Thursday, July 8, 2010

Fluff Talk Thursday-ammonia, ewwww

I'm very excited to get tips and advice from other cloth diapering mothers through participation in Fluff Talk Thursday, over at Happily Domestic. Link up to share you best cloth diapering advice/tips/solutions and get some from other mamas. Thanks, Beth, for hosting this great resource!







Like many other cd mamas, I've battled the ammonia blues before. The biggest problem time by far is night time! My daughter sleeps 10-12 hours and is a SUPER heavy wetter, seriously, this girl's diaper must weigh around 3 pounds in the morning. I'm afraid I'm gonna make a hole in the floor from dropping her diaper to the ground in the same spot every morning. As soon as I walk into her room in the morning I get a big whiff of the wonderful aroma.

Even though I pretty much only use Bum Genius at night, which have a stay dry liner, my daughter's skin has been affected ammonia burn. My daughter also has issues with yeast (and that's a whole other post!), but one product I've found that works great for pretty much any bottom issue is Earth Mama Angel Baby's Baby Bottom Balm. And, a BIG plus, it's organic, all natural and cloth diaper safe!!! I also give my daughter some diaper-free naked time at night, after bath time to help air things out. Sometimes I'll use a fitted, natural fabrics are best, without a cover during the day and change often. Airing out the bottom is probably the best thing you can do to help it heal from ammoina burn.

For the ammonia smell issues, my best suggestions are Rockin Green detergent and sunning. I can't say enough good things about Rockin Green (you can look through my past posts for more than a couple praises about it). Soaking my diapers, and wipes, don't forget about them, once in a while and washing regularly in RnG has almost completley wiped out the ammonia stink problem for me. Sunning (line drying your diapers outside) your diapers will help keep them stain-free and smelling fresh. The UV rays of the sun are also know to help kill bacteria, the main cause of bad odor! I live in Western Washington and we don't have a ton of sunny days, but I put my diapers out every opportunity I get, even in the winter!!! It's not the heat from the sun that's helpful (although it will help the diapers dry quicker), it's the UV rays that have the bacteria killing power.  I've read that UV rays can even reach the diapers on overcast days, and we have plenty of those here.

I can't wait to read other mama's suggestions!

1 comment:

B.A. Hunter said...

Thanks for joining in. :-) I plan on buying some of the RnG hard water detergent and I have demanded my husband put up a clothes line!!! lol. We live in CO. and have plenty of sun.

BTW~ The burnt flour trick is working!!! His bad burn wound is finally starting to scab. Poor baby, has had that ouchie for almost 2 weeks now!