pointers on how to deal with ammonia. please.

[shen7]

Originally Posted by jennayoung99 i don't know anywhere that sells bac out near me (i'm in canada) and i don't want to start using something i have to order online all the time. also there is never poop in the fitteds, they are only for night time, would they still get poop build up in them from my other diapers even tho they are all rinsed??

You might be able to find a similar enzyme cleaner product, there is another one here called Kids and Pets... maybe ask around at your local store! It is an enzyme spray used for pee and poop stains and odors on upholstery and rugs and laundry.

Yes, the poopy bacteria get around in the wash. They are in low enough concentration for you right now, that the ammonia production they cause is insignificant in all the daytime diapers, but in the night diapers, they are closed up in a low oxygen environment with the urine for long enough that the ammonia production gets noticeable. If you were to let the problem go and it progressed, you would eventually be getting the instant ammonia from daytime diapers too. It always shows up in night diapers first!!!

[mothergooseofthree]

This is what I always used to wash my diapers:

http://www.atsko.com/products/laundr...detergent.html

It was very popular when cded my 10yo and 8yo. I never had to strip pockets and never had stinkies. I also never, ever rinsed a diaper. I scraped off whatever poo easily came off with the cloth wipe and threw the rest in the dry pail. I did a cold pre-rinse, a hot wash, cold rinse, and extra rinse.

It is available at Wal-Mart in the camping section. It can also be found on some CD retailer sites under the Sensi Clean label.

[TrennaII]

I think the mama who mentioned a breathable cover really hit the nail on the head. Urine breaking down into ammonia is sped up by lack of air, and increased warmth.

Tide free does have some reputation for buildup. If Country Save didn't work even when using the right amount for your water, I'd try to simplify as people have suggested, have a prewash not a soak, add vinegar to the rinse to strip the detergent buildup, and put baking soda in your Prerinse.

The baking soda Prerinse was the biggest help for us when I had microfiber in the mix.

[momgoddess]

Have you tried stripping with RLR? It is supposed to kill ammonia. I don't know this first hand, because I have never, ever, ever had ammonia or barnyard, for that matter...stink. I think because I use a little bleach in every wash, use Tide powder and most the time don't even bother with more than one cold rinse.

[wrensmom]

Prerinse with bleach makes all the difference for us, but we have hard water. I have to disagree with poop causing ammonia... We EC'd my daughter and she never pooped in her diapers... Still had ammonia with night diapers (fixed with bleach). I tried to get around using bleach so many times, but nothing else worked for us!

Good luck.

[shen7]

Originally Posted by wrensmom Prerinse with bleach makes all the difference for us, but we have hard water. I have to disagree with poop causing ammonia... We EC'd my daughter and she never pooped in her diapers... Still had ammonia with night diapers (fixed with bleach). I tried to get around using bleach so many times, but nothing else worked for us! Good luck.

Here is why I say poop causes ammonia. (It is not the only cause, some babies have illnesses or health conditions that actually cause significant ammonia in their clean new urine... but speaking generally here.) Urea is the chemical in urine that breaks down to ammonia. This process can happen very quickly and completely due to an enzyme called urease. Urease is produced by certain types of bacteria. Normal gut flora bacteria are urease-producing bacteria, animal feces of all kinds are rich in it. Therefore poop causes ammonia. There are other urea-> ammonia processes but they are generally slow and incomplete, any urine sitting around long enough will ferment into ammonia, but over days to weeks, not minutes to hours. So that's the thinking behind it.

[TrennaII]

Originally Posted by shen7 Here is why I say poop causes ammonia. (It is not the only cause, some babies have illnesses or health conditions that actually cause significant ammonia in their clean new urine... but speaking generally here.) Urea is the chemical in urine that breaks down to ammonia. This process can happen very quickly and completely due to an enzyme called urease. Urease is produced by certain types of bacteria. Normal gut flora bacteria are urease-producing bacteria, animal feces of all kinds are rich in it. Therefore poop causes ammonia. There are other urea-> ammonia processes but they are generally slow and incomplete, any urine sitting around long enough will ferment into ammonia, but over days to weeks, not minutes to hours. So that's the thinking behind it.

That's some great info!

My additional thought is that the urea to ammonia process is sped up exponentially by removing oxygen or adding warmth, as happens in nighttime pul diapers, in wet bags, or in airtight diaper pails.

[jennayoung99]

I wanted to thank everyone for replying here. I have since kick all of my ammonia. I changed my wash routine to
Cold prewash with bleach
Hot wash cycle with tide f&g
Warm wash cycle with no detergent

I also have been rinsing the night time fitteds really well in the morning and putting them in a dry pail. So far so good!