Diaper Pail Odors

[TSomm]

What do you all use to combat diaper pail odors?

I'm currently sleeping in on a twin in my 4 mo DD's room and the diaper odors are getting to me.

Solutions?

EDIT: Hrm, just found this thread, but lid-less... really?

[rlmueller]

I use

A standing 13 gal reg kitchen garbage pail (plasti) with a wet bag and ABSOLUTELY NO LID. No lid no lid. Lid makes much stink. No I wash every other day and get the ammonia smell only when I dump into my washer. I air out the garbage pail a bit and continue on my merry way. Oh--did I mention keep the lid off of the garbage pail?

[fruitfulmomma]

If you are using sposies, I'd look into switching to cloth. Seriously! Not sure why but they smell better.

I agree with no lid. We use a five-gallon bucket here and unless I am taking diapers out to wash them I really don't notice it at all. The reason a lidded system tends to stink more is that anaerobic (no-air) microorganisms are the smelliest ones around. Think bottom of the trash can or compost. Yuck.

If you are still bothered you can add something like this http://purebabyjoy.com/item_102/Pail-Pals.htm which can help, although personally I found them overpowering.

[TSomm]

Yes, we're using cloth in a dry pail method and wash every 2-3 days. Kitchen style garbage can with a wet bag... and a lid. I guess it's the lid that's the problem.

I'll do wash today and start again with no lid. Though I'm scared to go lidless!

[lifeguard]

I don't do lidless - I have not found it makes it better. Definitely worth a try though as it does seem to work so well for so many.

I keep the diaper pail in the laundry room so it's not in the bedroom.

[Xavismom]

This is exactly my problem too. We use cloth, and unfortunately have to keep the changing table and the diaper pain in our bedroom. My bedroom reeks like urine ALL THE TIME. I actually came on the forum today to talk about this.

Any other tips besides going lidless? I've tried sprinkeling baking soda in the bottom of the pail, and a few days ago I scrubbed it down with hot soapy water.

I cant take this smell much longer, its giving me headaches at night

[Pepper44]

If it smells really bad all the time then something is wrong! We wash every 3rd day and it just smells when you dump them into the washer. We use a large wet bag, no pail.

We use prefolds and a few fitteds. With our extremely hard water I have to use Calgon in the wash and a little vinegar in the rinse dispenser, otherwise the diapers come out stiff and reek of ammonia after pee hits them.

[chely7425]

I agree that if the smell is enough to give you a head ache something else is probably wrong... we use a dry pail, no wet bag, and though the pail has a loose lid it is rarely on. We also have a smaller wet bag hanging in the downstairs bathroom for diapers during the day, the small wet bag doesn't get smelly really ever and the pail only smells when I dump it. I wipe the pail out whenever I was and sprinkle Fluff Dust on morning diapers. I have also found I have to rinse the night time diapers before putting them in there or it smells.

[JessieBird]

Something must be going on with your dipes - do they stink of ammonia when you take them off your LO? Maybe they need to be stripped.

I use a stainless steel step garbage with a lid and a plastic bucket inside (removable to carry to the laundry). I only wash once every 5-6 days and no stink at all. It smells slightly when opened but not at all when closed. I can smell amonia at the bottom of the pail when I'm emptying the dipes into the washing machine but even that's not strong. I rinse the bucket insert with just plain water then spray it down with a few drops of tea tree oil in water (don't rinse, just leave to dry) every time I empty it.

[MamieCole]

You could try this: pail freshener

I haven't tried it, as I use a hanging doorknob PUL bag as my pail, wash every 2-3 days and don't have stink issues. But other people say this stuff is awesome.

[Xavismom]

I wash either every day, or every other day.

We use a combo of pockets and prefolds with wool. I keep wondering if its my dipes, but they dont smell at all when they are washed? The ammonia smell while they are in the pail is terrible though.

How do I strip them??

I wash with tide free (powder) and a bit of vinegar. I sun dry occasionally. I use a dry pail.

I use a wool wash with lavender in it for my soakers, they dont smell, before or after use.

[MamieCole]

Tide might be your problem. It is notorious for build-up, stinkies. Your dipes will smell fine when dry, but as soon as your LO pees in them, the ammonia smell comes back full-force.

Here's a link with some stripping tips: link

Another link Although this site suggests using bleach as a last resort, which I would avoid 100%.

But there are lots more ways to strip. Some people boil their dipes, some use the dishwasher. If your washing machine has a super-hot or sanitary cycle, just run your dipes through w/no detergent and rinse til there are no bubbles left.

I also recommend Rockin' Green. Just got some samples the other day and my dipes are softer and cleaner than ever.

Other Helpful Detergent info

[Xavismom]

Originally Posted by MamieCole

Tide might be your problem. It is notorious for build-up, stinkies. Your dipes will smell fine when dry, but as soon as your LO pees in them, the ammonia smell comes back full-force.

Here's a link with some stripping tips: link

Another link Although this site suggests using bleach as a last resort, which I would avoid 100%.

But there are lots more ways to strip. Some people boil their dipes, some use the dishwasher. If your washing machine has a super-hot or sanitary cycle, just run your dipes through w/no detergent and rinse til there are no bubbles left.

I also recommend Rockin' Green. Just got some samples the other day and my dipes are softer and cleaner than ever.

Other Helpful Detergent info

I did go through about 5 or 6 other types of detergent, all more natural ones, mostly found at whole foods and the health store by my house, but with every single one of them, my diapers were stinky, almost like fishy when wet, so somone here suggested tide, and the smell went away immediately.

It actually somewhat kills me to use tide though, we try not to use any chemicals in the house, but I couldnt handle the stinky diapers. Ill try this rockingreen.

[MamieCole]

Originally Posted by Xavismom

I did go through about 5 or 6 other types of detergent, all more natural ones, mostly found at whole foods and the health store by my house, but with every single one of them, my diapers were stinky, almost like fishy when wet, so somone here suggested tide, and the smell went away immediately.

It actually somewhat kills me to use tide though, we try not to use any chemicals in the house, but I couldnt handle the stinky diapers. Ill try this rockingreen.

I bet you have hard water. Try a sample Hard Rock formula of Rockin' Green to see if it helps. Good luck! Stinkies are no fun.

[mambera]

Rockin Green helped our stink problem!

I found a Pail Pal deodorizer disk helpful but DH didn't like the smell of it so I quit using it. Anyway pail stink only really becomes an issue for us when it's time to wash anyway.

I will say that leaving the lid on our pail up doesn't improve anything. I understand the concept behind the open pail but I don't think an open top on an otherwise airtight wetbag does much to retard the growth of anaerobes.

If you did want to try an open pail for real, I would get a mesh bag and leave it in a hamper with perforated sides, with a changing pad at the bottom to catch drips.

[cristeen]

For a BF baby in cloth, lidless is the way to go. Now that my guy is getting mostly formula though, man those things REEK!

I just have to wash more often and use a lidded pail.

[Blueone]

I had a stinky trash can and what I found helped was washing it. I put a bit of baking soda on the bottom, filled it some with white vinegar, then the rest of the way with water. Turns out there was some poop on the lid.

Anyways, I also got some Rockin Green deodorizer to put on the bottom. I wash every other day too, but sometimes he has stinky poops and there's not much to do about that unless I wash right away.

So yeah, try washing the diaper pail. If it stinks really bad after, maybe your diapers aren't rinsing or washing enough. Do the rinse cycle check, see if there are still bubbles during the last rinse cycle. If so, they probably have build up.

[chely7425]

We have hard water and use Tide powder, it is the ONLY thing that kept our stinkies way. Before you go trying a bunch of new detergents I would try a few things. When you run your rinse, do you see bubbles? If so, you might have build up and stripping with Dawn or just a hot rinses would work to get the build up out. I had to strip when we first switched to Tide because of all the build up still leftover from my 8 million trial detergents! Also, we use the recommended amount of Tide, if we don't use enough then our diapers smell because they simply aren't getting clean.

[jeminijad]

I use a hanging pail/XL wet bagrather than a traditional floor hard sided pail. It goes in the wash with the dipes, every other day. No stink unless you put your face up to it, or I get behind and we get to 3 day old diapers in there.

[TSomm]

Ok, just wanted to follow up for posterity sake. Leaving the lid off DID help quite a bit. No more ammonia smell. However, I can still smell it a bit. I think part of the problem is that we have small rooms in our house.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!