Okay ladies, we have a big "stink" problem..

[Seylah]

I really need your help,
I am having a big problem with stinky pee and major stinky diapers. The diapers have begun to smell like amonia pretty bad.
I stripped them with vinegar, ran them through a soak, a rinse, a wash a rinse and then another rinse and still every time they get peed in they start to stink really bad. What should I do? Its grossing me out and I dont even want to open the pail or use them. I wondered if it was my boys' pee at first. I have a 2.5 yr old and a 6.5month old and my youngest is still completely breastfed so why would his pee stink so bad? My oldest drinks plenty of water, limeted juice and is fed *mostly* organics and fresh foods. No real sugary type stuff.

I use baking soda every 3rd wash or so, I rinse the diapers really well with a sprayer, I use about 1/4 detergent Kirland brand or All free and clear....... I always do a double rinse.
Any help or suggestions would be great! :kiss

[twouglyducks]

It is so hard to know what will work since everyone's water and pee are different... But when mine start to smell, I do a hot wash w/ borax and baking soda, then let them soak after they've aggitated. I leave them there a while. Then close the lid. Also, I use a few drops of tea tree oil in every wash. I do a cold cycle, no soap first. Then hot w/ det. and TTO. Then the hot soak on occassion.

[raitch]

Boiling water does the trick for me every time. Boil a kettle of water and throw it in your wash. You'll smell it working right away. They're finally stink-free when you throw in the boiling water and it doesn't smell like anything. Then you can just run that through as a rinse instead of a wash and you're all set. Good luck!

[memiles]

I've been told to steer clear of anything free and clear, and anything with enzymes, as they both tend to produce stinkier diapers. I use sportswash instead of laundry detergent. Other friends use the super cheap detergents (Sun, usually) with good results. Then only use about 2T per load, and the boiling couldn't hurt :)

I have moved away from all hemp for this reason, it always seems to stink up for me.

[via8116]

I also do the boiling water. If I have stink problems I do my regular cold rinse and then during the hot wash I add a big pot of boiling water and a small squirt of Dawn dishsoap. Then when then wash is done I run another hot wash and two warm rinses.

Where I used to live I had very hard water. I had to use Calgon water softener to get rid of the stink.

Good Luck!!

[mamaBlue]

No vinegar!!! You can't neutralize pee with it! Do the boiling trick to get rid of all the build up thats on those dipes. To keep it away: If you have hard water use Calgon liquid and use less detergent. Like 1/8 to 1/4 of what the bottle says to use. If you have soft water, use waaaay less detergent. NO VINEGAR! I ususally run three wash cycles when I wash dipes. First, I wash on cold with no detergent or just maybe a 1/4c of baking soda (try it first without it). Second, a long hot wash with detergent. Then, third, if I see bubbles at the end of the wash cycle, do another quick wash cycle with no detergent.

[Seylah]

Okay, thank you so much for all the great suggestions!
Im gonna go try the boiling water and some TTO and about a million rinse cycles :) I am so glad we get our water included in the rent!
I have a few quick questions though.....
Nikki, why no vinegar? What I understand is that it strips out all the soapy build up, which would help the stink not build up too right?

Also I do have about 1/2 of my diapers made of hemp, is there anything special or extra I should do to them? My cotton stink just as bad though.

And, I have some Seventh Generation laundry detergent, says its made with non animal derived enzymes............ is it okay to use?

[mamaBlue]

I *think* Seventh Generation has built in fabric softener? Might wanna double check that.

Half my diapers are hemp, too. The other half are cotton prefolds.

Vinegar won't really help strip out all the build up thats accumulated in your diapers. When it comes to diapers that have build up, its usually from detergent. Vinegar is not going to help much. In fact, it can make matters worse. Urine has a PH of 6, vinegar is even more acidic. Its PH is around 2-3. Adding vinegar to your dirty dipe wash water is just exaggerating the problem. You be better off adding a mild alkaline like baking soda to the first wash to help neutralize the PH. Then wash with detergent.

To get the build up out of your dipaers. Try the boiling water trick. Also try washing your already washed diapers several times with no detergent and just Calgon water softener. The Calgon will help all that build up work its way out.

[Seylah]

Ok thank you Nikki :)
Diapers are drying now after 3 boiling water cycles and then TTO and the rinses ect.
Now that I think about it, it seems they did get stinkier after I used the vinegar, maybe maybe not.
Anyways thanks again, hope this works :)

[Seylah]

So I noticed that about 1/4 of them still smell. Not AS bad, but it is usually with the nightime diaper. blah. The smell is barely there, but I still get wiffs.
I think I am gonna try washing in smaller loads, do the boiling water again and see what happens. I also tried to sun bleach them a bit but we are on the upper level of an apartment so that is hard to get some good sun.
Has anyone ever used RLR laundry treatment?
Thanks again~

[Seylah]

Why does this make me feel like Ive never done laundry before?

[mamaBlue]

So I noticed that about 1/4 of them still smell. Not AS bad, but it is usually with the nightime diaper. blah. The smell is barely there, but I still get wiffs.
I think I am gonna try washing in smaller loads, do the boiling water again and see what happens. I also tried to sun bleach them a bit but we are on the upper level of an apartment so that is hard to get some good sun.
Has anyone ever used RLR laundry treatment?
Thanks again~

Yeah, sometimes those nighttime diapers can be tricky. Especially if they big ol' thick have sewn-in soakers. The funk just can't rinse out well. I got rid of all of my uber thick diapers. Now I use one or more doublers instead.

My washing machine does best with medium/large loads. Its a HE front loader. I've found that my diapers need the agitation from a full machine to get the most clean. I used to have a top loader. That machine worked best with a small or medium (I usually did medium loads to conserve more water and energy) load but with the water level set to large load.

I've never used RLR.

[imonion]

a friend recommended this to me for stripping dipes:

no detergent. reduce the level of the water in the washer. i go from large to medium. run it through a hot cycle and just beat the crap out of the stinky diapers. do this until you see no suds in the wash water. i have hard water and it took about 3 cycles of this before we were in the clear.

[Bliss]

Just thought I would add that several cd manufacturers say specifically NOT to use Seventh Gen on diapers.

[Seylah]

Ive noticed it is the thicker diapes and a few hemps that still had the smell.
I think were in the clear though WHEW!
I also use mainly doublers other than the sewn in super thick diaper, (I dont like the super thick sewn ins personally)
I have made about 90% of my diapers so Ive never really been recommended specifically what to use on them cept for BioKleen, and other names like sun, all, ect. Im going to try the Biokleen.
Bliss, thanks for the tip. I only had a sample so I dont have to worry about any money down the drain :)

[patty_melon]

did you mention how you dry them? I always find they are stinkier if i use the clothes dryer too much..

[Seylah]

I do use the clothes dryer almost all the time. I live on the top floor apartment other wise I would definatley be hanging them. Since I have had this problem I have been letting them just air dry in my sons bedroom, its nice and sunny.
I wonder what it is about the dryer that makes this worse.
Thanks :)

[The MadPatter]

OK, here is what I think is going on, and why the hemp ones smell more. This is my theory, I haven't been able to test it, but I have thought it through, there is experimental data to support my assertions, and I think I'm on to something.

What is happening:
Bacteria are building up in the fibers of the diapers. It can be on the fibers themselves, or on a fatty film on the diapers from soap build-up.

Why it happens more on hemp:
Hemp is an agricultural product grown in soil, which has naturally occurring bacteria in it (well, duh, right?) The reason its worse in hemp than in cotton, is cotton fibers are from the seedpods of the plant, in the air, more or less, and hemp fibers are from the stems. Bacteria in the fields live on the stems, and when they dry out, the bacteria go into a kind of suspended animation stage. When wetted, like when the rain comes in nature, they "come alive" again, and begin to reproduce. Some bacteria are nitrogen fixers, and they make ammonia.

Dryer versus line drying. I think this is an issue if they don't dry fast enough, and they aren't baked nice and dry. The humid dryer is probably a really nice environment for the bacteria. If they are dried fast until nice and toasty, then the length of time they have to multiply is less, and the few that are there will be crisped to death. Also, the ultraviolet light in sunlight is somewhat antimicrobial, as is the infrared.

Why boiling water works: sterilization, baby. I'm thinking getting a big pot of water boiling and putting a diaper in for a few minutes, and then taking it out and putting in the next one might be faster, work better and use less water than the dump a big pot of water in the washer.

I experimented, and the resin snaps are not affected by boiling.

Inquiring minds want to know should be my motto...

Patti

[Seylah]

Good thinkin!! It all makes good sense. Our dyer takes about 2 cycles to fully dry our diapers, so there is a bit of time that they are pretty warm and humid, also I dont always let them get toasty dry, sometimes I let them finish drying in the stack:bag
So far, I got some RLR and used it with biokleen this time. Did a rinse, a boiling wash in low water to beat them (little buggers), boiling rinse, hot rinse and one more rinse for good measure. Dryed them nice and hot, and so far only ONE has stunk. Ive been doing the sniff test on every wet one to be sure (so far so good), and all the stinkey ones will go into a seperate pail to be boiled once AGAIN. I have been thinking a stovetop method would work too, im glad you mentioned that.
I cant wait till we buy a house so I can have a clothes line!!!!

I had a thought about using sprayers on diapers. I use a shower sprayer that detaches so its long enough to spray my diapers into a small bucket I put in the tub. I use a high setting to spray the poop off, do you think this might be spaying the ickies deep into the fibers and causing them to get stuck in there even worse? Doesnt seem like it could have that much effect, but maybe???

[The MadPatter]

See, I wonder if its the diapering experience or the initial fiber that is the issue, since it seems that this is a problem I usually hear about in connection with hemp.
Are the remaining stinkers your hemp dipes, or non hemp?
Patti
Not anti-hemp, just curious