Washing my own now and I have a ?

[annekka]

We used a diaper service with DS and again with DD, but the current economic situation recently converted me to washing my own. I've been at it for a couple of weeks now; it's going pretty well and I'm thrilled about all the $$$ I'm saving. The diaper service prefolds always reeked of bleach and we're very irritating to her tender skin; now diaper rash is a thing of the past and I'm saving money too. I do have an issue though and I could use some advice from you experts out there.

For background: we use unbleached cotton prefolds, homemade PUL lined covers, dry pail, washed in an HE (tier 3) front-load washer, Bright Green detergent (dye/odor free), line dry in the sun. A set of 24 dipes was the cost of about 3 weeks of diaper service so the savings is fantastic

My issue is that the diapers I wash always smell clean and odor-free off the line, but once she wets them even a little you can really smell the pee. With the diaper service dipes you couldn't really smell the pee even when they were soaking wet. Was there some sort of deodorizer the diaper service people used to get rid of pee-smell? Am I doing something wrong with the wash routine or is this typical? Maybe her pee is just stinkier now that she's eating more solid foods and it's just a coincidence?

Right now I just change her more frequently but it would be nice if she wasn't quite so stinky between changings. Is this just the way it is or should I make some changes to my washing routine?

[Michigan Mama]

In my experience so far, stinky diapers generally come from:
a) not enough detergent
b) too much detergent
c) not rinsed well enough

I'm not familiar with bright green detergent, but how much are you using now?

You might try adding an extra hot rinse at the end to make sure everything is out.

[sehbub]

An extra hot rinse helps, as does doing a vinegar/baking soda wash every once in a while to strip them. That always helped a ton when we were CDing.

[alegna]

I bet you're using too much detergent and not rinsing well enough. Front loaders are notoriously hard to rinse in. Do SMALL loads with HOT HOT water and no detergent and wash until you have no suds.

-Angela

[Gabes Mommy]

I agree with the hot rinse, maybe add a little vinegar sometimes to help. I would do a cold wash with a little detergent and a hot rinse right after. Make sure there are no suds, you want to rinse all of the soap out.

[annekka]

So right now I am doing a cold rinse+spin, followed by a "sanitary" (super hot) wash with detergent. I use about 1/2 the amount that I would use for a normal load in the HE washer, which is already 1/2 of what I was using in the old top loader. Based on the suggestions (thanks all!) I think I will try a follow-up hot rinse+spin after the wash. We are in a severe drought with water rationing so I am trying to conserve water, but maybe a final rinse will help with any possible detergent reside issues.

BTW what purpose does the vinegar serve?

[heatherweh]

Originally Posted by annekka

So right now I am doing a cold rinse+spin, followed by a "sanitary" (super hot) wash with detergent. I use about 1/2 the amount that I would use for a normal load in the HE washer, which is already 1/2 of what I was using in the old top loader. Based on the suggestions (thanks all!) I think I will try a follow-up hot rinse+spin after the wash. We are in a severe drought with water rationing so I am trying to conserve water, but maybe a final rinse will help with any possible detergent reside issues.

BTW what purpose does the vinegar serve?

Your current regimen should be working fine based on what I've read. But you can try to add a bit of vinegar to the rinse and see if it helps. I'm not sure the science behind it, I did read it somewhere... GL!