Oh no! Brown diapers!

[hrsmom]

I've been washing less frequently than before, and some of my diapers are all brown! It looks like brown mildew? I don't know. Is there a way to avoid this? How to get it out? Is it ok to use these brown diapers on my babe?

[roseselene]

What type of diapers? Which part is brown? What have you tried so far?
Amy

[fruitfulmomma]

Do you rinse your diapers and let them sit for awhile before washing? I used to do this when I first started and learned really quickly that they will, at least in our area, get mildew spots on them. They were mostly prefolds, so not a big loss. If it is not real bad you can bleach them and still use them but I've mostly turned them into rags.

Do you have pics? Could be something else entirely.

[hrsmom]

Some of the diapers are the cheap Gerber prefolds. Those ended up kind of brown all over. The most recent one was an Under the Nile organic cotton fitted diaper, it's all brown in the area where the diaper had been soiled. I think that one was a poopy diaper, but I'm not sure, and it's not a poop stain, for sure. I think there was brown on a pair of velour Eca-pants, but I think that one was ok? I'm not sure. It's the diapers that sit at the bottom of the bucket for a couple of days. I haven't tried anything yet other than sunshine, and so far the sun doesn't get it out. (I think this happened once before and it either came out or that one is no longer in circulation, I'm not sure.)

[hrsmom]

Yes on the rinsing and sitting. Should I just make it a point to wash more frequently? Any ideas if it would be different if I put them in something mesh so they get a little air?

[hrsmom]

OK, I took a couple of photos. It's worse on the outside of the diaper.

inside

outside of diaper


Thanks so much!

[inky leeuhhh]

weird! yeah id try washing more often i guess. ive never seen anything like that. your poor diapers, lol.

[hrsmom]

Originally Posted by inky leeuhhh

weird! yeah id try washing more often i guess. ive never seen anything like that. your poor diapers, lol.

I know!!!

I just realized, though, that it hasn't been that long. I washed diapers on Sunday night, so that one was from Monday morning, and today is Wednesday. I only did a load because of the brown dipes last week! Hmmmm......

[fruitfulmomma]

If you need to rinse them, then yes I would wash them more frequently. Or you could just rinse the poopy ones and let them air dry over the shower curtain before throwing them in the bucket.

re: pics... Hard too tell. I think it probably is mildew but did you have any cloth pads sitting in the same bucket that could have transferred blood?

[hrsmom]

No blood- oh, air dry over the shower sounds good!

How do I get this out? Is bleach ok? Is it safe to put on my baby's bottom? I guess if we don't know what it is... but how likely is it to be some kind of toxic thing? (Not normally paranoid, but this is my baby's bottom we're talking about!!) I'm guessing I won't use it until it's been through another load with some bleach perhaps. Fortunately, it's just that one from this load. I think!

[fruitfulmomma]

Actually I am thinking I would try peroxide first and see if that lifts any of it. If not, I think a small amount of bleach in a full load of hot water with your diapers would be good. You could also try a wash with tea tree oil. Then I'd stick them out in the sun. After that, unless it appears to still be 'growing' I think they would be fine. I would be far more concerned with the black stuff which is what we get here and it is very hard to kill it and it eats the fabric.

[poppan]

OK, admittedly a little hard to tell when I'm not looking at it in real life, but from the pic it doesn't really look like mildew or any kind of growth to me. It just looks badly stained? I have had mildew on towels and clothing before (either from food + water or pee + water, sitting unnoticed for too long in the laundry pile) and it looks like little spots very close together -- it fades a bit after scrubbing/washing but still like little spots. Whereas your pic looks like one big stain?

If you soak it in a oxy or bleach solution then wash in super hot water (sanitize cycle if you have it or add boiling water to a hot wash) I think that would kill anything that was there -- then it's just an aesthetic thing whether you want to keep using it or not. I can't stand the mildew spots on clothes so I do usually toss it if I can't get it out.

[roseselene]

In answer to your question about bleach, i know that there are some people that don't use bleach at all. However, we did use some bleach only occasionally. It seems like its ok to use for occasional use in small amounts. If you do use it, i would definitely rinse well afterwards to make sure it is all rinsed out. We have used bleach ocassionally on our diapers and there are some manufacturers that recommend it now for ocasional use.
Good luck!
Amy

[hrsmom]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It's so odd!