Washing nappies / Diapers How to lose the Odour

[wheels5894]

OK, I am in the UK so I will use the word nappy to save time. Actually they are a bot different in that UK nappies are usually a flat square of terry cloth to be folded and pinned. They may be more bulky than US pre-folds but they dry better. Anyway, to business....

I have a dreadful problem of odour with my nappies. I have 2 sets and wash the two together every other day. I either give them a pre-wash and then a hot wash or, as I did today, a cool wash followed by a hot wash. I add vinegar to the final wash water which is an old trick for babies nappies. Yet I still have an awful smell in the morning and it is to do with the nappies as the urine, as it is naturally expelled has no small as it is quite thin.

So, any idea to help with this would be very welcome. It is quite embarrassing for my wife to smell it even though she is supportive and so on.

[bruce bolt]

its time for bleach
vinegar is a good final rence

[Steve M.]

You might check out the posts in "Long Days" in the General Discussion folder. There were several suggestions for getting rid of the leftover odor.

[GreggyB]

I have lived with urinary incontinence for the last 18 years and use cloth or terry nappies and plastic pants 24/7 to manage my needs.

In my experience, urine smell can be directly affected by the food and drink we consume.

But the single most effective way to deal with smelly nappies is by laundering at 90 degrees with perhaps a splash of white vinegar poured into the drum after the nappies and not into the soap powder drawer.

Hanging them on a washing line after laundering, exposed to the sun also helps bleach away any leftover stains and odours.

Terry nappies represent a large investment and it would be wise to look after them, personally I do not recommend using bleach in washing as this degrades the cloth in terry nappies.

Napisan can still be bought these days at the supermarket and is useful as a presoak to washing as well as an addative to laundry powder.

[wheels5894]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I know that bleach is not recommended for terry nappies but on JoeK's advice I have tried it once now and it seems to have done the job. I only use them at night and have 2 sets that I wash every 2 days.

I think I will give them one more go of bleach and then see what happens -0 it may just be a long term build up which can be cleaned away fro a while.

[DDS]

Like Steve M. posted check out the recent post "Long Days" under general discussion. I too was having stronger than normal odor from my diapers even though I wash in hot water and sometimes double rinse my diapers. I was going to try bleach but know from experience how bleach can severely shorten the life of a diaper. There is a link in the "Long Days" post that explains various ways to "strip" your diapers. This process gets rid of the detergent build up in your diapers which is what causes the odors. It worked great for me using no bleach.

[clothbaby]

With the warm weather,I hang my cloth prefolds ouside. WOW what a great smelling diaper after they are dry plus no expense drying.