Question about smell of clean diapers

[Vegan Princess]

I'm new to washing cloth. I've been washing my own for about a month now and already there is a smell to my diapers. I have a mix of mostly bum genius AIO organic, cotton prefolds, 3 fuzzi bunz pocket one size and a few sposoeasy AIOs. When I go to wash them I notice a strong smell that I think is from pee, not poo. The smell is still there a bit when they are done drying. I usually wash every other day, sometimes every 3rd day. I use planet detergent, which is what was reccomended by Banana Peels (where I ordered the dipes from). Am I doing something wrong or is this just normal? Should I be using a different detergent or do I need to strip them? They are absorbing just fine. Thanks!

Cindy

[ChetMC]

Wash Routine

Do you have a front loader or a top loader?

Where do you live? Is your water soft or hard?

What's your wash routine... water temperature, number of rinses, etc?

[MommaShark]

they should not smell

(if you wash before using again - start with a hot wash, if not start with a cold soak add put the baking soda and detergent in here instead of Hot wash)

turn up water heater - (tell everyone) turn on faucet nearest washing machine until water runs hot. Add 1/4-1/2c. baking soda to HOT cycle with detergent then white vinegar to rinse. Rinse twice. Forget this if you have hard water - just try a really hot wash. (vinegar can react to the minerals)...

Sometimes just a really hot wash will do it. (if dipes are soiled I do a cold soak/rinse first with detergent then HOT wash, then cold rinse....)

That should do it

Hope this makes sense.

[Llyra]

If there's a smell, they're not getting all the way clean. You may need to experiment with detergents. I personally have no luck with the "natural" detergents, with diapers. I use All Free and Clear and have since DD1 was in dipes, and have not had stink.

[Aubergine68]

I have a front-loader and occasionally the dipes get stinky no matter what I wash with. I line-dry outdoors when this happens. 48 hours in the sunlight and the smell is gone, gone, gone.

[My3guys]

I agree with the previous posters. If there is a smell, they are not clean. It is hard to tell you how to remedy without knowing what your wash routine is and what type of water you have.

However, sunshine is terrific for getting out just about anything. It takes a while which is a problem if you don't have a huge stash. You will have to rotate some in before the sun has done its trick AND it doesn't address the underlying problem. Let us know what you are using and we can try to help.

[Vegan Princess]

I do have a front loading washer. It's a maytag neptune. I don't know a lot about it since we are renting but it doesn't look like one of the new fancy front loaders I see on tv advertised...but it does say to use HE soap with it so I guess it maybe is high efficiency? I do a prewash then wash in hot and cold rinse. The washer does 3 rinse cycles normally so I don't add an extra. As it is it takes 1.5 hours for the washer to run through all that!! It's insane how long it takes! I haven't tried vinegar...I might have to do that. I live in northern california. I don't think the water is particularly hard...I've never had a water softener or needed one my whole life of being in CA...it's not overly soft though.

We don't have room for a clothes line. We have a duplex and have the front of the house so we only have a front yard. Bummer.

It won't ruin the dipes to use normal detergent on them? I thought it killed the absorbancy?

Cindy

[Llyra]

No, what'll kill the absorbency is fabric softener, because it coats the diapers. The worst that will happen with a conventional detergent is you'll find out it irritates your baby's skin, and you'll have to switch back again, or your diapers won't be clean and will smell, which again isn't permanent harm. I've used Tide, which did bother DD1's skin a little. I've also used All, Cheer, All Free and Clear, Cheer Free, Purex, Charlies, the 7th Generation brand, the White Rose brand, the store-brand at both Costco and BJs, and a few others, and none of them has done my diapers any harm at all, in almost 5 years of diapering. So you can go ahead and experiment, and see what works best for your washer and diapers and water and babies.

[Vegan Princess]

That makes sense. I'll have to do some experimentation. Thanks.

Cindy

[MissE]

You always want to prerinse the diapers with a cold wash (mine is 20 minutes and I do add detergent to that already) so it gets out the main pee an poo and doesn't wash it into the diapers.

My diapers do smell a little sometimes and I just hang them up on the line too. That really takes the smell out.

[Michigan Mama]

I agree with the PP who have said that if they stink coming out of the dryer, they aren't clean. You've gotten lots of suggestions here, so let us know how it goes!

For us, we just have to do some extra hot hot rinses occasionally to keep them clean and not smelly. I just tried a new detergent (Biokleen liquid) and found my diapers are both more smelly and less absorbant, so I've got some Country Save on it's way. I'll strip first, then switch and hope I can get my dipes back in tip-top shape! Good luck with yours!

[Vegan Princess]

Sorry for the late update. My cat spilled water on my computer and I just now got a new one!

I've started doing vinegar in one of the 3 rinses after the wash. I think I'm going to try doing it at the beginning. That has helped but the smell isn't gone. DH washed them without the vinegar last time and the smell was much worse than it had been. I bought some Tide free and clear for the HE wahser today so I'll try that in a few days. Hope it helps!

Cindy

[poppan]

I live in the Bay Area -- I wonder if we have the same water. Ours is from Hetch Hetchy and it's not too hard or too soft, I've not had to add anything.

I tried Planet and within 3-4 weeks everything was stinky and poo stains weren't coming out. Went right back to Tide (HE Powder) and all was well again. So I think part of your problem is just the detergent.

The other thing that I suspect after hearing your routine is that your dipes simply aren't being washed in enough water. Your machine is an HE washer and it doesn't use a lot of water. Dipes need to be washed in enough water and in relatively clean water, otherwise it's just rolling around in dirty water and doesn't get clean. Your pre-wash, if it's anything like the pre-wash on my machine (a GE FL) doesn't rinse the diapers out well enough to let your wash water be somewhat clean.

This is what I would recommend:

1) Pre-wash: Make sure the dipes are somewhat clean before going into the wash part of the cycle. Spray off the poop, soak the overnight pee diapers. Wet pailing pretty much accomplishes this, if you're willing to do it. If not, run the dipes through a short cycle with a high water level, without any detergent. That's one way to force an HE washer into a proper pre-wash.

2) For the wash part of the cycle, use a good detergent (I've had great results with Tide HE powder for 16 months), and make sure there's enough water in there. Play around with the cycle options to see which one has the highest water level. On my GE I use the delicates cycle (it still lets me wash on HOT). Don't overload the washer or you run into the not enough water problem again. My washer can take about 12-15 dipes max and still get them clean. I use 1-2 tbsp of Tide powder. You need to use enough to get things clean, but not so much that it doesn't rinse out well and causes build up.

3) Rinse well. Really well. The 3 built-in rinses in my washer are not enough. I would definitely select the extra rinse. Several times a week, I run the entire load through another wash cycle without detergent as a super rinse. I've found this to be necessary as a preventative measure so residue doesn't build up and cause problems.

So in summary, my routine is:
1) Wet pail poopy and overnight pee diapers
2) Wash on delicate (higher water level) on Hot, with Pre-wash and Extra Rinse selected, with 1-2 tbsp Tide HE powder
3) If time allows, run through another wash cycle on delicates, without detergent, as a super rinse

HTH!

[Vegan Princess]

Thank you! Very helpful. Yeah, I didn't realize there wasn't enough water in there with an HE washer and the diapers probably absorbed it all. Yesterday I tried adding 2 pots of water to the wash cycle..they smell fine now but the test will be after DD pees in them. The crappy thing about my washer (aside from it being HE) is that it is pretty old and doesn't allow for you to adjust much on it or even see inside the front to see how much water is in there. We're renting so this is what was here. As it is, it takes 1.5 hours for the machine to pre-wash and wash and rinse 3 times. It's somewhat absurd if you ask me and I'm not sure how it can save energy if it takes 3 times as long as a normal washer. I miss having a normal washer! Or if I have to have an HE I wish it was one of the new ones with more options to customize. I did buy some Tide but haven't tried it yet. I wanted to see how adding more water would fare while using 7th generation HE detergent.

Cindy