How to Strip Detergent From Cloth Diapers

Are you battling a cloth diapers ammonia smell? Washing cloth diapers can be a chemistry lesson. Cloth diapering is snuggly and sweet, a cloth diapers ammonia smell is more than nauseating, it can mean an acidic buildup that can cause diaper rashes. Read on to learn how to strip detergent from cloth diapers.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dish detergent
• Baking soda or
• Washing soda
• Vinegar

1. Read your laundry product labels. Fabric softener should never be used on cloth diapers because it creates an oily residue that can damage your diapers. Some detergents have built-in perfumes and fabric softeners. Consult a detergent comparison chart for cloth diapers to see which detergents have potentially harmful ingredients.

2. Drip a drop of dish detergent into the cycle when you're washing cloth diapers, to remove residual fabric softeners (from inappropriate products) and oils from fleece diapers. Never use diaper rash creams or ointments, and be sure to change baby as soon as they are wet. One easy way to do that at home is to allow them to crawl around in just a diaper, with no liner.

3. Rinse cloth diapers thoroughly before washing so that the feces doesn't end up in your washer. When you first put the diapers into the machine, allow them to go through a detergent-free rinse cycle to remove any urine or feces from the diapers. If there's an ammonia smell on your diapers, it can be from buildup from using the wrong laundering products. Suitable detergents will have no built-in fabric softeners or scents.

4. Understand that baking soda in the wash cycle can help soften water and help the diapers get rinsed better. If you believe you've got a buildup from detergent, you can try washing cloth diapers through one last cycle with baking soda or washing soda and warm water to eliminate the ammonia smell while cloth diapering.

5. Rinse the diapers over and over and over again until there are no more suds in the machine. You might be surprised to see how much suds there are even when you thought your diapers were rinsed.

6. Try adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle. If you have soft water, the vinegar can help the diapers. If you have hard water, though the vinegar can make the cloth diapers ammonia smell worse.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep cloth diapers ammonia smell down by using a dry pail system. Dirty diapers should be kept in a dry pail or laundry bag until they are washed, instead of soaking in a wet pail.
• If you're cloth diapering and baby is repeatedly getting rashes, evaluate every step of your system and keep baby dry. Change diapers as soon as they're soiled.

[c2shiningc]

on 9/25/2009
Great advise! I have the ammonia smell so this is wonderful info!