Blog Archive

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Hitting a wall

I havent been posting all that much lately and there are a few reasons for that. One, we got strep throat for the THIRD time since late January. We cannot figure out what is going on so our next step is to swab the whole family to see if one of us is a carrier.

Then we found out that the home we have been renting has been foreclosed on and we need to move. Moving is all consuming for me so if I am on my computer it is to look at listings. Luckily it looks like we may just move a few doors down which is awesome because we adore our neighborhood. We will find out when and where we will move in the next week, so for now I am trying to relax until we know what is going on.

And finally, I have hit a wall. A cloth diaper wall filled with some very stinky diapers. It all happened after Liam started solids. The dipes would smell fine after washing but when I would open the dryer I would be overwhelmed by the lovely smell of hot poop.

I set about doing everything I could to get the smell out. I used RLR, which did a great job of getting stains out. I stripped with Blue Dawn(1tsp for Front Loaders and 1tbs for Top Loaders) added in the wash cycle and followed with rinse cycles until there were no bubbles. I have added vinegar(a great softener by the way!). I have used a few types of detergent(Rockin Green, Charlies, 7th Gen, Arm and Hammer) but the lingering stink is still there in both the pockets and inserts and now even slightly in my prefolds. I stopped putting a cloth dipe on Liam during the night. Not because it was leaking but because he smelled like pee every morning when i went in to get him.

I am working on a few other fixes that other cloth diapering mommas have suggested. I am also thinking about bringing my entire stash to my mom's house and wash them/sun them there(which is news to my mom- Hi Mom!).

Even with this stinky wall I have hit, I am still happy with my decision to cloth diaper. In reality, the diapers only stink when I bury my face in them or if Liam is in need of a change. I knew this was something that could happen and that it could be difficult to fix.

I wanted to put this post up, not to discourage those who are thinking about cloth, but to portray an accurate picture of what cloth diapering entails. When you research cloth you see all of these fluffy pieces that only talk about the good points(of which there are many) of cloth but never discuss what to do when you are stumped.

I think I am close to my fix and I can't wait to share it with you! In the mean time, if you have any suggestions, please send them on over! I am trying almost everything(except for the person who told me to use MORE detergent. In cloth, less is more!).

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1 comment:

  1. Hang in there Brie!! I hope you find a place to live soon and that moving is as painless as possible!!

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