I know, I know, most of you cloth diapering experts are shaking your fingers at me right now, after just having read the title. It’s true. I confess. I wash my cloth diapers in Tide detergent. It hasn’t always been that way, but Tide works for me. *Post not in any way sponsored/compensated by Tide.
In fact, we started out with Ecos Free & Clear, a gentle coconut oil-based detergent. It worked great while Summer Elizabeth was tiny and breastfed exclusively. Later, I won a bag of Rockin’ Green, a cloth-diaper specific detergent with a great reputation and an amazing scent, speaking for watermelon, at least. I loved the scent and Rock in Green worked okay for the diapers when my little girl was exclusively breastfed. When we moved to Italy and had to make due with a front-loading washing machine that used very little water, and Summerbeth began to eat solids, the battle began.
We fought hard adding extra water to each cycle, rinsing those diapers until I thought the water bill might resemble that of a public swimming pool, and researching every trick and tip around at my favorite cloth diapering website. We survived & so did the diapers, but boy was I happy to get home again to my top loader.
When the diapers still reeked of urine after multiple washes, I realized it was time to go all out and try Tide. Not only did my prefolds look whiter from the first washing, but everything smelled so much fresher. Yes, traces of pee pee smell were still left on the pocket diaper inserts that would take more washes to remove, but overall it was a success! I was hooked & shall continue my Tide loyalties with my fluffy diapers. It just works.
Thankfully, I have a very dedicated husband who’s always participated in the cloth diapering process from start to finish. He’s been through the muck and yuck with me, and together we’ve made it through a full 18 months of cloth diapering.
Here’s my current cloth diaper washing routine:
- Toss all diapers, inserts, covers & wetbags into the washing machine with no detergent and set washer to a quick wash cycle. Stop machine after it drains but before it spins.
- Add about 3 tablespoons Tide Original liquid (nearly to cap line “1”) to the laundry and set the washing machine to it’s longest cycle.
- Rinse diapers once more or until no suds are present. Hang everything in the sun to dry. Presto!
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I think I will be trying Tide with my new baby’s diapers! I used Rockin’ Green the first time around, and then switched to Charlie’s Soap after a while, but neither fully removed the stinky.
I know exactly what you mean! After writing this post, my baby graduated into training pants during the day, so I washed her prefolds (day diapers) in Tide and sent them through the dryer so they’d be fluffy to store for my next child. The combo of Tide + dryer really took away any smell that they had. Loved that double whammy!
I have used tide for almost 6 years now for all my boys…and was thankful I could find it here! I also have used regular dawn dish soap (found it at PriceSmart) for when they need some extra help getting rid of stink. A tablespoon of the blue dawn in the longest cycle and then keep running cycles until there are no suds.
I’ve never tried Dawn, though have definitely read lots about it being a great diaper stripper. Would love to try it if you’re willing to bring a sample to small group/church this weekend 🙂 Thanks for the helpful reminder, Liz!
I just saw this, but next week, yes, I will bring some! Missed you guys at GC this week.
Thanks, Liz! I was needing some down time on Friday, but we’ll probably go next time.
Oh boy, do I understand 🙂 Good choice
I use tide for my cloth diapers too but I am always afraid to advertise it for fear of the scary cloth diaper moms’ comments! haha. It is so much cheaper & I have never had a single problem with smells using it.. soo I will quietly continue to use tide. hahaha. Enjoyed this post 🙂
So happy it works for you too! In all honesty, Tide is rather expensive here in Costa Rica, which is why I hadn’t tried it for so long. From my experience, it’s more than worth it’s weight in stinky diapers! Thanks for stopping by, Britt. Your secret’s safe with me 🙂
I had no problems with any of the earth-friendly detergents on my cloth diapers, but if I had, I would have switched to whatever got them clean! The environmental impact of conventional detergent over plant-based is a small difference compared to the impact of disposable diapers over cloth, and that’s probably true for the health effects on your baby too, so I say you’re still doing the right thing. 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement, Becca. I’d totally switch back to eco detergents if I could find another one sold here in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, importing the soap just isn’t wallet-friendly. Thanks so much for visiting!
I’ve heard that they just don’t smell fresh…ever! I SO wanted to try cloth diapers out when I had my son but then caved! I thought the same thing with my daughter, but then I was already in the habit of using regular diapers ;-(
For a few weeks we used disposables on our little girl because her rash just wasn’t healing. Before that happened, I never understood people’s concern about the “work” involved with laundering cloth diapers. Afterward, I could definitely see why some people have a tough time switching over. Disposables are extremely convenient & quick, though I am loyal to my cloth. Our cloth did smell fresh, especially when my baby was breastfed exclusively. Once solids kicked in, it got harder to maintain the April freshness. Thanks for visiting, Lisa.
I’m a new follower on bloglovin.
I love your blog – such gorgeous pictures of you and your little one! And I am quite jealous of your easy pregnancies — I just finished my third and it was rough!
But you inspired me with the cloth diapers. We cloth diapered my second through about 18 months, but then our washing machine stopped agitating correctly, and I found myself stripping the diapers sometimes 4+ times after every wash! Needless to say, we ended up switching to sposies temporarily.
Now, I think our machine is finally fixed, and we now (3 months later) have TWO in diapers, so I think busting out the cloth is the way to go!
Anyway, love the blog 🙂
Thanks so much, Amanda, for your sweet words. That really made my day! Glad to meet you tonight and I sure hope you’ll come visit us for the Mommy-Brain Mixer on Thursday. It’s a great place to meet other moms.
I am so impressed with people who cloth diaper. I really wish I had it in me!
I have a little Summer, too! I was wanting to cloth diaper, but I had no idea where to begin. My main concern was the smell and you just helped me out with that issue. Thanks for the encouragement, we may give it a try!
Hope you do give it a try, even if only at home. I know a few moms who started CDing later in the game and weren’t as gung-ho about it as I am, but still use it for when they’re at home, which saves $ but doesn’t require a complete commitment. Thanks so much for visiting, Tara.
I came across your blog after searching for “cloth diapering in Costa Rica”. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find Tide locally (we are on the southern border near San Vito). I did find another blogger who mentioned Ariel being made by Tide but sold in Latin America. Supposedly, the ingredients are the same but for a cheaper price. Again, not sold here locally, but maybe something you can look into.
For the time being, I’m just washing with our regular detergent we get at the local market. I have no idea what it’s called. My only problem is that I have to rinse at least 3 times and certainly that can not be good. Oh well, my search continues. But glad I found your blog. I look forward to following 🙂
I have always used a free and clear Tide on my diapers and it’s never been a problem. Some of those diapers are over 3.5 years old now!!! I am thinking I might be using too much detergent though (a generally bad habit of mine anyway). Just curious – how large of a load of diapers are you doing when using just 3 tbsp?
It’s kinda funny to think that I’m going on 4 years of cloth diapering and still learning – pretty sure I broke a few of your common mistakes from your most recent post! 🙂
Julie, I think we’ve all broken the rules with CDing from time to time during the learning process. When I wash diapers it’s usually a small load or a load that almost halfway fills my washing machine. Hope this helps! I think the key is to be sure you rinse the diapers until there are absolutely no suds, no matter how much detergent initially goes in. Just peek in and see how the water looks after the first or second rinse to see if you need to rinse again. Yes, it sounds like tons of water, but it’s really important to be sure the diapers are completely free of soap. Thanks for stopping by, Julie!
Thanks for this! I just converted to cloth and am learning. I use rockin’ green but the strong urine smell has me searching for something better. My little guy is 9 months and into solids as well. I have only read up on powder tide so far so to see a mom using liquid is even better since that’s what our other laundry is washed in.
Whitley, it sounds like you’re on the right track. Kudos to you for sticking it out in cloth diapers even when the smell probably threatened you to consider disposables (though for the record, there have been times when I’ve done that and it all worked out.) Since writing this post I have used both liquid and powder Tide. Both worked well. Though there are periods in diapering when the smell just seems to linger no matter how many times you strip the diapers or try new methods, I’ve found that if you stick it out (or maybe it’s that baby’s diet changes?) things eventually get back to normal and the smell goes away. Magic? I don’t know. All I know is that my stash has gone from “fresh linen” smell to ammonia and back again without a clear reason with both my kids. Hope you see good results from the Tide. Thanks for visiting! If you have any more concerns or questions, I’d be happy to help!
Is Tide widely available in Costa Rica? We will be relocating there soon.
Sure is. You can find it in almost any supermarket, including Walmart and Auto Mercado.
Hello! Thank you for writing this! I am new to cloth diapering with a 7 week old and am stuck on how to clean his diapers completely. Ive sent his father out to get tide for us. I am wondering though how to dry them when there is no/little sun in Michigan’s Winter? Any thoughts would help me, Thank you!