[engineer_mama]

I know we've all had the evils of bleach drilled into us, but as a last resort, I washed my Samuel's Soakers with a 1/4 cup of bleach a few nights ago. Voila! Absolutely no ammonia smell anymore. In fact, the diapers hardly smell like anything at all, even after a full 12 hour night. And no redness on either tushy. I think this is the key, mamas. Now I just need to figure out how often this needs to be done. Maybe every 2 weeks to a month? We'll see. I also went ahead and ran all my cpf's through some bleach as well because even they get stinky sometimes. I think a periodic bleaching shouldn't shorten the life of the diapers too much. And two good rinses got rid of the chlorine smell completely. The dipes were just nice, fresh, and clean.

It's worth a try anyway, if you've been having trouble with stinky hemp. Yay! My kiddos can be in cloth at night again

Thanks Kermit!!

 

[rockymtnmama]

Karen, I've been thinking about trying this! My hemp is intermittently stinky and nothing seems to completely get rid of the ammonia smell. Did you do a soak with bleach or just run it through in the hot wash w/ detergent?

Just a sidenote, when I used a diaper service my diapers never had that smell, even overnight! I am sure the service used bleach. Maybe that's the secret?

 

[engineer_mama]

Nope, no soaking. I just put it in the bleach dispenser and ran the washer on hot with a little detergent.

Hope it works well for you to!

 

[huskrkid]

Won't the bleach wash out all the colors in the serging in the naked dipes & what about prints?

Hmmmmmmm evil on one side, good on the other...what to do?

 

[Melda]

I was told this by a well known WAHM that visits here alot and I did it and it worked. I did mine about a month ago and no stink has come back yet ... So i would say prolly no more than once a month ....

 

[rockymtnmama]

So how much do you use? Would 1/4 cup be enough for a full load?

 

[engineer_mama]

rockymtnmama ~ I used a 1/2 cup for a full load.

huskrkid ~ no guarantees, but the serging on all my prefolds and SS's retained their colors. I wouldn't do this with prints, though.

 

[mommy2boys]

I just wanted to add, I tried Clorox 2 with good results. I beleive its a peroxide bleach. So if you are a little nervous about bleach you can try that first.

 

[allformyboys]

I have bleached everything in my stash probably at least once (*gasp*) prints, fleece, hemp, cotton colors EVERYTHING. The prints look washed but not really faded (even the flannel prints) a few have a 'lighter' look to them but not bad at all. The fleece is exactly the same color, the serging never changes, and the only thing that really changed is some washcloth wipes I had that I got cheap at walmart. Everything else kept its color and is totally stink free! The HB's were the worst smell wise I think because they are a the thickest and hardest to get really clean. But I use bleach probably once a month, I have been CDing for 9 months now and no break down, no holes no real 'wear' to the diapers at all. ~

 

[DecemberSun]

I ran out of laundry detergent a week ago, and all we had was Electrasol powder for the dishwasher. We didn't have money for sposies, or more soap, so I used the dishwashing detergent. The second ingredient is chlorine bleach, so I was afraid to use it... but I used a 1/4 laundry scoop for a full load of diaps, rinsed twice, and they came out bright and clean!

My colored FB's don't look a bit faded, and all the hemp smells fresh. I felt this was a little gentler than straight bleach, and it worked nicely!

 

[girlfactory]

I think as long as you have the washer filled TO THE TOP, add the bleach, swish it around, then add the diapers, you shouldn't have any spot bleaching. And such a small amount shouldn't affect the color of anything drastically. The 1/4 cup really does work.............just do an extra rinse to get it all out.

KidsAtHeart, wouldn't that be a hoot if dishwasher detergent was the new ultra cleaning tool for diapers? Too bad it's so expensive per ounce compared to laundry detergent. But good thinking!!

Necessity is the mother of all inventions

 

[oceanbaby]

Yep, I had to do this too. I used color safe bleach, and it totally solved the ammonia stink/rash problem in our hemp. That was almost 2 months ago, and I am just now starting to detect the ammonia smell again, but not bad yet. I'm planning on doing another hemp bleach in a few weeks. I'd rather have to replace my diapers than deal with the ammonia stink. It burned my eyes, and gave ds a diaper rash.

I just put in about 1/4-1/2 cup with the wash, did the regular two rinses plus one more just to be sure the bleach was all out.

 

[Morwenna]

Hey, I am new here, but had the same problem so I wanted to reply. I boiled my diapers! I didn't want to use bleach and was at my wits' end, so I boiled them on the stove! It worked great and is a bit more natural than bleach...I just thought what our grannies would have done. I think maybe it has more to do with the thickness of the diapers than what they are made of. That's why I think flat prefolds or diapers with snap ins/inserts may be better.

 

[campingmumma]

I'm bleaching mine today - finally a solution - thanks everyone!

 

[MamaMonica]

If you don't have a bleach dispenser, can you just put in with the diapers- pour it into the full washer? I have been on the verge of this for months and keep pulling back before buying the bleach. I simply can't get the smell out of my thick hemp diapers.

Thank, you thank you engineermama for the green light on this. And thanks, Holly for the original idea. I've tried all the low-intervention techniques.

So is the verdict that peroxide bleach will do the trick? (here I am backing off again...)

 

[rockymtnmama]

Well, I did it! I bleached my stinkiest, I'll let you know if it worked in the morning!

 

[campingmumma]

I used a color-safe bleach tonight (called Vivid ? -have to double check). Anyways, I could smell the difference just coming out of the washer - ahhhhh, so fresh and clean. Oh, the joys of stink-free fluff

 

[Love my 2]

I've found that a long soak in boiling water and oxiclean really helped get the stink out of my hemp too. I haven't tried chlorine bleach, still afraid of holes or bleaching out that natural color that I love so well.

 

[veganmamma]

Quote:

Just a sidenote, when I used a diaper service my diapers never had that smell, even overnight! I am sure the service used bleach. Maybe that's the secret?

The diaper service I used did use bleach, but they also removed the bleach residue with Anti-Chlor. We used them mixed with our own dipes for about 2 months. (www.tinytots.com)

Lauren

 

[rockymtnmama]

It's a miracle! All night in his firefly sleeptight (previously one of our stinkiest) and no skunky ammonia smell! It just smells like wet cloth. WOW! I would not feel comfortable using bleach on a regular basis, but if it only takes once a month to get results like this, I'm sold.

To all who are trying the color-safe bleach, I thought that those types of bleaches aren't really bleach, just added some sort of whitening agent to make clothes "look" brighter. Not sure how this would eliminate odors? I have used a colorsafe bleach on my diapers before and didn't notice a difference in the smell. I'm curious to see what others find out!