A week ago V weighed 11 lbs. 6 oz. He has been steadily gaining 2 oz. a day since he was a week old. Yesterday I started unpacking the 3-6 mo. clothes. They are the ones James wore from 8 to 11 months, and here Valor is wearing them at 7 weeks. It doesn’t seem possible that they are related!
[quicktime]https://www.houseofgjertsen.info/video/smile.mov[/quicktime]
Valor gave me his first smile on Friday when I was about to feed him. It was an awkward open-mouthed smile that looked like a cry with its ends turned up. I went nuts and shrieked, “I got my first smile!!!!” I was hoping the positive reinforcement would convince him to repeat it, but he went right back to the disapproving look afterward.
No more smiles for a couple days, then I got one, then another, and today he has had the most yet. Yesterday John had 3 to my 6, but then the house decor came from behind when Valor started beaming at the leather couch and the Shakespeare posters. At least he has good taste. Today he smiled at the Halloween candy page in the grocery ad. He couldn’t know, could he??
It turns out my subconscious was smart to try and delay dirtying Valor’s nice clean pile of cloth diapers. I have spent the last few days trying to discover the secret of getting them back to their original neutral smell and how to correct my diaper laundry routine to keep them that way.
I had several good suggestions from my commenters, and anyone who has searched the internet for help knows that there are as many different opinions out there about cleaning as there are cloth diaper mamas. (I wish Alton Brown would do an episode on diaper laundering, because I would love to hear some scientific answers dispel the myths and contradictory advice.) Most people agree that breastfed-baby poops can go straight into the washing machine without being sprayed off into a toilet. And I had been drying my dipes outside already, so that wasn’t fixing the problem either. Here is my thought process…or maybe my list of mistakes is a better description!
Valor’s laundered dipes still smelled a little poopy after our first week or two, which seemed different than the ammonia smell most people complain of when they say their baby’s cloth diapers stink. I thought they weren’t getting clean enough, so the first thing I tried was more detergent (1/2 the directed amount instead of 1/4). Still stinky. Then I reasoned that there were bacteria that needed to be killed, so I tried a capful of bleach, which made the smell worse–like poop and bleach together.
I found a routine from Catherine on borntolove.com to deal with stinky dipes, and the first step was to rise them until there were absolutely no more detergent bubbles and then dry them outside. This took 8 rinse cycles! After this stage John described them as smelling like a wet dog. So I went to Catherine’s second routine and soaked them overnight with baking soda, then did a hot/cold wash with detergent and my water heater turned up to 145 degrees. I still had bubbles after the second rinse, so I rinsed four more cycles to get all the detergent out again, and hung them outside. This time the smell was gone! Yay!
But I can’t keep rinsing them that many times! Most people say they get theirs clean with just one second rinse. So my new theory is that I am using too much detergent, and that buildup is trapping the smell. The next time I wash, I’m going to try 1.5T of detergent and see if that washes out with 2 rinses and still makes the dipes smell clean. If that doesn’t work, I’m switching detergents.
Update @11 pm: I found I was already using 1.5T of detergent, so I cut back to 1/2T, and that seemed to work! I might even be able to get by with less. I’ll keep tweaking!
What a lovely smile!
I used to rinse most of the poop off the nappies, then stick them in a bucket to soak in sterilizing solution overnight. I always used the old sterilizing fluid that I’d sterilized bottles, bowls etc. in, so it got reused before throwing away. That and a hot wash always seemed to get the smell out.
Yay! Those first smiles are wonderful!!
The smell is likely due to too much detergent. I use Bum Genius diapers (essentially the same as FuzziBunz but with velcro instead of snaps) and I use 1 teaspoon of detergent for a full load. Good luck, it takes a little trial & error, but you’ll stumble upon the right mix for your dipes, detergent, and washer eventually!
I’d recommend using less detergent and adding a dash of Borax. My diapers were never stinky!
what a precious baby!! His smile made me what to go wake my little one so i could hug her… then I snapped out of it. Never wake a sleeping toddler. haha. Hes so adorable yall.
KS
baking soda seems to get the smell out of a lot of things! I vote for baking soda!
I don’t know anything about cloth diapering, but I wanted to say that those pictures are absolutely precious!! He is getting so big and just adorable 🙂
Valor is getting exponentially cuter every day. Baby smiles are the best. I like how you are keeping score between you and John. I totally did that too. Even the “smiles” that were really gas were included in the tally. Every milestone is a miracle and a joy!
I have nothing to contribute to the diaper situation except: good luck. But I do remember that Abby thought math jokes were terribly funny back in the day. Here’s one for Valor and could perhaps score another grin for Abby: what’s a pizza pi? If a round pizza had the radius z and the thickness a, then the volume would be pi*z*z*a! Lemme know if that did the trick. Then maybe he could explain it to me.
Btw, loved the video. The kid has high standards.
Your baby is so sweet, how can you mind his poopy smelling dipes? (sarcasm here!)
As a cloth diaperer of four less than sweet smelling babes (and toddlers and…oh let’s be honest…children, some of them!), can I just add that I hope you are separating your covers and dipes into two separate bins? If not, the PLU stores the poop smell and is nearly impossible to eliminate. Worth a shot if you’re not already doing it! Otherwise might I suggest trying homemade detergent (which, although it sounds comically difficult and time consuming, is actually the opposite to prepare)? This detergent is incredibly low sudsing, and doesn’t build up nearly as quickly in dipes. Here is my own recipe: http://turquoisegates.blogspot.com/2009/08/making-do.html . I don’t use baking soda as I do a vinegar rinse prior to washing with detergent, and don’t want the vinegar and baking soda to foam up in my washer. Email me if you have questions!
Good luck – stick with it – the dipes are a joy once you master them!
Genevieve
Cute shoes, Ryland has the same ones for his AFO’s.
I agree with the baking soda soak. I love baking soda! Have you tried adding vinegar to the rinse? I think it helps cut the soap. Someone smarter would say something about Ph levels or something. 🙂
Just agreeing with dutchjess that trying some Borax might be a good idea!
Very sweet pictures!
I had the same problem before I got my front loader(now I don’t use them anymore at all because of the front loader…no matter what, I can’t get the smell out…). My problem was too much detergent too. Adding vinegar in the bleach dispenser helped A LOT. A few weeks ago, we were given a ton of baby clothes that had been in storage and smelled AWFUL! I washed them three times and couldn’t get the musty smell out for anything. Then I remembered about vinegar. One wash cycle with it and the smell was gone. LOVE THAT STUFF!!
TOTALLY FORGOT TO POST ABOUT VALOR! He’s so cute. I love the smiles. This part totally makes up for the sleepless nights and the fussy afternoons(at least mine seem to all have fussy afternoons in the beginning…right around the time I need to start dinner).
I received your beautiful note yesterday! Truly, it was an honor to create that for your family. Very happy that you are enjoying it. And I *love* Valor’s picture ~ thank you so much!He is so precious.
Okay, I’m obviously not an expert in this area, so here’s my mom’s method from when my sisters and I were babies:
1. Throw off poop in the toilet (or I guess newborn poop stays where it is)
2. Throw diaper into a bucket of water/bleach mix (for white diapers)
3. When the bucket is pretty full of diapers, throw all contents into washer. Spin out the nasty water, rinse and spin again for the bleach, then wash as normal.
4. Dry outside.
I have never tested this method, since I have no children. But you’re probably doing fine without my two cents.
Watch out for the media trucks on your front lawn. Airing one’s dirty laundry in public will always bring in a feeding frenzy of reporters.
Loved little Val’s “daddy” shoes! What a handsome dude!
Love, Grandma
Well Mom, I hope they don’t “feed” on Val’s diapers, or they will have a mouthful indeed, especially if they are still dirty!
Oh, my goodness, does that not just melt your heart. What a pretty boy and a sweet smile–enjoy and bask in every moment–you guys deserve it.
Much love from our side of the world.
John & Abby,
We love your last post and the shoes. Also, as one who attacks stains with vengeance, I have to chime in with this discussion. I use Oxyclean and it works so well on stains and there is an Oxyclean baby product as well. It is a spray and could be sprayed before placing in the diaper container.
Valor’s smile is such a joy!
B&B
My German grandma swore by vinegar (plain old white vinegar you can buy by the gallon) as being the best de-odorizer ever. I use it for cat-smell laundry.
Oh, and what a handsome little boy ya got there, too!
Any chance you are using a Free & Clear detergent? Apparently they use waxier ingredients and can lead to a cloth diaper stick problem. Although I cloth diapered for only a short time, this (http://www.abbyslane.com/faqs.php#Q7) was always my go-to source for information. Also, Stephanie (the owner) is super responsive and will answer any specific issue personally. Good luck — and Valor is adorable. So happy for you two that everything is going so well.
Susannah Hunter
(a fellow Carolina fan following via Cake Wrecks for about a year)
Aww…that first smile is the best…but I think the first laugh is even better! And Austin probably smiled at the ceiling fans in our house more than us for the first month…for a while, I wished I were a ceiling fan.
Hey Abby,
I haven’t read the other comments to know if I’m agreeing or contradicting what everyone else has said.
I used cloth diapers on and off for, especially, the first two kids. I had a diaper pail I kept near the toilet with some water and Borax in it (powdered 40 mule). I rinsed and wrung out in the toilet, popped in the washer and washed on hot at the end of every day. the ammonia smell is urine not washed out. The poopy? Well, I am blessed with not too great of a sniffer. Disposables do have advantages, but I don’t think they outweigh their damage.
L
Have you ever tried Oxy-Clean? I swear by the stuff. I throw nearly a cup full in ever wash. If I have the time, I do a second rinse, but not always. I also strip them about once a month. I let them soak in HOT water with Oxy-clean (no detergent) for about a half hour. Then run them as usual. I always do a second rinse on those nights. They smell very clean after that!
I would bet the vinegar or the Borax would work well too, but I haven’t tried it yet. Less detergent is KEY! (and no fabric softener at all – even in the detergent)
CUTE smiles!!!
Valor is so handsome. I can’t believe how quickly he is growing.
Many moons ago when my now 17 year old was an infant, I also used cloth diapers. I had a large bucket/bin (with a handle and a lid on it) that I would pre-soak the wet diapers with. The poopy diapers were rinsed in the toilet then put in the bin to pre-soak. In the bin was a solution of vinegar and water. I would leave them to soak over night and then wash the following day with borax and vinegar. I never had a problem with any remaining odor. I would suggest you add 1 -2 cups of plain white vinegar to your wash water and see if that helps. My grandmother swore by it and I use still in every load of (stinky boy) laundry I do now.
Although I see that you’ve figured out to use less detergent, I thought I’d chime in… always try less detergent first! After that, yeah, vinegar in the rinse might help, but that’s more for the urine/ammonia smell (which we didn’t get until Asher was much older). I’m about to start Micah in cloth, and we have a front-loader now, so I’m scared — I hope we can make it work! It does have all kinda of cool features (pre-wash, extra rinse, etc.) but I’ve heard horror stories.
There is a learning curve with the diaper laundry, but once I got it figured out I loved it — it’s the only kind of laundry I never minded doing, for some reason. Although by the time he was three it was getting kind of old…
And, I can’t NOT comment on the smile — how wonderful it is! Enjoy every one, even the ones directed at the furniture. (With Asher, he smiled at the crown molding for a solid WEED before he deigned to favor either parent with a true smile. Stinker.)
What a beautiful smile V has!
So glad that you found a method to get V’s diapers smelling good! Congrats!
Love
Sabrina from Argentina
P.S: I love the first pic…V using the same shoes that his dad! Jus cute!
So happy for the updates! Glad to see/read that all is well! 😀
Awwww you can really see the resemblence of Valor and James in that last pic! 🙂