This is really timely for us–I need to do this, especially with his overnight diapers.

This is so timely and helpful! My only question is, I have done a blue dawn strip and I still smell ammonia especially in the morning. Do you know of any other way to strip for ammonia build ? I need to follow your suggestions to avoid build up in the first place!

They always portray stripping diapers as this huge affair, but it’s really not that big of a deal. I think we’ve stripped our diapers twice when our kids started getting awful rashes that wouldn’t go away. We actually didn’t use Dawn, though–we just ran them through three or four wash cycles without soap.

Helpful! I think I will need to do a strip soon!

I know some people have good luck with blue dawn, but my daughter got one of the worst rashes of her diapering career after I stripped some pockets, despite several wash cycles to rinse. It did solve my repelling pocket issue, though. We keep it simple in our house. When stink creeps in, we toss a few tablespoons of bleach in the wash. I figure if my diapers stink due to bacteria buildup, they need to be disinfected. Haven’t had to strip due to stink since. When I stripped by washing multiple times, the stink was back after just a few “normal” washes. Does it wear my diapers out prematurely? Maybe, but I’m not convinced it’s any harder on them than the constant washing and rinsing before I started bleaching. After 3 kids and 5.75 years of diapering (3 of it spent bleaching regularly), I’m having to retire my first diapers–prefolds bought 6 years ago and used hard for probably close to 4 years. I can live with that. I wash covers with diapers, and just had to toss some 5.5 year old Bummis, due to shot elastic, and some 5 year old Thirsties due to cracked PUL. Again, if that’s premature wear, so be it! I try to keep cost in mind when I purchase diapers, so I’m not disappointed if they don’t last forever. A $20 diaper has to be used almost 100 times to pay for itself, but a $3 prefold, only 15 or so. And I’ve found that covers do indeed need to be stripped. When I was washing covers separately from diapers, I found that they did get stinky. Very frustrating to strip your diapers and wonder why it still stinks when your baby pees! It’s a worse problem with covers that are soft inside, like BSWW, but I have had it happen with wipe clean covers, such as Thirsties.

After 4 months of using cloth diapers, I could tell the time had come to strip the prefolds, covers, and microfiber inserts. I knew it was time because when I opened the washer after it had finished, I could still smell pee (ammonia). It was a super easy affair. I grabbed a clean 5 gallon bucket and dumped half of my stash into the bucket and then added 3 tablespoons of Ecosprout detergent on and around the diapers. I then filled the bucket to the top with cold water. I used our swish stick to poke all of the diapers down into the water. I let them sit overnight and the next day I drained off as much water as I could and then washed them using my regular diaper cycle. After a wash and dry, no smell!

I’ve never tried to strip with Dawn, but need to try it. Soaks with hot water and my cloth diaper detergent don’t seem to be keeping the stinkies away. Thanks for the information!

Why do I always see Dawn blue recommended for stripping rather than any other dishwashing detergent? What makes it different?

I think blue Dawn is supposed to be the best at cutting grease without adding a bunch of its own bulldup. If you have detergent, softener, etc. buildup on your diapers, it’s often greasy (otherwise it would rinse away easily in water), and Dawn can cut it and wash it away. I don’t think it’s that other detergents wouldn’t work, just that a lot of them aren’t as powerful, or have their own additives (moisturizers, etc.) that could cause their own problems. People have noticed that Dawn works well, so that’s what’s recommended. I’ve only tried it once, and ended up with horrid rashes, though that kid rashed up easily anyway.

This is so helpful! I’ve been thinking we should strip our diapers soon (LO has been in them for 3 months, so not TOO long)

What temperature rinses? Does it matter?

This is so helpful! I have stripped diapers once and didn’t use blue dawn. Just rinsed the diapers until all the bubbles from the detergent that was built up in them was gone.

I think I might need to do this. Sooner than I expected but I guess I’m still figuring out my wash routine. Thanks for the tips. Any advice about using RLR or some other water softeners vs. blue dawn?

I think I am having some yuck issues with my thirsties AIO’s and my bumgenius pockets. Can I use the blue dawn with a front loader?

Love blue dawn and bleach! Cloth diapering to save money often means you can’t fork over a bunch of cash upfront for a stash. I started with some cheap seconds pocket diapers and pretty much ran them into the ground. I saved up over a few months and networked with some other cding moms to build up my stash. It’s important to me to have clean smelling diapers. If that means I shorten their life by a few months, I’m ok with that. Like another blogging mama said (can’t remember who :-/) “baby the babies, not the diapers.”

Awesome! Thanks! I’ve been needing to strip my aios but wasn’t sure how.

I have a he washer….. any recommendations as to what is best to use for stripping ? i have a few duo diapers that need stripping…. anyone ever use tea tree oil on their diapers?

I always recommend starting with a plain wash and watching for bubbles, to see if you have detergent build-up in your diapers.

Ammonia is my worst diapering enemy!! Haven’t tried blue Dawn (I have a front-loader & I’m scared!)

I’ve only had to strip my diapers once, but I didn’t do the Dawn detergent method. I pre-washed normally, added 1/4 cup of bleach to the regular wash, and did my normal double rinse. No ammonia, no rashes, no fading on the outside of the AIOs (turned them inside out). The tips for avoiding ammonia build up are awesome! Thanks for the help!

I second the tip about sun! I’ve even laid covers to air-dry in a sunny windowsill and noticed it helped with the smell. And sometimes if my all-in-one diapers get stinky I’ll turn a *clean* diaper inside-out and wash it again on the next wash day. That helps a lot too. Great post!

Thanks for the great tips on stripping diapers!

A good reminder on taking out PUL covers from washer when stripping. When we strip, I do 3-5 hot washes w/o detergent after an initial wash w/detergent. It usually does the trick. I also started rinsing our morning diapers in warm water before putting it in the pail.

This is great advice. It makes stripping diapers a lot less intimidating than a lot of other websites I’ve seen. I think it’s important to catch it before it gets too bad. I will watch for ammonia when I dump them into the wash. Thanks for the tip!

This is helpful! I only knew about using blue dawn for stripping! Thanks!

Thank you for the tips. The stinkies are invading our house too.

Thanks for this!

Buildup seems to happen faster with certain liquid detergents, like Seventh Generation and the Trader Joe’s store brand. I don’t know whether powders create less buildup or that it’s just that all my CD-ing friends have used liquid laundry soap!

I have never had to strip my diapers, but now I am prepared!

We’ve just started getting a strong ammonia smell too, so I’ll be following these instructions to strip my diapers TONIGHT.

Thank you for the great tips!

Thank you! I never knew the reason for stripping the diapers. Now I can be prepared and have lots of options.

Using dishwashing liquid is not recommended in our front loader, so we use RLR Laundry Treatment for stripping and it works wonders! It’s also very easy to use.

The sun works the best for the smell for me. Unfortunately I live in Washington where we only get sun 2 months out of the year!

I have an HE washer so was avoiding use the blue dawn treatment. Glad to hear that there is an alternative.

I probably need to strip our diapers soon but so far I have just switched detergent, currently using thirsties super wash, and I soak and rinse extra every cycle. I’ve also found that vinegar helps, it can be added in the fabric softener area of your washer. I am a little worried about putting dish soap in my HE washer, has anyone else done this? Any issues with the HE using less water?

I just discovered Rockin Greens ammonia buster. The stuff works like a charm!! I also agree with line drying, smells sooo good after it’s been out in the sun!

This is a great help, I’ve only had the build up issue once, but wasn’t sure what to do and it took a lot of tries for me to get it out. Would never have thought to use the Dawn Blue. Thanks for the tip!

Our night time diapers get the funk/stink really bad! I have to strip them or give them a good soak every other month or so. All of our other diapers have been fine though. Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it’s normal!

Good to no, thanks for the how to, we are in the stage were i need to do that to ours, so it’s good to know.

Thanks so much for your post, I needed to be able to breathe again in the mornings. I’ve also started to soak my diapers/inserts in the front loading machine so that they start out wet and don’t just absorb all the water and soap. It seems to be working. My toddler and I can smile and chat now in the mornings instead of plugging our noses and gagging.

I’m still not sure about using Dawn on our cloth diapers. This is a product we don’t use at all so I definitely don’t want to add it to our HE front loader either. Thinking of trying the several hot washes method instead.

I just dealt with my first ammonia smell this morning. We’ve been cloth diapering for 2-3 weeks now. My poor husband about dies when he smelled it! They are in the wash now

Also, I’ve heard that Dawn is bad for washing machines and that you should just do it in your sink. But I guess it depends on your machine?

A great reminder on stripping diapers! I haven’t had a baby in cloth for almost 2 years now but will again soon (June).

Ew ammonia. Hate that build up!

You make it sound so simple.

Thanks for this. I haven’t had any problems with ammonia build up yet, but my son is 7 months, so I figure it’s only a matter of time. I do wash every other day, and I do a cold rinse followed by a hot cycle with a double rinse.

I just stripped my diapers with blue Dawn, but I think I might try the RLR next time like some others have suggested. Thanks for the tips on avoiding ammonia.

I am so glad I found this post. I have started noticing the ammonia smell and I also didn’t realize I shouldn’t zip up the wet bag completely. Great info! I think I’ll try a stripping of the diapers and see how that goes.

I do have a question though. You mentioned not stripping the covers, but I have noticed that even after a wash the covers also smell of ammonia. What do I do to get those extra clean?

Thanks!

Just noticed our diapers doing this!

I had terrible ammonia stink issues while using a “cloth diaper friendly” detergent. Once I switched to a regular mass market detergent all my problems vanished. I haven’t needed to soak or strip in almost a year; before, I was doing it weekly. I now use the same detergent I’ve used on our clothes for 8 years.

Can I also use Dawn or Clorax on the Hemp Inserts? My covers are fine since I sun them after washing but I think it’s my Microfiber & Hemp Inserts that are retaining the ammonia smell. Just curious what everyone else does. Been using my Thirsties pockets for about 5 months.

So glad there is all this information out about cloth diapers. I love learning about it, but it’s so much to remember.
I hope once our adopted baby enters our home I will get to use all these tips and tricks.

I use Rockin Greens Funk Rock ammonia remover. Works great!

this is such good timing, I need to do an ammonia strip!

I just did this last week and it worked like a charm!

I have had great success by adding 1/4 cup of vinegar directly to the washer. Diapers come out super fresh!

I’m so glad to find this out BEFORE I start tackling cloth diapering. Knowing this ahead of time will help me not get discouraged and give up.

Thanks for this. I also really like to throw in a few drops of bac-out, it helps disinfect and combat the smell.

I’m dealing with ammonia right now it was starting to get stronger. Mainly when I load the diapers into my machine. Now my baby has an awful rash. I’ve tried stripping with Blue Dawn a few times but I don’t think it’s working at all. I just bought some RLR and I’m going to try that. It’s probably best since I have an HE front loader anyway. It’s way old and no longer under warranty but I still don’t want to break it.

Thanks for the advice! My little guy is 10 months, and I’ve been starting to really smell the ammonia over the last few weeks. I will try stripping them with Dawn! By the way, do recommend a specfic detergent? I’ve been using Tide regular powder, and have heard mixed reviews about using that brand…

Needed this about now… thanks!