Can we stop and talk about something serious?

Fluff Love University is not a modern resource to support parents on cloth diapering. It’s an outdated community without any accessible leaders willing to adapt and change to a new climate of cloth diaper laundry. Sure, they rose to power in 2015, kicking cloth diaper businesses to the curb – but it’s been 6 years, and the detergents they forced out of business, the brands they belittled, and the arguments they continue to make are now just a graveyard forcing the cloth diaper community to continue fight instead of collaborate. 

• Can we stop fighting about cloth diaper wash routines?\
• 4 Reasons Fluff Love Fustrates this Blogger
• I HATE GIVING WASH ROUTINE ADVICE

This is group is otherwise  known as FLU, or Fluff Love and CD Science and mostly active in their Facebook Group. It’s my impression there is no defined leadership. I have reached out to FLU over the past few months trying to find someone to talk to for our upcoming cloth diaper network for the businesses and unable to reach a leader who would be interested in talking. This post was updated in 2021, but originally written in 2018.

We all have the same goal: make cloth diapering easier for parents by providing wash routines that work.

The problem is… some of us are listening and adapting, and some of us continue to hold strong to what was and fail to share their resources and evidences. Fluff Love University claims to be backed by cloth diaper science, and the go-to space for continued support.

Cloth diapering is not a science.

It’s just laundry. 

We all do laundry. We do it without science degrees.

Cloth diapering can be done without needing to know the science, because that’s what detergent companies job. What’s a struggle is FLU became less about supporting and sharing the science knowledge and more about protecting a set of ideals established in the mid 2010 decade. There’s no challenging Fluff Love University because they will block you. There’s no bringing up a different perspective because admins will block you. 

Laundry is a science, but I have yet to find any laundry based peer review articles that aligns with the Fluff Love University message. Many articles actually argue the opposite, and with the advancement of diapering, detergent and machines, I’m wondering why doesn’t Fluff Love adapt and grow. Why do they hold onto old-time ideas that don’t benefit parents and modern diapers. 

• The Science Behind some types of diaper rash

Over the past couple years I’ve chatted with brands, detergent companies, and other experts on laundry and diapering – turns out a lot of what Fluff Love and the general cloth diaper community feeds us as laundry based science is complete hogwash. Stop listening to random parents on the internet, and reach out to the brand directly, to the detergent company, and to your washing machine brand for the best advice on cleaning just about anything – including cloth diapers. 

• Cloth Diaper Podcast 
• Dinobi Detergent
• Esembly Baby
• Coming Soon: Unicorn Clean

How to Wash Cloth Diapers with Fluff Love

Trust in yourself.

Start simple.

Adapt if you need to.

I practice a simple wash and go strategy. I talk about in my cloth diaper book, but it’s also available on my website. Most importantly, I know and really want you to know that if my strategy doesn’t work, there’s ways to fix and troubleshoot. We all have different water, detergent, machines, textiles, and soil in our machines. 

But more often than not a simple cloth diaper wash routine is the best place to start, and we can add steps as you go.  I also want you to feel empowered to problem solve without reaching to a admin or a strange on the internet looking for validation. It is just laundry, let’s bring back that simplicity and trust that you can do it like you do your kids bedsheets, towels and more. 

Often when I talk about cloth diapers, I like to use the phrase “many families find abc works”

Lead with kindness and compassion when sharing your experiences. Instead of saying that product was terrible, you could say “that product didn’t work for me, but when I switched to this with my water I had a much better experience.” Remembering that your experience is not the universal experience. 

•  What Can I wash With Cloth Diapers?
• My Cloth Diaper Wash Routine
• How to Rock your Hand Wash Routine
• Best Wool Wash for Cloth Diapering
• How to wash wool diapers

My goal for the cloth diaper community is to EMPOWER MORE FAMILIES to try cloth because it’s not guarded behind some exclusive Facebook community too busy to answer questions and instead a communal knowledge shared amongst us and grows and we grow. That’s why in 2022 I look forward too creating wash routine panels within the business community to expand our knowledge and work on providing laundry based options backed by the professionals in a public forum that encourages transparency in our experience. 

Cloth Diaper Laundry is not a one size fits all experience.

Fluff Love University plays with hard and fast rules without considering the wide array of possibilities. In their Facebook group, it is their way or the highway. Literally, because if you get caught offering practical advice outside of their guidelines, you will be censored and probably banned from the group.  

20 Common Complaints about Fluff Love

Based on conversations, chatter, and real-life experiences, Fluff Love tends to offer this terrible advice suggestion leading to many of the following complaints….

• “I have a FL routine, but… “
• Too Much Detergent.
• Tide or the Highway.
• Too Many Water Softeners.
• Super Long and Complex Routines.
• Leading to Stinky Diapers and rashes.
• Leading to Broken Washing Machines.
• Void warranties on some brands of cloth diapers.
• Inability to budge on Fluff Rules when things don’t work.
  • percieved as judgemental, rude and unhelpful.
  • ADMIN!
  • Admin is a group of clique-y gossiping peeps.
  • complete denial of facts offered from experienced brands, and manufacturers.
• Using GroVia Mighty Bubbles Against package directions.
• Crazy Bleach Protocols.
• Constant Need to Strip your Diapers.
• The Myth of Build Up.
• Sometimes your post gets lost and ignored in a sea of questions.
• The reason some people give up.
• Don’t advertise an FLU routine when trying to sell diapers if you want to sell them because sometimes it’s not worth the effort to restore that cloth diaper.
• Constantly pushing cheap pocket cloth diapers. I don’t think pocket cloth diapers are an easy answer for parents, but you can learn more here.

And those are just a few of the complaints, I’ve heard on the internet.

More recently the Fluff Love Complaints have been:

• I asked a question and nobody got back to me.
• I asked a question and my post got deleted
• I tried to provide some support but I was banned and blocked
• I got diapers through the cloth option and was referred to Fluff Love University who never provided me with an answer to overcome my issue
• Why do they ban the use of GroVia mighty bubbles according to the package?
• I just can’t use they products they want me to use

If you’re struggling with your Fluff Love Routine because your cloth diapers stink, your routine takes forever, and you’re burning through detergent quicker than disposables, then question the advice you were given. 

Fluff Love University is not the ONLY expert in the cloth diaper industry.

Many retailers, brands and bloggers adamantly speak out against their advice in support of a more practical and supportive cloth diapering experience.

And honestly, I’m disappointed that they this is all based on volunteerism. I know that volunteering and being a community advocate is the end all dream for people, but can we also talk about how it undercuts women time, the value they offer, the time they give and that even cloth diaper advocates deserve to be paid. If they aren’t making money that’s a disservice to our entire industry. It shouldn’t be the gold standard to not make money, we all need to survive and thrive and deserve an abundance. We can do that in a way that is not scummy and continues to be inclusive and giving.

If not Fluff Love University, what else?

1. Cloth Diaper Retailer you purchased from.
2. Cloth Diaper Brand you purchased from.
3. Cloth Diaper Bloggers who like talking about wash routine – check out this post by the Monarch Mommy 
4. Talk to other moms you know who cloth diaper?
5. Experiment yourself, and practice a little bit of “science.”
6. Supportive Facebook Groups.
   1. Maybe you have a local or regional cloth diaper group and other moms can lend advice about what works for you.
   2. Other generic cloth diapering groups.
7. Trust in yourself. It’s just a load of laundry.
8. You can also email people directly, like if you’re curious about how to best use a detergent. Guess what, Tide is totally awesome at providing support for their product. You can also ask Clorox about how to use bleach and when it disinfects and when it doesn’t.

Looking to read stories from other parents of their wash routines? Check out these guest posts on the Cloth Diaper Podcast on Wash Routine

• I found my unicorn wash routine
• once a week wash routines
• Jessica’s routine using bath water
• washing with soft water in northern bc
• learning to wash diapers in Germany with Stacey

sWant to read more on the varying opinions against Fluff Love?

• Baby Centre Post Circa 2015.
• Fluff Love Unreliable? Reddit Circa 2015 
• Dispelling Fluff Love CD Science. Diaper Swappers Circa 2016. 
• Know of others, drop a link. I love linking up to people.