My son has been cloth diapered for about 10months now, he gets disposables during the day (at daycare) and cloth at home and at nights. At first he had no problems, but now we are having reccurent rashes, mostly yeast, but now he has another type of rash that looks really bad and even though I am washing in cold water with Bac-Out, hot wash with allen's naturally, and a cold rinse, then dryer drying on rainy days line dry on nice days, and we change diapers alot, but they still smell like ammonia:yuck: by the first time he pees and then this rash, I feel bad for him and am considering going back to disposables and just using disposables on our next baby............any input? or a new wash routine?:banghead: :headscratch:
mom2brooke
04-14-2008, 08:07 PM
maybe it's the disposables giving him the rash???
IttyBittyOrganics
04-14-2008, 08:09 PM
Did you try some vinegar in the rinse? I've heard that works sometimes ;)
IttyBittyOrganics
04-14-2008, 08:10 PM
I found this on Google :) I heard you can also strip them with Dawn but I've never done this so I'm not going to recommend it.
Ammonia smell is a common problem with cloth diapers. (Urine gradually turns into ammonia as it sits.) The first thing to do is to check the ingredients in your detergent and possibly switch brands. You can also try bumGenius Odor Remover Spray.
If you still have ammonia smell after trying the above, try stripping your diapers. This simply means running several hot wash cycles in a row without detergent, until the water is free of suds. Then dry as usual.
slamont
04-14-2008, 08:17 PM
I would assume it is time to strip.
I love using dawn on my dipes. :)
House of Blue
04-14-2008, 09:39 PM
I had an ammonia build up issue recently. I felt I tried it all. What worked in the end was a couple pots of boiling water in the drum of the washing machine (topped up w/ a hot cycle on the largest setting), a bag of soap nuts, a teeeeeeeeeny tinny squirt of blue dawn dish soap (I'm talking just a few drops here) and the fabric softener dispenser topped up with vinegar. A little tip with the soap nuts....I found soaking the soap nuts in a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes really got them moist and ready to do their thing.
If you use pockets with inserts it may be time to bleach the inserts. Not everyone agrees with the use of bleach but I like it every now and then (maybe every two or three months). I get a big bucket, add a cup of bleach and some boiling water and let the inserts sit for 15 minutes. Then I dump the bucket into the washing machine and let the drum fill with hot water (to further dilute the bleach) and then add the rest of the covers to the inserts. Then I add a squirt of blue dawn (2 quick rings around the washing drum) and top up the fabric softener dispenser with vinegar. Bleach is tricky to get out of diapers completely so it can take 2 or 3 rinses to get the smell out. If yeast has been a problem I'd do a nice long hot cycle in the dryer.
If you are curious about the soap nuts...
http://www.soapnuts.ca/
You can get them dirt cheep of places like ebay or Kijiji.
fish3737
04-14-2008, 09:49 PM
We had the horrible burns from the dipes as well.
Now my routine:
1st wash - one cold rinse no detergent (for stains- no necessary for avoiding burns)
2nd wash - stripping with Dawn (just a little - a tablespoon at most) on kid's wash cycle
3rd wash - one cold rinse no detergent
4th wash - wash with clear and free detergent on kid's wash cycle
5th wash - one cold rinse no detergent
I have never had any issues again. It seems really excessive and it probably is, but it worked for me and I am a creature of habit. :)
cisnerosfamily4
04-14-2008, 09:56 PM
I also had diaper burn and stink issues and mine recently went away after I stripped my diapers in hot, hot, hot water... and then switched my detergent. My routine now is:
1. cold water short cycle wash/rinse with a few drops of TTO
2. hot water long wash/rinse with 1/4 recommeded amt of Trader Joes powder detergent
3. extra cold rinse with small amount of vinegar
I dry all my diapers in the dryer, except: pockets, g's, covers, on medium heat.
I also incorporated wool covers to my stash... the breathability has really helped!
ChunkiBunz Diaperz
04-14-2008, 09:59 PM
i am new to cd and i am just waiting fo rmy dipes to come in the mail. i am looking for a wash routine and i was reading. i dont know what youguys are talking about. what is a burn?
House of Blue
04-14-2008, 10:17 PM
a burn is a reaction to whatever you wash your diapers with (you can get them with disposables too, it's just a rash that's the result of skin contact with something that doesn't agree with you). Usually the sensitivity is from the Enzymes, harsh fragrance, softeners, brighteners or dyes. It used to be that people thought that it was just the cloth diapers that were the culprit, not so... If you find the right washing routine and change your baby enough rashes should NOT be an issue.
These links are really helpful in figuring out which detergent has what in it....
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm
http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
avidreader
04-15-2008, 12:47 AM
I had major issues with Allens' not getting the dipes clean enough and was left with ammonia smell and a nasty chemical looking burn on ds' bottom! I now use Purex free and Clear (I do a cold rinse with nothing, then super hot with 3/4- a full capful of the recommended amount of Purex and then an added rinse or short cycle at the end with nothing added in) with no ammonia problems! Despite us having very hard water, we haven't had build up issues since we switched a few months ago. Maybe this is it, maybe not, but it's worth a shot to try something else!:hugs:
mcpforever
04-15-2008, 08:14 AM
:2cents: I think the biggest problem with washing cloth diapers is that people are afraid to use enough detergent to really get them super clean. I mean, the kid doesn't pee and poop in regular clothes, yet we are happy to use 1/2 the amount of detergent to clean the seriously soiled dipes? :headscratch:
Anyway, IMO, it's better to get the dipes super clean and do extra rinses than to get them mostly clean and have stuff left to stink and irritate LO's bum.
I agree. Try switching detergents every once in a while. Use super hot water somewhere in your regular wash routine. And only change one thing at a time so you know what actually worked. :thumbsup:
And just as a side note: I know vinegar is recommended a lot. I've been told that it can hurt certain kinds of elastics. Happy Heiny actually recommends it, but I tried it on BG 2.0s and some GADS (clear lastin elastic) and the elastic relaxed a good bit after. And I'm pretty sure that's what it was as I had some that didn't get involved in the vinegar to compare with.
Oh and Houseof Blue-I agree with the periodic bleaching of inserts-especially MF ones. :yuck:
lordservnt
04-15-2008, 07:51 PM
I had major issues with Allens' not getting the dipes clean enough and was left with ammonia smell and a nasty chemical looking burn on ds' bottom! I now use Purex free and Clear (I do a cold rinse with nothing, then super hot with 3/4- a full capful of the recommended amount of Purex and then an added rinse or short cycle at the end with nothing added in) with no ammonia problems! Despite us having very hard water, we haven't had build up issues since we switched a few months ago. Maybe this is it, maybe not, but it's worth a shot to try something else!:hugs:
his rash does look like a chemical burn or some kind of burn....the doc was puzzled by it, because it didn't look like a typical rash.....I hope she doesn't think i'm not keeping him clean
lordservnt
04-15-2008, 07:59 PM
Thank you all so much:hugs: , I was really feeling bad for the poor guy. I have noticed more problems with rashes whenever he is put in disposables more often. he's ok if its only cloth or only sposie, but mixing isn't working for him.
lordservnt
04-15-2008, 08:01 PM
the burn is just that, a burn on the skin. its typically caused by a chemical reaction that the skin isn't agreeable to. But dont let it scare you away. I absolutely love the cloth.
******UPDATE******We have been stripping the diapers on a regular basis and modified our wash routine a little, and use tea tree oil in our wipe solution and we have NO MORE RASH OR BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you all for your help!!!!!!!!
