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I've been reading about people having some trouble with ammonia smell in their diapers, and some using bleach to get this out. I'm brand new to cloth diapering and I am just doing some research to figure out what I would like to buy.
A question: If I were to have a problem with ammonia smell in my CD future, would it be ok to use a bit of bleach with the bamboo diapers, or is this a no-no? Would it be better to go with the cotton so I would have the option to do this? I am really quite interested in the bamboo diapers though.
I guess I then have another question: Even though the Mother-ease site says that the bamboo and cotton diapers have the same absorbency, do people find that the bamboo is more absorbant?
Thanks for your input! |
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Hello there,
I have never used bleach so I can't help you with that part of your question, and I have used only bamboo so I can't compare with cotton, but my understanding is that the two diapers (cotton vs bamboo) have the same absorbency. What Mother-Ease did is make the bamboo diaper thinner, so even though bamboo as a fabric is more absorbent than cotton, the two diapers have the same absorbency although the bamboo one is trimmer. Which is an undeniable advantage for fitting under clothes!
I love my bamboo diapers and I would certainly recommend them for all sorts of reason, the only main disadvantage I see is that they are slower to dry, so that has to be taken into account.
Hope that helps! |
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Thanks! That does help.
Also, I have a front loading machine that has no pre-rinse option. Other than running a short followed by a long cycle, does anyone have any suggestions? |
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| I agree with PP. Bamboo is nice and soft. Very trim. Just as absorbent. Some say they stain easier, but I have not found that to be the case at all. Washing routine has been the same with cotton as with bamboo, and I have not noticed a difference in smell or ammonia issues. Like PP said, bamboo takes longer to dry. Rick from ME said it was due to the fabric fiber releasing the moisture at a slower rate vs cotton(think cotton vs fleece in a drytime comparison, for example). Every fiber is unique and bamboo is no different. So as long as you know this going in, it'll be the "norm" for you. No worries! |
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| I've never used bleach on my dipes(cotton or bamboo) and never once done a pre-rinse. Just a straight on heavy duty cycle, full tub HOT. I do have a diaper sprayer that will blast the paint off your house, so basically my dipes are pretty well rinsed going into the pail. You might find a diaper sprayer useful if your washer does not have a pre-rinse option for knocking off BF poo. FYI. |
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Hi,
The thread you're referring to about the bleach is probably mine so I just want to say that my situation is very very unusual so I honestly wouldn't worry about needing to use bleach. I have cloth diapered 4 children and with my first two I never once had to use bleach. I've been on cloth diapering boards for 6+ years and in that time have only talked to a handful of people that used bleach... Most of them did so because they thought they had to or because they had a particular germ phobia.
Should you ever run into a situation where your diapers reek of ammonia, the easiest and by far the most common way of treating this is by 'stripping' the diapers. This is different for everyone but essentially it's just putting the diapers through a series of very hot washes to get rid of detergent build-up which is the principal cause of ammonia smells or just general stinkyness. The best way to prevent it would be to use minimal amounts of detergent (no more than 1/3 to 1/2 of the 'recomended' amount) or use something like soap nuts which leaves no build-up at all. I only resorted to bleach out of total desperation because nothing else had worked after over a year of trying/experimenting and my twin girls were getting ugly blisters from ammonia smelling nighttime diapers. Other than the one person who responded to my thread saying she was going through the same thing, in the over 6 years online in cloth diapering communities, I'd NEVER heard of this. So it's highly unlikely you'll find yourself in that situation... Personally I think it's just yet one more thing my girls have invented to test my patience and make sure I never ever ever decide to go for a 5th child! LOL!
As for the bamboo itself, there's no reason that I know of that you couldn't bleach them should you need to. As unlikely as this is, if you wanted to, it would probably be no riskier than doing it with cotton diapers. There have been grumblings about the durability of bamboo (based on the problem with the first generation of bindings on the bamboo OS) and although only time will tell for sure, I just see no evidence to show that it's any less durable (or more sensitive) than cotton. There was one occurance of someone who had balding bamboo diapers and this turned out to be due to the use of gel bleach (which as far as I know is a thick bleach you use directly on fabric to treat stains). Long-term use of bleach, and especially long term *direct* use, will cause ALL fabrics to bald eventually. A cotton diaper treated the same way would have had the same results...
Karen.
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I am in a similar situation as my washer cannot do a pre-rinse. I used to do only one cycle (after spraying off the poop with a diaper sprayer) and it worked fine at first, and then after several months I started having a faint smell of pee in my clean diapers. It was after my DS started eating and drinking less, so I guess his pee was more concentrated. Now I do an extra cycle, but I wouldn't do it unless you have to (obviously, it's more wear and tear on the diapers).
So I would start simple, doing only one wash if you have a sprayer or dunk your soiled diapers, and add steps only if you have issues (you can add vinegar in the rinse, do an extra wash, etc.). You do, however, lose the benefit of the first month since if you are exclusively breastfeeding, the poo is soluble. You can skip the sprayer if you do an extra rinse (or an extra cycle in your case). I guess it's a choice you have to make: skip the spraying or dunking but do an extra cycle and have more wear and tear on your diapers, or do one cycle after spraying. However, people don't recommend putting soiled diapers (even when exclusively BF) directly in the wash if you don't do a pre-rinse (or a double cycle). Especially in a FL, I guess it would mean washing dipes with a lot of poop in little water!
Again, hope that helps. |
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Oh, just to add something about the pre-rinse. My machine doesn't have a pre-rinse setting either (I don't imagine that's very common except maybe on fancier digital machines with a million different options). But you can still do a pre-rinse by just setting your washer to the 'rinse' or 'extra rinse' part of the cycle. Pretty easy really... Instead of starting in the beginning of the cycle, you just start at the rinse part...
Karen.
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