Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Vinegar and Cloth Diapers: What You Need to Know


Vinegar has some great household uses such as relieving a bee sting, getting out stains, and my personal favorite...Easter Egg Coloring!!! (See a full list HERE)
In the last post I did about My Wash Routine and What's in Your Water? , some of you awesome readers left comments about using Vinegar in your wash routines! I had heard this before but wanted to do a little more investigating into it. Of course, me being the by-the-book, direction-following kinda gal that I am, I haven't wanted to try it because of the following I found on the Flip Manufacturer's website...

The majority of My Cloth Diaper Stash is Flip Hybrid Diapers. There are some great uses for vinegar in cleaning diapers. Below I listed some thoughts, pro's, and con's

Pro's:
  • Vinegar will act as a Natural Fabric Softener and Cling Reducer
  • It helps to reduce the "stank" in your diapers by neutralizing the smell of urine
  • Helps to reduce soapy or filmy build up on the diapers by breaking up the detergent
  • Has antimicrobial and antifungal properties to it
  • Vinegar helps to prevent/reduce stains
  • Cheap solution to odor problems
Con's:
  • If you have hard water, the vinegar may bind with the minerals in the hard water to produce a really, really bad smell!! You may then have to strip the diapers!
  • Should not be used on diaper covers, as the vinegar may bind to the covers leaving them stinky and decreasing the usability!! (is this a word? ha ha)
  • Most manufacturer's do not recommend using Vinegar
If I want to use vinegar, how should it be used?
  • Remember to use straight white distilled vinegar! Not red, apple cider, or balsamic vinegar! I would hate to see what happens!!
  • Use no more than 1/4 cup during the first rinse cycle of your Hot Wash to help get the left over soap or detergent out of the diapers. You may find that you need more depending on your particular situation. Do what works best for you.
  • Be sure not to use too much, especially if you live in an area with hard water! Remember the saying "too much of a good thing."
So what do you think?

--Do you swear by using vinegar? 

--How much do you use?

--When do you add it in?

38 comments:

  1. I never thought about adding vinegar to my wash! I did use it to rinse my hair and that was not a pretty sight. I'm going to experiment with vinegar tomorrow when I do the wash. Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let me know how you make out with adding the vinegar!

      Delete
  2. We've used vinegar in the laundry a number of times and it really does work. Much cheaper than buying traditional softeners & better for the environment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will try a little vinegar in my wash today! I would think it would also work well on bath towels.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have never put Vinegar in my wash either but my mom swears it is the best stuff for everything from cleaning house to doing laundry. Honestly, I just can't stomach the smell. LOL

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is really interesting. I actually had never heard of using vinegar for washing! I usually only buy it for Easter Egg Coloring!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would have never thought of vinegar for our cloth diapers but I use it in our dishwasher!

    ReplyDelete
  7. i never heard of vinegar for use in washing ur clothes. I gotta try it

    ReplyDelete
  8. I used to cloth diaper and I added a little vinegar to loads on occasion with no issues. I use it for regular washing laundry all the time, especially if one of my potty training little ones had an accident.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I never new that vinegar is a natural fabric softener! Thanks for sharing. Very interesting

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have been CDing for over 4 yeas and have never once used vinegar...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I had heard about vinegar as a fabric softener and had found a site and also a magazine article about different uses. Thanks for this post, great information.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hmmm, I have been cloth diapering for 4 years and have never used vinegar before. I do add a scoop of baking powder in my wash though.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I never would have thought of vinegar for my cloth diapers. Thank you for this!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I use vinegar and water to clean mirrors and glass surface's. Ido not usually measure I kinda just quess. Great tip for the next baby in this family, I will keep it in mind. Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the tip. I was browsing through on the Alexa Mania Hop and came across the page. We are talking about having a child so I have been looking up tips trying to decide if cloth diapers are the way to go. I shot an Alexa review your way too.

    http://parsimoniouspash.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. interestingly enough, vinegar may have been the culprit to some of my stink issues then huh (hard water) i think i finally got them straightened out though :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny how some it works great for some and make things worse for others!

      Delete
  17. I have used vinegar on my regualy laundry, but not on my cloth. I may have to try it on my made-by-me inserts. I don't have hard water.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I always add a little vinegar to CD's that have had poopies or if they've sat in the wetbag for a day or two longer than normal. I use mostly fuzzibunz and lotus bumz diapers and it has worked very well for me :) - Andrea Edwards

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am going to have to try this! I've started using vinegar for other things around the house but haven't used it on my cloth diapers yet! (Michelle Ferguson)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have been tempted to, because of stink, but have yet to try vinegar because i have slightly hard water. I'd hate to make them stink worse, thats for sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me to, but I am also hesitant because of the hard water too!

      Delete
  21. We love vinegar! We use it for laundry and for cleaning. Not sure I would trust my cloth diapers with it though. We have hard water so I am sure it would be a good match

    ReplyDelete
  22. I've heard of using vinegar, but we have moderately hard water so there is no way I'm trying it. It's hard enough getting a wash routine to work with hard water in a FL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have hard water, so I am not using it either! But I do have friends that live in town with the same type of water that swear by it!! Not for me...now at least!

      Delete
  23. I use vinegar as fabric softener for my regular clothes and love it but never on my cloth diapers just don't want to risk it

    ReplyDelete
  24. Yep, we have hard water and I learned the hard way that I shouldn't use vinegar!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I don't think I would risk using Vinegar on my cloth diapers. You had some pretty valid points and better be safe than sorry. :) God bless you. Judith

    ReplyDelete
  26. I recently used vinegar to get out mildew from forgetting about our soaking wet dipes in the washer (dang it!). I won't be making that mistake again soon, I hope! But everything seems AOK since then. I don't want to make a habit of using vinegar, just in case.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I occasionally use vinegar, especially if I let my daughter's diapers sit too long in the pail.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The title had me worried. I sometimes use vinegar on my dipes, especially if they have a smell, or if baby has a rash, just to eliminate the possibility of yeast settling in if that's what turns out to be causing the rash. I didn't really want to hear how it would ruin my dipes or something. I'm already using my home-made detergent sometimes, and we all know what they say about that!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I never even thought about using vinegar.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I have used vinegar before, and I think it works really well. I do however do a couple of extra rinses after just in case because I would hate to have vinegar left on the diapers and then stick it on my babies bum.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ive never heard of this before but I hate the smell of vinegar so I don't want vinegar anywhere near my diapers lol

    ReplyDelete
  32. I've heard of this but don't know what kind of water I have and don't know how to find out without trying and potentially making the slight smell I have much worse. Is there a way to find out what kind of water you have?

    ReplyDelete
  33. I would have never thought of adding vinegar to my wash! What a neat idea and review!

    ReplyDelete
  34. i never heard of this before so thanks for the info! we do have hard water but we have a water softener.

    ReplyDelete