wool cover smells like a horse's stall

[indigosky]

I ADORE our Wild Child Woolies cover (wool interlock) -- it's the key to nighttime cloth diapering at night. But even though I wash it occasionally with Eucalan and re-lanolize, and add plenty of vinegar to the water, it still reeks of urine.

I assume that urine-soaked hay smell that reminds me of a horse's stall is ammonia? What should I do to get rid of the smell? The diaper does work fine, but it would be so nice to have it smell OK again.

[inky leeuhhh]

are you using an actual wash when you wash it, or just lanolin? we use a squirt of baby shampoo (california baby) when we wash. i do the washing first, and then lanolize.

[indigosky]

I'm using Eucolan wool wash, in addition to the lanolin. And I've washed it over and over -- last time when it still smelled after I washed it and let it air dry, I repeated the process (without lanolin) a couple more times, then finally gave up and went back to using it smelling like urine.

[jillyofthevalley]

It sounds like it needs to be stripped. Have you tried washing it with regular laundry soap or even a mild dish soap? You may need to do it a couple of times to get it squeaky clean and then you can relanolize. Also, wool covers, especially ones you use overnight, need to be washed more frequently than a lot of people do so you don't get a build-up of urine.

[indigosky]

OK, I can try stripping it. Do that in my washing machine, or by hand?

[jillyofthevalley]

Originally Posted by indigosky

OK, I can try stripping it. Do that in my washing machine, or by hand?

I would do it by hand just to be on the safe side.

[chase_mommy]

I bet you could wash it good and then really lanolize it. Like over due it with lanolin and let it sit for an hour or so. It should feel sticky. Thats what I did to eliminate the urine smell. The lanolin is what neutralizes the ammonia.

[indigosky]

Really, the lanolin neutralizes the ammonia? I thought the lanolin was basically just waterproofing.

[mamabearsoblessed]

Originally Posted by jillyofthevalley

It sounds like it needs to be stripped. Have you tried washing it with regular laundry soap or even a mild dish soap? You may need to do it a couple of times to get it squeaky clean and then you can relanolize. Also, wool covers, especially ones you use overnight, need to be washed more frequently than a lot of people do so you don't get a build-up of urine.

Yes, this. I ran into this problem with 1 of my overnights in particular and I stripped it with a gentle dish soap ~ Dawn and then went through the re-lanoliztaion process all over again.
I do soak and wash my overnights much more frequently as well for the above reason mentioned. Good luck!

[chase_mommy]

Originally Posted by indigosky

Really, the lanolin neutralizes the ammonia? I thought the lanolin was basically just waterproofing.

From what I understand it does. This is from the Green Mountain Diaper website:

Lanolin is the natural waterproofing on sheep's wool. This natural lanolin is what makes the wool "waterproof". Wool absorbs about 30% of it's weight without feeling wet, which means "overspill" gets absorbed by the wool and, ta da! No leaks. Just let the wool air dry between uses, and you can go for weeks between washings. Wool doesn't get smelly like synthetics do. The lanolin on the wool cover gets used up by the urine as the cover air dries, so after a while you will need to restore lanolin to the cover to maintain the cover's effectiveness. Getting lanolin back onto the wool is call Lanolizing. Some people do a short water-only soak or rinse prior to lanolizing to rinse out any residue first. Some like to lanolize their covers inside out, butI do not notice any difference in the results either way.