I have a cloth nighttime diaper issue. Any suggestions?

[GranolaMama7]

Here is my problem - my son potty trained at 23 months (not the problem) but I still do not want to put him to bed without a diaper on. Most mornings he wakes up dry, but I would say at least 2-3 mornings he is not. I have been using a BumGenius cloth diaper at night and then washing at the end of the week.

After three months of this - his diapers got SOOO stinky from sitting in the pail for a week. I know, ideally, you are supposed to wash them every 2 days. However, I can't justify doing an entire load of laundry for 3 diapers. I stripped the diapers and got the stink out, but don't know what to do now! I thought about gdiapers but not sure that they are really as eco-friendly as they claim.

I also thought about just rinsing them out in the mornings?? Any tips or suggestions?

[Carlyle]

Hey, I don't have any suggestions (sorry, it's been a while!), but you might get more responses by posting this in the general "diapering" forum. There are lots more mamas there, and they have great advice on cleaning and de-stinking. It's here: http://mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=221 Good luck!

Oh no, I just re-read your post and realized I DO have advice Have you tried air drying them (like on a clothes line) instead of wet-pailing them? If you're waiting a long time between loads, that can keep the stink down until you can get to them. Or maybe put a bit of vinegar in your pail?

That, and I started just throwing my dd's diapers in the wash with all of our other clothes once they stopped being poopy and it worked fine. Just a thought in case you're comfortable with that (we have a good washer). I'm sure rinsing them first would help...maybe you could rinse, air dry and then throw them in with your regular laundry?

[GranolaMama7]

Thanks Carlyle! I will do that

[Carlyle]

I also edited my last post to add some ill-formed advice

[emmaegbert]

when I had this situation, I rinsed them well in the sink, air dried them, and then just washed them in the regular laundry. It seemed fine. (now we have a 1yo and do diaper wash every 5 days or so and if DS has had a wet nighttime dipe its with those).

[GranolaMama7]

I can rinse them, but air drying will only be an option for the next few months. Right now I use a dry pail. Would a switch to a wet pail help you think?

(rainy fall, winter, and spring prevent air drying)

[Mandala126]

That's exactly what we do, rinse them in the morning and in bad weather we hang them in the house.
Also, when DD1 was at the same stage at night as your LO, this is what I did: whenever she stirred at night I'd come up to her bed (same bedroom so I could hear her move at night) and ask her if she wanted to go potty and she'd say yes and we'd go to the little potty she has in our bedroom. Eventually she started waking up and going on her own. Kids are smart, you'll stop nighttime diapering in no time .