G rated stripping

Well late last week, Jai had his second diaper rash since birth, his first being only a month ago. I had detected then, that my cloth diapers weren't operating as they should, and were starting to pollute the air surrounding the diaper pail & the bathroom. I began to have a sneaky suspicion that this diaper rash was due to some type of build up in his diapers, that was causing all these signs of problem.
After much research, I narrowed my build up to be mineral build up from our hard water. I decided I was not going to do the typical 'strip' on my diapers, because thats what I tried after the first diaper rash, and clearly that did not take care of the problem, considering it reoccurred. Sooooo... I did things my way, of course a much more intense, OCD induced way. But first i did an experiment...


I then filled the boys bath tub with the hottest water possible, and added 2 table spoons of blue dawn. I threw my diapers in and let them soak for 60 minutes. When I when back i added MORE hot hot hot water, brought in a empty laundry basket, and got tub side, and began scrubbing. I pulled all four layers apart by hand, and scrubbed them. After the separating and scrubbing, I took the shower head down, and drained the tub. Each insert then was rinsed, rinsed, rinsed and rinsed some more, then set in the laundry basket. (I did batches of 10) After there were 10 inserts rinsed clean of blue dawn, i brought inserts to the kitchen where i had two pots boiling. I then added inserts in to boil for 15 minutes. after boiling they were put on a rinse cycle in the wash, followed by a clean w/ detergent and 3 more rinses. This went on until every insert was clean... ( process was repeated about 5 times since i have about 50 inserts)

AFTER i planned to put them in the dryer. USUALLY, they are hung dry, but after all that hard work i was tired, AND besides i wanted them to be as soft as possible so dried inside was my choice. BUT i soon found out.. our heating element in our dryer had went out. GR. just my luck. ON to the clothes line.... where they dried. They now are more absorbent than ever, so clean, soft, and dont smell at all..even when spoiled.  Can I get an AMEN?

Jai's bottom is now all better. We went a few days diaper less,(except for bedtime..then we worse throwaways) followed by a weekend of throwaways, and now back to using our beloved cloth. Oh Happy Day.

^this is the experiment. Look at how my diapers were repelling! This was leaving moisture on my baby's bottom, causing irritation. Not to meantion the cause of the repelling, was build up which leads to ammonia- which causes burns! Ouch!

The soak

The boil