Washing poopy diapers

[sheldonsmommy]

I'm curious to know other people's routines because I can't seem to get the smell out of my microfiber inserts until it is washed several times.

Ds poops about every 2 weeks, so my routine consists of mainly washing wet diapers. I run a regular warm wash with 2 tablespoons of detergent, then an extra rinse on cold. If there's a poopy diaper I will rinse, wash, rinse.

But the poop smell is still there? It doesn't help that he poops so infrequently as his poop reeks! Also we just started solids, he's 6 months old. So I'll usually keep it wet and wash again with the next load. Sometimes it takes 3 washes for it to stop smelling.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Rachel_C]

Do the microfibre nappies smell at all when just wet? If not, I'd suggest that you're not using enough detergent.

Generally, if you start with clean nappies that you know don't have detergent build up and are thoroughly clean e.g. new ones or ones that have recently been thoroughly stripped, if they are coming out of the machine still smelling then you're not using enough detergent OR your machine isn't doing a good enough wash. If they don't smell when just out of the wash but they do smell when LO has done a wee or when warmed up (like after 15 mins in the dryer), it's more likely to be detergent build up i.e. too much detergent or not enough rinsing.

In your case, I would give the nappies a good strip using the full dose of detergent method as this will remove any detergent build up AND give them a thorough clean, then start from scratch. Wash a dirty nappy and if it still smells straight after the wash you're not using enough detergent or you need a more intense wash cycle. If they smell fine for the first couple of weeks but then start smelling again after that, it might be too much detergent/not enough rinsing, but from what you've said I don't think that's the case.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Thanks Rachel_C!

I forgot to mention that my wash loads are relatively small with usually 6 diapers as I only have 15 right now. But no other diaper smells after being peed on, it's just the stained one that smells, wet or dry. I had leak issues at about 2 months and had to strip them, since then no evidence of detergent build up yet.

Having said all that, I washed in hot instead of warm yesterday and the diaper wasn't smelly after washing. So I will try that again with the next dirty diaper.

Thanks for all the tips, you're always a gem

 

[Rachel_C]

Good news If a hot wash works, I'd stick with that!

 

[LittlePants]

If it's only one nappy every 2 weeks, I'd soak just the one nappy in BioD nappy cleanse, if my normal routine didn't cut the biscuit.