Home-made detergent long term issues

[TrennaII]

I agree with the PP that you're overwashing, especially since that second cycle is a hot wash.

The Cottonbabies website says not to use water hotter than 100F; typically a household's water heater is hotter than that, so your hot wash is probably killing the elastic. And killing it twice as quickly since you're doing two hot washes.

With our Flips, the ones that were exposed to more heat gave up on the elastic very very quickly, while the others did not.

But yes it also seems that homemade detergent is missing some ingredients, and you may be using too much for a front loader. The recipe I use is 1 box/part each washing soda, baking soda, and borax, with 15 oz soap ... and 1 tablespoon per load in a giant top loader. I've had no issues after using it for a year (I still prefer Country Save for diapers, it gets them whiter, but the homemade detergent didn't damage or fail to clean the diapers).

Borax is harmful to diapers only in a large quantity. The amount in homemade detergent is quite small.

[jessicanashville]

I have made my own detergent for a few years and it NEVER worked for diapers for me...I have to use Tide...it's the only thing I have found that works and doesn't get stinky.

[TrennaII]

Also, how frequently do you wash? I came upon an interesting article on Wazoodle, explaining how the first 48 hours, there isn't much cloth-eating bacteria in diapers, but it explodes exponentially after that.

And ... that second hot wash with your prefolds, plus using a 2T of the homemade detergent in a front loader, is probably aging your cotton very quickly too. It sounds like its twice as hard on your diapers than it needs to be, if not more.

[awarren]

Originally Posted by meljc If your covers don't have poop on them, have you thought about putting them in with baby's clothing laundry? They shouldn't really need the same aggressive washing that your inserts or prefolds get. Ours are washed with clothing on delicate (warm water and low agitation) and then I line dry them.

Anyone else wash covers with clothes? Aren't covers at risk for detergent buildup as well as prefolds? I always thought they would need "special" washing as the diapers do.

[awarren]

Originally Posted by qsefthuko I don't have any help but am wondering how that mixture alone can clean diapers? It isn't actually using any soap or detergent.

As well as comments from others:

Here is the link to the detergent recipe. It is on several other sites as well.

http://theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009...aper-detergent

Web searches seem to indicate a lot of people use this, thats why I thought it would be the eco, budget thing to use.

[awarren]

Originally Posted by ktgrok first, you are doing too much. a rinse or prewash, a wash, and an extra rinse is enough. No sure why you are doing the extra wash after that? Second, your homemade detergent has no soap in it, just water softeners. Third, oxiclean can react with pea to form an acid that is hard on cotton.

When I use the homemade stuff, and omit the second wash (as a rinse really) I get stinks. I read on several sites about diapers with front loaders and people used 2 whole cycles to get them fully cleaned and rinsed. The initial prewash is part of the cycle.

Maybe with Tide I could try omitting the extra wash and see if I have the same results.

[awarren]

Originally Posted by TrennaII Also, how frequently do you wash? I came upon an interesting article on Wazoodle, explaining how the first 48 hours, there isn't much cloth-eating bacteria in diapers, but it explodes exponentially after that. And ... that second hot wash with your prefolds, plus using a 2T of the homemade detergent in a front loader, is probably aging your cotton very quickly too. It sounds like its twice as hard on your diapers than it needs to be, if not more.

I most often wash every other day, sometimes daily, but never let it go a third day. With 2 in dipes that would be way too many stinky dipes for one load!

[meljc]

Originally Posted by awarren Anyone else wash covers with clothes? Aren't covers at risk for detergent buildup as well as prefolds? I always thought they would need "special" washing as the diapers do.

Since the covers don't absorb anything, I don't think buildup would be an issue. It certainly hasn't been for us. The problem with covers is that washing them too aggressively can kill the elastic and damage the PUL (especially if it's exposed)

For our diapers we do two "whites" cycles (Tide Ultra in the first) since we don't have a rinse option. Everything is still holding up great after eight months.