Another person with a stink problem...

[heatherbushead]

I've been CD'ing my DD for almost a year now. I've had to strip her overnight diapers once as they were repelling (I think due to the diaper cream we were using at night). Haven't had that issue again. Now we are having astink issue. The diapers smell clean coming out of the dryer, but when she pees it smells awful. I thought she made a giant poop the other day and it was just the diaper stink. Please, any adivce would help. Here is my routine with a front loader: 30 min. warm soak using OxyClean or Borax, 30 minute wash on gentle cycle with no spin (so more water is retained and the diapers are havier so the machine uses more water)and 1/4 cup of Country Save, 2 hour Hot cycle (Heavy Duty cycle) using 1/4 cup of Country Save, warm rinse. We live in CA and have hard water. I have some Calgon coming to my in the mail. I was planning to try and strip the diapers with Calgon but I'm open to any suggestions. We use prefolds during the day and BG or FB AIO's at night with a Flip organic insert and Hemp inserts as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Heather

[AmyRobin]

Calgon solved my issues. You could also try washing in 1/4 cup of bleach and rinse well. Good luck! Stinkies are no fun!

[4lilMonkies]

Originally Posted by AmyRobin Calgon solved my issues. You could also try washing in 1/4 cup of bleach and rinse well. Good luck! Stinkies are no fun!

With a slight variation here, this is what I did. For me a wash with bleach was not enough. In my FL it did not give the bleach a long enough time to saturate far enough into my prefolds. So you could try a soak. I put less than 1/8 of a cup of bleach into a bucket (I used a smallish trash can) then fill with warm water until the diapers are covered with water. Let them soak overnight or for several hours in the afternoon.

I had bad stink with my prefolds which I was using for night stuffed in an AIO. So with a stinky one, I would take off baby rinse and wring several times under the faucet to get the wet pee out. Then soak. For some it only needed that one soak, some of my thicker ones needed to be done another time. I never had to change my wash routine. I think this allowed the bleach to penetrate into the diaper and kill the bacteria and ammonia crystals.

[heatherbushead]

How often do you have to do this type of a soak? And do you think bleach is OK on organic Indian Cotton prefolds?

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

[Almacham]

Bleach is fine and sometimes absolutely necessary.

[heatherbushead]

Originally Posted by AmyRobin Calgon solved my issues. You could also try washing in 1/4 cup of bleach and rinse well. Good luck! Stinkies are no fun!

Do you use Calgon in each cycle or only the wash cycle (when you use detergent)?

[sarbear52]

4lilmonkies - thank you for sharing! I am so frustrated. have tried and tried to get rid of ammonia and will try this next!

[twinpossible]

We have hard water too, stink issues disappeared when I used diaper detergent formulated for hard water. We use Rockin Green - hard rock.

[lynn97]

I'd second the idea of rinsing out the morning diapers; this seems to have made a big difference for us. I would also consider using bleach (just to strip, not using it regularly) and stripping with hot water. I would also try a different detergent. I know a lot of people swear by Country Save but it did very little to clean our diapers. We have had good luck with Charlie's and I know a lot of mamas swear by Tide.

[sisu]

Originally Posted by heatherbushead I've been CD'ing my DD for almost a year now. I've had to strip her overnight diapers once as they were repelling (I think due to the diaper cream we were using at night). Haven't had that issue again. Now we are having astink issue. The diapers smell clean coming out of the dryer, but when she pees it smells awful. I thought she made a giant poop the other day and it was just the diaper stink. Please, any adivce would help. Here is my routine with a front loader: 30 min. warm soak using OxyClean or Borax, 30 minute wash on gentle cycle with no spin (so more water is retained and the diapers are havier so the machine uses more water)and 1/4 cup of Country Save, 2 hour Hot cycle (Heavy Duty cycle) using 1/4 cup of Country Save, warm rinse. We live in CA and have hard water. I have some Calgon coming to my in the mail. I was planning to try and strip the diapers with Calgon but I'm open to any suggestions. We use prefolds during the day and BG or FB AIO's at night with a Flip organic insert and Hemp inserts as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Heather

That isn't how front loading washers work. They don't add water based on weight, they add water to fill the drum up to a certain level (they fill, agitate the clothes around, if the clothes soak up enough water that the water level drops, they fill more, etc.).

You need to spin your diapers after your first wash to get all the yucky stuff OUT! Otherwise, all the poop and pee are still in with your diapers during your main wash - which defeats the purpose of doing the first wash.