Cloth Diaper Chaos!

Aaack! Cloth diapering is a great thing for so many reasons. It's also a not-so-great-thing for many other reasons!

Here's my current not-so-great-reason: S.T.I.N.K. We're talking, eye-watering, knock-you-over, gotta-be-bad-for-the-baby ammonia stink! Evidently this is not an unusual phenomenon in the cloth diaper jungle. It only occurs when baby has had a wet diaper on for a long time i.e. overnight...but just the thought that that nasty chemical reekiness is lurking in each and every dipe just waiting to release it's nastiness makes me cringe!

So, like any good CD mama, I went to the message boards and blogs to figure out a solution. Oh, and also consulted my chemistry guru hubby. And that began the experimentation phase: soaks, washes, extra rinses, vinegar, oxyclean, special CD detergent, Dawn dish soap, wool covers, stripping, more soaks, more rinses....double aaaack! Some of it worked. For about a week.

Now baby boy is wearing Luvs at night and I re-researched today. Here's the result: I am going to be a CD-washing rebel! I am going to bleach my diapers. I am going to purchase regular ol' Tide powder to wash them in. I am going to cross my fingers. I am not going to let the S.T.I.N.K. win. HA! Take THAT you nasty stuff!!!