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troubleshooting smelly dipes - help!

Kermie53Kermie53 member
in Cloth Diapering
Hey all,
DD is almost 4 months now and we've been CDing from the beginning.  Things are going great but I've noticed her diapers are starting to come out of the wash not smelling great.  By the time they're dry, they're back to smelling fine (aka like nothing).  I've noticed that as soon as she pees in them, the smell comes back (sort of a barnyard smell, as other people have described before).  Absorbency seems fine...they're not leaking.  Here's the stats on our routine:

- we use mostly osocozy prefolds and thirsties covers, plus some BG AIOs
- wash cycle is cold rinse, hot wash, cold double rinse
- I hang outside to dry as often as possible
- I wash every other day
- I use the BG laundry detergent
- we have a well, so our water may skew hard, although we have a softening system
- she is on some formula so her poo definitely has a little more smell (I smell the formula smell when they come out of the wash)

I'm assuming I need to do some sort of stripping...I've tried it in the past but didn't seem to do much.  Any tips on what to do/best way to strip?? Thanks!!
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Re: troubleshooting smelly dipes - help!

  • MandmeeshMandmeesh member
    Smelling out of the wash, to me, means they're not getting clean enough. How much detergent are you using?
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  • Kermie53Kermie53 member
    I usually use about a scoop to a scoop and a half.  It says on the bag use 1-2 scoops depending on size of load.  Since I do it every other day, the load usually isn't too big.  I was also worried about using too much and having buildup.
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  • abby8279abby8279 member
    You may want to experiment with different detergents.  Not that you are using a bad detergent.  Just that all water is different and that one may not be ideal for you.  Have you tried any others?
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  • Kermie53Kermie53 member
    I haven't tried any other detergents because I was trying to troubleshoot any other issues before switching.  Plus it seemed like it was working so well!...until it wasn't. 

    I don't think my machine has an option for a hot rinse, so maybe I'll try a short hot wash with no detergent.  PP, what do you mean by a "full wash or two"? With detergent? Without? Should I do all the prefolds at once, or only the ones that are currently dirty?
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  • Kermie53Kermie53 member
    What about using anything else in the wash? Bleach/Bac Out/Borax/blue Dawn? I know bleach isn't recommended for BG dipes but I wasn't sure about prefolds. 
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  • TJ1979TJ1979 member
    Actually BG does recommend bleaching once a month. And never put blue dawn in your washing machine. It's really only good for spot cleaning things like diaper cream buildup.
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  • km_mdkm_md member
    I agree that it sounds like they aren't getting clean. If you don't want to switch detergents yet, can you switch to a quick wash cycle instead of just a rinse at the beginning (like what Maple suggested). I tried this after reading many ladies here suggest it and that was a big help. The rinse in my machine just wasn't doing it so changing to a warm quick wash helped to get more off of the diapers before the detergent cycle.


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  • Kermie53Kermie53 member
    Ok, I'll try out the quick wash and then a full wash with detergent.  We'll see!
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  • RrrrrachelRrrrrachel member
    Bg is actually the one who does recommend bleach. Bleaching prefolds should be ok. But it won't fix the larger issue.
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  • kimberlydlee82kimberlydlee82 member
    I found I was using too much water. The diapers need to agitate against each other. I started doing a medium load instead of large (I wash every other day) and they smell so much better. I also use regular powder tide which has been awesome for me but I have regular water, not hard or soft.
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