Help my diapers stink really bad!

[~savah~]

My diapers smell so badly that I just don't know what to do. I use the dry pail method and try to wash every third day. Because I do part time ec, and I have a lot of diapers I'm thinking that sometimes they get washed every fourth day. When I do wash them I do a cold express wash with no soap, then I do a hot wash with charlies soap and a cold vinegar rinse. I then do a second warm rinse with vinegar. What else can I do? Thank you for any advice, alicia

[roseselene]

Hi there! It's possible that you need to wash more frequently. Going 4 days is stretching it sometimes. Have you tried stripping them? I would recommend several hot washes with no detergent at all just to peek and see if there are still suds in the water. If there are suds in the water in a plain hot wash, then you have detergent buildup. That is a good and simple place to start when you have diaper stink.
Amy

[~savah~]

Thank you roseselene! You were so right. There are lots of suds four washes later. I guess I didn't think I would have detergent build up because I used charlies and it is such a small amount. So now what do I do, just keep running them through with no soap? Thanks again, alicia

[roseselene]

Yep! Just run them through until they have little to no suds. Then you can start over with nice fresh diapers. You may need to strip them like this once a month or every other month, depending if they start stinking.
Amy

[stellimamo]

Also, do you have hard water? If so vinegar can make diapers washed in hard water stinky.

[prettypixels]

Try a different detergent. IMO you shouldn't need to strip diapers that often!

[~savah~]

I'm not sure if I have hard water, I didn't think so because we live in town and have treated water. How can I tell if it is hard?

So I ran my diapers through many (7 or 8) hot washes and some of them still smell. I have been using many of them for 9 months and have never stripped them before, plus I compounded the problem because they started stinking about a month ago and I kept adding more detergent to get them clean . I guess I'll run them through again after they dry. If that doesn't work maybe I'll boil them? Thanks again everyone, alicia .

[TXmommy2be]

sweetdaughter, will you post and update on what worked for you?