Ammonia bouncer?

[callamia]

I've been using a variety on cloth nappies in my four month old for a couple of months, and I've noticed that occasionally there's a bit of a smell of ammonia (mainly after an overnight, so not a huge surprise).

I wash at 60C with only a small amount of washing liquid, and dry over an airer. I'm wondering whether I 'need' an ammonia bouncer product, or whether that's a cunning ruse to persuade me to part with money? The fact that a search for this on here comes up with nothing makes me think the latter.

I have no idea what an ammonia bouncer is sorry. When I used to have this problem with dd's nappies it was usually because if detergent build up & would settle with a strip wash.

Now I always do a cold prewash with a small amount non bio powder then a longish 60 deg wash with few drops tea tree and extra rinse at the end. Might be a good idea to put them out on the line occasionally even if it's not drying to get some uv exposure. Iirc the nappy lady recommends powder over liquid as less likely to get build up.

Tbh though, night nappies are always pretty stinky!

Brilliant. Thank you.
I'll get some powder and some tea tree oil. Hopefully, this will be a much more efficient way of avoiding problems.

I use white vinegar in the pre-wash cycle before washing the nappies. I think the acid in the vinegar reacts with the alkaline ammonia and helps to get rid of it. White vinegar is really cheap to buy.

Some nappy manufacturers state not to use vinegar. I'm not sure whether or not this is really a problem. I'm about to take all my (clean) nappies to a relative who has lovely soft water and put them through a wash cycle without powder. I'm hoping that will strip all the detergent and fluff them up...