Stinky morning diapers....help!

[utuss]

This is one of my first posts, and I wasn't sure where to put it! I just started this cloth diapering thing and I only started with a few fuzzi bunz to start with, hence a quick turnover time.

I know many other moms wait a few days to do the wash, but I've been throwing my cloth diapies in with the other wash....however, I decided to put off the diapie wash for a few days until I could get a load on its own.

My daughter's morning diaper is simply atrocious.....seems like she has cat or rat urine!!! Yuck!

I threw them in a bag to wait it out, but after the second morning's pee, I just opted to run the laundry again,for fear of the stinkiness becoming embedded into the fabric permanently!!!

Is there some sort of something or other to put in the wetbag to neutralize things (I doubt anything could neutralize THAT smell!!) or make it easier to wash? Or do people literally wait it out for 3-7 days and do the wash, and it all comes out in hot water???

I am nervous if I wait a few days, that the smell will just be present permanently!

THanks for any replies!

[Erinok]

I don't use a wet bag. I rinse the diapers in the sink (only if they are really bad) and throw them in the dry diaper pail. I wash every 2-3 days (mainly because I don't have alot of diapers my son is between sizes and I need to find time to make more). But after only 3 days my diaper pail is overfilling anyway, so I would have to wash them. Even after months of use they come out smelling like clean laundry everytime. I think the trick is to wash often and use hot water.

[sabrinat]

I really think it's your wash routine. What is it. I only wash about twice a week and my dipes never smell. My routine might be longer and more involved then some peoples. I have a front loader so I like the extra rinses. I use a dry pail method and I don't have a mini shower. I just dump the solid stuff in the toilet. I do a long cold wash/cold rinse w/tiny bit of soap (sun or astra, both cheap and very diaper friendly laundry detergent). Then I do a long hot wash w/an extra rinse. Then a rinse only cycle. No smell here and super clean dipes!

[utuss]

Hi everyone,

Its just the morning diaper that really is awful....they just smell so bad! I have yet to let poopy diaper sit around to see how that works....but when I've washed my daughter's pooped-on clothes, I never had a problem. I am mostly concerned with how other people let their morning diapers stew in their pail....I think I am going to try a drop of tea tree oil on a rag in the pail Supposedly, I hope, that cuts down on the scent so that we won't be bowled over whenever we open the container up....yikes! Has anyone else used tea tree oil with success?

Oh, and I use a top loading washing machine. We live in a condo, so we have those super small stacker units...but it works! Thanks for all the advice!

[walkinthepark]

I do use tea tree oil. I have a shaker bottle full of baking soda. I put about 8 drops in about a cup of baking soda and shake it really good to mix it up. I sprinkle a little in my pail every once in a while. It helps a ton! It also conditions the water on wash day.

Valerie Mom to 5!

[utuss]

Awesome, thanks for the advice.....does it matter what type of tea tree oil I get? Do they sell it at Whole Foods or at a GNC or something like that? I've checked it out on line and it varies quite remarkably in price from website to website!

[sabrinat]

I understood the questions. I really don't think your wet diapers should smell like that unless you have some buildup. Even when I leave my dipes they don't really stink. They might smell like normal pee, but not stank cat pee, kwim. The other difference is I don't close my pail. I let air circulate, I keep it in the laundry room and I still don't notice much of an odor unless my face is right next to the pail.

[cheryl b.]

I just wanted to second what Sabrinat said. If there is any detergent buildup in my son's diapers then when they get more than a little wet (like they do at night) then they smell really bad. They are fine the rest of the day because they only get peed in once before I change him.

[utuss]

Hmmm. I guess I wasn't understanding the response....yes, the afternoon diapers never smell bad....I was just thinking that she had especially yucky night time pee. I don't know if I ever noticed it as much with disposables (yes, I admit it, I have only recently switched to cloth)....but I always thought the morning pee in general of anyone smelled a lot stronger, like the urea was too concentrated (okay, too much information, sorry about that folks!!). I will definately try some other methods...I don't have a separate laundry room, so her diapers go into a sealed wet bag....I've added baking soda and plan to buy some tea tree oil, too, so thanks for that advice!

[AtomicOcean]

I agree with other posts that you might have buildup, but how old is your baby?

When my dd started eating mostly solids and drinking more adult drinks (I lost my milk about 2 months ago due to this pregnancy), we started getting stinky morning diapers. I use Dawn detergent and rinse until there are no bubbles and I also boil my diapers about once every 2 weeks to make sure the buildup is gone and still we end up with this problem.

From a chemical standpoint, you may also be having problems because urea (which is excreted by humans in their urine) can be converted to ammonia by reacting with water in the presence of an acid. There is water in urine and urine is by no means neutral so this chemical reaction may be occurring in your night time diapers.

As an interesting side note, I believe that a traditional way to bleach leather to a white colour was to collect urine and let it sit until the ammonia REALLY built up and then bleach the leather.

Anyway, back to my point, baking soda in your diaper pail might help because then you might be neutralizing the acid before it can "help" the water react with the urea. To be completely effective though, you would have to sprinkle baking soda on each diaper.

As for the night time diapers, I can't think of anything that I would put on my dd's bum that would be basic and safe to use.

/e goes back to her nerd hole.

[utuss]

No nerd hole hiding! That information is great!

I bought the diapers via Ebay....so literally, this is my first few diapers that I've used. My daughter is 2, so her diet is pretty consistent. I ran this load of diapers through the hot water cycle, and I bought some tea tree oil.....I am looking into "stripping" the diapers, if that is indeed the problem (I really think she takes after her daddy and just has yucky morning pee!)

[azurite]

My guy has like ammonia pee in the AM too- I understand you!! I am fazing out some older AIO's that someone suggested maybe the problem and then I looked on the website for them and it says they're really only good for about 180 washings b4 they start to break-down abd gas off (as all plastic eventually does but freaky as we don't use plastic toys or anything for that reason). But i washed all his other diapers 3x in a row on hot (only used soap the 1st time) and it seemed to help. But his pee is still ammonia-y...I think it's natural for some- everything else is fine and I change him throughout the PM. I notice it most in the AIO, though!

[jillybeans]

My dd also has awful morning pee. Her diapers have no buildup, and it doesn't matter if she's in a prefold, an AIO, or a fitted. It just stinks. We stick it in the pail and it goes in the wash like normal on wash day (usually every 4 days) If it's especially bad, i rinse it in the sink. Always come out nice and fresh after a wash! As far as pail odor, TTO helps, as does rinsing before putting in the pail. I put a nice layer of baking soda on the bottom.