is toddler pee just stinkier?

[Angelorum]

We have ammonia issues :(  Our diapers are almost all GMD unbleached prefolds.  DS was outgrowing the red edge, and so I bought the brown edge and was a little excited about having some new non stinky diapers for a while, but they started to smell like ammonia almost immediately.  When he was a baby, the ammonia wasn't nearly as bad.  They would start to smell after a couple of months, but they were easy to strip with the calgon.  Is it just because he is older now? 

I used to use vinegar and calgon water softener (we definitely have hard water) in every load, but it didn't seem to be helping anymore.  I switched to Rockin Green detergent, and went through a whole pouch of their Funk Rock ammonia stuff,  that seemed to help minimally, but didn't really get rid of the smell entirely, and it came back full force quickly.  The bathroom where his pail is just burns my eyes.  Mostly, we just keep the door shut and use the other bathroom.  Sometimes I lay a clean prefold flat over the dirty ones to sort of block the smell.  I'm seriously considering using a little bleach in every wash. 

If I switch to flats, will they get stinky?  I was thinking maybe because they'd rinse better they wouldn't?

[Marissamom]

first, very ammonia smelling pee could be a sign that he's not getting enough water and is a little dehydrated. 

are they coming out of the wash smelling? if so then something needs to change in your wash routine. when we had the ammonia stinkies it helped to add a soak with baking soda and an extra rinse at the beginning of my wash routine to pull the ammonia out. 

[Angelorum]

They come out of the wash smelling fine.  They don't start smelling until they've had pee on them for a couple of hours.  DS loves to drink water and usually has a cup available to him, so I don't think he's dehydrated, I'll keep an eye on his water intake though. 

[cristeen]

Yes, toddler pee is definitely smellier, but strong enough to sting your eyes does sound like a build-up issue. What's your wash routine? How often are you washing? What kind of machine do you have?

I know w my dipes, it took me a while to figure out that i needed to wash smaller loads. My FLer just didnt use enough water for a big load of dipes - they'd absorb it all and not leave any for agitation. Since i figured that out, my dipes don't stink anymore.

[Angelorum]

I have a top loader.  I wash, um, whenever the pail gets full and/or I'm running out of diapers.  It's a smallish pail, and I have 24 prefolds in his size, plus a couple of pocket diapers for daycare.  I think I probably wash about every 3 days.  He uses the potty a few times a day now, so we don't go through quite so many diapers.  The wash routine is prewash/soak on cold, long hot wash, and I just added an extra rinse and spin in the hopes of cutting the smell. 

[LaughingHyena]

I used to sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of the bucket before any nappies were in there, and another sprinkle if it started to smell before I could wash them. I needed to wash every couple of days though or we would have a smelly bathroom.

Now we only use one at night and I rinse it out first thing before sticking it in the bucket. Same with any clothes he has an accident in.