I did enough reading about cloth diapers before I started to know I should expect a few things that most cloth families experience:
1. A fluffier butt (cute),
2. Occasional leaks (no problem),
3. No diaper cream (sweet!),
4. A need to figure out what combo of diapers uniquely works for our family (a little trial and error)…
5. Stink (ew).
Most of my expectations have been pretty spot-on. But so far, I have not had one whiff of stink. This left me asking, “Where’s the stink?” And “What exactly does it smell like?”
Am I just lucky or am I doing something that somehow prevents the stench? I know sometimes it can be caused by detergent build-up on the diapers or perhaps urine that doesn’t get completely rinsed out. I have a high-efficiency washer and my basic wash routine is to do one cold “rinse and spin” cycle first with no detergent, then do a hot wash with 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons of Rockin’ Green detergent. I always select an “extra rinse” option with the wash, then put the dipes through two dryer cycles. And voila – clean diapers every time.
I must be doing something right. Maybe the fact that I exclusively use pocket diapers – almost all FuzziBunz – probably helps. I think I read that prefolds can be worse. Maybe it’s because my girl doesn’t poop that often and when she does it’s runny breastmilk poop. Maybe it’s good water. Maybe the universe is smiling on me. Or maybe, I am just not far enough on my journey yet and the stink is coming! I will definitely let you know if that happens.
Have you experienced the diaper stinkies? When did it happen and how did you get rid of it?
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every Tuesday. Learn more about Sarah here.
