Monday, November 5, 2012

Got Ammonia?

Barf. We did. And it was awful. It got to the point where I couldn't even put the diapers on Hadi at all without give her ammonia burns. Her poor little bum :( It was sad. 

I didn't realize this but urine naturally has ammonia in it, so it's always there. But when you get a build up in your inserts you start having a problem. And microfiber seems to be a magnet for ammonia problems. 

I tried everything, I feel like, and it just kept coming back. And the smell is awful.  Like burn -your-nose-hairs-and-eyeball's awful. So after a lot of research, a lot of frustration, and a lot of trial+error, I *think* we are in a good place. Here's what I figured out:

1. Soak your inserts in a full washer with FISH ammonia remover. Ha I know it sounds CRAZY but I stumbled across an article about using it by a woman who swears by it. And it WORKS! I think I had to do it twice because I had such a huge build up. Then I did a rinse and washed them like normal.

2. I also did a long hot soak with about a 1/3 cup of bleach for a couple hours. (I do this about once a month followed by like 3 rinses)

Then I did a normal wash cycle and we were good to go. I also have been keeping a squirt bottle with some of the ammonia remover in it and spraying it on the diapers after I change her. So far it's working? And I am grateful I didn't give up. Because I was REALLY frustrated. But I knew I didn't want to give up the cloth diapers so thankfully I stuck it out. If you are having similar issues, don't give up! there is SOMETHING that will work - I promise.

4 comments:

  1. I need to subscribe to this blog in addition to your other one. LOVED the past 2 posts. One question, I know mixing ammonia w/ bleach [the commercial kinds] results in a toxic gas...so do you only bleach them after all the ammonia is gone?

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  2. This is a really good post. I enjoyed reading this.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  3. Came across this post just in time. I am pretty sure we are having ammonia burn issues now and the smell IS horrible. I am going to try the fish ammonia thing. Where do you buy it?

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    1. Aw man I am sorry - the ammonia for us was the worst part of using cloth diapers. But we live right next to Petsmart so that is where I bought mine. But I would imagine any pet store would carry it.. Good luck!!

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