Ammonia...I'm close to giving up.

WanderingA · November 2014

I started CDing my toddler about 5 months ago. I started with all RaR but switched over to the Flip system with a mixture of stay-dry and organic cotton inserts which I love. I still used a few disposables if we were going to be out and about or if she was going to grandma's so I was doing diaper laundry about every 4 days. Well, the ammonia quickly built up in my diapers due to not washing them frequently enough (and having a heavy pee-er). I didn't even realize it (there was no strong ammonia smell after washing) until she started getting ammonia burns. I bought some Rockin Green Ammonia Bounce and followed their guidelines to clean the inserts. I used the diapers that night and she woke up with burns again.

I'm at a loss for what to do and close to calling it quits. My typical laundry protocol is collecting the dirty stuff in a bag (spraying off poop), spraying and soaking in the laundry room right before they get washed for about 30 min-1 hr., then a warm wash with Charlie's soap and an extra rinse. What am I doing wrong?!

bumpuser9353653 · November 2014

What mimsy said. You need to do a quick warm wash or rinse& spin with no detergent to rinse away the pee and poo before washing. Otherwise you're just washing in dirty water.

Do a few hot rinses with no detergent and then wash. And always do an initial rinse or quick wash(no detergent) before your main wash with detergent.

Are you soaking your ON diapers in hot water? That will help with ammonia as well.

abby8279 · November 2014

Are you doing a rinse/drain/spin before the wash? Or a light wash w/out detergent? If not you are washing your diapers in pee and poo water (even though you soak). The pee and poo (residue) need to be rinsed out before the wash.

Also a hot wash may be better.

And you may not be using the "right" detergent for your water. What kind of water do you have? How much detergent are you using?

How often are you washing? EOD is preferred.

Take a deep breath....we should be able to figure this out!

tjkdlhb · November 2014

Do you have hard or soft water?

I agree with PPs to strip the diapers (I used rlr followed by a bleach soak, but there are some different methods)

I have hard water and an HE machine.
I do an normal wash with line 1 Tide (to soften my water and help get the pee out so that I'm not washing in pee-water). Followed by a long hot wash with line 3 tide. I don't do the extra rinse anymore and haven't had any issues from not doing the rinse.

I had tried everything (soaking, stripping monthly at my mother's, tto, gfse, adding towels, pouring water into the machine etc etc) This change in routine is the only thing that actually gets my diapers clean.

ETA: What kind of machine do you have?
Is it only the nighttime diapers you smell ammonia on?
How much detergent are you using?

WanderingA · November 2014

Thank you ladies! I was typically just rinsing them off in the sink, then soaking (not doing a separate rinse cycle). Whoops!! I will try stripping them again and then doing the soak/rinse/wash method.

PipSqueak0313 · November 2014

Soaking in detergent water after the pre-wash is good if you need to give the chemical action additional time to work, but not counting overnight diapers, I don't know of any benefit to soaking before the pre-wash rinse step.

tjkdlhb · November 2014

I don't soak any of my diapers anymore.

Brandiewine11 · November 2014

Yeah, keep it simple. I rinse overnight diapers and soak them a little but everything else just goes right in the wash. (We are still ebf so we don't spray poop yet).

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Ammonia...I'm close to giving up.

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