How to Clean Cloth Training Pants and Diapers

Do you rinse and wash your cloth training pants and diapers only to find that they have an ammonia smell? Has your little one developed a skin rash or sensitivity to cloth diapers that he/she didn't have before? It might be due to the laundry process. Let's do a little microbiology refresher: some bacteria thrive in conditions where there's no oxygen such as a wet bag, sealed plastic pails, etc. E.coli, streptococcus, and staphylococcus just to name a few. But let me not get bogged down with name dropping here. Some skin infections, such as staph infections and impetigo are caused by these lovely microbes. "Ok, mother-nerd, how do I prevent this?", you're thinking that right now, aren't ya? 1. Shake off all solid waste 2. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Spray them down or just run them under a stream of cold water and rinse them well. 3. Store your cloth diapers or training pants in a ventilated container until wash day. That could be in a Rubbermaid container with holes punched in the lid, or an open pail. 4. Ensure that you're using enough laundry detergent. Sometimes the old eyeballing it technique isn't adequate. 5. Use the extra rinse cycle on your machine. If you're doing all of the above and still have ammonia odor try adding a little laundry detergent to your storage pail as a presoak while they await wash day. Try using one third to half of the amount that you would normally launder them with. 6. Add a cup of white vinegar in the washer. This won't work if you have really hard water, but does fine otherwise. I don't have a front loading machine, so make sure there's no contraindication to doing so if you have one of those fancy-schmancy models. Remember that fabric softeners decrease absorbency, so avoid using them when laundering diapers or training pants.