of water roll off your diapers. Stink is a 'not clean' issue, not buildup.



Ami[/QUOTE]

This exactly. Buy or borrow a few sposies while you do this so you don't skip any diapers and you can take your time getting them good and clean. If that doesny fix it you can always do a soak in vinegar and oxy clean and super hot water overnight.

[Faith and Granola]

Wow this is such helpful advise! I wish I had come to you guys before I got so frustrated. Here is my routine now: (my baby is exclusively BF)

-I spray off as much as I can with a diaper sprayer, store in a dry pail.
-I do wash every other day
-I do a cold soak (no spin)
- "Power Wash" on cold (high spin)
- "Power Wash" on hot
- Extra cold rinse

After all of this (almost 4 hours) I just pulled a bunch of pocket diapers out of the wash with poop residue still on them. I know it's residue and not stains because I can scrub the remaining stuff off by hand with a bristle brush.

Any opinions about which Tide to buy for my HE machine? Should I bother with Free and Clear?

[m&m&m]

Originally Posted by Faith and Granola Wow this is such helpful advise! I wish I had come to you guys before I got so frustrated. Here is my routine now: (my baby is exclusively BF) -I spray off as much as I can with a diaper sprayer, store in a dry pail. -I do wash every other day -I do a cold soak (no spin) - "Power Wash" on cold (high spin) - "Power Wash" on hot - Extra cold rinse After all of this (almost 4 hours) I just pulled a bunch of pocket diapers out of the wash with poop residue still on them. I know it's residue and not stains because I can scrub the remaining stuff off by hand with a bristle brush. Any opinions about which Tide to buy for my HE machine? Should I bother with Free and Clear?

wow that much washing and there is poo residue?? how many diapers are in your load? Too many can be an issue but too few can be an issue to.

[blueone]

Yeah, we wash only every other day, no longer and there are about 15ish diapers in the wash (he's a toddler). Maybe you need to wash smaller loads. Is there a setting on your wash to add more water?

I have a top loader HE and use the Bulky Load setting so extra water is added. Is your water really soft maybe? I do a rinse with no spin, then set it to Bulky Load, Hot, and Extra Heavy.

Free and Clear is optional. My son has really sensitive skin (as do I) and since I keep things simple by using the same detergent for clothes and diapers I buy the Free and Clear.

[hpfgirl]

Originally Posted by Faith and Granola -I do a cold soak (no spin) - "Power Wash" on cold (high spin)

Instead of these two steps, do a hot prewash with soap. I use my washer's "normal" cycle for this. If your washer has a selector for soil level, make sure the highest one is selected for this and your hot power wash.

Cold water does nothing. Water with no soap does nothing.

[Ecomoma]

I have heard of people putting a towel or two in with their diapers. It helps weigh down these new washers. Also do you know if you have hard water or soft water? That could be an issue as well.

[KimA]

What model do you have? Some of the HE top loaders are really bad. Are your regular clothes getting clean? I would almost say return it and get a good tler or fler. So sorry mama that you are having so many issues. It should be this difficult to get your diapers clean.

[plumpkin]

Originally Posted by hpfgirl Instead of these two steps, do a hot prewash with soap. I use my washer's "normal" cycle for this. If your washer has a selector for soil level, make sure the highest one is selected for this and your hot power wash. Cold water does nothing. Water with no soap does nothing.

I think the cold wash soak and cold power wash are prewashes. If you do a prewash in hot water you will set in any stains instead of just loosening poo residue which is what the prewash/soak is supposed to do. Do the hot powerwash with detergent only after the cold wash. You can also use a little detergent in the cold wash or try a few squirts of bacout in the cold wash.

Faithandgranola, you might not have enough dipes in the wash to aggitate against each other so the poo gets scrubed out. Or you might have too many in the wash and so the dipes don't have enough room to get scrubbed clean. The key is to have the right amount of water with the right amount of dipes. Rumparoozs says to wash 15-20 dipes on a large water load. You can adjust the numbers (ie. 8-10 dipes do a medium water load).

Oh and to save time you don't have to spin out the water on your cold soaks and washes. Just drain the water from the drum and then skip the spin and start the hot wash. This saves time and the added weight in the dipes might trick your machine to add more water for the hot wash.