I know this has been covered here tons before, but

[kep]

my dipes stink! The ammonia smell when Luke pees is overwhelming. It almost smells as bad as sposies do when wet. :( I have read over most of the old posts and replies concerning this, and tried the suggestions, but I still can't figure it out. I've posted about this here before, too, but still haven't had any luck. Please help!

I have a older, top-loading washer, and I use Tide Free & Clear or Tide with Febreze. I've tried using less than a tsp. of detg, due to our soft water, and I've tried using 1/4 to 1/3 cup of detg, and they still smell. They honestly don't even smell all that fresh coming straight out of the dryer... (*embaressed, hiding face*). I use a dry pail; wash every other day; I use a cold rinse/spin, a hot wash w/detg., followed by a hot wash w/ no detg., and a warm rinse.

I also will occasionally toss in a little baking soda into the wash, and also will sometimes put in a little white vinager into the rinse cycle to soften the dipes up.

Help! :) Please help me love my CD's again.

Edited To Add: I have tried stripping the dipes, and it seems like I do it to some extent everytime I wash them. I usually peak inside the washer during the rinse cycle to check for suds, and I will usually continue rinsing/spinning them until the amount of suds is an acceptable one. However, after all that washing and rinsing, my dipes are fading in color more than normal, and they end up not being very soft, even after adding vinager. :(

Kelli
Mommy to my beautiful little boy, Luke (April 2003)

"Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here an hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of life."
Maureen Hawkins

[Momof3Labs]

Are you SURE that you have soft water? Dipes that aren't soft are a sign of harder water. And stinky dipes coming out of the dryer is definitely a sign that they aren't getting clean in the washer.

Another thought - are you using enough water in the machine, or putting too many dipes in there? You need to allow enough room for them to really agitate, or they won't get clean either.

Finally, bleach, used carefully and in moderation can be your friend. Not everyone likes it, but you can't beat it's germ-killing power...

[kep]

Thanks for your response! Well, I am pretty sure we have soft water. I came across the hard/soft water "map" of the US from a post a while back. We live in Oregon, and I believe it said we have soft water. I am running the washer set on the XL cycle, and I don't think we have *that* many dipes in there... They barely come up 1/2 to 2/3 the way up the agaitator (sp). My husband really, really wants to use bleach with the dipes, because he thinks bleach is the end-all of cleanliness. I haven't so far, because everything I've read online, and all the care instructions that have come enclosed with my dipes have warned againist it. Hmmm...

Kelli
Mommy to my beautiful little boy, Luke (April 2003)

"Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here an hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of life."
Maureen Hawkins

[psophia17]

I think maybe you're using too much water - I was running into this a while back when I had a washer that had options for XL and Small, but not for medium, which is the size my load of diapers usually is.

I did some experimenting with standing there while the hot wash fills up, and if I set it to XL and waited until the water was just over the level of the dipes (so about 2 inches deep in the gaps and spaces) before switching it to small so the water would stop running, that was a perfect amount of water for agitating the dipes.

So:
-cold wash or soak on XL
-hot wash with water level between XL and Small
-extra rinse on Small if there were still suds during previous rinse, or if I didn't check in time

It has really made a difference - the dipes were always coming out of the wash with a faint smell - not a bad one, but they didn't smell clean. After fooling with the water level it got better fast.

Oh - I also now alternate between more detergent and less detergent...I'd rather do extra rinses and have clean dipes than not use enough detergent and have stinky ones.

HTH, and keep us posted!

PS. If you do decide to use some bleach, don't use much, make sure you add it while the washer is full of water, and run an extra rinse

[kitmama]

That map tells me we have soft water here (in Georgia) but another CDing mama nearby tested her water and hers is hard- so I'm not so sure that map is always accurate. (Now I keep meaning to get a kit and test my water too, but haven't gotten around to it). I would suggest trying more detergent. The extra wash and rinse should help get it all out, I'd think. My dipes were smelling not *quite* clean oout iof the dryer, and I'm using a bit more detergent and so far that is helping.

[BrookesMama]

have you tried baby oxyclean, it is natural and it kills all those types of enzymes. not sure if you mentioned as i skimmed the threads..

but give baby oxyclean a try, you can get it at any baby store...

[Momof3Labs]

Try calling your water company to find out if you have hard or soft water. Sure sounds like hard water to me...