Ammonia

Ammonia--- It's a smell I never expected to find fuming from my baby's saturated diaper.  It honestly reminds me more of cleaning supplies than anything.  One thing is sure: once you get a whiff, there's no denying it.  You have ammonia in your diapers, and you have to do something about it!  Ignore the problem, and the smell (and possibly a rash your baby's bum) will only get worse...until one day when you want to toss all the diapers out the window!

Here is a brief bit of info to help you understand ammonia.  It can form in your diapers for two different reasons:

1.) Urea, which is one of the components of urine, is a very similar chemical to ammonia.  I am not a chemist, so I don't fully understand the science behind it...but somehow under the right conditions (warmth, long amount of time), the urea in the diaper fabric converts into ammonia.  The urea/ammonia substance finds a way to secure itself to the diaper by forming crystals in the threads of the fabric.

2.) Bacterial build-up can also cause ammonia to form in the diapers.  This cause becomes more common for babies when they begin eating solids, as they have more bacteria in their guts.

As you can imagine, a regular washing of your diapers is not going to pull out the crystallized ammonia or the bacterial build-up.  This is why it is so important to immediately strip your diapers.  It is equally important to develop a laundry routine that prevents this toxic substance from building up in your diapers, or else you will find yourself stripping the diapers every few weeks when the ammonia returns.  A few techniques I have integrated into my washing routine to prevent the return of ammonia include:

1.) Rinsing diapers after each diaper change.
2.) Using an old tooth brush to gently scrub off any bacteria-causing poo that is on the fabric.
3.) Storing the soiled diapers in an open container to prevent breeding grounds for bacteria.  Bacteria loves damp, warm, oxygen-free spaces.
4.) Going no longer than 48-60 hours between washings.
5.) Stripping my diapers every 6 months.
6.) Using only natural creams on my baby's bum.

Care to read more about ammonia?  Here's a great page by Rockin Green.

Diaper Liners

Diaper liners can serve a couple of different purposes, and can be made from many different fabrics.

Three Purposes of Diaper Liners
As you know, most diaper creams (over-the-counter and prescription) are not safe for cloth diapers, as they can permanently adhere to the diaper fabric and cause wetness to repel from the diaper.  These creams do not wash out of the diapers.  Unless you use coconut oil or cloth-diaper-safe-creams, you will need to use a liner in your cloth diaper every time you put cream on your baby's bum.

Secondly, a diaper liner can be used as a stay-dry layer between baby's bum and an absorbent fabric that may be harmful or too wet on baby's bum.  For example, some natural fibers can irritate the skin and cause a rash.  Also, while microfiber is a great, quick absorber, microfiber should never be place directly against baby's bum, as it will draw out moisture from the skin.  If using the liner for to protect the skin, be sure the liner fully covers the irritating fabric.

Some moms chose to use liners with every diaper change as a way of limiting the amount of contact sticky poo has with the diaper.  If using liners in order to cut down on clean-up, it makes sense to use a flushable liner (vs. reusable liner).  Let's discuss the pros and cons of each type.

Flushable vs. Reusable Diaper Liners
Flushable liners are nice for convenience sake, but they aren't perfect.  Many moms find they are too thin and move around in the diaper too much to be effective or comfortable for baby.  Some complain the wipes are scented and, therefore, contain unnecessary chemicals.

Reusable liners do take a little more effort.  I find the biggest inconvenience to be the requirement that I wash the liners separately from my diapers when using cream or Vaseline.  That being said, reusable liners are inexpensive to buy or make yourself.  I have multiplied my supply, so I can have enough liners to last me through a week of use.  Then, I just throw the liners in with baby's regular laundry (after a quick pre-rinse following each diaper change).

Buying vs. Making Reusable Liners
A few reusable diaper liners are commercially marketed these days: Bummis (pictured above) and Kanga Care are the biggest sellers, and go for around a dollar each.  Many sellers on Etsy.com market liners made of fleece, microfleece, cotton velour, suedecloth.  These same fabrics are carried at most local and chain fabric stores, and are very affordable; for this reason, I opted to make my own.  I believe I spent around five bucks at Hancock Fabrics for some super-soft buttersuede (their version of suedecloth), and I have made at least 15 liners, with plenty of fabric left-over.  If you can't find the fabric you want in your area, you can buy several appropriate fabrics on Amazon. The great thing about "making" liners from suedecloth, and some fleece fabrics...all you have to do is measure and cut the fabric.  These materials do not fray with use.  Super easy!  I have used both fleece and microsuede liners.

In terms of deciding which fabric to use, I have found that poo slides off of suedecloth much easier than off of fleece.  The suedecloth also dries much quicker than fleece.  I did find that the fleece seemed to stay in place better than suedecloth, because the suedecloth I used has a somewhat slippery backside.  All in all, I continue to like the suedecloth liners I made the best, and I continue to use them when needed.

What type of liners do you use?

Laundry

Oh, laundry...the part of cloth diapering that many people say keeps them from even attempting cloth diapers.  The truth is, once you get a routine down, washing your cloth diapers becomes about the same effort as taking bags of stinky disposable diapers out to the garbage at least daily.  It is true that you have to launder your diapers correctly, or else you will end up with detergent build-up, ammonia, stains, or other nasty problems.  It's also important to strip your diapers every six months, or more often if needed.  Let's talk about pre-wash/pre-rinse, storage of dirty diapers, frequency of washing, cycles, detergent, and drying.

Pre-Wash/Pre-Rinse
Rule number one: poo must go down the toilet!  Never leave it on your diaper expecting it to come out in the wash.  Your diapers will likely not come out clean and will probably be stained.  If you like, you can purchase a bumGenius Diaper Sprayer that attaches to your toilet for the purpose of spraying poopy diapers.  I am blessed to have a child with rather firm poo, so his normally rolls right off.  I then use an old toothbrush to immediately scrub out any marks left on the diaper.  If you don't care about stains, this would not be necessary.
You'll find many methods out there for urine-only diapers.  Some moms choose to place the urine-soaked diaper immediately in a pail and leave it there until wash time.  That was my initial method; however, I began having problems with ammonia and decided to begin rinsing them immediately after a diaper change.  It's not a long process, just 30 seconds or so - long enough until the diaper no longer smells of urine.  This pre-rising (combined with my storage technique described below) have keep away all the stink!

Storage of Dirty Diapers
After reading a lot of reviews, I initially used a large Planet Wise Diaper Pail Liner inside a garbage can.  This combination worked perfectly at containing the stink to the diaper pail and could hold even more diapers than I owned.  Even after a super wash on all my diapers, my ammonia problem persisted, so I switched to storing the dirty diapers in an open laundry basket similar to this one.  I had read that storing them in an open container actually decreases the odor, because the bacteria-causing-odor does not like oxygen.  A wet, closed-up diaper pail is breeding grounds for the bacteria.  To further prevent bacteria/ammonia build-up, I allow the wet diaper to dry until damp on the rim of the laundry basket before tossing it in with the other dirty diapers.  This method is working great for me.  Although there is a minor stench wafting from the baby's bathroom on the day before washing, his diapers no longer smell like ammonia while he is wearing them!

Frequency of Washing
Every other day.  Period.  Leave the urine in the diapers much longer than that and the urea in the urine can turn to ammonia, which takes a bit of work to get out of your diapers.  For a great article on understanding ammonia, see this article by Rock In Green detergent.

Cycles
Initially, I did only one cycle when washing diapers.  This was a big mistake, as they were not getting clean.  The method that works great for me is: pre-rinse (cold), wash (hot) with detergent, and an extra rinse (cold).  Even if you only have a few diapers, it is important to set the fill line to medium or high for all cycles in order to maximize the cleanse.  If you do not pre-rinse your diapers after each diaper change, you may need to do more than one pre-rinse to break up the crystallized urea in the diapers.

Detergent
I tried using an all-natural detergent (Nellie's) recommended to me, but found this was useless in cleaning diapers.  In fact, it doesn't even clean our regular laundry.  All Free & Clear has worked perfectly.  Here is a great web-site for figuring out if the detergent you are using is safe for your diapers.
The key with the detergent is to not use too much.  It is better to err on the side of using too little than using too much.  You should only use about 1/3-1/2 the amount of detergent recommended on the bottle.  Use more than that, and your diapers will get detergent build-up and hold stink.

Drying
Yes, most diaper inserts can be dried with heat in your dryer.  Do I put my diapers in the dryer?  No.  The reason I am using cloth diapers is to keep some money in my pocket and to be kind to the environment.  Running my dryer isn't exactly in line with those objectives.  If you are going to put your diapers in the dryer, be warned that repeatedly using heat on your covers made of PUL can destroy their ability to hold wetness.
Depending on the humidity in the air, my hang dried diapers are normally fully dried 16-24 hours later.  Inserts made with more layers or with natural fibers take longer to dry than the others.  Some of the natural fabrics are more stiff when air dried, but this isn't a problem as long as they aren't touching your babies bum.  Hopefully you have already heard that sun drying your diapers makes breastfed baby poo disappear like magic!

What is your process for washing your diapers?  With which detergents have you had the best luck?