CD moms--ammonia smell

jcsumm0

The last couple of days I've noticed Evie's diapers have a strong ammonia smell--not just when they sit around in the wetbag, but as soon as I take them off.  We usually use a disposable at night (I'm lazy ) but last night we used cloth and when I walked in her room this morning the smell was awful.  Is this just the "toddler pee" I've heard of?  I doubt she could be dehydrated--she nurses a lot and has lots of wet diapers.  Could it be due to a build up in the diapers, and if so, what do you suggest.

TIA!!

foxisoxy128

H's were like this and the smell was so bad, I felt awful for my little guy for having that smell with him all through the night. I ended up striping my CD by:

Doing a normal cold pre-wash, then HOT wash cycle with 1/2 cup of baking soda, 2 rinses in cold water and line dry. They do not smell anymore and the dipes and the washer were fine. 

Spartanmama722

We were dealing with this issue, plus ammonia burn, poor kid . I ended up doing a quick wash/rinse of every diaper we owned, followed by a very long soak (almost 24 hours, but I think overnight would be plenty) with lots of detergent. Then I did a normal hot wash/cold rinse, but I added Clorox 2. Then I did about 4 rinses, just to make sure all the detergent was out. My diapers have never smelled cleaner, and the ammonia issue is MUCH better. You can still smell his overnight diaper when he wakes up (I think that's just the toddler pee thing), but it doesn't practically knock you out like it did before.

cassoppea

I had to strip when this happened and I bleached all the inserts. I also rinse all her ON diapers to to et the ammonia out. I ended UO switching to Tide because it kept recurring and now it's been better.

11kacey

You probably need to strip the diapers and you don't need to use bleach.

Wash your diapers as normal and instead of putting them into the dryer, wash with RLR and then just rinse, rinse, and rinse again (and maybe again). 

BTW, it is VERY normal for the morning diaper to smell like ammonia. I mean, they've been sitting in pee for 12 hours. But, day time diapers shouldn't smell like ammonia that fast.

The new washing guidelines actually recommend a WARM pre wash/rinse instead of cold.

 

OpheliaChem

You could try stripping them but we had this issue when DD was a few months old. I was using RnG at the time. We switched to Tide (not environmental-friendly) and we haven't had a stink issue since! I'd rather use something more natural, but Tide works for us.

jcsumm0

11kacey:

You probably need to strip the diapers and you don't need to use bleach.

Wash your diapers as normal and instead of putting them into the dryer, wash with RLR and then just rinse, rinse, and rinse again (and maybe again). 

BTW, it is VERY normal for the morning diaper to smell like ammonia. I mean, they've been sitting in pee for 12 hours. But, day time diapers shouldn't smell like ammonia that fast.

The new washing guidelines actually recommend a WARM pre wash/rinse instead of cold.

 

What is RLR? ETA--nevermind, google is my friend.

Thanks for the suggestions, ladies, keep up coming!

bestmaid6

I just posted about this on the CD board. Here's an article someone posted as a reply with lots of good info:

https://blog.diapershops.com/understanding-ammonia-and-cloth-diapers 

tketterm

I use blue dawn dish soap to strip.  I boil the inserts and wash the pockets on hot with the dawn.  Works everytime. 

Birdies08

When I notice an odor, we do a baking soda/vinegar cleaning cycle. Normal wash settings and everything, but I sprinkle a little bit of baking soda right on the diapers, and put vinegar in teh fabric softener spot of the washer. I usually have to do an extra rinse after the normal wash cycle/rinse cycle. I try to do this once a month, but if I forget, the smell will remind me Everything always comes out clean and fresh!