I CD'd for a 24 Hour period! Now I have more questions.....

[JLiebCamm]

I finally had enough supplies together to CD for 24 hours this weekend (up until now I had just been doing evenings and the occasional night). I really, really liked it. I checked Claire's daiper much more frequently than I do with disposables and fee like I kept her fresher and cleaner as a result. I also liked not having a garbage full of disposables for the day.

I'm still trying to sort out the whole laundry routine so I'll ask a few questions about it. First of all, for those of you who add baking soda or white vinegar, how much are you adding? Secondly, what SHOULDN'T I but putting in the dryer and why? I need to keep things as simple as possible which means the more that I can throw in the dryer the better. Thirdly (and I am so ashamed to ask this question), what can be done, if anything, about mold stains? I accidentally forgot about a wet hemp fitted for a few days when it was really humid out and by the time I found it it had some nice mold colonies.

Thanks!

[RwnMayfair]

I have a gigantic bag of baking soda from Costco that came with a scoop, and I just fill it to the first line and then use that in my soak cycle. Of course, I'm potentially washing a larger load of diapers than you too, since I've got more diapers than what we need for just 24 hours. (Then again, Taran is older than Claire, so he doesn't use as many diapers in a day. So who knows?) I've never had a problem with that amount of baking soda.

As for the dryer, I put my fitteds, my doublers, and my hemp inserts into the dryer after every wash. In general, you're probably not going to want to put any PUL covers or pockets in the dryer every time, though an occasional spin through the dryer is supposed to help "seal" the PUL. So every now and then, I'll throw my PUL pockets in, but not often. Of course, some people do put PUL covers or pockets in the dryer everytime, but I'd always heard that causes them to wear out faster, which is why I don't. My wool covers always get handwashed (none of them say they can be machine washed), and always get hung to dry.

As for mold stains, I'm not entirely sure. I know my mother got mold stains on some t-shirts at one point when I was younger (she hung them out to dry, then it rained, and she didn't get them in the house again in time). I'm almost positive she managed to get them out, but I have no idea how. Someone here is bound to know how to get mold out though. ;)

-Melissa

Taran, November 20, 2003

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
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[toomanystrollers]

Ok, for mold, try Heidi's trick from Layette:

Boiled 2 cups of water with a scoop of oxyclean - about 3 mins. - looks like a bubbling science experiment.

Throw the dipe into some sort of container that has a lid (I use a tupperware bowl). Pour the bubbling mix directly over all the mold. Now fill up the rest of the container with hot/boiling water - put the lid on (the steam may pop the lid off a little).

Leave overnight - and the wash as usual. Dumping all the liquid into your washing machine.

HTH

[toomanystrollers]

Now for your other questions :), FWIW, I don't put anything additional in my diaper wash. I've tried everything too - and I find for my water here - less is more. So I just use a tiny bit of detergent - that's all.

And I throw everything in the dryer - including covers, pocket dipes,... Unless I motivated to use my clothesline :)

ETA - LOL, I don't put wool in the dryer :)


HTH

[ribbit1019]

Congrats on 24 hours! It's wonderful isn't it?
Our wash, I add Baking Soda only if our fluffy stash starts to smell.
After a couple of rounds I don't have any issues with smell. I haven't had to use it with the PT FB though and she has been in those since Jan.
Less is more here too, as a matter of fact I have to do some scrubbing with Dawn on my pockets because they are starting to wick.
Detergent build up, gotta love it. ;)
I dry everything in the dryer too. Being a WOHM with a DH that has three jobs, I just don't have the time or patience to hang everything on the line. Though once a week they do get line dried, if you can I would try to line dry them. But if you can't, my small FB were just fine after 6 mos of use and being dried in the dryer nearly every time.
I don't have any advice on the mold stains, but Pam's advice sounds like a good try at least!


Christy
Maddy aka "Little Miss Squirmy Monster"

How old is Maddy? "UN! AAAYYYY!" ClapClapClap

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[nitaghei]

I put everything other than wool in the dryer. Weather and time permitting, I will line dry hemp and PUL - otherwise, into the dryer everything goes.

I don't add anything other than detergent. If my hemp seems a bit stinky, I use Sportwash in the wash (not presoak) cycle - and that seems to take care of things for several weeks.

Re mold. I found some on one of my hemp inserts. Ugh. Don't know why it happened, because I didn't go any longer than usual between washes. I did the Oxyclean thing, and then stuck it out in the sun for two days in a row. Good as new.

HTH

Nita (fleece is my friend)
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)