Need some laundry advice from all the experiences CDers out there

Sorry is this is a little long, but I've only been CDing my DD for a little over a month now with a combo of pockets and prefolds. I have been washing them in our HE front loader using a cold rinse and spin followed by a sanitizing wash cycle in hot water with several cold rinses. I had been washing every other day or so. For weeks we've had no problems.

We went out of town for Memorial Day weekend and I insisted that we continue to CD although the hubby wanted us to use sposies since it was easier for air travel and for the grandparents. But I held my ground since I believe DD is allergic to sposies. So I let the dipes go 3 fulls day before washing in the grandparents top loader. And boy did they REEK of ammonia. So I did the best I could by doing a cold wash/rinse without detergent and then did my usual hot wash/cold rinse with minimal detergent. Since the cycle was much shorter I just did it several times (without adding detergent) until I didn't see any bubbles.

The dipes seemed clean, but her overnight diaper still REEKED every morning. So I have been doing a full cold wash/rinse with just baking soda and a little vinegar in the rinse. And then a hot wash/cold rinses with minimal detergent. This seems to be helping, but the diaper pail still smells like ammonia really bad when it never used to do that. So I am pretty sure I am not getting rid of all the ammonia. Several people have recommending stripping and using Dawn in the washing machine, but my dilemma is I have a front loader which says it's a no-no to use dish detergent. I've been told to strip in the dishwasher, but we have the Fisher-Paykel dish drawers so I'm not really sure how that would work.

So do I continue with the baking soda and vinegar since it seems to help, or should I strip the dipes using one of the above mentioned methods? I do have access to my sister's top loading washer and her conventional dishwasher, so that is an option I would consider if absolutely necessary.

And advice, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

Have you tried it without the baking soda and vinegar.

Also - try a little MORE detergent.

What detergent are you using? I found if I used Tide HE in my front loader it got out the ammonia.

I had been using All free and Clear and it was causing problems....

Also if you are having problems and using vinegar cut that out and see if it helps. sometimes it adds to the problem.

Jenn

My guess is that you probably didn't use enough detergent in the g-parents top loader because your front loader uses so much less.

I've found, the more complicated you make your wash routine, the more problems there tend to be. I'm not sure if you have hard or soft water, but this is what I did when I used my parents front loader once, and it worked well - this will depend on what settings you have on your machine mind you... but this worked good for me.

For the cycle, I set it on a sani cycle with a pre-rinse, and then an extra rinse. It was set to extra-soil which I believe increases the water just a little. I put the soap into the pre-rinse by just watering it down and putting it into the pre-rinse section on the drawer so that it went straight in right away. Then I just let the cycle run. So there was all together a total of a cold prewash, sanitary main wash, cold rinse and an extra cold rinse. No problem with suds and the diapers came clean.

I'm assuming you're back home with your front loader again, so first I'd try a cycle with a bit more soap in it. By putting it in in the pre-rinse, it'll have an extra rinse to get rinsed out. If that doesn't make a big difference, then try changing soaps for a couple washes.

Some detergents seem more prone to stinkies than others and just changing detergents may get rid of any build up you have going on. We were using sunlight sensitive (brand only available in Canada though,) then switched to Purex free & clear. I definitely have more stinkies with the purex, so I just bought some sunlight sensitive and I'll just periodically use it instead of the purex until the purex is used up. I've been doing a wash with dawn every once in awhile, but that's obviously not an option for you... so try using a bit more soap, and if that doesn't work, then switch detergents and see if that makes a difference.

And I'd ditch the baking soda, vinegar and whatever else you might've thought of adding. Simple wash routines work better IME.

I would try washing as usual with a little more soap and a touch of bleach (a teaspoon?) and then rinse on hot like four million times, followed by a cold rinse, and see if that helps.

One thing I thought of is the borrowed top loader was inefficient (I think mine is) and the water was probably hard and the combo of the two didn't get them clean or rinse them very well.

Often when I do mega rinses with hot water the first two will be fine, and then the suds will get worse and worse and then get better.

Also, did you use a different detergent while you were there? That might be the culprit too. Either way it'll rinse out if you just keep doing hot rinses.

jennsmile said:

What detergent are you using? I found if I used Tide HE in my front loader it got out the ammonia.

I had been using All free and Clear and it was causing problems....

Also if you are having problems and using vinegar cut that out and see if it helps. sometimes it adds to the problem.

Jenn

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I've only used new Tide HE which is super concentrated. I barely use 1/4 cup for our regular loads which is why I'm being so conservative with the dipes. I only use 1 tbsp.

I've read that about vinegar which is why I only started using it once we got back and my usual wash routine in our front loader wasn't getting out the stink.

When we were on our "vacation" I used regular Tide.

I am new to CDing too but I have heard that teat tree oil is good at getting rid of smells. Maybe put a few drops on a washcloth or insert and leave it in the diaper pail. That may help get rid of the smell in the pail and then it wouldn't be reabsorbed by the diapers.

Good luck!

bectoo2 said:

I am new to CDing too but I have heard that teat tree oil is good at getting rid of smells. Maybe put a few drops on a washcloth or insert and leave it in the diaper pail. That may help get rid of the smell in the pail and then it wouldn't be reabsorbed by the diapers.

Good luck!

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OOO...that's a good idea. Thanks :thumbsup:

I used to add several drops of tea tree oil to the wash (and final rinse too, if I could remember to add-- just a drop or two more) when the stinkies cropped up. It worked quite well.

Are you doing a dry pail, or soaking? I gave up on soaking after CDing for a few months the first time around. It caused a lot more stink than dry pail did for me. I washed every 2nd or 3rd day, as well. Never could imagine those who only washed once a week-- maybe my nose is/was just sensitive to the smell of urine. :shrug-shoulders:

chaoticoctopus said:

Are you doing a dry pail, or soaking? I gave up on soaking after CDing for a few months the first time around. It caused a lot more stink than dry pail did for me. I washed every 2nd or 3rd day, as well. Never could imagine those who only washed once a week-- maybe my nose is/was just sensitive to the smell of urine. :shrug-shoulders:

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I'm using the dry pail method. My mom swears she never had any stinky dipes, but she used a wet pail 30+ years ago and her cloth diapering tales have me thoroughly disgusted. I can't believe she used to wring them out with her bare hands before putting them in the wash...ewww. Now that's love!!!!

I've been running bunches of hot washes without detergent and I still see suds so I'm hoping they just need a good stripping and the ammonia smell will be gone.

LOL, I hand-wrung my dipes, too. Those diaper ducks always looked pretty cool, but I just never got around to trying one out. I dunno, maybe I've just got a strong stomach, or got desensitized to poop after the first couple of babies, but it just didn't bother me.

Sounds like you need more detergent

Might try www.charliesoap.com (it's not soap, it's completely clean rinsing detergent, the powder is unlike any powder you've ever seen, it dissolves like sugar, won't gum up your dispenser...it's the only stuff we use for all our laundry now )

lovinwaves said:

Sounds like you need more detergent

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That's what I thought, until I attempted to strip them like lots of folks recommended. Holy sudsing front loader I've never seen so much suds in the machine before. There was so much suds that sudsy foam was coming out of the little air vent in the back of the machine. I actually checked to make sure there wasn't any coming out of the drain in the back. CRAZINESS!!!!! So I guess even 1tbsp is TOO much over time. And I've only been CDing for a little over a month. Needless to say I've been running hot wash and rinse cycles since then. I'm on my 5th cycle and I'm not seeing any suds, so into the dryer they go. I hope that solves the stinky problem. I think I'm gonna tryAllen's Naturally, use less of it, and see if that helps keep the build-up to a minimum.

Okay so I thought I had thoroughly stripped my dipes in the washer since I ran like 5 hot washes and didn't see anymore suds. But DD's dipes still smell like ammonia when she wets...ARGGGG!!!!!

Any advice on how to strip with Dawn in a front loader? The manual says it's a non-no, but I am desperate to get the stink out!!!!

Maybe it's time to head over to my sisters and try stripping in the dishwasher since she has a top rack???

Did you try the Tea Tree Oil?

I would highly suggest a wash with very little detergent (or perhaps baking soda or borax only), plus several (8-10) drops of Tea Tree Oil, and lavender too if you have any on hand.

Then, hang-dry in the sunshine for a few hours, and fluff up in the dryer lastly.