Dealing with stinky nappies

Yuck, stinky nappies!  One of the biggest problems that some people have with cloth nappies is dealing with stinky nappies.  In my early days of cloth nappy use I had to deal with the stinky nappies issue.  Usually cloth nappies actually smell better than disposable ones, but every now and again, parents find that their cloth nappies start to really smell.  There are a few reasons why this happens, and usually with a few little changes, smells can be eliminated.

Why you get stinky nappies

Some parents find that after using cloth nappies with no problems for months, all of a sudden something changes and they’re faced with stinky nappies.  There are a number of things that can cause this eye watering ammonia smell in cloth nappies, I will go through the different ways of dealing with the different causes of the ammonia stink:

• Washing detergent build up; although you want to use enough to clean you nappies, you need to make sure you don’t use too much.
• Chemical ammonia build up
• Bacteria causing ammonia to be created.

Lets look at these different issues.

Washing detergent build up

Some people will tell you that the only way to ensure that you cloth nappies are cleaned properly, and that you don’t get build up, is to use a specialist cloth nappy washing detergent.  There is actually no need to do this, as long as you avoid powders that have added extras such as softeners in them, as these extras will cause stinky nappy issues.  If you are getting smell problems then you might want to check that your washing detergent is being rinsed out properly.  Take a look at the rinse cycle, can you still see bubbles or suds? Then the chances are that they’re not being rinsed out properly. If this is the case, you may need to use less of your detergent, and/or add an extra rinse.  To actually get rid of the smells in the mean time you’ll probably need to do a strip wash.  You could try an eco strip wash if you have the right weather, or do a long, hot wash with no detergent with a couple of extra rinses at the end.  You should do this strip wash with clean nappies that have already been washed.  Once you have done this, adjusting the amount of powder you use, or adding an extra rinse or too should stop them from returning.  I don’t recommend using washing up liquid (even the cheap ones with no conditioners in, and I’ll go into why and what you can use if you want to add something in a later blog).

Chemical ammonia build up

Over time and with urine in dirty cloth nappies can turn into ammonia which causes the smell.  Ammonia is not water soluble, which means that often just washing them isn’t enough to remove the problem, and the moment that your baby wets the nappy, you’ll start to get that eye watering smell.  There are a couple of things that you can do to keep it at bay.

• Keep your nappy bucket cool; the hotter it gets the more urine will convert to ammonia.
• Try removing the lid; air circulating around the nappies will help stop the conversion to ammonia.
• Rinsing your nappies after use; a quick rinse in cold water before putting in the nappy bucket will rinse out a lot of the urine, so that there is less to convert to ammonia.

If you think that this might be your problem then you will again want to do a strip wash as suggested above, before altering anything else.  There are some products on the market that deal specifically with ammonia build up in cloth nappies which will help remove it before you change your routine, if you want to try one of these. Make sure that they are for use on cloth nappies, I have heard of people using fish tank ammonia remover, which I DO NOT recommend.

Bacteria build up

Bacteria in cloth nappies speeds up the chemical process of converting the urine back into ammonia.  I find that a lot of parents suddenly get stinky nappies when their little ones start to eat solids, toddler poo is quite different to new born baby poo, and contains more nasties and bacteria.

• Make sure you are washing your nappies properly; enough powder to shift everything.
• A warm or hot (under 70 degrees) wash is often needed to get things really clean
• Again rinsing the inserts before putting in the nappy bucket can make a difference.
• Get rid of as much poo as possible, disposable liners are the easy way to do this, unless you’re lucky enough to have a baby that does the kind of poo that comes off the inner of the nappy when it’s stretched over the toilet.

Yet again, when this is the problem, I would suggest doing a strip wash to remove the build up of ammonia that is in the nappies, and get your stinky nappies smelling sweet again before changing your routine.  You may find that you need to add a little extra such as a laundry sanitiser or disinfectant to your wash for one wash, just to remove the problem.  You should not need to use this at every wash, or need to strip wash on a regular basis.  If you find that you are needing to take these steps every few months due to stinky nappies then you need to take another look at your washing procedure and find out where the problem is.

I hope that this has helped you deal with your stinky nappies, and in the next few weeks I’m going to take a look at those extra stinky night nappies and how to get rid of the eye watering smell.