Nappys stink of ammonia - help

[SpecialOffer]

Ok,

My son is 9 months old and my cloth nappies have all of a sudden started stinking of ammonia when I change him. I put him in a disp this morning to see if it was the nappies or him, and couldn't smell anything.

Now I wash my nappies on extra rinses with hardly any washing up powder, where am I going wrong? Some of the nappies I have only just bought, and they still smell, is it the nappies???

dd goes through toxic wee phases occasionally and I drive myself nuts doing extra rinses, vinegar in the softener drawer etc to try and sort it to no avail

then it mysteriously disappears of its own accord...

I think it's a teething thing. The vinegar is worth trying though

yes he is teething and I was wondering about that, I just couldn't smell it in the disp, but wasn't sure if you would be able to anyway!

Am doing a mass rinse at the moment will add vinegar to it as well.

I hate teeth!!!!

Do you use water softener? Maybe you're not using enough soap for the hardness of the water.

Vinegar rinses help a lot.

(oh and I know it is v eco-unfriendly but a spoonful of Napisan in the powder drawer helps too)

I didn't think about the water hardness, maybe I should buy some water softener as well.

Where can I get some Napisan from? Not heard of that before.

any supermarket with the dummies and bottles and Milton etc

it's basically the same stuff as Vanish powder and is about 1/5th the price

you're not PREGNANT are you?

Ok off to buy some Napisan tomorrow.....

Pregnant??? I have recently done a test, so can safely say no . Although my DP might cope with that better than me sniffing the nappies all the time

I agree it is very likely to be the teething causing the problem.

Make sure you are doing a cold rinse run before you do your proper wash - that will stop the urine smell setting in as much and can make quite a difference.

Using extra powder can make them smell too so don't be tempted to put extra powder in. Vinegar will help - make sure you avoid fabric softener or you'll lose your absorbancy.

What sort of nappies are you using? Microfibre is particularly bad for this sort of thing. I personally don't like Napisan and prefer to use the more biodegradeable alternatives which seem to work just as well. Or you could try this bumgenius odour remover spray. Doubt you would need to use it all the time, just at teething time (which feels like all the time come to think of it). I've not tried it myself but it is apparently very good.

Good luck with the teething.

There's a more environmentally friendly alternative to napisan. They sell it in our local sainsbury's. Can't remember the name though. Not very helpful, sorry!

Ok bung them in on a really hot wash with a prewash followed by LOADS of powder, then extra rinsing.
Then put through a wash cycle with no powder in at all, to get rid of the smell.
No need for napisan, just use some more washing powder sometimes on a hot wash and rinse it out well.
I used to use the 'not much powder' way of washing nappies but found that it doesn't always get them completely clean and fresh.
Oh and hang them outside whenever you can too.

Thanks for all the advice. I did a Nappy amnesty (sp?) and they have all been washed, rinsed, washed etc. I am off in a sec to bung them outside to freshen them up. I just want them dry now... I feel lost without my nappys, my sons bum is so small.....

are you washing them hot enough? i went through a phase of doing ours at 50, and they seemed okay for a while, but after a couple of washes they were a bit whiffy. i always do them at 60 now, and there is no smell problem at all. and we use ecover liquid, so it's not like it's our industrial strength washing powder that's doing the trick.