i have a major problem with smelly diapers and covers lately. my baby is now 7 1/2 mos. and she's eating solids so her poop and pee are funky to say the least! here is my routine:

dry pail, then i soak in cold with baking soda each day before a hot wash with detergent and vinegar, and lately i have added some lavender oil to this but it does NOTHING.

:( i really need help. it's making me lazy about using cloth and i used to love my cloth diapers!

can any of you pros help me out? maybe i should be dunking to get rid of the really messy poops? (by the way, i will do anything to avoid dunking!)

thanks for any ideas!

Maybe get a minishower or Little Squirt from WeeBees if you don't like dunking? This attaches to the toilet and you can spray the poop off if you don't want to dunk... getting poop off might help the smell, especially with baby on solids. Good luck! Many people swear by the minishower (or Little Squirt).

I think your dipes would benefit from a cold rinse before the soak. If you don't rinse them first, they are soaking in poopy water, kwim? You may also want to add another wash cycle too. I do a cold rinse, cold wash, hot wash, extra rinse. I don't use baking soda or vinegar and only a tiny bit of detergent in the first (cold) wash.

HTH~

I agree that you need to get as much solid poo off as possible. (I bravely toilet dunk tho myself) Also check your detergent amount. Try even using a miniscule amount, and hot rinse, and see if that helps any.
I once had a lil poo escape my attenttion and it didn't "disolve" in the wash. The whole load reaked! Had to find the poo :gross and rewash everything! not fun!

Maybe a soap build-up? I'd try strip wshing them. My dd's diapers
went stinky on me at that age too. I strip washed 'em and(2 hot washes & some 5-7 rinses later :eek )fresh smelling diapers we had again:D

I've always used small(I mean like 1/8c.) of Purex in the diapers. I think after awhile it just builds up ...

Minishower is a great idea. We have a removable showerhead in the tub so I just use that. Anything shakable(sp?) goes in the toilet the rest gets sprayed, no stains. And my tub is clean so please, don't get all creeped out!

willowsmama, what is strip washing? i guess i didn't know that soap could build up. i don't use a lot of detergent. only about a 1/4 of the usual amt. wow i thought i was a cloth diapering queen, but i guess i don't know everything!

i have considered getting a little squirt. aren't they pretty expensive though? maybe just a detachable shower head would be cheaper.

thanks everybody...

Mamasarah,
Start cheap. You hate dunking, so don't run out and get a little squirt before you've tried some other things.
First, strip your diapers. Turn your hot water heater all the way up and let it heat the water. Use a strong detergent, like Tide or Arm and Hammer or whatever isn't mild. Just a little bit! Do hot washes with nothing until you see no suds in the water when it's agitating.
I noticed you don't do a second rinse and that you use vinegar. Vinegar can cause stink problems for some (has to do with the water supply, I believe). Start with by adding that additional rinse with nothing in the water. If that doesn't help, then you may have to adjust your wash routine some more. For instance, instead of doing a cold soak before your hot wash, do a cold full heavy wash with a LITTLE detergent and baking soda. After it spins that out (don't let it run through the rinse cycle), then do your HOT wash with just a LITTLE detergent, cuz the detergent from before wouldn't all be rinsed out, kwim? Then do a cold rinse followed by a second cold rinse.
I personally don't think anyone should have to use more than 4 fills of their washer to get their diapers clean.
One other thing, if you have VERY hard water, it could be that you are using too little detergent. Hard water may require you use closer to 1/2 C. of detergent.
You may also want to try getting some Nature's Miracle (from the pet section) or Bac Out and squirt that on the diapers that have poop on them before dry pailing them. And don't let the diapers sit more than 2 days before washing. Bac Out makes a huge difference. I would probably even water it down some in a squirt bottle to make it last longer.
Good luck!

Yep Holly's right....and sometimes too much vinegar an baking soda is overkill....KWIM? Sometimes more isn't better like most think and if your doing V *& BS every wash it could be just that...I do a vinegar rinse about once a week and also soak in baking soda once or twice a week. I haven't had problems with smalls and I have 2 in dipes:eek

thank you all so much!

i forgot to say that i do do a 2nd rinse after vinegar. but i bet i am using too much baking soda and vinegar. i'm going to try to follow holly's advice..strip washing first and then adjusting my routine a little. i need to make sure the poop is out!! i think there were some leftovers :eek in the washer and now one of dh's sweaters smell poopy. yuck.

**i guess i better ask just to be clear...what kind of tide or arm n hammer?**

i use all free clear now. i am really scared of using a detergent with whitening agents by accident...did you ever read those horror stories about rashes from those?

Am emtpty load of hot water, maybe with a few drops of tea tree oil or bleach substitute would fix the washer smell issue...Also, make sure ot leave the lid UP between loads.

Is it liquid ALL F&C? I hear that it's not as effective at getting laundry clean. I would just use a plain detergent with nothing added and nothing removed for a strip. Plain old Tide for instance. Or the liquid Arm and Hammer (the powdered one has Fabricare, whatever the heck that is). When you strip, you do several hot rinses, so there will be no scents or anything left on the diapers. The strong detergent is to help get them extra clean. Since you had poop left on them, you need them to get cleaner. Before you put a poopy diaper in the dry pail, make sure the majority of the poop has been plopped in the toilet and use a wad of TP to grab off any gobs that didn't fall off.
Are you using fleece liners? They will help with getting the poop off. Poop peels off the fleece easier than off the diaper.
Sorry, that was kinda a rambling post. lol

I am still trying to figure out my stink problem.

I have tried:
Many hot rinses
Changing to Tide from All F & C
Vinegar/baking soda strip

Still have the stinkies when Eli pees. Perplexing!!

Any more tips...

And if I don't see suds in the rinse cycle, could it still be "buildup"?

xoxo pam

Kenny's urine stinks in his overnight diapers. It also stinks in his nap diapers. On occasion it will stink when I use his unbleached prefolds. These are previously fresh smelling diapers that stink once peed upon.

Moving to another room. Every day I end up using 2 to 3 dishrags at the sink. Why? Because in spite of how FRESH they smell when I pull them out of the drawer and use them for the first time. Once used, they will develop a 'sour' smell and I don't want to wipe that smell on my girl's faces, the table the counters or dishes, so I switch it out.

I'm thinking it is the same type of thing.

We are not diaper services. There is a limit to the level of heat we can put our diapers through. Although I do believe we 'clean' our diapers we cannot honestly say that we sterilize them completely or that we even kill all bacteria. I do believe that the smell on my dishrag is 'left over' bacteria as is the smell on the diapers.

This keyboard has bacteria - the desk - the kitchen counters - my body - it is all around us everywhere. If you use a towel for several days, it doesn't smell fresh anymore - whether you hang it to dry or not . . . it starts to smell a bit 'sour' or 'stale.'

I don't know if there is a way to tackle all smells . . . it would be nice, but I just don't want to bleach my diapers at each wash or turn up my water heater to scalding levels. So, I deal with a sour smell here or there and just try to get 'em as clean as I can.

There's my 2 cents - anyone else? :D

Ahhhh. Maybe this is why Caden's diapers don't stink. I DO keep my hot water heater turned all the way up!! (Dangerous, I know, but we're pretty careful people, including my kids, and our heater doesn't get as scalding as some.)
It's only that Samuel's Soaker that I've ever smelled ammonia on.
I would put it through a few more strips in extra hot or boil them, Pamela.

I am not a wahing expert but I thought that if your water is soft it will not bubble but there could still be detergent residue. Or was it hard...

It's hard water that doesn't bubble as easily. I do know you could have mineral build up with hard water and perhaps you could have detergent residue as well without bubbles. Don't really know for sure about that, though.

Always the dissenting view because I have very hard water. Are you using enough detergent? Just a thought.:hippie

I am dealing with the same thing. DS also has redness all over the diaper area (not so much a rash as just redness like when you sit in a hot bath). I am thinking it must be either build-up or something with his urine. I have been changing him a lot more often (I am admittedly one of those that lets them go pretty long) and that helps some, but not enough. I have stripped the dipes using super hot water. I actually had to have my washer fixed 'cause it heats its own water and the thermostat was bad. It was heating so hot that it warped part of the washer from the steam! The guy told me the parts are rated to 205 F so it was getting hotter than that!! That should have been hot enough to strip the dipes. Anyway, the water here is really hard and I am struggling to find a detergent that seems to not build up. So, there you go. Another distressed diapering mama with the same problem.:confused:

Ivy's overnight diaper is stinky too. Poor kid, dh nicknamed her "rat cage" :( I let my soakers and doublers sit overnight in the washer with baking soda, then washed on hot w/SensiClean the next day. That helped a bit. But I think that Heather is right. Unless you bleach or boil your dipes, you're just not going to get rid of all the critters.

I grew up in the land of sour clothes and washclothes: my mother who hates the smell of bleach was terrible about our laundry. As a result, I am VERY touchy about how my clothing smells. In my not so humble opinion, if it smells bad or sour, it's not clean. If it smells bad, there's something nasty in there making it stink. I soaked some of my dd stinky underwear from accidents (that sat too long) in Oxyclean for 4-6 hours. I put shallow water in my sink, dumped up to 4 scoops into it and added a drop or two of Basic H. They're nice and clean smelling now. The sourness, though--that might take a tiny amount of bleach or a long soak in vinegar. Try the smallest amount you think you can get away with and if it doesn't work, try a little more the next time around.

Everybody has a different view on this, I suppose, and it might depend on what you can tolerate. However, a little girl came to our house to play the other day and she had to walk through the rain to get here and BOY did her clothing STINK! It was the sour smell that makes me gag to this day!

Stephanie

Could it be that you're not using enough detergent? After I switched back to Cheer Free from All, I had problems again - stripping didn't work and I was about to give up and deal with the smell until I accidentally upped the amount of detergent I used and since then, haven't had any smell problems at all.

We have hard water, however, so this may not work with soft water.

I finally had a full afternoon of sun and hung all my diapers on the line- that seemed to freshen them up at last. Could they need a good sunning to kill the bacteria? UVlight is a disinfectent.

I am going to keep experimenting. Maybe I do need more detergent. I will try vinegar too. Last night ds wore a sposie and this morning there was no smell and no redness. This is so frustrating 'cause I really, really believe in cding but I just can't seem to get the laundry thing figured out. I have not tried All F&C so maybe that is next.

Okay so I buy a bunch of little lambs
and luke's drawers
and some SOS, Chumbas and Bunny Hugs

And I buy sensiclean

And frick

my diapers reek!!!!

Here is what I do

I spray out poopies with our little squirt

I cold wash everything once
Then I cold wash again with baking soda
Then I hot wash, warm rinse with Dr. Bronners Baby Soap and rinse with tea tree oil
Then I hot wash, warm rinse with SensiClean and rinse with lavender oil

Before you help me don't judge me
We have a new washer that uses 1/5 of the water of normal washers
and the washer and dryer use 1/2 the electricity

So maybe it seems I do too many cycles

But my diapers still reek. Help me.

i've heard of alot of people that use Dr. Bronners with the same problem. I think it's not strong enough. toss some Tide or Purex in there next wash day.

but don't lotsa people just use Sensiclean solo and have clean dipes.

I was thinking of trying vinegar, should i?

I'm not sure.:confused: Most people seem to use a small amount os laundry detergent. i do a cold rinse then a warm wash(sometimes hot) with half a capsule of RLR and just under 1/4c. of Windfresh(40 lbs. for $10.00 at Sams' Club!!!) not stinky diapers 'round here. I just wouldn't be able to deal if all W's cute little diapers smelled funny.

I'd ditch the Dr. B's, personally.

Here's me: cold soak/prewash with 1/2 c. baking soda

hot wash/cold rinse with a little tiny bit of cheapo Sam's Club detergent and Downy Ball mostly full of vinegar.

If there are suds in the sink after, I do another cold rinse.

That's it.

Oh, and line dry if the stinkin' sun ever comes out again. Come on, :sunshine

I've only heard maybe two people say they use Sensiclean alone with good results. Most people I've heard say their diapers don't get clean enough, and/or stink when they use it alone.
Your problem seems to be that you need a real detergent. And yes, that is a lot of washes/rinses.
I know I don't have a front loader and my routine may have to be modified if I had one, but I've tried lots of different wash routines and keep coming back to this:
Cold agitate/soak with 1/2 C baking soda. This helps neutralize urine, remove poop, pee and stains. Spin out dirty water.
LONG HOT wash WITH very little detergent. Cold rinse sometimes with 1/2 C. vinegar to help remove residues and soften dipes.
Second cold rinse with nothing or with a drop of lavendar or TTO.
If you want to keep using the Sensiclean, use regular detergent (VERY little) in the cold agitate/soak and Sensiclean in the hot wash. If your machine won't do a soak or spin out without doing a rinse, let it do one whole cycle on cold with detergent in the first cold wash, let it rinse, and then sensi clean in the hot wash/let it rinse, then do another rinse.
But definitely get some detergent.

I also suggest changing detergents.
I had the *stinkies* for awhile when I was using All F&C...soon as I switched to Tide Free, the stinkies were gone and my dipes smell good again.:thumb

I've only heard maybe two people say they use Sensiclean alone with good results.
I'm one of them, but only have been using it for a month.

Do a strip wash to see if you have buildup. If you do, stop using Dr. B.

This is my routine. I have soft water from Lake Michigan (city water).:
Get all poo out with cold (by hand) immediately.
Wash in hot with 1/2-3/4 capful Sensi Clean.
Wash every other day.

That's it! No stains (since I wash poo right away) and no smell and I use hemp all the time (in the form of a doubler or diaper).

i've heard of alot of people that use Dr. Bronners with the same problem. I think it's not strong enough.
Edited to add, I think it could also be that it's a SOAP (no?), and soap causes buildup. That's why I think you should check to see if you have buildup and if you do, switch to a detergent.

Hi,

I think I am in the minority here. My philosophy with washing diapers is less is more. This is my routine:

1 - Cold soak
2- Hot wash with 1/4 amount of liquid detergent (I am now using Wisk)
3 - 2 cold rinses

If my diapers start to smell a little off, I do 3 rinses and I dry them outside (weather permitting). I was using a cheap powdered detergent, and my diapers were starting to smell and some of my cotton/PUL covers were not coming clean. I recently had a stinky fleece problem, so I added an extra rinse and sunshine dry and now they don't smell anymore. And I make sure my diapers are wash at least every 24 hours. I was sometimes waiting 36 hours and it was making the smell worse.

Anyway, my advice from my whole 5 months of cloth diapering experience is that I think you are washing your diapers with too much "stuff". When my diapers were stinky, I found that tea tree oil just made it worse. I would get rid of the baking soda, essential oils and Dr. Bronner's and see what happens.

Good luck.

it sounds like you are making the whole washing routine much too complicated. i'm now down to a cold wash/cold rinse with regular detergent followed by a hot wash/cold rinse with nothing. i used to do a baking soda soak and sometimes a vinegar rinse (this really made my diapers stink!). so i think unless there is a problem, simple is better.

I think I am in the minority here. My philosophy with washing diapers is less is more. This is my routine:

I don't think you are in the minority. Your routine is the same as mine and most others here, except you don't use baking soda in the cold soak or vinegar ever.

Baking soda is not going to make you diapers stink. It can only help. Vinegar is a problem for some, but for others, it helps remove detergent and therefore helps the stink problem.

I don't usually use essential oils in my laundry, but if you like them, a couple drops shouldn't be the cause of stink problems, either. Unless the stink is the smell of the TTO or lavender! lol

Things that can cause stink, though:
Some detergents that do a poor job of cleaning
Using too much detergent (hard to rinse out)
Not using enough detergent (in hard water particularly)
Not using hot water with detergent
Using soap based products like Dr. Bronners. They leave soap scum buildup on the diapers in time and lessen absorbancy
Not rinsing enough
Letting dirty dipes sit around too long before washing
Several layers of hemp sewn together
For some, vinegar, for others, it solves stink problems

Kermit you sound like an expert.
When can you come over?

Anyway...
we do have hard water
I kissed Dr. Bronners goodbye
I am doing vinegar today.
Should I do hot or cold?
And I know essential oils do not make diapers stink.
I sell essential oils.
Anyway...I am going back to my Malelucha detergent today too.

Thanks all. I will report back.

I just wanted to add that I know that essential oils don't make diapers stink. I just didn't like the way the tea tree oil smelled on top of my stinky fleece.

Melaleuca laundry detergent is great as long as you don't have to worry about repelling fleece. I have been using it for 3 years but I can't use it on my Fuzzi Bunz. Let me know how it works for you.

When I have stinky dipes, it's b/c of buildup. My water heater isn't set super high, so I turn it way up and do a few HOT washes w/o det. and it works great! I use Melaleuca too, and haven't had a problem with repelling fleece. I use fleece strips for liners and they're fine. I have started using only half the amt. of the det. and I think that really helps thebuildup problem--and saves money!!

My wash routine is one cold rinse with baking soda, one hot wash with half amt of Melaleuca det. If they still have a weird smell, I do an extra rinse, and that takes care of it.

Thanks for the tip about ess. oils not causing dipes to smell. I started using melaleuca (tea tree) oil in the wash and in the pail and at the same time began having dipes that wreek of ammonia. I stopped using the oil and still have the stink, so I realized it's just ds pee. So thanks for comfirming that for me! I've been hesitant to start using it again, but I think I'll try it!

Fun to konw there's other Melaleuca users out there!

I have used CD's for 7 years now & never had the stinkies since I switched to this method:
One cold Rinse & Spin
One Hot wash with Era Max & one scoop Oxyclean
One Hot wash w/ NOTHING added
One cold rinse
NO RASH NO STINK NO NOTHING.....
Also, I use the smallest water setting possible...
Finally, NIRVANA

My struggle with washing routine changes, vinegar, abking soda etc. and stinky diapers was solved by simply changing detergents. It was a miracle. I don't think the detergent matters as much as that is different. I went from Biokleen to Trader Joe's natural- a detergent that did not work for us last year but I still had the box.

Melaleuca user here, too! I am glad to hear that it is not a problem for those of you who are using it on fleece. I have a front loading washer and already only use 1/2 the detg. amt -- so for diapers, do you think I should use 1/4?

I am assuming I can not use the Melaleuca fabric softner on diapers -- what has your experience been regarding this? What about fleece?

kathy

and I had a thought about getting rid of your diaper odor.

http://tjspetshop.com/natures_miracle.htm

It's called Nature's Miracle, it is targeted to remove the smell of pet urine and feces, but I can't think of why it wouldn't work for baby stuff, too. It has enzymes that are supposed to break down the odor causing culprits, apparently. And I think it is chemical free, but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, it was just a thought. Hope your dipes are smelling great soon.

To me, fabric softener is fabric softener, and I wouldn't want to try it on my dipes. I wasn't very impressed with the melaleuca fab. softener anyway. I had to use 3xs the amt just to get my clothes soft, and I'm NOT a fab. softner junkie like some people are (my MIL!! she uses a WHOLE ball of downy in her wash! No wonder her towels aren't absorbent....).


Just my opinion!

I may be getting to the bottom of this. I have done diapers twice since this first post and did the vinegar thing and they do seem better but not perfect. So anyway, here is the deal.

My washer has been leaking too and we had the Sears guy out today and I while he was here I asked him about my washer smelling mildewy and he told me I should only use a high efficiency detergent. So anyway I think I need to say bye bye to malelucha and even sensi-clean. This makes me crabby cuz I don't want to buy Tide etc..

Does anyone have a natural recommendation for me? At the same time I am happy cuz I think this will resolve the issue.

I've never even heard of a high efficiency detergent! What makes one high efficiency and others not??

Good luck!

i guess they are marked HE

by the way i never do kegels and i am due in 8 weeks
am i in for trouble?

hi I've been following your stinky diaper saga with interest!

I don't think you're in trouble btw, just start doing them now! :) that muscle whips into shape (and out) fast! Good luck!!!

But while it's out there, what really is a "high efficiency detergent?" and are these free & clear detergents causing buildup too? They do not have fabric softener in them do they?

for what it's worth, I really try to use baking soda every few washes, and have not found a detergent that I like yet, except Biokleen and I don't know if that is safe on fleece or fuzzibunz.

Kathy-jo, you are silly! :D

I do them on and off, so having that in my sig line helps *me* remember! The effect I see that it has with me is going to be TMI, but I don't care. I was having a problem with pee "leakage" when I'd cough or laugh or anything when I was on my period and the weeks surrounding it. I started doing kegels more faithfully, and it really helped. I'm trying to do them now too, even though I don't have that problem anymore (being pregnant). After having my first baby, my pelvic floor just hasn't been the same. I'm hoping that means things are all loosened up for my second baby's birth and I won't have to push for SO long! :) Hey, a girl can dream, right??

Good luck with the detergent!!!

I'd try taking out the Dr. B's cycle, and rinsing all diapers out asap...I found that rinsing out the wet diapers in cold water when they came off worked well.

HTH!
~Shane

I, too, have a front loader and have been struggling with stinky dipes for three months. Right now, I am using bleach every other time I wash dipes - it is the *only* thing I have found so far that removes the stinkies. I have tried sportswash, biokleen, TTO, vinegar rinses, washing soda, borax, free detergents and lots of other regular detergents. Right now I am doing:

- cold wash with regular amount of Arm& Hammer det plus A&H washing soda (extra rinse cycle)
- hot wash w/tiny amount of A&H det (and every other time I include 1/4 c bleach)
- hot wash w/nothing

This is the only way I have found to keep the stinkies at bay. I hate using bleach on my dipes but if I don't they positively reek. I wash every other day and have a dry pail. All poops go in the potty, though I don't rinse them in the toilet. I have two in dipes right now, including a bf baby.

I have heard this problem a lot w/front loader owners - we can't really *soak* stuff and the water level is so low I think this makes it harder to soak out the stink. Weird thing is, my clothes are much cleaner w/a front loader than w/a top loader. Go figure!

Carolyn

Originally posted by kaje62
I may be getting to the bottom of this. I have done diapers twice since this first post and did the vinegar thing and they do seem better but not perfect. So anyway, here is the deal.

My washer has been leaking too and we had the Sears guy out today and I while he was here I asked him about my washer smelling mildewy and he told me I should only use a high efficiency detergent. So anyway I think I need to say bye bye to malelucha and even sensi-clean. This makes me crabby cuz I don't want to buy Tide etc..

Does anyone have a natural recommendation for me? At the same time I am happy cuz I think this will resolve the issue.

kaje62,

I have a Kenmore frontloader and found that my mildewy smell was caused by hair, gunk, bits of food building up in the rubber gasket that lines the door. Try opening the door and pulling back the rubber part. See if you don't find some icky stuff hiding in there. I clean it out periodically and my washer smells much better. Doesn't make sense to me that a detergent would cause a mildewy smell.

Best wishes,
Cathy

Originally posted by daphynmama
Hi,

I think I am in the minority here. My philosophy with washing diapers is less is more. This is my routine:

1 - Cold soak
2- Hot wash with 1/4 amount of liquid detergent (I am now using Wisk)
3 - 2 cold rinses



I posted mine already, but I think my routine is even more simple: 1 hot wash with a teeny bit of detergent, and that's it! I agree that simple is better!