Poop smell?? What am I doing wrong??

LizRN626

OK, so my son has had 2 HUGE poops that were runny and very smelly.  I soaked/dunked in toilet (we are on a trial, ordering sprayer) and have washed nightly.  They have been washed like 4-5 times since I started the trial.  I do a cold rinse first then a warm/hot cycle with about 1 tbsp of Tide Ulra HE powder in the drawer.  However, these poop diapers still have an aroma of the poop smell (only if I smell closely).  There is no urine smell and these are the only 2 diapers from poop that have smelled.  I am confused on what I am doing wrong.  Should I have put detergent directly in washer, did another rise, wash???  Please help...I am not going to spend a ton of money on diapers just to have them smell like poop!! LOL

JThomas221

I would try using more detergent. A poop smell means that the diapers didn't get cleaned enough. Most people have to play around with their detergent amount before they get it right with their washer/ water hardness. Harder water means you usually have to use more detergent.

LizRN626

We definetly have hard water.  I was just scared of adding too much detergent

 

 

JThomas221

I have really hard water too. Too much detergent can cause buildup, so I would start adding more slowly until the diapers smell fresh coming out of the wash. I started adding Calgon to my laundry to help the detergent work better, and I just ordered some different detergent to try bc I still feel like the detergent I'm using doesn't get my dipes as clean as I want them to be. Just play around with it a little until you find a routine that works! It's not an exact science. : )

cassoppea

With the Tide ultra I followed the directions on the box and filled to the first line. We have semi hard water. It's the first time in a while that my diapers haven't had the poop aroma after the wash, so I only had to wash them once! I was up to 3 scoops of Tiny Bubbles and it still wasn't working. So I agree you probably need to add more detergent.

sosoph

LizRN626:

We definetly have hard water.  I was just scared of adding too much detergent

 

1. do your prerinse in warm water - it will dissolve the oils in the poop that are clinging to the fabric better (have you ever rinsed a butter dish in cold water? Doesn't do much)

2. Hard water requires extra detergent. for a full load, use to Line 2 of detergent

lili1228

Yea, I always do my prerinse in warm when poop is involved lol....I just like knowing that the solid is getting dissolved.

PunkyBooster

Whenever I smell that farm smell, I break out the dawn. A squirt of that, followed by 3 rinses then a wash with an extra gallon of water (we have a front loader) takes care of it. GL!

memo9

sosoph:

LizRN626:

We definetly have hard water.  I was just scared of adding too much detergent

 

1. do your prerinse in warm water - it will dissolve the oils in the poop that are clinging to the fabric better (have you ever rinsed a butter dish in cold water? Doesn't do much)

2. Hard water requires extra detergent. for a full load, use to Line 2 of detergent

  Exactly this!  A warm pre-wash made a big difference for us.

LizRN626

So for the warm pre wash is that instead of the first cold rinse?  Is it with detergent?

sosoph

LizRN626:

So for the warm pre wash is that instead of the first cold rinse?  Is it with detergent?

No, just a rinse. A cold pre-rinse will get out solids, but not the oils that are on the fibers. Then, your hot wash has that much more work to do. So, switch your first rinse to warm and wash with more detergent to compensate for the hard water. 

memo9

My machine only does a cold rinse, so I do a warm wash instead.  I do a warm wash/cold rinse followed by a hot wash/cold rinse x2.