[vein]

Ugh, I am so at the end of my rope it's not even funny. We cannot afford a full house water filter/softener so I've been using Calgon in each and every diaper wash. I do one wash with usually less than a tablespoon of detergent, half a capful of Calgon on hot/hot water. Then I do another wash with no detergent and half a capful of Calgon. There are usually no suds i the second wash. Weather permitting, I hang it outside to dry on the line, then it is finished tryign on high heat in the dryer after I bring the others in.

Despite this, the smell of ammonia is really bothering me. It's the worst in his SOS hemp that (along with the SOS doubler) I use occasionally for nighttime wear since at the moment I can't afford to start buying more diapers to pick and chose what we like for night time best. It also happens but to a much lesser extent when he's wearing his Happy Heiny's with a single Joey Bunz hemp insert and an infant sized CPF. The bag we keep the diapers in until I do them every other day is also painful when I'm putting them in the wash.

I've just been praying for Gavin to hurry up and wake up so I can take off the SOS he wore to bed because every time he moved in the night I'd get a wiff of ammonia smell when the cover would move. The last time he wore it upon waking up he also had a red slightly raised spot on his lower tummy, which in my lack of sleep last night I completely forgot about before putting the diaper on him.

I don't want to boil the SOS because I don't want to melt the snaps and it doesn't appear to be a detergent buildup problem. I also don't want to get rid of it on eBay until I get the ammonia problem solved because I'd feel like scum knowing about it and trying to get rid of it.

What on earth should I try? I have no bleach (I DO have a bottle of Clorox 2 I've never used my MIL picked up at Sam's for some unknown reason almost a year ago, but I haven't even looked to see how that differs from regular bleach) and would prefer to not have to go out and buy a thing of it when it'll just sit around for years. I also have some Oxyboost oxygen bleach stuff but I'm so scared with the hard water nightmare I live it'll make the SOS into a little pile of goo that I can't resell if my life depended on it.

Any ideas?

 

[allformyboys]

honestly? I would try MORE detergent, sounds to me like they aren't getting clean? I would use more detergent, and then HOT rinses to get rid of the suds, you don't have build up but you might not be getting the stuff clean. Hemp SOS has a lot of layers and it has to get way in there.

if that doesn't work you could try a soak with baking soda? I would soak at least over night! Good Luck! ~

 

[3girlsmommy]

Have you tried a few drops of tea tree oil? That has helped me in the past. I don't think I'd try the oxy boost stuff because it think that it is a no-no with hemp. Good Luck!

 

[didelphus]

If you have really hard water (need a softener but don't have one) then you would need more detergent than usual. Isn't that right? At least it is worth a try!

 

[Mizelenius]

I know you probably don't haveany sunny days left, but maybe you could try some serious sunning? I also 2nd the more detergent idea.

 

[sixpence1978]

another one saying more detergent. we were getting stinky problems here (and we have a water softener system) and i was using 2 heaping tablespoons of detergent. i increased it to another heaping tablespoon and the smell is gone. also, hot rinses help a lot.

 

[vein]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I did the last batch with the awful SOS with a bit more detergent and let it soak for a while in the water (not my intention, but the plumber was coming and I thought he might have to cut the water off for a bit, so I didn't want it to drain then not be able to fill back up to rinse). The results this morning were not *as* bad as they were before, but now my Happy Heiny's are back to repelling.

My SO also made me turn down the water heater today (I'd had it cranked up to next to the hottest setting for the past few weeks to try to get the issues resolved) but since that didn't seem to help, I wasn't going to argue with him about it.

I've about decided that I cannot have CPF's and hemp and still expect to have working Happy Heiny's with this water. The sooner I give it up the saner I'm going to be, I think.

 

[MamaMonica]

This is a tough one. My hemp smells periodically. I need to change detergents then. But it always stinks again- I've tried line drying, which helps- but not completely.

 

[Just Me Jenn]

Two things that came to my mind first is 1. more detergent or 2. is your hot water hot enough? I hope you figure out the culprit - that can be really frustrating

 

[vein]

WAAHHHHH This morning the hemp doubler I'd used in the last non repelling HH for nighttime use smelled so badly of ammonia - it has to be from the extra detergent, since this one has never smelled that way before after nighttime use.

Unfortunately it looks like yesterday was the last day for a long time that I'll get to hang anything outside - but even *that* didn't help anything. ('cept I like cpf's better slightly crispy

)

As for the water temp, I'm not sure what the water heater was set at for actual temp wise, but for probably almost a month it had been on the notch next to the hottest setting (there are 6 in all) which was enough to be WAY too hot to touch when doing a hot wash, and the diapers were almost steaming at the end of the cycle. (And DID steam a few mornings when I went out to hang them)

I just don't get it with this stupid hard water. I have to use way more soap for everything else, but I use too much soap on the diapers and it clings to them like no tomorrow. I need to call Calgon and get them to deliver huge barrels of it to the driveway.

 

[lifetapestry]

What detergent are you using?

If you are using a "natural" detergent like Dr. Bronners, 7th Generation, etc, that may be your problem. These cause build up on everything and are probably causing your HH to repel.

If you are using a "free" or "clear" detergent, that might also be your culprit. IME these detergents interact with hot water and do some funky stuff.

You should try a "regular" detergent, like Tide, if you're not using it already.

Karla

 

[vein]

I'm using Cheer Free - unfortunately, due to my allergies, I either get to use a "Free" detergent or not touch/get near my son. I'd prefer to bang my head on the washing machine than never be near him.

I long for the day of detergents when they didn't toss so much fragrance in them. I was always fine with them until the mid-late 90's when they started putting in more and more.

I'm doing my third load of laundry after increasing the amount of detergent and am now on my THIRD rinse and still had suds with the Calgon, which just ran out. (This is after me stripping them fully last week) Apparently with hard water you NEED more detergent but the second you USE more it makes you regret waking up in the morning.

:

At any rate, when this is done, we'll bundle up and go hang them up on the line since it's at least sunny. Then I get to think long and hard about keeping the HH's and SOS and dealing with this throughout the winter. Gah!

 

[engineer_mama]

Hey there! Another Michiganian

I'm going to post this under a separate topic after I've tested it for a few nights, but I'm going to recommend you go ahead and pick up that Clorox. I've had periodic stinky hemp (and sad, red bottoms) for a while now, and I finally tried washing them with bleach a few nights ago. Voila! No more ammonia smell, no more rash. I want to experiment with how often this will need to be done. Maybe once a month or so. I used about 1/2 cup of bleach for a full load of dipes.

HTH!

 

[lifetapestry]

I think you should try Sportswash (available in the camping section of some WalMarts or its renamed detergent (Sensi-clean, see various places online but including www.smartiepantsdiapers.com). Or try switching "free" detergents-- but as you will see if you read the care instructions on the happy heinys or fuzzi bunz websites, the free & clear detergents can cause fleece to repel from buildup and if your fleece has build up, your diapers do too.

Although I don't think that Karen's sugestion to try bleach is wrong per se, I personally would never use bleach unless all else fails. Bleach residue in your diapers could cause very bad burns, it decreases the resale value of your diapers (I would never buy a used dipe that had been bleached), and I don't want my son's skin exposed to bleach in cloth diapers any more than I want his skin exposed to the bleach that is used when making disposable diapers.

Karla

 

[clothcrazymom]

I wanted to comment on the bleach thing. This is something that is brought up often and was being discussed on a sewing list the other day. Someone brought up what I thought was a very good point. If you live in the US (not sure about other countries) most are on some sort of treated water....usually including being treated with chlorine. So many people are already using bleach in washing their diapers by just using their water.

We are on well and a friend of ours had their well tested and found that there was chlorine in their well water also. We tested ours and don't happen to have this and we also have a filtration system that removes everything possible.

 

[vein]

Oddly enough, I've never had a problem with my single Fuzzi Bunz repelling even the few weeks this summer I know I had buildup issues. I toss it and the Happy Heiny's in the same load with the CPF's and everything else, but even when the HH's are repelling like mad, the FB doesn't. Guess it just has to do with the quality of the HH fleece being so much better.

I'll get some Sportswash next time I'm out. I'd almost ordered some months ago when I couldn't get my HH to not repell (before the Calgon) but heard one too many horror stories of it breaking people out to spend $20 to order it online. (Never could find it locally, but hopefully now that it's hunting season, I'll be able to find it)

I *so* don't want to use bleach if I don't absolutely 100% have to - my MIL puts it in EVERYTHING (she came over to help clean after Gavin was born and I was almost gassed out) and everything else she doesn't want bleached she mixes with ammonia (like window cleaning fluid with ammonia - no wonder she's loony with those fumes)! Needless to say, I don't have a very good impression of bleach. Or some peoples' OCD cleaning habits.