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Stinky Diapers and Stains
Stinky diapers are seriously no fun! You expect them to smell not so fresh when they are dirty, but what to do when you notice they stink when they are clean? Most cloth diaper mamas will encounter diapers that smell stinky even fresh out of the wash at some point. Why is this? If your diapers are not smelling clean right out of the wash, it may be that you are not using enough detergent. I know, I know! All over the place you will read about using less detergent when washing your diapers or you will get build up, which is true. BUT, you want to make sure your diapers are clean- first and foremost! So, if you notice your diapers stinking right out of the wash, try using a little more detergent and then make sure to rinse them out really well, several times if you have to. Now, the culprit could be that you have detergent build up on your diapers. This can happen if you have hard water, are using the wrong kind of detergent, or your diapers are just not getting rinsed out well enough. If you do have build up, your diapers will not get all the way clean and will hold onto bacteria, which can make your diapers start to stink. The solution to detergent build up is to strip your diapers. How often you need to do this varies, some people only have to do it once or twice during their cloth diapering years, others may have to do it as often as once per week. Other things that can cause stinky diapers are leaving your diapers soaking in poopy water for too long. We all get busy and this does happen sometimes. Usually a few good hot washes will get the stink out. You can also try adding some baking soda to the wash to eliminate the odor. If your diaper pail is getting really stinky between wash days, try sprinkling a little baking soda over the dirty diapers a couple of times per day. You can also try placing a rag with a little essential oil in the pail, lavender or tea tree oil are popular choices for this. Most stains will wash out after a few washes, but then they just get dirty again! So you never get to see them looking clean. The best solution to getting rid of stains is to let your diapers dry out in the sunshine. Sunlight will "bleach" your diapers and will help get them sanitized at the same time. And, drying your diapers this way will save on the wear and tear that using the dryer may cause. Even laying your diapers inside by a sunny window will get the stains out.
You can also just ignore the stains. Your diapers ARE clean, they just look a little yucky. They still get the job done and the stains are doing no harm to your little one. But, if you don't like the look of your diapers, getting them looking like new is a piece of cake! Stinky diapers and stains are a fact of life when using cloth diapers, but fixing these issues does not take much time and is actually pretty easy!
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