I know this has been asked so many times before, and I'm sorry, but I couldn't find an answer in the archives.
I just got some new prefolds for DS, and they REEK of ammonia when I change him, doesn't matter how wet he is. I've never had this problem, and I've been using prefolds for 8 months. It's so bad in the morning that it literally knocks my breath away.
When I got the diapers I washed them in 5 hot washes, dried in between each wash. Only used about 2 or 3 tablespoons of regular Gain in the first wash, the other washes were with nothing. They're bleached prefolds, if that matters any, I've always used unbleached before.
So what's my problem? I'm afraid my little man is going to end up with ammonia burns one of these mornings!
You know, my prefolds are getting like this too. Now I know it is not my washing technique, because my fitteds don't smell. And I have boiled them and stripped them and washed them with BS and vinegar. I just don't know!
Forgot to mention, I do know that we have REALLY hard water. I can't even get the deposits out of our coffeepot it's so hard. What cofuses me is why didn't my UBCPFs smell like ammonia?
Though now that I think of it, they did have a slightly "off" smell even after coming out of the dryer....it was more of a really faded poo smell though...
Vinegar in the rinse cycle with every wash every wash every wash! Baking soda soak before washing. Lavender oil. Tea tree oil. Works for me!!! And I live in San Antonio where the water is as hard as a rock!
How much vinegar do you use? I have the same problem with hard water. When I have added vinegar, it never seems to be enough. I have used tea tree and lavendar oil too, but always wonder if it just covers up the smell.
I haven't tried boiling...that would be a big project. How long do you boil them???
It seems like a really hot dryer works the best - even better than hanging them outside where they just end up as hard a rocks.
I also heard that Calgon water softener works really good too! You can find it at your local walmart in liquid or powder. I stripped my dipes with vinegar this last weekend and it seemed to do just fine, hope you find something that works for you!
the best thing that worked for us is really HOT water , more detergent than normal and an extra rinse cycle. This seems to be working great for us. We have hard water (I don't know if it would qualify as "Rock Hard"
). Hope this helps.
If not, try bac-out. That will take the stick out of a skunk!
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