Once you understand the basics of pH, water quality, your machine, and your materials, you will be able to choose the best laundry routine to get your diapers clean. Once you really get those basics, washing cloth diapers is easy.

Seeing through a mystery and mastering your own choices is invigorating. That’s how understanding laundry science feels for me. I’m not a scientist, but I have plenty of scientists who have willingly answered my questions over the past couple of months as I’ve been writing about cloth diaper washing, and now I GET the science of cloth diaper laundry.

If you want the easiest possible solution for washing your cloth diapers, use Allen’s Naturally laundry liquid (the cleanest rinsing laundry detergent we have found, but not the only detergent we recommend) and follow Real Diaper Association’s simple 5-step guidelines.

1. DUMP solids into the toilet
2. RINSE on warm, because soils come out better at the temperature they went in (body temperature)
3. WASH with detergent in hot water
4. RINSE twice in warm water
5. DRY

For most people, that’s all you need to know.

If it doesn’t work every time, that doesn’t mean cloth diapers don’t work. It means that you need to adjust your laundry routine for your situation. If it seems too difficult to understand your situation, remember that you could just dump your diapers in the garbage after every change. If you are here, you probably don’t want to do that. So, just invest a little time to learn laundry science, so you will no longer have to rely on advice that isn’t grounded in evidence. Back away from secret, proprietary formulas and mystery fixes to take charge of your own wash.

Laundry science knowledge will set you free.

Just wash the diapers and focus on the rest of your life!

The Basics

Get Cloth Diaper Washing Right from the Start

Our customers come to us for troubleshooting when cloth diapers are stinky or leaky. We can help, but we also know that you will save time, money, and grief if you understand your situation before you get into a laundry routine that will leave you with a stinky mess. Look at water quality, your washing machine, the materials used to make your diapers, then start simple.

Your Washing Machine and Cloth Diapers

When you are washing cloth diapers every few days, your washing machine is one of the important variables in the laundry routine. Whether you use top-loading or front-loading, HE or an old clunker, you can get your diapers clean with some adjustments. Keep in mind, though: your washing machine is far less important than your washing process. Read that twice if you need to because I’m telling you that you can get your cloth diapers clean in any washing machine.

Baby Diaper pH: An Intro

pH is measure of whether a solution is acidic or alkaline. Did you know that newborn skin is more alkaline than yours? A little background in science will help you keep your baby healthy and your diapers clean.

Wet Pail or Dry Pail?

Which will work better for your diapers? We will walk you through the pros and cons of your diaper pail choices. The short answer: there isn’t a lot of difference in choosing wet or dry pail. Starting with a dry pail is simple, and many families don’t find the need to try a wet pail.

Common Issues

Residue in Cloth Diapers

Are your diapers repelling and your covers leaking? Do clean diapers smell like a barnyard and wet diapers burn your nose? You may have residues in your diapers. Before you contemplate throwing it all away, learn the fix.

Hard Water and Cloth Diaper Washing

Hardness refers to mineral content in the water (usually calcium and magnesium). Most of us have hard water, and some of us have very hard water. Hard water doesn’t react as much with soap. Why? That’s a science lesson. And, once again, basic science has saved your cloth diapers.

How to Ruin Your Cloth Diapers

You can avoid laundry crazy by understanding laundry reality. We walk you through the Goldilocks Laundry Solutions—not too much; not too little; just right. With detergent, water, bleach, heat, sun, enzymes, or essential oil, it does sometimes matter whether you use too much or too little.

Detergent & Additives

Cloth Diaper Detergent Choices

Understand hard water, pH, washing machine, and residue before deciding on your cloth diaper detergent because these factors all matter. Unless you just want a very simple detergent that does the job. We’ve got that.

Artificial Fragrances in Your Home

Artificial fragrances lurk unmarked in many of your household cleaning products. These fragrances can be bothersome as they leave residues, irritating when they are allergens and harmful when they pose known health risks.

Fabric Softeners

We all love truth in advertising. “Hydrophobic chemicals in fabric softeners reduce absorbency of your cloth diapers but feel smooth against your baby’s skin.” Making your cloth diapers soft has to be a good thing, right? Of course, but don’t be fooled into using chemical fabric softeners to do it or you will be in for a leaky, repelling surprise. First rule of fabric softener for cloth diapers: don’t use it. There are natural ways to soften cloth diapers.

Enzymes

Enzymes are naturally occurring, biodegradable, and they help break down the organic matter in dirty diapers. What’s not to love? Enzymes too often end up on the list of bad additives, and that place just isn’t justified. Learn what enzymes do to clean cloth diapers, when they work, when they don’t, and how to use enzymes. Don’t be the person who says, “Enzymes don’t make sense to me, so I don’t use them.”

Cloth Diaper Detergent Additives to Avoid, Usually

The no-nos, the naturals, and the basic cleaners. There are some firm rules, but a lot of additives matter only depending on your specific situation. Once you understand the additives, you can choose a detergent that works well for your diapers, your water, and your machine. Stop believing that some additives are just bad for cloth diapers.

Do You Use Baking Soda and Vinegar?

You will find a lot of advice about using both baking soda and vinegar on cloth diapers. Do you know which situation calls for which solution? If you don’t know the difference and you use the wrong cleaner, it won’t help. We explain for each: what it is, what it does, when to avoid it, and when to use it on your cloth diapers.

Materials Matter

Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?

Different materials need different treatment to keep them functioning well for diapering. Animal (wool diaper covers), vegetable (cotton, hemp, bamboo rayon), and mineral (polyester, laminate, microfibre) are easy ways to understand diaper fibres and what they need to get clean.

Hemp vs Bamboo Rayon for Cloth Diapers

We get a lot of questions from customers in the bynature.ca store asking why they would want to choose bamboo vs. hemp for cloth diapers. Short answer: choose hemp for environment or absorbency, and choose bamboo rayon for softness.

Cotton Diapers: Do You Choose Organic or Not?

We were surprised when we asked customers about organic cotton diapers because their reasons for choosing organic don’t always match what we know about the benefits of organic. We recommend organic over non-organic, but our reasons might not be what you expect.

Cheapie Leakies

Why we don’t carry cloth diapers that come without support or warranty. In our eight years of experience, the bottom line is: you get what you pay for. When you buy your diapers from us, you’re also investing in our experience helping thousands of clients along the way to getting off to a great start, with product support, laundry advice, and troubleshooting.

We Can Help!

If you have laundry issues, come by the bynature.ca store in Orillia.  We want you to succeed in using cloth diapers, and a very big part of your success is getting the care of your diapers right. We can help you find solutions that work for your cloth diaper laundry.

Image © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com

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What’s the craziest way you’ve ever heard of to ruin your cloth diapers? How about putting them in the dishwasher or adding fish tank ammonia remover. You don’t need crazy solutions to get your cloth diapers clean.

We joke in the store with customers, asking them to please avoid reading online forums and following random advice they find for helping with odour issues. A so-called solution that we’ve had customers tell us about more than once is putting their diapers in the dishwasher. Before you resort to the dishwasher, please come and talk to us instead.

Avoid Laundry Crazy by Understanding Laundry Reality

One of the crazy town solutions that makes the rounds of cloth diapering forums at least every year or so is fish tank ammonia remover. This is a good example of tossing mysterious solutions at mysterious problems—until you decide to look at the evidence.

Let’s just back up here to the basic messages we have been focusing on for the past two months in our cloth diaper laundry posts.

• We want you to get cloth diaper washing right, or as close as possible to right, from the start so you don’t get the problems that cause chronic laundry issues.

• By understanding basic laundry science, we hope you won’t be tempted by wildly inappropriate solutions that don’t really address your issues. When you have issues, basic science helps you find solutions. Once you solve the problem, you adjust your wash routine to avoid the problem.

So, now let’s say that despite your best efforts you have cloth diapers that smell painfully and nose-burningly of ammonia. You know that you will need to adjust your laundry routine, but you have to get rid of the ammonia first. You need to start clean.

To breakdown the residue that holds on to the ammonia smell, use washing soda in addition to your regular detergent. If plain washing soda (sodium carbonate) doesn’t do the job, use RLR Laundry Treatment. The main ingredient is still washing soda, but this is a stronger formula than the washing soda you can buy in the grocery store.

Washing soda softens your water. The calcium and magnesium that have deposited in the fibers of your diapers and that are in your hard water waiting to deposit more are countered by the washing soda as it bonds with the minerals. Washing soda can also remove oily or greasy stains. If the problem is residue from oil-based detergents, washing soda can help you remove the oily residue.

Should you add RLR or extra washing soda regularly? No. You shouldn’t need to strip your diapers regularly. If you do, you have problems that you aren’t addressing with your regular laundry routine.

Will the washing soda hurt your diapers? That depends on your diapers. If you use bamboo rayon diapers, you might want to avoid sodium carbonate (washing soda) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Most manufacturers will tell you to avoid ingredients that will damage the specific materials of your diapers, so do pay attention to recommendations. Alkaline ingredients in detergent can be caustic, causing damage over time. The ammonia you smell after concentrated urine reacts with oxygen can also cause damage. So, let’s get it out! You don’t want to use extra washing soda for every load, but you do need enough to break down the residue that is holding on to smell in your diapers. And, you need to make sure it is all rinsed out. If not enough water or rinsing could be the reason for your build up in the first place, make sure that you rinse well so you will have no trace left of the detergent and washing soda. Don’t make the problem worse.

Why not just use the fish tank ammonia remover? What we hear is, “Seems like it must be gentle if it’s OK for fish.” Fish tank ammonia remover is sodium methanal sulfoxylate (or sodium hydroxymethane sulfinate or sodium formaldehyde bisulfate), not formulated for laundry. That is definitely not on the list of recommended laundry additives given by cloth diaper manufacturers. It isn’t gentle just because it’s used in fish tanks. You already have the right additives that are formulated for your laundry. Don’t resort to mystery ingredients that you don’t understand.

Stop cloth diaper washing gimmicks before they start. Investigate the science of what is happening in your diapers, what you want to happen in your diapers, and how to bridge the gap between the two.

Goldilocks Laundry Solutions

So, if a little washing soda is good, a lot is better. Right? Not so fast. You know that isn’t true. Some washing soda in detergents is good. That does the job of cleaning. Extra washing soda for occasional stripping is a symptom of an unbalanced wash routine, but it still won’t hurt most diapers. It does not follow that all diapers should be washed with extra washing soda for every wash.

Not too much. Not too little. Just right.

Detergent. I hope you would be surprised how often we hear that a family has stinky diapers, and we find out that they are using only a Tablespoon of detergent for a whole load of diapers. If you add too little detergent, you will get a build up of organic materials in your diapers. That’s still residue, but it’s a residue of urine and feces. Nice, huh? If you add too much detergent, you will get a build up of detergent in your diapers. That residue holds smells. So, taking into account your washing machine, especially if it is a high-efficiency (HE) machine that needs less detergent, and your water quality, since hard water needs more detergent to clean well, you find the balance. Water quality, machine type, and diaper material are all important considerations when you decide how much detergent to use. Need help navigating through it all, come see us. If you don’t live nearby Orillia, write to us. We know cloth diapers very well, and we want you to succeed.

Water. Another issue we see, especially with HE machines, is not enough water to wash or rinse adequately. Too little water, your diapers can’t move around and the water doesn’t move through them, so you get residue. Too much water, your diapers don’t get enough agitation to help remove soil. Again, residue. Watch the wash cycle in your washing machine. Can you tell whether you have enough water? Can you adjust your water? Even with an HE machine, you can often choose a different setting to get more water to your diapers. Not too much. Not too little. You know the rest.

Heat. If you dry without heat, your diapers will dry eventually—probably. If you don’t live in extreme humidity. There isn’t much danger with too little drying heat. If you use too much heat in the dryer, though, you may find the thin layer of soft plastic that provides waterproofing to your diapers separates completely. It looks cool to see a clear balloon of plastic blow up off your diapers. Not so cool when you realize your diapers don’t work anymore. So, go ahead and try very little heat, but don’t try too much heat.

Sun. Beautiful, natural sun. Can’t have too much, right? Wrong! The extreme heat of direct sun is fine for your cotton prefolds, but you should take them out of the sun once they are dry. There is just no reason to break down the fibers in the heat once you have taken full advantage for drying. Polyester diapers with layers of laminate and elastic and snaps would be better off out of the sun. Dry them flat or on the line. Dry them inside or outside, but you don’t need that direct sun—unless you are really curious to see what cracked laminate looks like.

Bleach. If a little bit of oxygen bleach is good, is does not follow that a lot is better. Much as in the case of washing soda, you shouldn’t need it every time, and you don’t need a lot. If you use chlorine bleach (which we do not recommend), you can dissolve your wool or bamboo diapers. You can even break down the fibers of cotton if you leave it in bleach long enough. Just avoid chlorine bleach and go with oxygen bleach, but only when you need it.

Essential oil. A little essential oil smells nice, so a lot will smell nicer, right? Well, it might smell nicer until the oil builds up a residue on the diapers—leaving you with the stink magnet that you are trying to avoid. Clean diapers keep coming back to residue and stink. There is no particular reason to add smells, even nice smells, to your diapers just for the sake of fragrance.

Enzymes. Avoid them because of a rumor that they are no good very bad, or use more than could ever actually do any good? I choose neither. Enzymes break down organic materials. Different enzymes work on different materials. Using enzymes to start the work of cleaning your diapers is very helpful. So, add more to clean them even better? No. The same enzymes will keep eating through the waste on your diapers until there is no more waste to break down. Adding more doesn’t help. It just gives you more enzymes to rinse out. A little squirt or spray on the diaper before it goes in the dry pail is enough.

Does some of the advice in this post seem familiar? I hope so. I’ve tried to review the guidelines we’ve given you. I want you to hear the basics of laundry science until you no longer feel tempted by half-truths and all-out misunderstandings about diaper laundry. Once you understand the basics of pH, water quality, your machine, and your materials, you will be able to choose the detergent, the water temperature, the wash cycle, and the rinses to get your diapers clean. Once you really get those basics, it’s not so difficult. Good for you choosing cloth diapers. It really is worth it.

Next week I will wrap up our laundry series with a recap of each of the articles, all gathered up in one handy place so you can remember where to start when you need help.

Image © Luis Viegas | Dreamstime.com

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Let’s play a game. Is your cloth diaper animal, vegetable, or mineral? Did you know that each requires a different approach to cloth diaper laundry?

Have you ever heard of the old parlor game, Animal Vegetable Mineral? It was actually based on the taxonomy of the natural world created by 18th-century Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus. These three natural kingdoms give us a useful way to think about how to get different cloth diapering materials clean.

Different materials need different treatment to keep them functioning well for diapering.

Animal?

Wool! Wool, the hair of sheep, is commonly used for diaper covers. Occasionally, the hair of other animals is used. Cashmere, the hair of Cashmere goats, makes a beautifully soft and silky diaper cover for a lucky baby.

Wool is used as the outer layer in diapering, the diaper cover or soaker. Wool works by absorbing moisture into its core, but tightly knit, woven, or felted wool fibers also make a whole fabric that will repel moisture. The structure of each hair itself, with overlapping scales, keeps the outside of the fiber from feeling wet, so wool is an ideal fiber for diaper covers.

Wool is sheared from the animal, giving the animal a haircut. The fibers are combed, spun into yarn, then woven or knit. With wool, you can also skip the yarn and fabric making by felting the fibers together. During the felting process, the scales on one fiber open then close onto other fibers, creating one strong fabric of connected fibers. Felted after a fabric is knit or woven is called fulling. The longer, smoother, and thinner the hair, the softer the fabric you can make from it. Merino wool is well known as a fine, silky wool.

Washing wool takes a bit more time than washing other cloth diapering materials. Most wool covers need to be washed by hand to prevent them from shrinking and felting. Some wool covers can be washed on gentle in the washer, though always check with the manufacturer to be sure. With a small basin full of room-temperature water and a small amount of wool wash, leave your wool covers to soak then swish around gently. Wool wash is usually comparable to a gentle shampoo with added lanolin (the grease from sheep’s hair) to keep the fibers soft. Gently squeeze the wool in the water to release any dirt. Unlike laundry detergents, though, you don’t need to rinse out wool wash. You also don’t need to add extra lanolin if you use a basic wool wash like Eucalan (Made in Canada!). Just gently squeeze out the water—never twist or wring—and lay the wool out flat.

Tips: Use wool wash with lanolin. Because wool is hair, it needs a little conditioning to stay soft and pliable. Wool can stretch when wet and shrink when heated. To avoid shrinking and stiffening, air dry, and to avoid stretching out your wool soaker or wool cover on the line, dry flat.

It takes only 5 minutes to wash a wool cover. It’s a little extra work, but the luxury of a soft, absorbent wool diaper cover is worth it when you are looking for natural, renewable fibers for your baby.

Vegetable?

Vegetable fibers don’t mean carrots and peas but cotton, hemp, and bamboo—even rayon made from wood pulp—since all fibers from plants would be classified as coming from the vegetable kingdom.

Cotton grows in the field, in a protective pod that opens up, showing its fluffy mass of long fibers. Cotton is already a staple fiber that can be spun into yarn then knit or woven.

Cotton absorbs moisture, but still feels wet to the touch. Parents find that helpful when potty training, since the child is more aware of the wetness.

Because cotton is hydrophilic (loves water), it holds on to rinse water in the wash as well. You need to rinse cotton well to keep it from holding on to the detergent chemicals. Because cotton is resistant to alkali exposure, and detergents are usually alkaline, cotton diapers are a great choice for the heavy, industrial washing diapers get at a diaper service. Cotton even resists damage from that ammonia smell you get in the morning, so cotton is a great nighttime diaper. Cotton cleans very well and easily.

Tips: Excessive heat, microorganisms and mildew, and acids can weaken or damage cotton fibers. No diaper should be left wet for long periods of time, and a dry pail will keep your cotton diapers stronger longer. Whether you dry the diapers in the sun or in the dryer, remove when dry to prevent damage.

Cotton is the most common cloth diaper material because it works so well and is so easy to care for.

Curious about what organic cotton is and why you might want to choose it for diapers?

Hemp is also a popular cloth diaper material—usually mixed with cotton to give it softness. Hemp grows easily in the field. Fibers for clothing are made from the fibrous material around the stem of the plant. After softening, the fibers are spun into yarn then knit or woven into fabric.

Though hemp is less soft than cotton or bamboo rayon, the toughness of hemp makes it a long-lasting diaper—if you can get it clean every time. If you don’t clean the fibers well, they can become weak and damaged—and stinky.

Hemp has a diapering reputation for being super absorbent. While the diaper is on the baby, we love this. Once it’s time to wash the diaper, though, this super absorbency (hydrophilia) makes hemp more difficult to clean and rinse thoroughly. Hemp can be a culprit in the annoying barnyard or ammonia smells diapers can get when they aren’t cleaned thoroughly.

Tips: To get your hemp diapers clean then to rinse all detergent completely, you will need more water. Remember the WATCH laundry formula of Water Action Time Action and Heat? You may also find that you need to add more action, time, agitation, or heat to get hemp diapers clean and smelling fresh every time.

Bamboo grows as a stalk in the field. The softer inner material of the stalk is used to make textiles. The cellulose is broken down, dried, then used to create a long fiber. Because the fiber is smooth and round, it feels very soft to the touch. Softness is the main reason parents and babies love the feel of bamboo rayon for cloth diapers.

Tips: Like cotton and hemp, bamboo is an absorbent, hydrophilic fiber. The key to getting bamboo rayon to work well for your diapers long term is thorough cleaning and rinsing. Avoid caustic chemicals like baking soda when using bamboo rayon diapers. Some suggest you avoid washing soda as well, but this is the major ingredient in most laundry detergents. Lower pH works better to clean bamboo rayon. Always check with the manufacturer for recommendations of safe detergents for your bamboo diapers.

More information about hemp and bamboo rayon for cloth diapers.

Mineral?

Yes, mineral materials are used in cloth diapers. From polyester to microfiber, from the laminate on PUL to plastic snaps and elastic, you will find a lot of materials in cloth diapers made from mineral sources. All polymers are made from petroleum and natural gas.

Tips: The fibers and materials made from oil and gas love oils (oliophilic), including the oils in human waste. So, you need to be sure that you use enough detergent (also made from petroleum) to part the fiber from the waste then water to rinse the waste away. Sometimes parents use less detergent so it is easier to rinse or because they have HE machines, but you need to use the recommended amount of detergent to get your diapers clean.

Each of these cloth diaper materials has characteristics that some parents love, but all of them need a little bit of attention to get the cleaning right from the start and avoid the troubles and stink caused by residues.

Wool covers? Avoid detergent and use wool wash with lanolin to keep the fibers conditioned.
Super moisture-loving diapers? Use plenty of water and probably two rinses.
Bamboo rayon diapers? Avoid high alkaline detergents to get as close as you can to a pH neutral wash.
Microfiber inserts? Use enough detergent to get them clean then enough water to rinse them well. Don’t skimp!

Image © Bidouze Stéphane | Dreamstime.com

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Before you wash your cloth diapers, where will you store them? You can use a wet pail, which means leaving the diapers to soak in water, or a dry pail, which means not adding water.

Which will work better for your diapers? We will walk you through the pros and cons of your diaper pail choices.

The short answer: there isn’t a lot of difference in choosing wet or dry pail. Starting with a dry pail is simple, and many families don’t find the need to try a wet pail

Wet Pail
A wet diaper pail is a hard pail filled with water. The diapers soak in the water until you wash them. You can also add stain and odor eliminators.

Pros

• Pre-soaking diapers means fewer stains
• Less need for pre-rinse once diapers are in the washing machine

Cons

• Some manufacturers recommend against using a wet pail for pocket diapers or PUL covers
• Drowning risk for young children or pets
• Heavier to carry to the washing machine (though it shouldn’t be too heavy to carry)
• Top-loading machine is essential if you plan to pour the diaper pail into the washer.

Dry Pail
A dry diaper pail can be either a hard pail with a liner or a hanging pail (just the wet bag or liner). A dry pail isn’t exactly dry, since you fill it with wet diapers, but “dry” refers to not adding more water. You can also add stain and odor eliminators to a dry pail, though be careful not to let oils or treatments sit directly on diapers unless you know that is safe (as in the case of enzyme spray).

Pros

• Lighter pail
• Easier to transfer from pail to front-loading washing machine
• No drowning hazard

Cons

• More likely to get stains as mess sits on fabric for a day or more
• Need diaper pail liner (though that’s not much of a con)
• Tougher to control odor with a hanging dry pail

I used both. I put dirty diapers in a wet pail (which I stored in the bathtub, away from curious little hands), put wet diapers in a dry pail next to the changing table, and never put covers anywhere near the pail.

Which pail type you choose depends on the needs of your family. There isn’t an obvious choice for everyone, though a lot of families choose the dry pail for simplicity. Start simple with a dry pail, and move on to wet pail if you find that you have odor that is difficult to bear or control.

Tips

• With both types of pails, your diapers are less likely to stain and your pail will be somewhat more fresh if you dump solids in the toilet before putting the diaper in the pail.
• Any plastic bucket will work for a dry pail, though you may want to get one with a lid to control odors.
• For a wet pail, either choose a locking pail or store pail out of reach of small children.
• To avoid mildew, wash more frequently. Don’t leave diapers sitting for more than two days.
• Be careful about anything you add to your diaper pail.
  • Adding oils or fabric softener sheets to the pail could result in residue on any type of diaper, but essential oils (like tea tree oil) can be a natural anti-bacterial if you don’t have a residue problem.
  • Baking soda could break down bamboo rayon or laminate on PUL, but acts as an odor absorber for all-cotton diapers.
  • Enzyme spray is generally safe as a pre-treatment unless you know that your baby is specifically sensitive to enzymes.
  • Adding borax, washing soda, or detergent to your wet pail could break down elastic or PUL.

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Understanding basic laundry science helps you get your cloth diaper washing right from the start. Understanding the basics of all of your household cleaning lets you use the simplest cleaners that do the job. We broke down household cleaning into five ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

When we apply that same idea of getting down to basic ingredients to cloth diapers, though, we don’t always end up with a solution that works for the diapers we have. When pushing the pH of baby diapers back to neutral (newborn skin and water pH 7), it is tempting to use baking soda (pH 9) or vinegar (pH 2) because we have them right there.

To clean grease from kitchen tiles or mold from walls, vinegar is a big help. Vinegar can help you break down mineral build up in your washing machine. But, if your problem is detergent build up in the washing machine, you should use baking soda. If you don’t know the difference and you use the wrong cleaner, it won’t help. They aren’t interchangeable.

You probably won’t hurt your tiles or walls by using the wrong cleaner, but your cloth diapers are different. They are made of material that is easier to damage. Use caution when you add baking soda or vinegar to your cloth diaper wash because they can have negative effects on some materials commonly used in cloth diapers. When they are safe to use, make sure you are using the right natural cleaning ingredient for the right job.

Sometimes I think manufacturers might be extra cautious with warranties that forbid specific additives because they want to simplify things for you, which is understandable. I wouldn’t want to encourage you to use additives restricted in warranties because I might not have all of the facts. What if I said, “Yes, of course baking soda is fine with your diapers,” then you use it on your bamboo rayon diapers and find that they start to disintegrate. Always look for the wash recommendations from the manufacturer of your cloth diapers. Listen to the manufacturer first. They know the cloth diapers, and they want you to succeed in using them.

Baking Soda

• What it is: sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), mined from evaporated mineral springs. pH 9 (alkaline)
• What it does: react with acids; absorbs odor as the microscopically porous molecules trap particles causing the odor. You may notice bubbling in hot water, as it releases carbon dioxide (CO2), leaving sodium carbonate (Na2CO3, washing soda) and water.
• When to avoid it: when washing bamboo rayon, since it breaks down the fibers. It doesn’t just cause minor damage, it tries to return these extruded fibers to their pre-fiber goo state. IMPORTANT: DO NO USE WITH BAMBOO RAYON.
• When to use it: in your dry pail as an odor absorbing pre-treatment. Not generally a problem as an ingredient in detergent, unless you are using rayon diapers.

Vinegar

• What it is: solution of acetic acid (CH3CO2H). pH 2 (acidic)
• What it does: dissolves mineral deposits (such as those left by hard water). Can be used as a natural antimicrobial (if you need to re-wash musty diapers left wet in the washer overnight)
• When to avoid it: with PUL diapers and covers. Use sparingly with any product that has elastic.
• When to use it: in wash to counter mineral build up in diapers and in final rinse as a natural fabric softener. Vinegar has many uses in laundry.

Asking Our Customers
As we through week after week of cloth diaper laundry advice, we are answering questions that we hear in the store and online daily at bynature.ca. One of our goals is to figure out where are customers are starting from. We don’t want to tell you what you already know. You may have noticed more cloth diaper laundry surveys than usual on our Facebook page. This is what we learned from you about baking soda and vinegar.

What Our Customers Say about Using Baking Soda on Cloth Diapers

I’m pleased to see that many of you are reading the wash instructions from manufacturers, and you know when baking soda is not recommended for your diapers.

Many of you use baking soda to deal with diaper pail stink or in the first rinse for general diaper stink. For some, baking soda was the solution to desperate stink situations.

Customers mentioned hard water in answer to both our baking soda and vinegar questions. Hard water causes some build up issues. How do you know if your have detergent build up or mineral build up in your diapers? Baking soda can help with the detergent build up (then, once the build up is gone, add more water and rinsing to your regular routine to prevent it happening again); it isn’t going to help with mineral build up, though, and it isn’t going to soften your hard water.

What Our Customers Say about using Vinegar on Cloth Diapers

It really surprised me to see so many people say they avoid vinegar because of hard water. I think we’ve run into one of those rumors about cloth diapers that isn’t actually based on the science.

Vinegar is not counterproductive in hard water. On the contrary, vinegar breaks down minerals. Vinegar will soften your water. Vinegar is commonly used as a natural fabric softener because it breaks down minerals.

If you have mineral build up in your diapers, bust that residue first. Then, go ahead and use vinegar. If you have a regular issue with this, you need to work on adjusting the basics of your wash routine because vinegar is not causing the problem of stink.

It’s true that some manufacturers recommend against vinegar—probably for the sake of simplicity, though likely because a lot of undiluted vinegar could break down soft plastics like PUL and elastic. Follow their advice IF you are using those materials. If you are washing all cotton prefolds or wool soakers, vinegar is your friend. Always remember when you are washing—or even before that when you are planning which cloth diapers to use—that not all cloth diapers are the same. Simpler materials require simpler cleaning.

Despite the bad advice about vinegar and hard water, I see that many people have had success with vinegar. Some use vinegar in every wash as a fabric softener, and some use it a couple of times a month.

As with all of the additives you can use when washing cloth diapers, it helps to know your diapers, your water, and your machine and choose your routine and ingredients based on your specific situation.

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What is in your laundry detergent? Even if you read the ingredients, you might not know what the ingredients are or what they do. Plus, if you are washing cloth diapers, you probably have in mind a list of additives to avoid because they void warranties.

In the spirit of asking WHY we should avoid every little thing rather than just giving you mysteriously vague rules to follow, we’re getting into the details of detergent additives today. We hope this will help you choose which detergent to use for cloth diapers and understand why you might even choose a separate detergent for the rest of your laundry.

The No-Nos

Brighteners

• What it is: organic chemicals such as amino triazine, coumarin, and stilbene (that’s organic in the chemical sense not the agricultural sense)
• What it does: gives the appearance of a whiter fabric. Think of these as little light reflectors that sit above the surface of the fabric fooling your eyes into thinking the real yellows of the fabric are more blue.
• When to avoid it: always! You don’t want to use anything in your cloth diaper laundry that leaves a coating on the fabric.
• When to use it: never an appropriate additive for use with cloth diapers and not necessary with your other laundry.

Dyes

• What it is: chemical compounds
• What it does: a very small amount of color fools your eye into not seeing the underlying color of your laundry.
• When to avoid it: always! Can leave a coating or, in some cases, be an allergen or irritant.
• When to use it: never an appropriate additive for use with cloth diapers an not necessary with your other laundry.

Fabric Softener

• What it is: chemical compounds that act as cationic surfactants
• What it does: positive charge aligns on the surface of the fabric to create a lubricating coating, which feels soft to the touch and prevents build up of static electricity.
• When to avoid it: always! For cloth diapers, do not use detergents with added fabric softeners. Even more than most of the other additives listed here, this will leave a repelling coating on your diapers that prevents fabrics from working as intended.
• When to use it: Never. You can soften your cloth diapers without chemical softeners.

Stain Guard

• What it is: chemical compounds vary
• What it does: coats the fabric surface to repel stains during wear. Works in a similar way to fabric softener.
• When to avoid it: always! Avoid anything designed to leave a coating because it will cause leaking and repelling.
• When to use it: Never. The key to avoiding or removing stains from diapers is in how you treat the diapers after a diaper change. Use enzymes, warm pre-rinse, or sunning for natural stain removal.

Fragrance

• What it is: artificial fragrances are chemical compounds that mimic natural scents; natural fragrances are usually extracted oils
• What it does: smells nice, sometimes masking an underlying unpleasant scent in laundry that isn’t quite clean
• When to avoid it: avoid artificial fragrances always. Avoid them not just in your laundry but throughout your home. Many of these chemical compounds are known allergens, irritants, and toxins.
• When to use it: if you want a nice smell in addition to clean, use essential oils, BUT even these oils can coat the fibers of your cloth diapers and cause residue build up. Essential oils can be removed (washed out) of fibers easily, but you might want to avoid them for laundry.

The Naturals

Natural Oils

• What it is: might be listed as “natural extract” on a detergent ingredient list. Fats or oils in natural soap can come from many different plant and animal sources, such as olive oil, milk, or soy. Saponification, the process of making natural soap, is a chemical reaction between lye (caustic) and fats or oils. Most laundry detergents are derived from petro-chemicals (oil and gas, primarily), but there are natural laundry soaps. Notice the difference in the use of the words “detergent” and “soap.”
• What it does: could be a component of natural soap, an added scent, a natural fabric softener, or natural stain guard. Usually a natural replacement for one of the other additives listed here.
• When to avoid it: in most cases, the oils in natural soaps will cause residue build up over time. I prefer to avoid petro-chemical products, but you need to understand the consequences of using natural products.
• When to use it: some parents find no problem with natural soaps or soap nuts. If you want to go all natural and you have no problems, that’s perfect. If you do have build up but you don’t mind busting the build up with an occasion wash with RLR Laundry Treatment, that works. Ultimately, though, we’re trying to help you create a wash routine that works without leaving any kind of build up on your cloth diapers.

Free and Clear

• What it is: microbiocidal or microbiostatic agents. Quaternary ammonium chloride and alcohol are two examples often used in detergents
• What it does: kill (microbiocidal) or inhibit (microstatic) the growth of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which could cause odor, staining, or allergies.
• When to avoid it: if your fleece or PUL pocket diapers are leaking or repelling, this could be the culprit. These agents might be reacting with your water.
• When to use it: many parents find no problem with free and clear detergents, but use with caution. Look for signs of leaking, and discontinue if it happens.

Enzymes

• What it is: living enzyme cultures, most often in laundry detergent you will find protease (breaks down proteins) and amylase (breaks down carbohydrates)
• What it does: breaks down (eats, digests, processes) organic materials that cause stains and odors
• When to avoid it: when the warranty on your cloth diapers prohibits use of enzymes (maybe) or your child experiences redness or sensitivity (if you trace it back to enzymes). Most children will not have problems with diapers when enzymes are used in the cleaning. Studies suggest that it is not even possible for enzymes to cause rash and redness, since they do not attack living cells. It is common among cloth diaper people to recommend against the use of enzymes, but we find them a very useful, low-environmental impact addition to washing heavily soiled laundry such as cloth diapers, socks, and T-shirts.
• When to use it: pre-soak or low-temperature wash. See our detailed post about enzymes in cloth diaper laundry from earlier this week.

The Basic Cleaners

Borax

• What it is: sodium borate, mined from evaporated lakes or produced synthetically
• What it does: softens water; converts water to hydrogen peroxide. Works better in hotter water.
• When to avoid it: because borax is caustic, it could cause some breakdown in soft plastics and latex. You might want to avoid it on covers that have soft plastics (PUL) or elastic and on diapers with elastic. If you have trouble rinsing your laundry completely because of an HE washer or a detergent that leaves a residue, don’t use borax. It can be a skin irritant if left in residue. In general, though, borax used properly and rinsed completely is just one of the basic ingredients of laundry detergent. Keep it away from children and pets; don’t breathe it in; don’t use it around food.
• When to use it: use freely with prefolds. Many homemade laundry detergents use borax as an ingredient. Unless you have trouble rinsing out detergent, it is safe.

Baking Soda

• What it is: sodium bicarbonate, mined from evaporated mineral springs
• What it does: in baking, it acts as leavening agent by reacting with acidic ingredients to release carbon dioxide; in laundry, it is used as a softener and odor absorber.
• When to avoid it: when washing bamboo rayon, since it breaks down the fibers. It doesn’t just cause minor damage, it tries to return these extruded fibers to their pre-fiber goo state. IMPORTANT: DO NO USE WITH BAMBOO RAYON.
• When to use it: sprinkle in your dry pail as an odor absorbing pre-treatment. Not generally a problem as an ingredient in detergent, unless you are using rayon diapers.

Oxygen Bleach

• What it is: sodium percarbonate (or hydrogen peroxide, when liquid)
• What it does: breaks the chemical bonds of color, such as stains that you are trying to remove from diapers.
• When to avoid it: low temperatures, since it only works at higher temperatures. In general, you don’t need to avoid oxygen bleach or hydrogen peroxide. This is a safe alternative to chlorine bleach. If you notice excessive breakdown of fibers or if you are washing primarily PUL, you might want to use it only sparingly.
• When to use it: generally safe for health and environment as an additive in laundry detergent or as an additional treatment for laundry.

Which laundry detergent additives you avoid often depends on your water, your washing machine, and the type of fabrics you are washing. We hope that understanding detergent ingredients will help you pick a detergent that will work for you from the start.

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You’ve heard that enzymes are bad for cloth diaper washing, yet parents use them safely. Why? We will tell you what enzymes do, and when are they useful.

Conflicting Information

There is a lot of conflicting information about enzymes and cloth diapers, and parents find it confusing. Manufacturers know their products, so we look to them for laundering advice. Some say, “absolutely use enzymes,” while others say, “absolutely not.” You will even find that using a detergent with enzymes invalidates one manufacturer’s warranty when that same manufacturer sells an enzyme (microbe) spray for pre-wash treatment to be used on every diaper, cover, and insert. No wonder we are confused.

What Enzymes Do

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical processes, processes like metabolism, which breaks down foods in our digestive system to produce energy. In laundry, enzymes break down soils and bacteria that cause stains and odors. Break down, digest, munch, or catalyze—all of those words give you the right idea. We don’t have to understand the science on the micro level to understand that enzymes help remove soils from laundry.

There are many thousands of named enzymes and many thousands more waiting to be named. Only a few of them are used in laundry. Among those I found listed in detergents are:

• amylase (breaks down carbohydrates, like starch)
• cellulase (breaks down cellulose, like bamboo, cotton, mud, or grass stains; used to prevent pilling)
• lipase (breaks down fats, like grease stains)
• mannanase (breaks down simple sugars)
• pectinase (breaks down pectin from plants)
• protease (breaks down proteins, like wool, silk, blood, or poop stains)

Some detergents and laundry additives will list ingredients for you, so you can figure out which enzymes they are using for which specific purposes.

For dirty socks, sweaty t-shirts, or dirty diapers, it is particularly important to break down the organic matter that causes stains and odors. For most of your wash, breaking down soils really doesn’t matter that much because the mechanical and chemical processes of laundry release soils on their own.

The Claims & Rumors about Enzymes

The general consensus is that using enzymes on cloth diapers is bad for diapers, bad for babies, and bad for the environment. All wrong, though I think I understand how the absolutes of this consensus got started.

Bad for diapers. A sliver of truth. The claim is that enzymes break down fibers on a diaper, but that is only true for some fibers. Cellulase is added to anti-pilling detergent formulas, and it does break down the tiny fibers that are raised above cotton fabrics. That is one enzyme. Avoid it. Different enzymes break down different materials. They don’t all mysteriously attack all diapers.

Bad for babies. No. This is the controversy, since no one wants to do anything that causes harm to babies, so manufacturers and diaper washing parents avoid anything that might cause harm. Enzymes are blamed for harm that they aren’t capable of causing, though. More on this below.

Bad for the environment. Also, untrue. Enzymes are naturally occurring and biodegradable. When I see someone say, “I don’t want to use those harsh chemicals or nasty cleaning agents” about enzymes, I don’t know where to start. Actually, adding enzymes to detergents lowers the overall environmental impact of the detergent and allows you to get the same cleaning power without using as much heat. Remember the WATCH formula of Water, Agitation, Time, Chemicals, and Heat? When you adjust one factor, you can reduce the others. Enzymes catalyze the reaction with soils so you can reduce heat as a factor, so you lower the environmental impact of your washing even more.

I also see certain statements repeated and passed from person to person.

“React differently in different situations on different babies.” That says nothing while implying that enzymes are unpredictable. They aren’t. Once you know how they work, you can predict them. All this says is that the function of enzymes is a mystery to some who give cloth diaper laundry advice.

“Activated by water.” I think I can see where the idea of “activated by water” came from. Enzymes in powdered detergents are coated with inorganic salts and sugars, then cellulose fibers, then waxy materials. (Waxy materials! I see residue.) The resulting granules prevent damage in the box of laundry detergent. The enzymes aren’t free to begin breaking down soils until the heat and water break down their coating. They aren’t so much activated by water as released when the water breaks down their coating.

“Activated by water” was then turned into “OMG! If enzymes are left in my cloth diapers after the wash, they will become activated when my baby pees and eat my baby’s skin.” I’ve seen many websites, both those of manufacturers and those offering independent cloth diaper advice, assure parents that baby pee activates enzymes. Some go on to say that these activated enzymes will attack the healthy, delicate skin of babies. “OMG! OMG! Horrible, terrible, very bad blistering bleeding rashes.”  The problem with that logic, though, is that the protein digesting enzyme, protease, doesn’t break down living cells. Protease is one of the enzymes created by the human pancreas to break down proteins into amino acids during digestion. It doesn’t break down your whole digestive system—it just breaks down the food you eat.

So, let’s back up. First, if your wash routine is leaving any kind of residue, you need to change your wash routine.Try another rinse. Second, this enzyme doesn’t eat (digest, attack, or harm) our living tissue. In a beautifully myth-busting article, Mona of Soap Nuts points out that such enzymes are used in spa treatments to get rid of dead skin cells.

There are three misunderstandings here: 1) it’s usual that enzymes are left in residue on diapers (wrong! residue is the result of a wash routine that needs adjustment), 2) that a baby peeing on enzyme residue left in a cloth diaper will activate the enzymes (wrong! the granules from detergent wouldn’t make it through the wash), and 3) that those enzymes will eat away at the skin of the baby (wrong! they don’t break down living cells). These are slips of logic that we should not perpetuate.

Sometimes—I would venture to say, usually—cloth diaper expertise passed from parent to parent is a good thing. Other times, rumors snowball out of control and become absolute truth despite the lack of evidence.

Our goal with this diaper laundry series on EcoBabySteps is to dispel rumors and mysteries by looking at the evidence and the reasons behind all of the (sometimes conflicting) information you have heard about your cloth diaper laundry.

When Enzymes Work

Enzymes in liquid pre-wash spray work without any other help. They begin to break down organic materials that leave stain and odor. Enzymes in liquid detergent begin their work as soon as they meet soil in your wash. Enzymes in powdered detergent begin their work as soon as their protective coating is dissolved. Because you’ve already begun to break down the poop, stains, stink, and nastiness that you are trying to wash out, you can lower the other WATCH formula factors to get the same results with your laundry. If you are using enzymes with cloth diapers, you probably need the extra boost of cleaning power, though, so you might not want to lower the other factors.

A little is all you need. Enzymes continue to work after a chemical reaction is complete until there are no more reactions available. Just understand that more isn’t better.

When Enzymes Don’t Work

Enzymes won’t work in high pH. In cloth diaper wash, that means you waste the enzymes if you use baking soda or bleach. Enzymes also won’t work in high heat, which is usually fine, since you don’t need super hot water to get the same cleaning power. (I’m curious about this, since one source of enzymes is micro-organisms that live in hot springs.)

What About Sensitivities

It is possible some people are sensitive to detergents with enzymes; it is possible they are sensitive to some other ingredient in those detergents. Studies have looked at whether diapers washed with enzymes cause more skin rash. One study of 360 babies showed that those who wore diapers washed with biological detergent containing enzymes were no more likely than the test group to get rashes. (Granted, the neutrality of that study was disputed because authors have ties to manufacturers of products that use enzymes.)

Does that mean your baby won’t get a rash? No. Should you stop using enzymes if you think they are causing a problem? Yes. Does that necessarily mean enzymes are the culprit? No, but stopping doesn’t hurt.

Why the Conflicting Information

Whenever I hear a rumor run rampant about cloth diapers or some other aspect of parenting (if I even recognize it as a rumor), I wonder where it came from. I think there is too much to figure out. It’s difficult to dig down to the evidence in every case, so we tend to believe what we hear often enough. Plus, even if we dig, it’s tough to understand the science.

Rather than figuring out what each laundry additive does or explaining the situations when it might be helpful, it’s easier to protect a product warranty by recommending against. In the case of enzymes, I think it has been easier to lump them together with residue-causing laundry additives and dismiss them

Will Enzymes Damage the Diapers?

Wool and silk, probably, since they are proteins. Bamboo rayon, don’t know, but rayon is a more fragile fiber than most, so I wouldn’t want to find out. You can reduce your rayon diapers to mush through your chemical experiments if you aren’t careful. PUL, don’t know. Polyester, highly unlikely. Polyester is chemically inert. There is nothing for the enzymes to catalyze. Cotton, unlikely, though some detergents with enzymes that promise to keep fabrics looking new (anti-pilling formulas) do so by munching away at the little fibers that work their way loose from the main threads. Do all enzymes do that, no, cellulase does that.

My final answer about damage to diapers: I don’t know. I think that’s a great question to answer with research, though.

So, to Use Enzymes or Not to Use Enzymes

I’ve heard many times, “Enzymes don’t make sense to me, so I don’t use them.” I hope they make more sense now. I hope you see the situations in which it would make sense to use enzymes when you are washing cloth diapers.

I used Biokleen Bac Out Stain and Odor Eliminator on my babies’ diapers. I had no trouble. I even found out the hard way that it would not cause harm when ingested (when my toddler took a gulp of Bac Out, and I called the company in a panic to find out the ingredients).

If you don’t have stains or odor, don’t bother. If you do have stains or odor, use enzyme spray directly on the soiled area of the diaper and let sit for at least 10 minutes before you wash. I just sprayed on the diaper before putting it in the pail. I didn’t add Bac Out to the wash.

If you still have stains and odor after pre-treating, you might want to try a detergent with enzymes, keeping in mind that this will invalidate the warranty on some (PUL) diapers. It won’t harm the diapers, but as long as the manufacturers think it will and you want to keep the diapers under warranty, you may want to avoid enzymes. If you are willing to use a detergent with enzymes, you might be surprised to hear that many parents who have trouble with other detergents on cloth diapers use regular, original Tide, which does have enzymes (among the many dozens of Tide products, you will find different enzymes). Tide Original also has brighteners, which are a cloth diaper no-no because they leave a residue by design. You could try Tide Free without brighteners to get a similar effect. You experiment and use what works.

If your child is very sensitive or SOMETHING is causing a rash, cut out all of the extras and use Allen’s Naturally laundry liquid. Add extra rinses. Change your wash routine.

But, the answer is not that cloth diapers are bad or cause rashes or that enzymes are bad or cause rashes. The answer might not even be as simple as direct cause and effect, so just choose the simplest options that work for you.

Using enzymes as an additive is one more tool in your cloth diaper laundry toolkit. Use enzyme products when you have stains and stink.

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Making your cloth diapers soft has to be a good thing, right? Of course, but don’t be fooled into using chemical fabric softeners to do it or you will be in for a leaky, repelling surprise.

As we think through the reasons behind basic cloth diaper washing techniques, we want you to have the information you need to make decisions about your laundry. Sometimes additives sneak in under your radar based on the claimed results (“Whiter! Brighter! Softer! Self-folding!”). If you saw on the box a description of what products actually do—that is, how they work—you might not be so quick to add to your laundry.

I often think of the 1990 film Crazy People, in which an advertising exec leads a group of patients in a mental institution in writing honest advertisements. Volvo, for example, was “boxy but good.” For fabric softeners, we could say:

“Fabric softeners coat your clothes with chemical lubricants that conduct electricity so you don’t notice a build up of static cling!”

“Hydrophobic chemicals in fabric softeners reduce absorbency of your cloth diapers but feel smooth against your baby’s skin.”

“You may inhale toxic chemicals from this softener, leaving you with headaches and irritability, but at least the fabric won’t irritate your skin, much.”

It doesn’t sound so appealing that way.

First Rule of Fabric Softener for Cloth Diapers: Don’t Use It

Do not use chemical fabric softener with cloth diapers. Look at your detergent, and avoid a detergent with added softeners. It doesn’t matter whether these are silicone-based lubricants, polymer emulsions, clay, salt, acid, fragrance, or whatever. The point is, you don’t want to add any of this to your diapers. They will leave residues that will inhibit absorbency of cotton diapers, wool covers, and microfiber inserts; deteriorate the waterproof laminate layer on PUL covers; cause build up on your washing machine and dryer; and coat all of your cloth diapering accessories with a layer that will hold on to stink.

There are exceptions to the rule not to use fabric softeners. You can soften your diapers without the negative effects of chemical softeners. As with all of our other laundry advice, you need to know what problem you are solving before you can decide on a solution.

Vinegar can have a similar effect to chemical softeners in neutralizing the electric charge that you notice as static electricity. You will find some cloth diaper retailers who recommend baking soda in the rinse to soften cloth diapers. These might be fine with cotton and hemp, but they might not be fine with the rest of your diapers. Using either will void the warranty on some diapers. (More on vinegar and baking soda coming up.)

Wool dryer balls or hard dryer balls, like Nellie’s Dryer Balls, can soften fabrics mechanically rather than chemically—that is, by flexing the fibers as they tumble in the dryer. To the extent that they neutralize the electrical charge, they have a similar effect to chemical softeners designed to reduce static cling.

Dryer sheets without chemicals can also be cloth diaper safe. Maddocks Static Eliminator Reusable Dryer Sheets reduce static cling because of their weave. They only get a B in the Environmental Working Group database of household products, though, because they are made with polyester and nylon.

A few fabric softeners get a good grade in the Environmental Working Group database of household products. Keep in mind, though, that any gum or glycerin can coat diapers—even natural fiber fitted or flat diapers. A natural residue is still a residue. You don’t need any kind of gummy lubricants for your cloth diapers.

What Do You Customers Say?

We’ve been asking customers and Facebook followers what laundry additives they use and why. I was pleased to see that most of you already know that you shouldn’t be using fabric softeners with cloth diapers, and many of you understand why.

“I don’t use it for anything at all. Too many awful chemicals!” says Alyssa.
“I don’t even have fabric softener; seems like a waste of money,” wrote Michelle.
“Wool dryer balls all the way!” says Stephanie

Simple Guidelines to Fabric Softening

• Avoid exposure to toxic chemicals.
• Don’t coat fibers with chemical residue layer, which holds on to stink and inhibits absorbency.
• Don’t cover up issues with your laundry routine. Get wash right in the first place.
• Don’t add fragrances if you have skin or respiratory sensitivities.
• Soften simply and naturally with wool dryer balls.

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Your choices of detergent for washing cloth diapers range from conventional, off-the-shelf detergent to special cloth diaper formulas to DIY recipes. Before you decide, though, know your own specific situation. Take the mystery out of cloth diaper detergent choices.

What most parents really want to know first about washing cloth diapers is what detergent to use. This seems like a simple question, but it isn’t. I deliberately covered hard water, pH, washing machine, and residue before coming to the question of detergent because they all matter.

You probably won’t notice much difference when you wash your clothes with any basic laundry detergent. Use what you have. Use what you like. No problem.

Make more careful choices when laundering cloth diapers, though. Diapers have a much bigger job to do than clothes, bedding, and towels. With cloth diapers, issues like residue build up over time. When a diaper is washed 2-3 times a week for a 1-3 years, you will notice stink, wear, and leaks. The detergent you choose makes a big difference, especially if you are trying to get your diaper washing routine right from the start.

Simplest Choice

If you want to skip all of the reasons for various choices, go straight to Allen’s Naturally. This is our top choice of detergents for cloth diapers.

Allen’s is formulated for sensitivities, so it contains no dyes, fragrance, or residues that can be irritating to the skin. It is biodegradable and contains no phosphates, so it is safe for septic systems. Works with hard water—even well water. Specially formulated for HE and standard washing machines.

Does it sound like a miracle? It isn’t, really. It’s just a very simple detergent that does the job. We like that.

Considerations

If you are willing to look at your situation to choose the best formula, these are a few of the issues you can consider.

Hard Water: Consider Formula

Most of us have hard water, water rich in minerals. These minerals can keep your detergent from working as well. Hard water can leave mineral build up in your diapers and in your washing machine, keeping either or both from working as they should.

Avoiding laundry additives can help not to aggravate stink issues when you have mineral build up. (More on that next week.) Choosing a hard-water formula can help to break the residue cycle. You can use stink busting laundry treatment, but you are better off choosing a detergent that works for your situation in the first place.

Choice: Rockin’ Green Hard Rock

Washing Machine: Consider Amount

The most important detergent choice relating to your washing machine is how much to use. If you have a high-efficiency (HE) machine, you need less detergent. The general rule is to use about half of the amount that you would use in a conventional washing machine. You get less heat and less water with an HE machine, so more detergent would not rinse out well. The problem, when washing cloth diapers, is that this might not be enough to get your diapers clean. You have options to tweak your routine to make an HE machine work well for cloth diapers.

Hearing that they need less detergent, some parents go to extremes and don’t use enough detergent to lift the soil from their cloth diapers. This can lead to the dreaded barnyard scented diapers, not from mineral or detergent residues but organic residues. Especially with polyester, microfiber, PUL, and other petroleum-based fabrics, you need to be sure to use enough detergent.

If you are having trouble rinsing detergent completely from your diapers, you might consider a liquid laundry detergent.

Choice: HE formula or half the amount of a non-HE formula. Liquid detergent.

Diaper Style: Consider Formula

If you use only cotton diapers, especially flats or prefolds, you can get away with a lot wider range of detergent choices. These diapers have fewer layers, so it is easier for water to carry detergent through every part of the diapers to clean them thoroughly.

If you use hemp or bamboo rayon diapers, you still have a lot of choices, but you need to avoid detergents that could leave residues because these fabrics are so absorbent that they are more difficult to rinse.

If you use polyester or PUL diapers, you need to be more careful use a detergent that will not cause leaking or build up. Many detergents formulated for cloth diapers will work well with pocket diapers, all-in-one diapers, and polyester covers.

Choice: Low-residue or no-residue formula. Most detergents formulated for cloth diapers will work.

Sensitivities: Consider Formula

If your baby has sensitive skin prone to rash, you should avoid laundry additives and laundry treatments. That can be a problem if you need to use washing soda to break up residues, so work to avoid residues in the first place. That brings us back to Allen’s Naturally, developed in 1979 by individuals suffering from multiple chemical sensitivities to be free of dyes, perfumes, and chemicals.

Choice: Allen’s Naturally

Cloth Diaper Detergent Lists

Most manufacturers will give you a list of laundry detergents they recommend. Some have worked with detergent manufacturers to create their own formula. If you use only one brand of diapers, go with their recommendations. They have a lot of experience in getting their diapers clean, and they want you to have a worry free experience.

If you use a variety of brands and styles, you may need to shift to detergent that is generally understood to work well with cloth diapers.

Bummis provides a comprehensive list of laundry detergents, along the reasons each is or is not appropriate for cloth diapers. Bummis is always my most trusted resource because one of the owners of Bummis was a biochemist before she was a cloth diaper manufacturer, and she is very careful about her recommendations.

Many customers are surprised to find Tide Free (Tide Nature) on the Bummis recommended list. If a customer is using Tide, and it’s working for them, at bynature.ca we won’t try to convince them to switch to a “cloth diaper safe” detergent, but we do tell them it may void some warranties. If you are comfortable with this, then, by all means, continue using what works for you. Tide Original Powder also works for many cloth diapering parents despite the additives.

DIY Detergent

You will find some manufacturers who tell you not to use homemade detergent on your diapers. Specifically, they want you to avoid common ingredients in homemade laundry detergent—natural soaps that will build up in your diapers. So, avoid those ingredients. That’s easy. If you are determined to make your own laundry detergent, follow this cloth diaper detergent recipe from Eco-friendly Family. No soaps, no residue, just basic clean without additives.

Next week I’ll talk about detergent additives. You will find lovers and haters for every cloth diaper laundry additive. We’ll give you the scoop so you can keep your choice evidence based.

Image © Norman Pogson | Dreamstime.com

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Artificial fragrances lurk unmarked in many of your household cleaning products. These fragrances can be bothersome as they leave residues, irritating when they are allergens, and harmful when they pose known health risks.

“Fragrance affects us all. For some, it can enhance a moment, invoke a memory, or even improve a mood. As consumers, we seek it out in all kinds of products we use in our everyday lives. And for many of us, there’s a positive sensory experience associated with fragrance. But unfortunately, this may not be without consequence. In addition to the potential health consequences of certain fragrance ingredients linked to cancer, interference with hormones, and reproductive harm, a significant portion of the population suffers from fragrance-related allergies.” Women’s Voices for Earth, “Secret Scents: How Hidden Fragrance Allergens Harm Public Health,” February 2013.

Bothersome, Irritating, and Harmful

Fragrances are just bothersome when they leave a residue. I’ve been writing about residues and the consequences for your cloth diapers, so you probably have an idea that residues of oil, minerals, or any other substances can hold on to nasty stink. It’s just strange to me that we allow ourselves to be convinced that we need to spray fragrance around our homes or plug oil burners into our outlets. Both of these leave a film on the walls, the fabric of furniture, and everywhere else in our houses. That is the least of what artificial fragrances in household products do.

Worse, artificial fragrances are often allergens. Even some cleaning products formulated to be allergy-safe have unlisted ingredients that are known to cause problems for those with sensitivities or allergies. There is a lot of work being done right now to expose then remove allergens from household products.

Worst of all, though, are the toxic chemicals in household cleaning and freshening products that expose us to a long list of harmful effects. We don’t even know all of the effects because these chemicals are not tested and approved for use.

Naturemom works hard to help you remove toxins from your home by choosing carefully which products to sell at bynature.ca and by educating customers about the problems with conventional products. She told me that if she could convince parents to do just two thing to keep toxins away from their children, those would be: 1) ditch artificial fabric softeners, and 2) don’t use fragrances that are sprayed around the house. Those artificial fragranced plugins are her worst nightmare.

So, you avoid the problem ingredients, right? Not quite so easy. You can’t avoid them because toxic fragrance ingredients aren’t on labels. Now what?

Disclosure of Ingredients

Have you ever noticed “fragrance” as an ingredient on shampoo, cleaners, or laundry detergent? What is “fragrance”? Can I get a Material Safety Data Sheet on that? No, of course not. Manufacturers are not required to list individual ingredients. They argue that proprietary blends must be kept secret.

Sure it’s a problem that manufacturers include toxic ingredients in their products marketed to clean our houses, but it’s an even bigger problem that they aren’t required to disclose ingredients. How can I stay away from allergens, irritants, and even neurotoxins or carcinogens if I don’t know what is in these products? I can’t—unless I read studies that have independently tested these products for the offending ingredients.

Some manufacturers argue that their websites (or side project websites, away from consumer traffic) are the best place to list ingredients. That just makes the information more difficult to find when we make our buying decisions. Deep on those websites where they are difficult to find and even more difficult to download to your phone while you are shopping, a couple of manufacturers have provided master ingredient lists. These lists don’t help me know which products to avoid because of specific allergens, though. They are not helpful in the way that we as consumers need help.

Listing ingredients on products should be the standard. Some companies (Clean Well and Seventh Generation) use peel-back labels to list all of their ingredients. The methods are available. Not listing ingredients is a choice that large manufacturers are making because it masks their inclusion of toxic chemicals.

Simple Actions You Can Take

• Go through your house, pull up the Environmental Working Group database, and check every household cleaning, freshening, laundry, kitchen, bathroom, floor, furniture, and other product. Ditch the toxic cleaning products.
• Use simple ingredients like boiling water, vinegar, and lemon to give your house a cleaner clean.
• If you want to add fragrance to your homemade cleaning products, use natural smells, such as orange peels in vinegar for cleaning, or add essential oils, that contain no undisclosed chemicals. When you control what you smell, you can avoid anything that causes allergies or sensitivities for your family members.
• Learn about chemicals of concern and the chemical body burden. The research and campaigns below will give you a lot of information to share with your friends and family.

Consequences of Artificial Smells

One of the consequences of all of the conditioning to artificial smells is that you begin to believe the underlying message: your smell is wrong. If you or your house are stinky, there is a remedy for that. Find the source and clean it up. Doesn’t that sound simple?

Research
A 2007 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found pthalates in air fresheners, even those labelled “all natural.”

In a 2011 study, Women’s Voices for the Earth looked at toxic chemicals in popular household products, including not just air fresheners but laundry detergents, all-purpose cleaners, disinfectant sprays, and more.

Women’s Voices for the Earth created the report card The Dirt on Cleaning Product Companies to show what major manufacturers are doing about toxic chemicals in their products.

Campaigns & Organizations
NRDC Take out Toxics campaign points out that 80,000 chemicals permitted in products in the U.S. have never been tested for health effects.

Safer Chemicals / Healthy Families is a coalition of professionals, businesses, advocacy groups, and others. This is an active organization you can follow on social media for alerts about toxics and efforts to remove them from household products. Safer Chemicals / Healthy Families lists the major chemicals of concern and their consequences.

Women’s Voices for Earth Secret Scents campaign focuses primarily on the issue of allergens used as fragrance ingredients in common products.

Women’s Voices for Earth What’s That Smell? campaign focuses on chemicals of concern used as fragrance in cleaning products.

Image © Erik Reis | Dreamstime.com

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