Eco Sprout Review

Washing diapers can be a very frustrating thing to do. There are lots of mamas out there who are struggling with the 'stinkies'. I was one of them almost from the beginning of cloth diapering. We have super hard water. When we first started cloth diapering, we had an OLD top loading washing machine. At first we used Arm and Hammer Essentials which got 3 out of 5 stars on this site. I only had about 3 diapers at the time and we used it for about a week or two at the most. It seemed to work pretty good at first but out of no where BAM! Ammonia stinks. It was awful.

I immediately bought some Rockin' Green because of all the wonderful things I've heard about them. I did soaks and I was happy with all the junk that came out of our cloth diapers and the things around our house (sheets, towels, etc.). At the time, we had all microfiber diapers. RnG worked pretty good at first. I was still trying to figure out my routine because I was new to everything. I read lots of things online about the best way to wash diapers. I did a cold rinse, hot wash with detergent, and 2 extra rinses. I hung my diapers up outside to let them get 'fresh air'. They didn't get much sun but I thought that would be better than drying in the dryer. About a month or so later the stinkies came back. I bought Tea Tree Oil because I heard everyone rave about how good it is. That didn't help much. I did extra rinses and even went to extreme measures like boiling all my inserts. (I didn't boil anything with PUL in it. That can ruin diapers.) I thought maybe it was my washer. Since it was so old and the apartment we lived in was older, the water never got very hot. I tried adding a pot or two of boiling water in the washer before washing them.

I kept with the RnG for a little bit longer. I bought two bags and didn't want to waste the other bag before buying a new kind of detergent. Before I could even get through my last bag, I caved and bought another detergent. Everyone raved about Lulu's in the Fluff so that was my next route. It worked great and the stinkies went away! I was so happy! Finally no more stinky diapers. There were a few times where my routine would change (traveling or I would forget a step like adding the TTO) and the stinkies would start coming back. I would soak and soak and they would go away again. Until I got into my third bag. Then BAM! They came back full force.

I was frustrated to say the least. Maybe I just had no luck. Or maybe everyone secretly went through this and just didn't want to admit it. Either way, I was about to throw in the towel. I loved cloth diapering but didn't want to have to deal with such a hassle. Rockin' Green came out with a new product around this time (Funk Rock) and I hesitantly bought a bag. I soaked my diapers overnight and hoped they would be stink free in the morning. I rinsed and rinsed until my washer sounded like a helicopter was coming through my house. Nope. No luck.

We moved into a new apartment and I bought a new washer. It was another top loading washer but it was an HE machine. I was hesitant about getting an HE because of how little water they add. With washing cloth diapers, the more water you wash with, the better. We continued our battle. I bought samples of other detergents to try and there was no change. Until we came to one sample.

I had heard everyone raving about Eco Sprout. Again, I was VERY hesitant to try it. The last detergents I tried, everyone raved about them, but they failed. Miserably. But our old detergent wasn't cutting it so I switched. I soaked our diapers in the tub overnight (and caused our neighbors below us to flood, whoops!) and rinsed like a mad woman. I was nervous to try it on my son. I couldn't handle any more stinky or red bums. I kind of sniffed his bum after an hour or two to see if it stunk. Nope! I was happy but still nervous. We used it for about a month with great success. My bag was getting low and I knew that meant the stinkies were on their way once again. Maybe I would just have to switch detergents every other month to keep them at bay. We finished the bag and started onto our second. No stinkies still!

It has been almost a year since we started using it and I couldn't be happier! I never have to soak, strip, or do anything crazy to my diapers anymore. I moved into my parents house and it took a while for me to get a nice routine down (she has a front loading HE machine that does NOT add hardly ANY water) but now that I have a nice wash routine, everything is perfect. I can not believe it took me so long (and so much hassle!) to find a detergent that works wonders. Again, I have really nasty hard water. I recommend this detergent to everyone!!! It's amazing.

My wash routine: (With a front loading HE machine)
Warm or cold prerinse with a few drops of Tea Tree Oil. I've heard people say warm is better for getting out stains and some say cold is better for stains. I kind of flip flop and just randomly choose an option : )
Hot wash with 1&1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of Eco Sprout. The more diapers in the load, the more detergent I use. (But never more than 2 Tablespoons) I wash with the longest setting I can.
The washer does two rinses and I usually do an extra warm rinse because I'm a rinse freak.
 I try to hang up my diapers as much as possible but sometimes I do dry them in the dryer on ultra low heat. Super easy routine!
You can find more tips here!

*I was not paid or endorsed for this review. I simply wrote it because I love Eco Sprout and wanted to share my success with everyone. Just because a detergent didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. Everyone will have different success with different detergents and wash routines. I did not write this review to bash or talk bad about any company. I just wrote my story and what worked and didn't work for me : ) *