Urine Smell Staying on Cloth Diapers

Sounds like they need a good stripping. There are a few different methods, you may want to google "how to strip cloth diapers in a front-load washer" or something similar. Some of your success depends on if your water is hard, what you have been using to wash thus far, etc. So the best method for your specific situation may require a little research. Also, you may want to check with the manufacturer of the diapers to see what tips or methods they recommend for their particular diapers.

*ETA: I would use bleach only as a last resort. I am currently cloth diapering my 4th child using the same diapers I bought in the beginning and have only used bleach twice. I did that when I was done using them for that child and going to be storing them for a few years. Repeated bleaching will break down the fibers and eventually ruin the diapers.

Hi K.,

We use Melapower laundry cleaner. It's natural and has the power of high grade tea tree oil that is antibacterial, antifungal and also antiseptic. There is never any odor left in anything I wash. (I only have to use 1/2 ounce per extra heavy duty load.) My niece lives with me and has a 10 month old and sometimes her diaper leaks into the car seat. Usually that isn't noticed until she gets home and then it sits til the next load....whew, stinky...but comes right out with no pretreating. My niece works out of her car and takes the baby with her and it's hot, really hot, here in Georgia so the stink can't be any worse than what you are dealing with.

Let me know if you want any info on the product.

M.

PS We have a front loader as well...

I used cloth for years and adapted my prewashing/washing to the child's age. But for pee dipes, I do a long pre-rinse cycle that just gets out the pee and stuff--no soap at this point. You can use cold or hot water but the cold will not set any stains. You should not need bleach if you are using hot water.

Then I would wash on a regular cold wash or hot wash (about 1/3 amount of soap at this point)...usually cold because again, you aren't sterilizing at this point. If you have more of a problem with odors, not stains, try running this 2nd wash cycle in hot water.

Last, I would do a super long wash with hot water--with normal amount of soap. I used only powder, never any additives.

My son is not poddy-trained at night so he pees in his cloth dipe at night. So now we just do a pre-rinse in cold and the longest hot wash cycle...our washer with all extra wash settings takes 99 minutes.

I'm super sensitive to smells and never had any problems with odors whatsoever. I never sun dried, always used dryer. I do have a water conserving washer..which helped in the environmental benefits of using cloth.

If you still have the pee smell, perhaps adding either bleach to wash or vinegar to the rinse cycle might help. If one doesn't help, use both.

Something someone told us one time has been a big help to me: Dawn dishwashing detergent. We use just a squeeze in our "urine loads" to get the smell out.

Soak them in Borax and water in a large diaper pail overnight. Pour off the water and place the diapers in your washer. If you can buy Ecover washing powder or liquid you won't have to do that. The Ecover will take out any stain and any smell and it is 100% pure. No fragrance, no poisons. I've used it for 20 years. I used to bring it back with me from Europe until America's stores got smart.

You will need to strip the diapers. Wash them with a tiny squirt of BLUE dawn dish soap, like about a teaspoon, in a warm wash cycle and keep rinsing until there are no suds in the rinse water. You could also add in 1/4 cup of bleach. The urine smell actually comes from detergent buildup, so make sure you are using the right kind of detergent, a very small amount, and doing an extra rinse every time you wash them. Every once and awhile you can add the bleach and Dawn if you need it.

Without knowing what brand of diapers you use, I can just tell you what I do to avoid the stink.
I use Flip or thirsties covers and then Flip liners. Only cloth, nothing disposable can touch my oldest daughter hiney.

When I wash diapers I wash the covers with the normal laundry (not the diaper laundry) and I hang those to dry, I don't want the heat of the dryer ruining the plastic cover.

For my cloth diapers I rinse with cold water, then wash with HOT water and just a tiny amount of free and clear soap. Then I rinse again with cold water. Once a month I add a bit of bleach to my hot wash cycle.

If I notice a smell I just rinse all the diapers until all bubbles are gone and then wash like normal. I will usually do an extra ending rinse every now and then just to make sure that the bubbles are gone.

The smell you are smelling is the urine reacting to some cleansing agent that is still in the diapers.

Good luck!

Vinegar. We have used our BumGenius for more than 2 years and a bit of vinegar in the wash gets out all sorts of smells. I also use vinegar on my husbands nasty workout clothes.

Strip using just water. Tons ans tons of rinses of hot water to get out the detergent that is causing a build up. Then on the 3rd to last rinse add tea tree oil to make sure everything is clean, the last two rinses to make sure the tea tree is out, then dry. Should do the trick.
**I know it sounds like a pain, but when that happened to me I had to make sure all of the detergent was out to make sure that the urine wasn't trapped in there too.

try some vinager in your wash along with soap.

I knoe you stripped them, but we also had this problem until we started using Rockin green to wash diapers. My husband should be a sales person for them with how much he talks up that laundry soap to anyone who cloth diapers. I tried all of the stripping and vinegar rinses but it turned into a pain when the smell came back after a few weeks to a month. Rockin green was our long term solution and it is awesome.