A very common question from New-to-Cloth Parents is: Do cloth diapers stink? After further discussion, it comes out...parents don't want their homes to smell like an outhouse because of their diaper pail.  Valid concern, we think. Here is our take on it and some solutions we have found.

  1. Please remember that a diaper is a diaper.  What goes into it may smell.  Cloth diapers do not have all the (really bad for you) fragrances embedded in them, so you get what you get, in all it's glory.
  2. What a newborn puts out is not offensive, in any way.  They are too cute to make stinky poop!
  3. When poop is at the stage that it gets aromatic, you are most likely into solids.  This poop should be flushed and should not sit in your diaper pail.
  4. When children start to eat a more "grown up" diet, their urine gets stronger.  The smell that you get from a diaper pail is largely the ammonia that has metabolized from the pee in the diapers.

Okay, enough observations about pee and poop.  Here are some solutions for you. 

 

  1. Use a pail with a LID
  2. Use a diaper pail liner (it keeps the pail cleaner over time)
  3. Each time you take a load of diapers out to launder, wipe down the inside of your pail with a 50/50 water/vinegar mix. We keep a sprayer with this handy (useful for the potty clean up, too).  This will sanitize and freshen.
  4. Wash your diapers at a reasonable frequency; we suggest 3 days as the longest interval to leave them
  5. Use a diaper pail deodorizer.  At New & Green, we have Bamboo Charcoal deodorizer to offer you