Intro and stink question

jackieo1309

Hello! DH and I have been CDing our almost-3-month-old since we came home from the hospital and we love it. We noticed shortly before she outgrew her NB diapers that some of them were starting to smell really bad when she wet them (it doesn't smell like ammonia to me, so I'm assuming it's "barnyard" stink). Her OS diapers were fine for the first few weeks but now they're starting to have a slight smell too. They don't smell straight out of the wash, it's after she's wet them. I started splitting the laundry into 2 loads last week in case there wasn't enough water to get them clean, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.

We have a Haier washer because we live in an apartment. I usually do a quick cold wash with no detergent, heavy hot wash with Nellie's and 2 cold rinses. I don't know if we have hard or soft water (we live in NYC and it says on their website they don't give specific info- I could buy a test if you think it would help). Should we switch detergents to see if that helps the stink? Rinse with warm water instead? Add a booster with the Nellie's? And if so, which one and when do I add it in? Thanks in advance for any help!

freezorburn

Everything Maple said. If you are in NYC your water is probably hard. You might be able to get some test strips at your local hardware store if you want to know for sure exactly what is coming out of your taps.

jackieo1309

The "heavy" cycle on my washer includes a soak at the beginning (this is after I do the quick wash so they're rinsed) and two rinses at the end so I'm not purposely adding the extra rinse. I think I will probably try to find some test strips just so we have a better idea what we're working with. Thank you for the recs!

Also, would stink be the only indication that there's detergent build-up? I haven't noticed any repelling or any other problems...

jackieo1309

loonyluna said:

How often are you washing? Sorry if I missed that in your initial post...

I was doing laundry every 1.5-2 days but I've started doing a load every day or splitting the 2 days worth of diapers into 2 loads just to make sure there's enough water (since we have the small washer).

Mandmeesh

have you checked to see how much water is in the washer for the detergent cycle? 

if there's too much water compared to not enough detergent, they also won't get clean.  You're going to a "diaper stew"- no diapers floating in the water- that way they can all agitate onto each other to get properly cleaned

I wash 8-sh pockets + inserts or flats, two ON fitteds and a few covers and my washer is set on the small water setting