Urine odor in air during laundering cloth diapers

[greenbank]

Hi JDinVirginia

As far odor is concerned I had this issue too until I was told by an advisor that if I drank plenty of water to reduce the concentration of the urine (pee clear) and take a regular intake of vitimin c during the day this would help. After doing this friends and family who visit now do not notice any odor smells.

All the best

Greenbank

[JDinVirginia]

Thanks Greenbank. Because of my chronic severe constipation I remain very well hydrated (85+ ounces per day) so that should not be the problem.

Perhaps when rinsing 140+ ounces of urine out of the cloth diapers this much odor may be unavoidable. When I rinsed the diapers by hand in the bathtub I always was amazed at how yellow the water became from the urine after soaking for 20 minutes.

--John

[MSUSpartan]

I third the white vinegar suggestion.

[Ted]

I 've found that rinsing the diaper before tossing it in the pail really helps. I usually shower at changing and just toss the diaper on the shower floor and let the shower water do the rinsing. I wring them out and put them in the pail. If I'm not showering, I put them in the pail and rinse them as soon as I do shower. That seems to really keep the odor down. It also makes the diapers much fresher after laundering.

[JDinVirginia]

Ted, you absolutely are correct about rinsing the diapers. However, due to back problems, I am trying to keep the weight of the full diaper pail down so I can manage it. If things do not work out using the "dry pail" method I will go back to rinsing the diapers.

--John

[DarrenF]

John --

I have this problem too with my wife and I've tried everything in the book to make it better. It really came down to me washing diapers more frequetly to not have that ammonia smell lingering around. My wife too has told me many times that our house stinks. She parks her car in the garage and you have to walk through the laundry room to get from the garage to inside the house. I'm so use to the smell because I'm alway wearing it and around it. It sounds like you drink prenty of water...my guess is they are just sitting too long, which is causing the smell. If they are smelling quite ripe, I've had to wash diapers 2 times a day if I'm at home all day. Also, I try not to wear a cloth diaper any longer than a couple hours, it seems to me the wetter they get the more smellier they get. I figured if I'm washing diapers, then why not have a medium to large load.

Hope you find something that works!

Darren

[JDinVirginia]

Darren,

Thanks for your input. You have some good points. As I wear my cloth diaper overnight, it becomes fairly wet by there time I remove it Not too much I can do about that. Nonetheless, I am so well hydrated that there is little odor at that time. Of course, it all sits in the diaper pail.

It is strange as my diaper pail has almost no disagreeable odor - I add a lot of baking soda plus orange essential oils. Since my original problem I increased the amount of baking soda in my diaper pail - which gets poured into the washer - and the odor in the air has diminished enough not to be disagreeable.

--John.

[Patrick]

Clorox has a strong chlorine scent, which goes a long way to neutralizing stale urine odor in the wash. There are diaper pail deodorizers primarily intended for the control of odor for the use of the parents of infants, but they work for us too.

[JDinVirginia]

Patrick,

Good point about the Chlorox. I began adding it to each wash, realizing that it may shorten the life of the diapers, but will be worth it. Besides, I already used bleach every few washes anyway and have not had to strip my cloth diapers.

Re diaper pail deodorizers, that is what I use the orange essential oil for. I read about it from the new generation of young mothers going back to using cloth diapers for their babies. Some who were into aromatherapy had essential oils on hand and tried them with the diaper pail by adding a few drops to a rag left on top of the diapers, with favorable results. I get my orange essential oils from Amazon Prime at a very good price. I buy baking soda in 13 lb packages from CostCo, also at a very good price.

Thanks for all of your ideas, guys, and hopefully this may help someone else who reads this thread.

--John

[Papa]

JD, I can not relate to the odor thing you are/have experienced. Each morning I throw my cloth diapers (the two I wore at night and the two - one at a time during the day) on the shower floor as I shower. When I am done washing I wring out the diapers and throw in a laundry basket. I do a wash every 3-4 days. Bleach definitely helps, but not on the plastic pants of course. And, as you said keeping well hydrated definitely helps with odor, with cloth diapers or disposables. Papa