Saturday, April 26, 2008

Ammonia Smell in the room? What did you do?

I wonder what you moms use or put or attach or... whatever... to get rid of the urine smell in the room? I'm referring to the smell from cloth diaper especially on a toddler. How to eliminate the smell if the diaper is to be worn overnight?

Sometimes, hubby or myself is awaken by the urine smell. Especially early in the morning... the whole room was like... Arrgh! Please share with me what's your tips??

14 comments:

pumpkin said...

Yeah... I have the same problem too...DH always say we're like sleeping in a public toilet !!

Anonymous said...

There are a couple different things that could be going on- the first thing I would do is wash your diapers with extra soap and several extra rinses. The smell shouldn't be that overpowering, and if it is...I would venture to say that you aren't getting the diapers clean enough and they are harboring bacteria. A good wash should make the smell quite a bit better.

That's my experience with my toddler anyway!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I have this problem too. When I first use wool cover, the problem resolve. So, I thought wool is the solution for the smell. But after awhile, it happens again. So now, I have to change at least once at midnite. At least minimal smell.

Jess said...

Try to pay attention to what you fed your little one during the day. I noticed that if Arthur took to much garlic/onion, the smell gets worse. Otherwise, wool pants solved the problem for us ;)

Peridot&Sapphire said...

pumpkin: yeah... I can understand that too... LOL!

kim: well, from my experience yes extra wash may reduce the smell but it's just temporarily. Looks like we moms need to be more hard working to do laundry huh?

zarita, Jess: I've been using wool for more than 8 months once I know that's the great solution for my heavywetter. Still, the smell can't be eliminated. MOreover, there's no special food that we introduce to my gal as she's a picky eater.

allthingspurple said...

i used to get that but not anymore ever since i added the pre-wash function in the machine when washing bumgenius. I dont find it necessary to prewash all other brands except bumgenius though. BTW, there is an odour solution by bumgenius at cottontail, in case you are interested. Maybe our local e-store owner is minded to bring them in?

Anonymous said...

Night-train :) Or drink less water/soup in the evenings to reduce night weeing.
I guess have to wait till she is older and night-trained, have to tahan the smell a bit longer.

DD sleeps in her own room now so we don't have this problem in our bedroom.

I think it depends on the absorbant fabric. Microfibre and hemp seems to hold on to smells more than cotton or bamboo.

If the nappy is soaked through, it smells more. If boosted well, the smell seems to be less.

I find that if I have a bamboo nappy, the wool cover minimises the smell. Once removed, the ammonia can make your eyes water.

Anonymous said...

I just read somewhere that wool does work.

If 1 layer isn't enough, use 2 layers: one unlanolised (inner), one lanolised (outer).

Also read that this is a common complaint of parents who co-sleep or room-in with baby. Guess you may have to put up with it.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes the urine smell happens because your child has not drunk enough water in the day and is slightly dehydrated, that intesifies the urine smell.

Other wise you could try adding a bit of tea tree oil to the rinse cycle of your wash, it is a natural antiseptic and helps with the smell.

bZbee said...

i am getting limited wool booster ..it can be placed in between snap in insert..i wonder how it works..will let u know next month

Missy Sasha N Mini Myra said...

I personally think that our M'sia water is too harsh or it called hard water. If possible, install a filter at our main water meter and another filter at the pipe going to our washing machine.

Eventhough how many times we rinse or adding extra soap, baking soda or vinegar but there are not much improvement. The best is to filter our water. Our water contains high mineral without filtering, often what happens during normal washing routines is that water mineral deposits , dirt, and particles of detergent gets trapped in the fabric.

When urine combines with the residue, it can make for a most unpleasant odor.

Anonymous said...

hard or soft water depends on where you live.

In KK Sabah it is predominantly soft water. In Bunbury Australia (and most regional places in Aussie) the water is harder than in cities. But the water in Perth and Adelaide is the worst hard water.

Teddi Taylor said...

I have to echo kim's comment about washing with more detergent. We had this problem, but it wasn't the smell that was the biggest problem, but that the ammonia in the diapers burned my LO's skin! Serious measures needed to be taken! We had him in bamboo diapers, but I was just not using enough detergent. I use Charlie's Soap and I now use a full tbsp instead of half and an extra hot cycle with nothing in it. The diapers smell like nothing but clean (no fragrance) at the end of washing. If your diapers smell AT ALL after washing, they're not clean!

Peridot&Sapphire said...

thanks Teddi for your tips... will be more caution in the laundry part. and yes, i do found that microfiber really smell terrible that natural fiber's insert.

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