ammonia smell WILL NOT go away

[CherryBombMama]

ok. i have had an ammonia problem with my unbleached prefolds on and off for a couple months now. it seemed to come from nowhere, and i *Thought* the multiple washes/rinses with vinegar solved the problem. but it didnt. so i stripped with Dawn and boiling water a few times, rinsed til no bubbles, and nothing! so then i stopped drying them in the dryer, and let them sun outside, which honestly seemed to work. but lately, after a few accidental throws in the dryer (thanks to other family members) they SERIOUSLY reek of ammonia and my ds for the first time has a "ammonia rash."

i tried to use less detergent (homemade - soda ash, oxyclean, borax and a bar of Ivory) but then the diapers smell dirty as soon as they are peed on.

thoughts? should i not be using the Ivory in my detergent?

[Luke's mama]

hmmm, strange! when mine get that smell, i do a first wash with detergent, then do a couple extra hot washes with no detergent, sometimes adding vinegar to the last wash or rinse. so far it has worked. if you have a high energy saver washer, it may not be using enough water--a bummis rep told me you could try adding some towels to the wash to get the water level up. I know you aren't supposed to use bleach in general, but maybe it would be in order just once to get things back on track?

[Mom2M]

Maybe you could try a commercial detergent and see if that makes a difference?
I don't know, the fuzzibunz inserts get that way sometimes but my prefolds don't. I use A&H Free.

[jwpsgurl]

They get the ammonia smell because of growing bacteria. If you are talking about ammonia in nighttime dipes, that is pretty normal if the babe pees and then it stays wet while sleeping, it is more than likely going to smell very strong by morning. If it is just immediately smelling like ammonia , then your dipes probably aren't getting clean enough or they have detergent build-up. I would turn the water heater up, use about a third cup of bleach with your detergent, rinse really well and sun them.

[mustangtbn]

You could try Rockin Green - it's a detergent made specifically for diapers. I had that problem with mine and tried EVERYTHING. The only way I could make the ammonia go away was by boiling the diapers periodically. My oldest is almost 4, so I did this for years! I recently found Rockin Green and the ammonia is gone, finally. It's amazing!

You can get it at http://rockingreensoap.com

[jrpbrown1]

Originally Posted by mustangtbn

You could try Rockin Green - it's a detergent made specifically for diapers.

I was going to suggest RnG, too. It is a great product for CDs. It is mom-owned and she provides excellent customer service. They sell samples to you can try before you commit to a whole bag.

[CherryBombMama]

Originally Posted by Luke's mama

hmmm, strange! when mine get that smell, i do a first wash with detergent, then do a couple extra hot washes with no detergent, sometimes adding vinegar to the last wash or rinse. so far it has worked. if you have a high energy saver washer, it may not be using enough water--a bummis rep told me you could try adding some towels to the wash to get the water level up. I know you aren't supposed to use bleach in general, but maybe it would be in order just once to get things back on track?

we have an older model top loader, so i am sure it uses enough water.

Originally Posted by jwpsgurl

They get the ammonia smell because of growing bacteria. If you are talking about ammonia in nighttime dipes, that is pretty normal if the babe pees and then it stays wet while sleeping, it is more than likely going to smell very strong by morning. If it is just immediately smelling like ammonia , then your dipes probably aren't getting clean enough or they have detergent build-up. I would turn the water heater up, use about a third cup of bleach with your detergent, rinse really well and sun them.

i think you might have the answer - it must be bacteria. the AM diaper is the worst, it stings my eyes and nose, but every other daytime diaper smells of ammonia almost as soon as it gets peed on. i really didnt want to use bleach, but it looks like i might have to ... thanks!

Originally Posted by mustangtbn

You could try Rockin Green - it's a detergent made specifically for diapers. I had that problem with mine and tried EVERYTHING. The only way I could make the ammonia go away was by boiling the diapers periodically. My oldest is almost 4, so I did this for years! I recently found Rockin Green and the ammonia is gone, finally. It's amazing!

You can get it at http://rockingreensoap.com

i will try this if the bleach/sunning doesnt work, thanks for the link!

[poppan]

This sounds like a case of not-enough-detergent to me, and possibly that the homemade detergent is somehow not enough (I've only used the commercial stuff, so just don't have experience in that department).

After you get them unstinky again, I think to maintain them stink free you probably need to increase the amount of detergent you use, even if that means an extra wash cycle as a super rinse. If that still doesn't work I agree with changing to a different detergent.

I never used bleach to disinfect--it seems so harsh--but I had a frontloader with a sanitize cycle and was able to use that. If you want to do a gentler method you could just boil the (clean) dipes on your stove. Just use the biggest pot you have, bring it to a boil and use tongs to put in/take out the prefolds in batches. Give each batch a few minutes in there. Temps over 140F or so will kill bacteria so it doesn't even need to be a true rolling boil.

[Mosaic]

nak...

I thought ammonia smell meant do NOT use vinegar... too acidic. I'd do a baking soda soak... if that helps, maybe do it again because i doubt the smell will go away all at once if it's so strong.

[CherryBombMama]

Originally Posted by Mosaic

nak...

I thought ammonia smell meant do NOT use vinegar... too acidic. I'd do a baking soda soak... if that helps, maybe do it again because i doubt the smell will go away all at once if it's so strong.

really? then what is vinegar used for? i thought i wasnt supposed to use baking soda? ::headscratch::

[poppan]

I think vinegar is one of those weird things that is really dependent on your water conditions (soft or hard)... it seems to either work great or it makes things worse, and you won't know until you try. (FWIW it doesn't seem to be irreversible if you try it and it makes the smell worse instead of better.)

Re: baking soda... I would think it's fine to use on prefolds. IIRC cornstarch is bad for PUL, but I don't recall any specific precautions about baking soda.

[Blueone]

I personally swear by Rockin Green Hard Rock. That is the BEST diaper detergent.

That said, my overnight diapers occasionally have ammonia smell that pops up. It makes sense to me though since they get thoroughly used all night. What I do is bleach them when it becomes more smelly (usually every other month).

So, have you tried bleaching them? I do a cap full of bleach then run about 3 soap free cycles after until there are absolutely no bubbles in it and the diapers have no more bleach smell on them.

[Katie T]

I first would wash your next load of diapers like normal and then run another hot wash with no soap and check for suds. If there are a ton you have a build up problem which is the only time I have had ammonia smell issues during my 3 1/2yrs of cloth diapering....

[pitchfork]

I have unbleached prefolds too, and I found that occasionally, I just had to use a little bleach to get the smell to go away. I also swear by Charlies Soap, but I would say every once in a while, I just broke down and used some bleach and then if I was worried about it did an extra rinse or wash after. It was hard to do, but solved the problem. Ammonia smell/rash is no fun. And as much anti bleach as I am, once in a while is just not going to destroy the diaper/environment.

Good luck.

[CherryBombMama]

Originally Posted by pitchfork

I have unbleached prefolds too, and I found that occasionally, I just had to use a little bleach to get the smell to go away. I also swear by Charlies Soap, but I would say every once in a while, I just broke down and used some bleach and then if I was worried about it did an extra rinse or wash after. It was hard to do, but solved the problem. Ammonia smell/rash is no fun. And as much anti bleach as I am, once in a while is just not going to destroy the diaper/environment.

Good luck.

i think i just need to repeat this to myself over and over ... thanks

[CherryBombMama]

Originally Posted by Katie T

I first would wash your next load of diapers like normal and then run another hot wash with no soap and check for suds. If there are a ton you have a build up problem which is the only time I have had ammonia smell issues during my 3 1/2yrs of cloth diapering....

tried it ... no suds at all! not one! i think i found my perfect amount of detergent for my diapers - three very level TBSPs, with one extra rinse

[CherryBombMama]

Originally Posted by Blueone

I personally swear by Rockin Green Hard Rock. That is the BEST diaper detergent.

That said, my overnight diapers occasionally have ammonia smell that pops up. It makes sense to me though since they get thoroughly used all night. What I do is bleach them when it becomes more smelly (usually every other month).

So, have you tried bleaching them? I do a cap full of bleach then run about 3 soap free cycles after until there are absolutely no bubbles in it and the diapers have no more bleach smell on them.

i bleached them the other night, then sun dried them as suggested. so far - no ammonia smell

[Katie T]

Originally Posted by CherryBombMama

tried it ... no suds at all! not one! i think i found my perfect amount of detergent for my diapers - three very level TBSPs, with one extra rinse

Then I'd say it was a bacteria build up and hurray you fixed it! lol Diaper funk is not fun, glad you figured it out!

[jildez]

we use hm detergent too- a different recipe and we don't ever use ivory because of buildup issues over time. My husband actually makes the detergent for the staff to use at the resort (its part of a land conservancy)were he is the manager and originally they were using all the leftover ivory soap, but towels started to get manky and it turned out to be the ivory that was doing it, he uses fels naptha at work and our everyday soap and we use kirks for our diaper wash, although occasionally we use the everyday soap- to kind of keep the castile based kirks from building probs like you describe when we first had to get used to our water softener when we moved here. I had to strip them all and the smell came back in a week or so until i figured out that i needed to cut way back on detergent bc our water was sooo soft. I hope you find a good solution for you guys!