Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › Diapering › About To Give Up
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

About To Give Up

post #1 of 14
3/9/09 at 11:28am
Thread Starter 
I am SO frustrated with my stupid diapers!!! They don't leak or anything.. well, sometimes at night but that is usually my fault for not putting his diaper on right or something. Anyway... DS's diapers REEK in the morning!!! They don't smell coming out of the washer.. they don't smell during the day, but at night?!? EW!!! We use pockets and microfiber inserts... and I don't know what to do. Would natural fibers, like cotton or bamboo fitteds and covers work better? We have hard water.. could that be an issue? New inserts? Any ideas???
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 14
3/9/09 at 11:56am
Hard water is probably almost certainly your issue. First I would wash all the inserts with some bleach (not a lot: probably 1/4c is enough) and then rinse the heck out of them.

Then I would pick up some liquid Calgon to use with each wash.

If you scroll down a bit, this link has a chart to help you determine just how hard your water is. Then you can determine how much Calgon you should use with each load of diapers.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 14
3/9/09 at 2:20pm
We sometimes have stinky prefolds in the morning, even though the diapers don't smell other times of the day. It's a common thing with night diapers. We don't have hard water, so I'm not sure that's the only culprit. You could try bleaching the inserts, some people have luck with Bac-out as well.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 14
3/9/09 at 2:30pm
i would boil before using bleach. we spent the summer at my parents house and upon returning i had to boil. it did the trick. they have hard water. if i had figured it out, i probably should have done once every 4-6 weeks while we were there. then make sure ur not using too much soap, since you dont see bubbles with hard water as quickly, ppl tend to use too much soap in my experience.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 14
3/9/09 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
I have bleached the inserts... didn't seem to help much but maybe boiling them. If nothing else I guess I could get new inserts? Do you guys think a natural fiber like hemp would get less stinky then microfiber?
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 14
3/9/09 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chely7425 View Post
Do you guys think a natural fiber like hemp would get less stinky then microfiber?
I've never used anything other than microfiber so I can't really comment, except to say that the general vibe I get from more experienced CD'ing mamams is that natural fibers hold onto bacteria/detergent less than microfiber and are, consequently, less stinky/difficult to work with.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 14
3/9/09 at 8:23pm
I think natural fibers might be a good place to start.

The handful of synthetics we had always reeked really bad.

try a vinegar rinse to to balance out the ph levels.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 14
3/9/09 at 11:23pm
I notice this too withmy sons BGs in the morning. I just chalked it up to him being in them for so long. If he wets early in the night, that urine is sitting there for nearly 12 hours.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 14
3/10/09 at 12:25am
Is it pee smell, or ammonia smell? If it's pee, then that's normal since the urine is more concentrated and all that. If it's ammonia I'd strip the MF inserts, or get bamboo/cotton/hemp inserts instead.

Good luck!
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 14
3/10/09 at 8:50am
Are you using a rash cream? Some rash creams can cause stink issues. Also not using enough detergent, hard water, try calgon for that.
Lynda
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 14
3/10/09 at 10:27am
Early morning ammonia is due to buildup of ammonia salts from urine in the diaper. I prewash with white vinegar and don't have a problem.

IME all diapers smell in the morning b/c they have been sitting for 12 hours, whether they are natural or synthetic.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 14
3/10/09 at 11:08am
Thread Starter 
I think it is just a REALLY strong pee smell.. which would make sense since his diapers way like 5 pounds in the morning!!! Ok, not that much but they are REALLY heavy!!! I think I might try using one MF insert and one hemp at night... and how do I tell if I am using too much or too little soap? I use calgon in every wash since we have really hard water...
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 14
3/10/09 at 11:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by chely7425 View Post
I think it is just a REALLY strong pee smell.. which would make sense since his diapers way like 5 pounds in the morning!!! Ok, not that much but they are REALLY heavy!!! I think I might try using one MF insert and one hemp at night... and how do I tell if I am using too much or too little soap? I use calgon in every wash since we have really hard water...

what kinda soap are you using? when i was washing with hard water i changed from my reg arm and hammer essentials to a locally made powder recommended to me by a local mama who owns a diaper store in maine (www.maineclothdiaper.com) - this is the soap:

http://shop.o-nature-l.ieasysite.com/contact.aspx

and i think it was kinda of made with hard, well water in mind just because lots of ppl in maine have that type of water. i used the 2 tbs they recommended (for a reg top loader) and never had to worry about bubbles just because this stuff does not suds at all. i still use it now that im back to public water in MA. i was told that vinegar for hard water was a bad idea, i still used it every once in awhile though.

hth
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 14
3/10/09 at 1:12pm
My diapers were smelling bad for a while and I was told I would have to strip them. I decided that was *way* too much work. I now use a cup or so of white vinegar in the wash and they don't smell anymore. I did wash the heck out of them once they got bad. I ran them through on hot three times the last full cycle with no detergent.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Diapering
Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › Diapering › About To Give Up