I need some help.

[DizzyMissLizzy]

Can you get ammonia smell from using too little detergent?

I'm trying to figure out what I should do next to try to keep the stinkies away!

So now I am going to use blue dawn to strip.
I got dawn ultra...how much to use?
Also when I strip and use dawn, do I use my regular detergent too or just the blue dawn as my detergent for this cycle?

Then I have hard water and wanted to use some calgon to help.
What cycle should I put this in? First rinse, hot wash, or last rinse?
AND last but not least, if I use calgon to soften my water should I NOT use more detergent? I use planet 2x liquid and I use less than 1/2 the recommended.

[chely7425]

I use calgon in every wash because otherwise our diapers go way screwy.

We do...

cold rinse with nothing
hot wash/cold rinse w/ calgon and detergent
hot rinse

[Ifluffedthree]

a little vinegar in your rinse cycle from time to time will neutralize the PH balance and help with the smell.

[Michigan Mama]

I believe you can get ammonia from too little or too much detergent, or from not rinsing well enough! When it starts to creep in for us, I will turn up my hot water heater and do 3-4 extra hot rinses and that does it for us. And I don't have to do that very often.

No hard water here, so I can't help with that part.

[brietta]

We've had ammonia from too little detergent. I think we got bacteria build-up, actually.

What I did was boiled the diapers. Then I started using the full amount of Charlie's (you need a good-rinsing detergent in order to use the full amount and not have the opposite problem of ammonia from too much detergent). We have hard water so sometimes I actually have to use even more detergent. But otherwise things have gone really well since that switch several months ago.

[Micheliala]

yep, hard water and got the stinkies from too little detergent. I have to use the full recommended amount.