How To Banish Diaper Stink

Relax. Diaper stink happens for a variety of reasons–all of them fixable! Here is what to do if your diapers are smelling less than fresh:

1. Make sure you have a good wash routine, which looks something like this: pre-rinse, hot wash with detergent, cold rinse, cold rinse. You should be washing your diapers at least every three days, too, or you will end up with a bacteria playground in your fluff that will stink! Finally, a good wash routine includes using diaper-friendly detergent: diaper-friendly means additive-, brightener-, and softener-free to avoid causing those extra ingredients to build up on the surface of your diapers and cause leaks and stink–and the right amount of detergent, which varies by brand. (Popular brands of diaper-friendly detergent include Allen’s Naturally, Charlie’s Soap, Rockin’ Green, Crunchy Clean, and soap nuts.) If your wash routine is stellar, here’s the next thing to try:
2. Put your diapers in for a second hot wash and double-rinse cycle, with detergent. If your diapers stink, they may just not be quite clean. Your wash routine may work perfectly until your baby gets bigger or starts eating solids (or moves from breastmilk to formula); then all bets are off and you may need to add an extra wash or rinse cycle in your routine.
3. Use your diapers again and see if they stink when coming out of the washer, or if they smell strongly when the baby wets her diaper. Both are a sign that your diapers still aren’t quite clean.
4. If your diapers still smell, try putting them through your normal wash routine PLUS an extra hot wash and rinse cycle WITHOUT detergent this time. If you’ve been trying to deal with diaper stink for a while, you might have tried using more detergent, and if you accidentally used too much, it may not have completely rinsed out of your diapers–which leaves stinky residue.
5. Sniff your diapers on the way out of the washer to see if they smell fresh, and pay attention to their smell after baby wets again, to see if there is any improvement. If there is, do an extra hot wash without detergent for a few wash cycles to see if you can get your diapers back in tip-top shape. If it didn’t help much, move on to….
6. Have you ever washed your washer? This isn’t hard, don’t worry. Cloth diapering is washer-friendly, but it does work your washer pretty hard, so to keep your washer washing optimally, pour a cup of vinegar or a cup of lemon juice in your detergent dispenser and run a hot wash and rinse cycle. This fixed EVERYTHING for me recently when my diapers were getting a little dingy. Now I can even skip the extra final rinse I had added to my routine, that I thought was necessary due to semi-solid baby poops. Turns out my problem was an overworked washer, so now I can use less water to wash my diapers. Yay!
7. If you’re still dealing with stink, you may have detergent, diaper cream, or mineral buildup on your diapers. You can tell if this is your problem because your diapers will not absorb like they used to and will be prone to leaking. This is when you need to strip your diapers. There is all sorts of advice out there about how to strip your diapers, but be careful about which techniques you try because some can void the warranty of your diapers, or your washer! This may be worth the risk if you’re on the verge of tossing out your whole stash, though. The most basic way to strip your diapers is to wash them normally and then wash them in hot water with no detergent, followed by 3 or 4 rinse cycles–until there are no more detergent bubbles in the water. If you have white zinc oxide buildup on your diapers from diaper creams, you can wet the stain and lightly scrub Dawn dish soap into it with an old toothbrush, then toss the diapers in for a wash cycle. If it’s just a stink problem, try 1/2-1 cup of baking soda or vinegar in with the wash load, followed by several rinse cycles. And don’t forget to put your diapers out to dry in the sun, which is a great stain-fighter and disinfectant! Finally, if you’re really stuck try a little OxyClean or bleach in the wash cycle (and rinse, rinse, rinse!), but be careful not to do this too often as both these products break down the fibers of your diapers if used too frequently. Keep an eye out for rashes after using any unusual product in your wash routine, which will indicate that you need to rinse the diapers further.