Cleaning cloth diapers: New rules!

So I may have to go back on what I said in my previous post about cleaning cloth diapers.

I just had this nagging feeling that something was happening that wasn't getting them fully clean and ready to full absorb the next round of fire.

So my favorite online retailer (I get no compensation from them, by the way) is Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique. They always have a good selection, free shipping and give free samples. So when I qualify, I usually get the trial size of one of the cloth diaper detergents they carry. Mostly because they are great for traveling, since even if your host is gracious enough to let you wash baby diapers in their washing machine, you can't be sure that they'll have the kind of detergent you'd like to use... or if you have to hit up a laundry mat, you'll need soap. But also partly because I always secretly wonder if I should be using real cloth diaper soap.

Recently I requested a sample of Rockin' Green's Hard Rock, thinking this would be a great opportunity to 'strip' our diapers. Another sample we tried was a new cloth diaper-friendly diaper cream, CJ's BUTTer and after two uses we haven't needed again since it came in. Both of these products come in some pretty awesome scents, which is probably reason enough to use them, but if you read the reviews on the site, I bet you'll be sampling them, too.

And, full disclosure, we also moved recently and are using a different washing machine in our apartment. The new machine doesn't have an 'extra rinse' cycle, but it does have a 'prewash' cycle. So the new strategy is that I put detergent in with the prewash (warm) and then run a regular cycle with no added anything. 

I think somewhere among these three changes our diapers are getting really really clean now. And they feel more absorbent.

I honestly feel justified the switch for detergent when I did the math on Rockin' Green and how it translated to just about a penny per diaper per wash, and technically I was already paying for a detergent to wash them, albeit a slightly less expensive option. The diaper cream is pricier than the $2.50 tube of A&D we were using, but since we started using it, we have hardly needed it.

I felt like I had to share these changes with you, since I feel like I was a bit high and mighty in my previous post, thinking I didn't have to play by the cloth diaper rules. Now, I think these two products are worth the investment. And though I've said it before, we are now really feeling the effects after a conversation with a colleague having her third child and fearing the upcoming cost of disposable diapers. We have long since rounded the mark where our diapers have paid for themselves (about a year), so now we wash them and diaper our kid for basically free. And now that we are in an apartment, I am grateful for every trip to the trash room I can avoid.

All that said, our guy has been hydrating like nobody's business and has been going through some diapers. So many, in fact, that in one day he used all the ones at school and had to go to our disposable backups, and the one he came home in one was packed to the brink. Is this some sort of growth spurt-related event? Has anyone else's kid suddenly become a super-soaker?