Help! Can't get rid of the smell...

villegasemily

Hi Ladies,

I am having trouble with some of my diapers being stinky, mostly my bamboo fitted diapers that I use at night. I have tried RLR, adding an extra pre-rinse cycle, doing a few rinses, and they only thing that seems to help is adding some bleach to the wash. Any other suggestions??? Tired of opening dryer and not having them smell clean.

emmylou78

What's your full routine? Kind of detergent and how much?  And how old is your LO?

Kelly11235

Have you tried soaking them in water after you change them in the morning?  (In the sink or something, not necessarily in the washer.)

villegasemily

We use Allen's, about 1 pump with the clip on, pre-wash cold, hot wash, cold rinse, extra cold rinse. Hang dry covers, dry inserts in dryer. We wash every other day. Recently we have added a warm pre-wash to see if it would make a difference, haven't noticed much improvement.

Little one is 20 months and a heavy wetter. Night time diaper is a bamboo fitted, hemp doupler, bamboo doubler and a flip.

I haven't tried soaking the night diapers but I am wondering if I need to...

emmylou78

Oh, I don't know anything about Allen's or how much "a pump" would be. Is that the recommended amount for a normal load? Have you tried using more?

My 13 month old is starting to get a smell in her ON diapers, but I only note it when I take it off. Not when it's clean. Not smelling clean once washed is a different problem.

Soaking, or at least rinsing those in the morning, is probably your best bet. You could try adding more detergent.

Is your machine HE? I see with the Allen's you just use less for the HE. A 1/4 less, which is a lot. (Which I'm guessing you do, since you said "with the clip").

emmylou78

Sorry, not 1/4 less. Only 1/4. So 3/4 less... Which is huge.

freezorburn

It would be a good idea to check your water hardness or softness before adjusting your detergent amount. Just to make sure you are going in the right direction. Easiest way is to check with your local water authority. If you want to be more precise, get some test strips or a test kit.

If you have enough of the troublesome diapers to make a small load, you might want to do a hot water strip. It might be a good idea to use detergent for your first hot water wash, then do several more hot water washes.

Some other things to try/check:

• As already mentioned -- soak in hot water in the morning, before adding to your diaper pail.
  
• Is there a quick wash or other short cycle that has more agitation that you could use for your initial rinse/prewash?
  
• Is your hot water cycle getting hot enough (you want to shoot for around 120F) ?
  
• Do you clean your machine regularly? Is there a possibility of any detergent buildup in your machine? If you use a different detergent for your regular clothes, could something from that be depositing on your diapers?
  
• Is there a longer cycle that you could use for your hot wash cycle? Try to use something that is agitating the diapers with detergent for at least 45 minutes.
  
• Try switching to a warm rinse/quick wash at the end. This time of year, the cold water can be a bit too cold to rinse things out effectively. You could try going back to cold rinses again when the weather warms up again in spring/summer.

bumpuser9353653

Try soaking the diapers in the morning. Toddler pee is strong stuff. Give them a good rinse and squeeze and then soak in hot water for s few hours each morning. If that doesn't help, you may need to up your detergent amount, but continue to soak the ON diapers in the morning.

Unknown

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TJ1979

What do they stink like though? Pee? Ammonia? Poo? Barnyard? Something else?

villegasemily

Thanks ladies! I think I will try soaking. We use Allen's for all our clothes. LO has very sensitive skin, had to watch how much soap I was using our she would react, so hesitant to up amount of soap. Diapers smell in the morning like ammonia, and the ON bamboo fitted smell like pee when I take them out of the dryer.

You are not kidding, toddler pee is strong!