Since June of this year I have been blogging and Facebooking about my extreme annoyance with ammonia.
In June, I asked are “Ammonia cloth diapers burning your baby?” That post is where I talked about RLR. I tried it, it worked for a little while and then I was right back where I started.
In July, Majaliwa Bass of Pooters Diapers wrote a guest post about Cleaning Your Diapers the HARD Way. From this post I took her suggestion to try Rockin Green Hard Rock. Again, I had very temporary slight success but soon Sterling was burning again.
Finally, at the end of July I wrote about using Tide on my cloth diapers. Tide gave me the longest stretch of success but ultimately it was a come and go problem that never really went away. The ammonia would lessen but it was always there. I think I began to accept that I was going to have some ammonia so a little wouldn’t hurt. Plus, as long as I remembered to lather on the Grandma El’s Sterling wouldn’t be burned in the morning…simply a band-aid not a cure.
Then, in October I wrote about The Importance of Rinsing. Still very important but not a cure. The ammonia just didn’t relent.
All of the trial and error was beginning to frustrate even this seasoned cloth diaper veteran. Not to mention my husband’s confusion as to why this “cloth diaper expert” couldn’t fix the problem.
At the end of October, Kim Webb of Rockin Green contacted me about her new “ammonia busting” product she was releasing in November. I agreed to test it out. Honestly, a small sample pack didn’t produce results for me. However, I wasn’t using it the right way.
When Funk Rock was released in November I bought a bag because I was still having problems and I wanted to give it a far shot. You’d think that I would have soaked the diapers right away, right?
I’m pretty stubborn. I let the Funk Rock sit while I experimented with Borax–kind of a funny story. I get sidetracked in the grocery store a lot and while browsing the laundry aisle (isn’t that what every laundry frustrated mom does??) I saw the Borax. I’ve read about it forever so I bought a box. After using it I did see improvement but just like the other attempts the ammonia came back— and Clean B along with a number of different cycle settings on my machine.
Finally, I was fed up. I filled up the bathtub with all the hot water my water heater had, added 4 TB Funk Rock, then dumped in every cloth diaper item I had (I first cleaned the dirty ones). Meanwhile, I had our HUGE pot on the stove boiling water. My husband helped me carry it to the tub and we poured it over the diapers. Then, I added about 4 TB more of the Funk Rock. I loved the fizzing noise it made :)
I let the diapers (32 inserts and 30+ diapers) soak for about 12 hours. I drained the tub and painstakingly rung each item out. I was seriously cramping and giving myself pep talks near the end.
I tossed them in the washer and ran 2 cycles with no detergent for rinsing purposes. Last night Sterling was back in cloth and I was praying Funk Rock had done it’s job.
I woke up several times last night in anticipation for the morning sniff test…isn’t that hilarious? Who wakes up and can’t wait to sniff a pee saturated diaper? Oh, well.
I changed Sterling at about 8am after 12 hours in the Bum Genius 4.0 w/ 2 microfiber inserts. Hesitantly and with a bit of fear (if you’ve inhaled ammonia you know where the fear comes from) I deeply sniffed the inserts. At this point I’m thinking us cloth diaper moms are a little crazy. Typing this makes me feel silly.
Anyways, I am so over-the-top, head-over-heels, jumping out of my skin excited to report that there was ZERO ammonia. Not even a teeny tiny hint. I wish I could record the smell just to prove it to you. NO AMMONIA! I have never, ever had the ammonia completely gone.
The sad thing is I am afraid to do my next load of cloth diapers. Now that I have them fixed I don’t want to mess them up. Which detergent am I going to go with? Lots of decisions to make but at least I know how to fix the problem if it arises in the future.
I want others to share their success with Funk Rock. I have hard water and a FL machine. I honestly think if it worked in my situation it can help with others.
Have you tried Funk Rock?
Autumn is a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, friend and most important a follower of Christ.
Chelsea says
When I run the 2 cycles after using the funk rock, do I do a hot wash or all cold? or warm?
Autumn Beck says
If it’s a rinsing type cycle I do hot.
melinda says
I posted this at the top, but meant to post it here at the bottom lol Sorry about that…
You guys who are doing the dawn strip. You don’t need to add bleach, but you DO need to add boiling hot water to saturate the inserts (DO NOT ADD YOUR DIAPERS TO THIS IF THEY HAVE PUL..The boiling water WILL damage your PUL.). I suggest putting them in your bathtub. Merely letting them sit or soak IS NOT enough! You HAVE to SCRUB them! It will break up any bacteria, mineral buildup that has occurred. Buy a soft nail brush at your local CVS, Walgreens, etc. Let those inserts sit overnight (you can add the dipes once the water has cooled a bit). And then use some serious elbow grease on them the next morning.
Once you’re done scrubbing, put the STILL SATURATED dipes and inserts in your front or even top loader. The key to kicking the ammonia build up is RINSES! If you follow “engineering moms” routine, it really does help! I would use Funk Rock first though, and then follow her rinsing suggestions. Once you’re done (i’ve tweaked it slightly for my clients in Austin, TX), rinse rinse RINSE until ALL bubbles have disappeared.
And once this clears up your ammonia your laundry routine HAS to be tweaked, especially if you have a front loader HE machine. You need AS MUCH WATER AS POSSIBLE going through your dipes and inserts. Invest in a diaper sprayer and soak them with every diaper change. Put them in your wet bag, which will be wet, but is well worth it. Add a pitcher or more water to your front loader before the pre-rinse cycle, and do a few post rinse cycles as well. I highly suggest using Hard Rock, not Tide or anything else, especially if you have Hard Rock. At least a Tablespoon. This may take some adjusting. But most importantly is WATER! that’s how you’re getting the ammonia buildup.
Good luck!! You don’t have to keep suffering with ammonia buildup. It really is all about getting ENOUGH water going through your diapers, once you’ve tackled and neutralized the initial problem of ammonia burn/buildup!
Melinda says
You guys who are doing the dawn strip. You don’t need to add bleach, but you DO need to add boiling hot water to saturate the inserts (DO NOT ADD YOUR DIAPERS TO THIS IF THEY HAVE PUL..The boiling water WILL damage your PUL.). I suggest putting them in your bathtub. Merely letting them sit or soak IS NOT enough! You HAVE to SCRUB them! It will break up any bacteria, mineral buildup that has occurred. Buy a soft nail brush at your local CVS, Walgreens, etc. Let those inserts sit overnight (you can add the dipes once the water has cooled a bit). And then use some serious elbow grease on them the next morning.
Once you’re done scrubbing, put the STILL SATURATED dipes and inserts in your front or even top loader. The key to kicking the ammonia build up is RINSES! If you follow “engineering moms” routine, it really does help! I would use Funk Rock first though, and then follow her rinsing suggestions. Once you’re done (i’ve tweaked it slightly for my clients in Austin, TX), rinse rinse RINSE until ALL bubbles have disappeared.
And once this clears up your ammonia your laundry routine HAS to be tweaked, especially if you have a front loader HE machine. You need AS MUCH WATER AS POSSIBLE going through your dipes and inserts. Invest in a diaper sprayer and soak them with every diaper change. Put them in your wet bag, which will be wet, but is well worth it. Add a pitcher or more water to your front loader before the pre-rinse cycle, and do a few post rinse cycles as well. I highly suggest using Hard Rock, not Tide or anything else, especially if you have Hard Rock. At least a Tablespoon. This may take some adjusting. But most importantly is WATER! that’s how you’re getting the ammonia buildup.
Good luck!! You don’t have to keep suffering with ammonia buildup. It really is all about getting ENOUGH water going through your diapers, once you’ve tackled and neutralized the initial problem of ammonia burn/buildup!
marlise says
Thanks for the info. Melinda!!! I have been suffering from an ammonia problem that is frustrating me to no end (combo of hard water and front loaders)!! Yesterday and boiled a bunch of my microfibre inserts in a big pot on the stove for about 45 minutes. Then added Dawn and let them soak for several hours, followed by 4 rinses in my washer. I hope this works for stripping because I need a good strip so I can begin to tweak my washing routine. I didn’t try scrubbing (I read your post after I did it) so if I’m still having problem, I’ll try the scrubbing.
So, just to clarify, your routine is:
1. Spray each diaper and put in the wet bag soaking wet (I don’t have a sprayer but just recently I started rinsing every insert/diaper in the sink and putting them is my wet bag soaking wet)
2. Add a pitcher or more of COLD water to the washer prior to the first rinse.
3. One cold rinse
4. One (?) hot wash with CD detergent (I use Crunchy Clean). I have also recently started adding Calgon with my detergent.
5. Several cold (?) rinses without detergent etc.
Sorry, I’m new to cloth and struggling to find the right wash routine because of the horrible combo of hard water and HE machine. Thanks for all your help!!
Leah says
I was having awful ammonia issues for a while, in my HE machine. We have extremely hard water. I tried soaking in funk rock and then using it regularly, which helped. But the ammonia was always still there in the background. What seemed to REALLY work (at least as of about 4 months later), is:
1. strip the diapers (once) with dawn and bleach (in my mom’s top loading machine) to get rid of all the detergent and ammonia build-up
2. wash regularly with Rockin Green Hard Rock plus Calgon
3. as often as possible, rinse out the pee diapers immediately after use, in cold water in the sink.
I think that last step has been the most important. I can’t rinse all the diapers every time, because my son is in day care and his nanny isn’t about to do that. But rinsing most of them out right after use, especially the night time ones, seems to prevent the ammonia from building up in the first place. I haven’t actually used Funk Rock since stripping the diapers and starting this routine 4 months ago, and the ammonia smell only seems to show up in diapers that have been sitting around for a couple days. Anyone else have a similar experience?
Marlise says
Thanks for the tips!! I also have VERY hard water and a front loader and am having horribly frustrating ammonia problems. I feel like I’ve tried everything and don’t want to continue to buy things that don’t work. I feel like I just need a good stripping but so far my stripping hasn’t been successful (soaking for several hours in extremely hot water with Dawn in my bathtub). So, I just had a question about your stripping – how exactly did you do it in the top loader (i.e. did you add the bleach and the dawn together? Hot soak? How long? Followed by several rinses? How much dawn and bleach did you use?). I’m definitely going to try the rinses immediately after use. Thanks for the suggestion – cheap and easy!!!
Sherry says
7 months in and I thought I was one of the lucky ones until the ammonia caught up with us. Keeping my daughter in cloth is my goal so I have stripped the diapers with funk rock and moved on to Laundry Tarts detergent. Not only am I benefiting from the ammonia free mornings but it is readily available for purchase in Canada. Not saying I will never go back to Rockin’ Green but I think the solution may be more than one brand. Maybe switching every few months will be our solution.
Engineering Mom says
Does anyone recommend lots of cold water rinses? Ammonia is a gas and gasses don’t dissolve hardly at all in hot water (unlike solids). Has anyone tried just a lot of cold rinses after some really good hot washing. You know, hot washes to get it clean and convert the urea to ammonia and then several cold water rinses (like washer full of water) with good amount of vinegar (low pH and cold temp increase ammonia’s solubility).
I’m a chemical engineer and think that would address the ammonia directly. So many things contribute to urea decomposition to ammonia, there’s a lot you can screw up (chemically) when trying to deal with those many, interdependent variables. I would think just attacking the ammonia directly might work after converting the urea to ammonia through he use of high heat.
Maybe this doesn’t make sense. We have some serious ammonia recently and are going to try a series of experiments to have a good understanding of what’s really going on.
In the meant time, just want to know if the CD community has already tried this idea out and found it to be bad.
Again, my wash idea (not tested yet) is:
-Large volume of cold pre wash water – no additives or detergents (remove poo and ammonia)
-Large volume of (very!) hot wash water – CD safe detergent, Dawn (hot water and detergent kill/clean away bacteria, Dawn to increase diaper penetration (it’s a surfactant) and help reduce repelling)
– Two large volume washes of (very!) hot water – no detergent or additives (hot water continues to kill bacteria, dissolves minerals and detergent build up, converts remaining urea to ammonia)
– Two large volume washes of COLD water – no detergent or additives (cold water increases ammonia solubility at least by a factor of four, so you’re converting ammonia generated in the hot rinses/washes to ammonium (dissolving the ammonia) and rinsing it away).
– Two minimal volume cold washes (as little water as you can get away with) – 3/4 Downy ball full of white vinegar (the reduced volume of water will mean the concentration of acid will be higher than if you added the vinegar to the large volume rinses – this will help drop the pH which will be like a final shot at dissolving any remaining ammonia).
Again, I have NEVER DONE THIS and you have to definitely check with your diaper manufacturer recommendations regarding vinegar, but if you have pretty hard water then you’ll need to add a lot of vinegar to because most of it will just react with the minerals in the water, leaving less acetic acid available to do it’s thing by distributing hydrogen ions to lower the water’s pH (i.e., hard water minerals are going to gobble up a lot of your vinegar’s acidic powers – leaving you with softer water, but perhaps not much of a drop in pH – which is what you want for increased ammonia solubility).
I’ll have to let everyone know how it goes. Unless, I see someone posts that it’s been done a million times and nobody recommends it. :)
Nina says
Hi Engineering Mom,
I have done something like this and it seems to be working out just fine, no stink or ammonia issues at the moment. I had a go with them at one point but we just raised our water temperature and that seemed to do the trick. At this point I start out with 2 cold rinse/drain/rinse cycles then I do two hot washes, one with more detergent than the latter. During the hot wash cycle there is an extra cold rinse option and I use that too. We use Rockin Green and so far so good, only 1 problem in 1 year of CDiapering~ Good luck!
Christy @ pureMotherhood says
I may try this but if I have to do this every wash I’m just going to go with disposables. I can’t see wasting that much water/energy every time I wash. We have a horrible ammonia problem that has left my poor toddler’s bum RED and peeling.
Melinda says
Christy, how often are you washing? And where are you guys located at that you’re having so many issues at?
If you’re experiencing a drought, then there are a lot of impurities in your water, and your water table is super low. You need to be sure you’re washing AT LEAST every other day and if you’re experiencing so many problems washing every day is going to be more ideal. Of course FIXING the ammonia problem is going to be the first step first and foremost.
My clients have had LOTS of success with Funk Rock, and with a drought using Hard Rock on a regular basis is ideal. You need LOTS of water in your washers, whether it’s an HE washer or a regular washer. Charlie’s soap and their laundry booster is a great supplement to keep mineral build up at bay. I use this at least once a week in Austin, TX and suggest to my clients in Austin to use this at least once a week as well being we have awful hard water in Austin as well.
I hate to hear of all of you having such awful issues with ammonia. Also be careful with vinegar use. It’s TERRIBLE on your PUL even in small doses.
Best of luck :o)
Christy @ pureMotherhood says
We live in Indiana. We’re not in a drought at all but have very hard water. My little one is now potty trained during the day and only wears diapers for naps and night time so washing every day or every other day is next to impossible, which is why we’ve switched to disposables for now.
When he was in diapers full time I washed every other day and I still need to fix the ammonia problem with the diapers b/c his little sister, who is due in Aug, will be using the same diapers eventually.
We use vinegar in the rinse cycle for our dishwasher to keep build up off our glasses & silverware. I assume it would do the same with our prefolds – keep the build up off of them – though I’m not so sure it’s a buildup problem as we have no repelling issues, just ammonia.
Melinda says
It doesn’t sound like you’re having buildup, since you aren’t having repelling. Just the ammonia problem. Ammonia buildup won’t cause repelling, just the burn which is obviously much much worse.
My success has been following a similar routine that engineering mom posted, though I tweaked it slightly to accommodate the hard water in Austin, TX. I suggest using the Funk Rock first to neutralize as much ammonia as possible, and if your prefolds have been sitting a while then you may need to do a few cycles with that. BUT FIRST, you should DEFINITELY do a dawn strip to start with a clean slate. Most people don’t realize that Funk Rock can’t do it’s job when you have all sorts of other junk going on. You need as clean of a slate as possible to work with.
Dawn strip with boiling water (don’t add anything with PUL to the boiling water. Be sure everything is saturated well. Add PUL items later once water has cooled. Soak overnight). Scrub. LITERALLY SCRUB the inserts, prefolds. Merely soaking isn’t enough.
Use Funk Rock. Follow engineering moms suggestions, or I can email you what I’ve done that’s slightly Tweaked. Then rinse rinse rinse to get all bubbles out.
Change your washing routine to include as much water as possible in your HE machine if that’s what you have, and use a CD safe detergent. I strongly advise AGAINST using Tide (but that’s just me :o) ). I am a strong advocate for hard rock in areas with hard water, and following up with Charlie’s soap and the laundry booster once to twice a week to help with mineral buildup.
I hope you can get this under control and best of luck to you and your new arrival soon!!!
Lanae says
I started cloth diapering about 2 weeks ago, and I really like it….but…I’ve started to notice my diapers stink, they smell like ammonia and it’s horrible…even my thirsties cover stinks. I have no idea what to do. I want to keep cding but I can’t stand the smell. What would you recommend doing? I need help.
Emily says
I have tried Funk Rock and Rockin’ Green. I like RG for my clothes, towels and bedding but I do NOT like it for my diapers. I have been having ammonia smell for awhile now so I started to use RG all the time with my diapers and washing it the way she recommends for my HE washer. I would soak and soak and add more and more water and it did NOT help one little bit. My son has been battling a diaper rash for a while now and he has been to many different doctors and no body says the same thing. I have pretty much given up on docs and just doing my own thing. Last night I washed them is Dawn. I was really worried to because I have a front load but my friend told me it was fine. I have washed them 3 times and tonight when I get home from work we will see if it has worked. Not that I had a bad experience with FR or RG I just didn’t get any results that were promised. I used it for a few months because it says it might take awhile to get the other detergents out of your diapers but after about 4 months it was worse and soaking did not help.
Connie says
I’m fairly certain after several months with funk rock my diapers are worse. I didn’t have ammonia issues before, my issue the last year has been a funky poopy smell…like the baby pooped when it hasn’t. Despite using rockin green on my diapers and Charlie’s on my laundry, I have to bleach my inserts every 4-7 weeks as maintenance. I’m not crazy about bleach so I bought funk rock the day it launched. I followed the funk rock directions to a T, even emailing Kim for advice. The first soak of funk rock kept the poopy smell away for less than 3 weeks. I was frustrated so I bleached my bum genius inserts. When the smell returned I decided to give my funk rock another try instead of using bleach. I did an overnight soak in rockin green then did a funk rock soak (as Kim directed using less water just enough to cover the inserts) for several hours. To test for smell I put my inserts in the dryer and they still smelled! I did another overnight soak in rockin green and the inserts didn’t smell anymore. Here is where my issue with funk rock starts. Over the course of the last 3 weeks instead of my diapers smelling like poop they smell like ammonia. My diaper pail reeks and now my laundry room does too. I feel like I created another problem. Last night I bleached my inserts again and rinsed them with hot water over and over. I’m not sure what the issue is. I started googling to see if after several months using funk rock if people were noticing issues with it. In addition, I can detect a scent (not good, not bad) on my inserts after using funk rock. I can’t put my finger on what it is but it must be one of the ingredients giving off it’s scent; it is almost undetectable.
Heather says
to those who are having trouble with the poop smell, I had that issue as well. I realized that my water tank does not heat the water hot enough to kill the poo bacteria, so no matter what did they would eventually smell, especially after one of the boys would pee. Anyway, once I started using bac out in my first wash, that problem never returned. I do a couple of squirts, use allens naturally soap, and sometimes use vinegar in the rinse cycle. I have been doing that for about 1 year now and no smell since. I do have ammonia problems too, but that happens of the pail sits more than 2 days or so…and we never really night time CDed :( b/c I just never found anything that didn’t leak (but thats another post). . But i am curious- if you use a fleece liner, or some “stay dry” liner, do your kids still get that ammonia burn? I did read that with HE washers now the problem with ammonia is much worse, and increasing the water and detergent amount is helpful. There is some good info on the Bummi’s website about how ammonia buildup happens and what to do.
Ivy Byron says
Hi Autumn, I found this post and was SO excited because I too have hard water, and a front loading machine, and ammonia stink! Has the Funk Rock continued to work for you? I have recently done two soaks, some bleaching (the first soak didn’t work…argh), countless wash/rinse cycles and now I’m afraid to even try the diapers out for fear they will not work. Curious to know if your stink has been cured. Do you add it to your pre-wash? How do you add to a prewash in a front-loader? Thanks for blogging, you are so helpful!
Autumn Beck says
I add it to my prewash directly on the diapers but the ammonia did return. I need to do another soak. I’ve been using Flip disposable inserts at night b/c the nighttime diapers are “infected”.
Marlena vendemia says
Autumn has the funk Rock use in every load been keeping the ammonia away? Are you still having success?
Autumn Beck says
See my reply to Ivy Byron just below.
Nina says
I haven’t used Funk Rock but I am in the process of just soaking my diapers in the tub in boiling water because I do not have the ammonia issue but the stinky diaper issue. Lately we’ll clean the diapers and they will smell fine, but as soon as the baby wets it, it smells like poop (whether or not there even is one!) Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone have a solution? Do you think just a hot water soak will get rid of it? I was thinking it may be caused by detergent or other buildup in the diapers. We currently use Bumgenius AIO organic & Fuzzibunz & Blueberries for overnight! It seems to happen mostly with the Bums & Blues… Any thoughts or advice?
Autumn Beck says
Wash with some Tide, rinse a lot and see if that helps. You could also add 1/4 cup bleach and see if that helps. They don’t sound like they’re getting cleaned.
Diana says
I have a similar problem with a few of my Fuzzi Bunz. I soaked the troublesome dipes in classic RNG overnight three different times, without any serious improvement…..they smell like poop. I finally took to bleaching the inserts, and then hung everything out on the line to freeze — hoping the UV rays would help. The inserts have no smell, but the FB pockets have improved slightly. Was wondering if Funk Rock would help these stubborn diapers. I’m getting desperate enough to try bleach. Then if that doesn’t work, I may just throw them away and switch to all prefolds, or try flats.
Jamie says
I LOVE Funk Rock! I used it on some BumGenius 3.0s I bought used for my potty-training 2 year old. The diapers were repelling like crazy and the owner of a local store suggested I strip them using Funk Rock. No more repelling! :)
Carrie Carter says
Why do you recommend vinegar for soft water? We have soft water and I was wondering if I should try vinegar. I have read to use vinegar and not to use vinegar that it can cure and cause problems. My DD’s overnight diapers started stinking the other day of ammonia and she is too young to really have that problem. She is 4 months. None of the other diapers stink at all. Just the two rumparooz that I use for overnight. I was contemplating trying the funk rock since I cannot have stinky diapers since my husband is less than enthused about cloth diapering and has a sensitive snout.
Autumn Beck says
Vinegar will break down buildup and ammonia crystals when used in soft water. In hard water, vinegar can react with the minerals causing odors and staining. In your situation I would add a downy ball (1/2 cup to 1 cup) of vinegar to the washer.
Kerri says
I have a FL HE washer/dryer. For my washer settings I only have
1) Hot/Hot
2) Hot/Cold
3) Warm/Cold and
4) Cold/Cold
How should I wash my CD? Everyone basically recommends a prewash with cold and end with a warm wash but my settings don’t preset at these…. Anyone else that has a machine like this that can give me some input on what they do????
**Also, I am going to be using Rockin’ Green detergent.**
Autumn Beck says
I use a normal cycle as my prewash (cold/cold w/ no spin). Then I run a heavy duty (hot/cold w/ no spin) with detergent and another heavy duty (hot/cold) no detergent.
Kerri says
Autumn- does it take to wash your diapers with this process? Each of my full load runs would be about an hour. So does it take you about 3 hours to wash your diapers?
Autumn Beck says
I’m not sure. I don’t pay attention to it much since it’s in the garage. I would guess it takes at least that long.
Lara says
Well, FR didn’t seem to work for us. When I took off DS’s night time diaper it smelled like ammonia. :( Not as bad as before the soak and he wasn’t red but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I’ve started soaking our night time diapers in hot, hot water right after they come off DS as I’ve heard that the hot water can help to break down the ammonia salts. Is there any truth to this?? Do you have any other suggestions?
Autumn Beck says
Yes, hot water will help. Do you have hard water? If not soak in vinegar then wash.
Lara says
Hi Autumn! I just did an overnight soak in RNG and then a soak in Funk Rock. It seems to have helped! I was just wondering if you are still adding FR to each of your diaper loads? If so, does it seem to helping? I’m willing to keep up with the FR if it’s going to help.
TIA :)
Lara
Autumn Beck says
1TB in the pre-wash is my routine. The jury is still out if it will work in the long run.
Roxanna says
I wrote a Funk Rock review very similar to yours for Wee Care Diaper company. They sent me a package and I had 3 days to try it and submit my review. I was also extremely, jumping for joy, excited after that first wash. No smell! Then after 2 days in the wet bag, NO ammonia! But sadly after one wash, everything smelled again! Now I just want to burn my front loader and buy and old top loader, but my DH won’t go for it :( Now I have given up and am using vinegar on my poor PUL diapers. I know it is terrible but I am not sure what else to do! My only silver cloud of hope about this is I found out I was pregnant just the week I was trying out the Funk Rock. So I am wondering if maybe the smell is way less, but I am just way more sensitive to it. Ahh, what to do??
Autumn Beck says
Congrats on the pregnancy! I know Kim recommends that you soak in Hard Rock (or strip some other way) before you do the Funk Rock. If you have soft to normal water then vinegar should be fine on your diapers. Lots of vinegar soaks would obviously be bad but adding it to the rinse in small doses is good for a clean rinse.
Marisol Perry says
since we’re talking about laundering cd’s i have a question about a product that I recently came across. It is called Dropps baby laundry detergent. they claim that it is safe on cd’s and good for all types of washers, hot and cold washes, and hard and soft water. it sounds like a miracle detergent-maybe too good to be true? does anyone have experience with this particular product?
Sharron Clemons says
I have some Funk Rock sitting next to the washer now but I haven’t used it yet! I noticed the package said to use on 20 diapers, and I know my load today is a bit bigger than that, so I was doing a little “searching” to see what others have experienced with it thus far and ran across your blog! I’m so excited to read this, and I can’t wait to try it out. I was really hoping to like the FR since I haven’t LOVED the RNG in general, and I know *most* CD mamas do. Also, I haven’t used Grandma El’s myself but I know several ladies that have had build-up on their dipes from it, so I would look into that as a source that may be adding to your ammonia problem. Thanks again for posting!
Jenni F says
since we’re talking about laundering cd’s i have a question about a product that I recently came across. It is called Dropps baby laundry detergent. they claim that it is safe on cd’s and good for all types of washers, hot and cold washes, and hard and soft water. it sounds like a miracle detergent-maybe too good to be true? does anyone have experience with this particular product?
Autumn Beck says
I have no experience with it. But, there is no miracle detergent :) I thought I found a miracle many times only to discover it didn’t sustain in the long run. It never hurts to try though!
Emily says
I am having a lot of issues with ammonia smell but beyond that I have been battling a diaper rash since the week before Halloween!!! It will subside for about four or five days then come back with a vengeance. I have tried GroVia Magic Stick, butt paste, Monistat 7, a prescription I think it was called Nystaten, vacoilne, baby powder, feeding him yogurt, desetin and an anti-fungal spray I made myself. I just don’t know what to do. I have put him back into disposable diapers until I figure out the ammonia issues because they just adds to the rash. If you have any ideas that would be awesome!!!
Autumn Beck says
Have you done anything to get rid of the ammonia? If you have soft water, try vinegar soak. If you have hard water, try boiling water and funk rock.
Cheryl says
If you contact Kim @ rockin’ green- she helps everyone with their detergent problems even if you don’t use their product. You can also read this bit on their blog- http://rockingreensoap.com/?cat=4
Hope this helps
Erin says
If you are breastfeeding, that makes an AWESOME rash remedy (as long as it’s not a yeast rash). I put some in a small container and kept it in the fridge and applied with a cotton ball. It worked better than 7 creams we tried, as well as 2 perscriptions (we used Nystatin, too).
Emily says
Well a friend of mine told me to strip with blue Dawn and vinegar. It did not help it at all. They still smelled really bad. (No, I’m not pregnant either) ;-) I have done an over night soak in RG and then a three hour soak in FR and it didn’t help either. I took my son to the doctor and he said he had a yeast infection in his intestines. He was on meds for that and I also put him in disposable diapers so I wouldn’t get the yeast back into the diapers. After two weeks on the meds and A&D ointment, his butt looked alot better. So I put him back into the cloth diapers and it looks like the rash is coming back. Right now I am washing his diapers in Bumgenious. I have a front load machine and I am running a cold/cold rinse/spin cycle with an extra rinse, a hot/cold wash with extra was, extra rinse, and then one more cold/cold rinse/spin w/ extra rinse. Our water heater is on the hottest setting possible. The diapers he is in now I was able to hang up out side for about 4 hours then put them in the drier to soften them up. I don’t know what else to do……………HELP!!!!!
Kimberley says
Kim has been so wonderful to work with. My initial detergent (Charlie’s) gave me no problem, but I wanted to try RnG. This was before the different formulas came out. Not long after, my ammonia problem began. To be fair, it could have been brewing before the switch, but I didn’t notice it… and, my son’s butt burns began ramping up, so that really upped the ante for me.
I figured maybe I needed the Hard Rock formula, so I ordered that when it came out, and the problem got worse. I contacted Kim who determined that I needed Classic instead, so she exchanged all 4 bags I had bought. Despite following several different regimens, the ammonia remained. I tried vinegar, no vinegar, rinse-wash-rinse, rinse-rinse-wash-rinse-rinse, less soap, more soap, etc.
I switched to Tide, and that seemed to work for a few weeks, but then the smell came back. Plus, I hate Tide. His bottom burns went away for awhile, but now they’re back. Honestly, we’re using disposables far more than I want to.
Kim sent me some FR to try with all of my ongoing issues. I had to do 2 full soaks, but it does seem that the ammonia is out. I say ‘seem’ because some diapers still seem a bit stubborn, and maybe I need to do one final soak on those. That will empty out my bag of FR.
My thoughts: IF this does the trick AND lasts awhile (several months), I’ll consider purchasing it and using it with RnG. If not, it’s back to Charlie’s for us. The product seems great, and Kim has been awesome! But, I can’t justify regularly spending another $15 bucks or so each month on diapers…
Majaliwa Bass says
So I tried my Funk Rock this week for the first time and it worked GREAT!!! I only wash cold because I have a Laundry Pure – but here’s what I did.
1. Filled washer with water (top loader)
2. Added 4 tbsp of Funk Rock and diapers
3. Closed lid and let load agitate for 1 minute
4. Opened lid and let diapers soak overnight
5. In the AM, closed lid and let wash cycle finish
6. Ran another wash cycle with 2 tbsp of detergent
7. Ran one last wash cycle with no detergent
8. Dried in dryer
Autumn Beck says
I’m really jealous that you have a top loader.
Amanda says
I have some Funk Rock sitting next to the washer now but I haven’t used it yet! I noticed the package said to use on 20 diapers, and I know my load today is a bit bigger than that, so I was doing a little “searching” to see what others have experienced with it thus far and ran across your blog! I’m so excited to read this, and I can’t wait to try it out. I was really hoping to like the FR since I haven’t LOVED the RNG in general, and I know *most* CD mamas do. Also, I haven’t used Grandma El’s myself but I know several ladies that have had build-up on their dipes from it, so I would look into that as a source that may be adding to your ammonia problem. Thanks again for posting!
Erica says
As I type I am currently soaking my dipes in FR. I have been in contact with Kim for a few weeks now trying to resolve some repelling issues my diapers have. She has amazing customer service and I can not wait to see how FR helps the rest of my diapers.
Julie says
I am having lots of issues with this as well. My daughter can not wear cloth during nap or nighttime because of this issue. :( We go through more disposables than we want. I noticed that you said you put Grandma EI’s cream on them with the cloth. Do you put it right on the cloth or do you use a barrier like a fleece liner or something? I ordered a pack of fleece liners that I do use some with coconut oil and lavendar balm on her bottom but that seems to make her red too. I ordered some of the Grandma EI’s cream today so can’t wait to get that and try it, but let me know how you use it.
Thanks so much for your blog! It’s such a huge help to me!
Autumn Beck says
I don’t use a liner when I use Grandma El’s
Courtney says
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been so frustrated. For 11 months, we had zero problems, and this past month nothing I do will keep her poor little bottom from having little burns all over it in the morning. (And my eyes burning from the smell!) I just ordered the Funk Rock 5 minutes ago!
Stephanie says
SO glad to see this! About a 2 weeks ago, I was ready to toss my cloth diapers. We moved and now have extremely hard well water and a front loading washer :( My diapers reaked of ammonia and metal. I stripped, bleached, soaked, hand washing, small loads, big loads, daily washing, vinegar, baking soda, and combinations of all of the above. My pre-folds were even stinky and in 6 years of use, they have never smelled.
I ordered funk rock and did an overnight soak in detergent and then a 60 minute F.R. soak. Voila! Clean usable diapers! Seriously. I soaked all my diapers as well. 36 inserts and about 20 PFs. then added the covers to the F.R. soak. All but about 5 inserts (micro terry) came out perfect. And those were perfect after a 30 minute soak in F.R.
I’m so grateful to R.G. for this product! My son is almost 2 so I thought about just putting him in sposies for a few months until we potty train, it was that bad. So happy to have a solution for our hard water, f.l., stinky diaper problem!
stephanie says
We’ve been having this problem. So glad to hear there may be a solution!
Heidi Maxwell (The Madness!) says
We only have big time ammonia issues if I don’t really rinse the microfiber out. We use it only for night dipes and I rinse it in the sink when we get up in the morning. When my hubs does morning duty (like Thanksgiving Week) and doesn’t rinse the night inserts, I can tell right away, as the very next load of dipes will have ammonia smells. But I’m also convinced that all of my diapers suffer once the ammonia gets in the pail.
Good to know that the Funk Rock is working. I may have to have a few samples on hand for those occasions when we do have issues.
Laura says
I have to agree with the other ladies about the FL washer. Mine is a Kenmore and has been fine for everything, until I started CD. Recently I used my moms Top loader and my dipes got MUCH cleaner and actually smell clean, which has never happened before ( because i used a FL) My son is only 4 mos so I still have alot to learn in the means of wash routines but with my FL, and hard water I have tried Bum Genius, Charlies soap and Rock N Green. None of them have given me fresh smelling diapers, so it must be the FL machine.
Sherry W. says
Wow, this is great to hear about Funk Rock. I don’t have ammonia problems but if they arise I will know where to turn. I have been using Rockin’ Green Hard Rock from day one on my Cds (and all other laundry). I think this is the trick, to find a detergent you can stick with from the get go. I hope to never need to change it up.
Using Rockin’ Green might work for you now that you have used the Funk rock. I know you were not stuck on it last time you used it but I think it deserves a second chance, lol.
Jaclyn O'Hara says
RnG is my absolute favorite–it works!!! I’ve been CD’ing for 8 mos now (how long my daughter has been with me), and we have used RnG exclusively and in 2 different parts of the country (Massachusetts and Illinois)–we had a minor hiccup when the recall happened, but I stuck with them and they’ve been great! Kim helped me herself when we moved from MA and had stinky issues (had to change formulas). Now, having Funk Rock completes my wash routine. The first time I used it on our extremely foul-smelling (or my husband’s favorite quote, “A formidable scent; stings the nostrils.”) fitteds (sustainableBabyish snapless), I just added 4 tbsp to the regular wash–I didn’t follow the directions :). Well, it didn’t work nearly as well as I had wanted. I reread the directions and decided that, yes, I HAD to do an overnight soak as it suggested, even though I HATE doing that. But, we rocked a soak overnight, then I ran the dipes through a cold quick cycle to rinse them a little, and then soaked them in hot w/ 4 tbsp of Funk Rock for 1 hr, then washed. Well, IT WORKED!!! I didn’t even have the ammonia smell in the dryer!!! So, for us, it is AWESOME, as long as we follow the directions. It’s been 2 weeks, I’ve been adding 1 tbsp per load as it suggests, and we haven’t seen or heard from ammonia :)
Julia says
Great to know! I was really excited to see this product out, although I haven’t had luck with Rockin Green overall. I am super excited to get RID of the ammonia build up in my boy’s diapers! Thanks for this review.
Lisa says
I switched from RNG to Eco Sprout detergent. I used to love RNG but had it with the ammonia stink. Then came the pail shake, then came the Funk Rock. It is reccomended to use it in every wash with the RNG detergent. I think that is too many steps and too much money to spend. Then I found Eco Sprout on Facebook and read great reviews. I got a sample and loved it! There was NO AMMONIA stink on my diapers OR in my pail any more. Why buy 3 products when you can buy just one???
Autumn Beck says
I’m glad you are having success with Eco Sprout. I want to love a wahm detergent that works consistently for an extended period of time but I haven’t found a perfect one yet. Clean B is the closest for my situation to working. Everyone has different water (vinegar and bleach don’t work for me as it does for others) and machines are completely varied.
Kristen says
I bought RNG after trying soo many other (cheaper)options and everything else seemed to work great for awhile and then I’d get issues with repelling and really bad odours – so far the RNG is working pretty good – never had any issues with repelling since starting – I am hoping that the Funk Rock that I just got in helps with the amonia build up though – if it doesn’t I’m at a loss for how to take care of the amonia :(
Cheryl says
Hi there, I’ve had the same problem! When I got my little hands on the bag of Funk Rock, let me tell you! I did as it directs on the bag, I did the overnight rinse in the tub with the Rockin’ Green Classic Rock, then let the diapers soak for one hour in the Funk Rock and Agreed! NO AMMONIA! Then, to keep up with the stink, I’ve been using (as directed on the package) 1 TBSP of the Funk Rock in the pre-wash Rinse, and then my Rockin’ green detergent in the regular cycle. I have had no ammonia burn and no stink to deal with! I am loving this stuff. I just ordered 3 bags of it for myself and 1 bag each for 4 of my friends. I swear by this stuff and I love RNG to no end for inventing it!
Helen says
i’m so glad to hear it worked for you! my funk rock is in the mail and can’t wait to get it b/c the stench is killing me! thankfully we haven’t had any burns in the last month or so, but i dread my son having another. i too have tried varying methods of getting out the funk with no success. only a teensy bit of detergent and seem to add rinse after rinse after rinse in my wash routine, to no avail. hoping funk rock works for us, and if it does, hope we can go long stretches in between treatments. i’ll follow up after i’ve tried it.
Helen says
tried funk rock; didn’t work. we’ve given up on cloth.
Autumn Beck says
Helen, I am sorry to hear about that. Will you allow me to help you?
Helen says
i’m willing to give it another shot, but my husband’s not. with much coaxing i might be able to convince him to try one last time. any help would be much appreciated ;)
Autumn Beck says
can you tell me what the problems are?
Helen says
leaking + ammonia are the two biggest issues. we have a front loader, so it has also been wearing on us that we have to do three heavy wash cycles 3-4 times a week. seems like such a waste of water, but i don’t think there’s any way around that.
Nara says
I am right there with you… what you posted could have been me! I have tried RnG and at first it worked, but then we got ammonia. I have a toddler and a baby in cloth diapers and it seemed to be worst in my bamboo diapers and the ones my toddler wore overnight, but eventually spread to all my cotton and bamboo. (I have a frontloader and refuse to use microfiber because of the issues.) So anyway, we tried other laundry detergents which seemed to help for a little while, then returned to RnG (Classic, not Hard Rock – should have tried the Hard Rock, I guess) with tons of extra water – extra rinses, second and third cycles without detergent. Still stink-y and burning my babies (NOT a good thing for a cloth newbie – I almost gave them all up!) So I tried the oxygen “bleaches”, then vinegar, then Borax, and finally I wrote to RnG and Kim let me try Funk Rock. If you follow the directions for the soak and then use it as directed before you wash each time it really seems to help. For us it was not perfect, but it was the only thing that worked. We still have to do a Funk Rock soak about once every month and a half to keep them clean, plus use Hard Rock and Funk Rock with each wash, as well as an extra rinse and a completely detergent free second wash each time, but it is the only thing so far to get rid of the ammonia. I picked up several bags of the Funk Rock during the Cyber Monday sale and plan to keep up the regular soaks and adding it to the wash as recommended, and pray the burns will go away for good.
Kristen Kline says
I LOVE Rockin’ Green products! I had a very similar try and fail situation with my dipes… and I had just about given up. Kim Webb contacted me and offered me a sample of the Funk Rock… AMAZING!!!! No more ammonia… not even a bit! I will never use anything but Rockin’ Green on my diapers (or any other laundry!) ever again!
Bekki says
This is all so interesting to me. I have CD for 9 years and have only recently had ammonia issues. Interestingly, they started when I started using the Marshmallow hard rock. I just did my first funk rock soak and though the dipe smelled better in the morning, it burned her poor bum that I had just gotten better. I am at such a loss, and fed up with her poor booty getting burned. I never thought to attribute it to the RnG. *sigh* I don’t know what to do to try to fix her bottom.
Stacy says
You’re right… the Tide masked the odor of the ammonia, and also probably helped with it a bit, but it never truly took it OUT. I used Tide for over a year with “success”. But even though it worked for me, I was never happy with having had to “resort” to using it.
I have a front-loader, and I’ve been washing in it from day 1 of diapering, going on 3 years ago. The only times I’ve had stink were when I was using the wrong detergent. And yes, there are many “wrong” detergents, and you have to find the “right” one.
Add extra water… pour 2-4 gallons of hot water right down your detergent drawer chute- it will lead into your washer and help your diapers “swish” in the water, rather than tumbling dryly. I use Tiny Bubbles and extra water, and I haven’t had a hint of stink in over 6 months (except when testing the new Rockin’ Green formulas… Rockin’ Green hates me) LOL!
Carrie says
What a great idea, Stacy. When do you add the extra water? Before/After the soap? While the cycle is running?
I’m convinced my hot water heater doesn’t supply enough hot water to really clean my CDs in my front loading HE machine (getting a poopy smell after SH wets his diaper). I’ve been wondering how to supplement stove heated water to my wash and never thought of this. Thanks for sharing.
Vanessa says
I did the same thing as you with the funk rock. I got it as a tester. Did the bathtub soak. It worked but the ammonia smell came back. Not nearly as bad but it’s back. I’m going to do one more soak but honestly the price for the bag is daunting when it only works for a couple weeks and I have to use about 1/2cup of it to soak all my dipes. I’m going to try the fish stuff.
Robin says
I’ve had good results with funk rock as well, but I’ve found that I need to do a soak in the washer for about an hour every time I wash. I have a front loader also, but if I hit pause/cancel it will keep the water in, allowing for a soak. I add extra hot water through the detergent drawer. We have hard water.
Sylvia says
We started our wash routine with Country Save and never had a problem until the manufacturer of the cd’s we use said not to use it. So we switched to RnG assuming we would have build up. We NEVER had a problem with ammonia. I thought that life couldn’t be easier with cd’s. All my friends thought I was crazy adding cding to my life along with being a military wife and SAHM to 2 kids. I told them cding was the easiest thing in the world. That was until we switched to RnG classic rock. At first things went well. The soaking turned up a little dingy water and the inserts actually felt squeaky clean. Then 3 bags later and we had AMMONIA! The worst smelling, eye burning ammonia! I know RnG users talked about things getting worse before better but frankly after 4 bags and our problems getting worse, I doubted my issue would get better. So we switched formulas. Once that black and green bag showed up on my doorstep I pounced on my diapers and set to washing. Once again things were looking up. The first 2 loads came out smelling and feeling squeaky clean. Then one morning that old familiar smell came wafting through the air. UGH! We decided to use another WAHM brand hoping their formulation would work. Our success with that was along the same lines as RnG hard rock. When I heard about Funk Rock coming out I knew it had to be the solution to my problems. Well that little black, EXPENSIVE bag is now empty and my inserts still stink. I have been fortunate that while our diapers cause your eyes to water and sting, they haven’t burned my son. I’ve tried contacting RnG and was provided a mediocre response.
I started cloth diapering to be more green and provide my son a safer diapering option then disposables. I also did it to save $. Frankly at this point I am doing neither because of the MILLION times I have to wash and rinse my diapers and then all the $ being spent on what my husband calls “gourmet” detergents. Cloth diapering shouldn’t be this hard and a wash routine shouldn’t have to consist of me standing watch over a machine to catch it in time to turn up the water heater and then turn down the water heater and then add this and make sure to adjust the knobs to agitate this way and not that way. I now dread my cloth diaper laundry. I feel like maybe everyone is right in saying that cloth diapering isn’t really making that big of a difference in comparison to using disposables. While I’d never turn to Huggies or Pampers, Seventh Gen just might get our business.
We bought Tide Free and Clear and after 3 washes, it looks like it may have done the job. While I loath Tide and prefer to use a “green” detergent. I just might have to bite the bullet and use it regularly.
Autumn Beck says
If I were you I wouldn’t have stopped using Country Save. I’ve never heard a bad thing about it.
Sylvia says
I think you are right. Cloth diaper laundry shouldn’t be a daunting task. We used Country Save off a recommendation from a fellow cding Mama. Haha if my wash routine wasn’t broke, why fix it? I just hope I can restore the balance with the inserts and start loving my laundry again.
Thank you for blogging about this and providing me with a chance to get my “woes” out there. While I haven’t had success with RnG, it’s still a brand that I have people try when they do have repelling issues.
Michelle says
I tested Funk Rock after emailing Kim about ammonia. It worked wonders on the 1st try! Classic Rock kept the ammonia at bay for months after that, so I think I’ll probably de-funk every few months.
Stephanie says
I JUST got my first bag of funk rock in the mail today, and now I’m SUPER excited to try it! The ammonia in my little guy’s diapers in the morning is enough to kill someone (Or at least clear out blocked sinuses….) oooh, I hope we have the kind of success you had! *crossing fingers*
Kim Webb says
It’s important to remember that Funk Rock deals with ammonia, but if there’s underlying issues like soap or mineral buildup that needs to be dealt with first. So for those of you that are still struggling, I would run them through several washes with nothing or do an overnight soak in RnG or calgon water softener before doing the Funk Rock treatment. That usually did the trick on the stubborn cases during testing.
Paula says
Funk Rock sounds great! I was having ammonia problems (well, the morning diaper still doesn’t smell so great) and the diaper pail was just stinking up the upstairs. My in-laws, whom we live with, said to fix it or use disposables. Yikes! (Even though the disposables end up smelling too actually.) I ended up switching to an open pail and we rinse every insert/fitted diaper. It’s annoying but it works! Our pail sits next to the toilet and you can’t smell anything even sitting right next to it. I will have to try Funk Rock and see if we can at least cut the rinsing down to the super-soaked morning diaper!
Julie says
Hi, sorry to hear you had so many issues with ammonia. I did to until I tried Rocking Green. I never thought that just one sample could do the job. Because these specialty soaps are so expensive, I did a lot of research before buying. Rocking Green really works – it’s not a one time use, however. If your diapers are already stinky – you need to do a soak. Filling a top loader with hot water and 3-5 tbsp of Rocking Green (any type) overnight really takes care of it. You have to keep using Rocking Green, though, for every load. No need to soak after that – just use 1-3 tbsp of it in the wash. Each time! Hard Rock is simply more efficient in hard water.
Having said all that, this made me seriously reconsider the use of synthetic fibres. Cotton and bamboo and wool are so much better from all kinds of perspectives.
Ryan says
I’m really, really glad to read your post. We had AWFUL ammonia problems and my son’s poor bum was so, so, so sore. I talked with Kim and we tried everything – changing my RnG forumula, wash routine, etc. NOTHING worked. Except changing detergents to Charlie’s Soap :(. I didn’t have the heart to tell Kim. Then I saw Funk Rock come out and I’ve been veeerrrrrrry curious.
We’ve actually switched to using an ammonia remover used for fish tanks ($5 at PetSmart)and it’s MIRACULOUS for us. If we have a bad ammonia dipe in the morning, I just hand rinse all the crud out and then soak it in the ammonia remover. Then I toss it in the diaper pail. I haven’t had to soak or strip since!
Anna says
Is this a bigger issue with front lodaers since you can’r soak? I’m new into this and only using cloth on my 7 week old right now, but I am worried about the future
Autumn Beck says
FLers in my experience have led to a more complicated routine.
Alicia says
I also didn’t have much luck with the Funk Rock. I was really hoping the Funk Rock would work (as I have been battling ammonia stink for the past few months), and at first I thought it did. Diapers used during the day (on my boy for max 3 hours) smelled like lovely pee :) when they came off, but my nightime diapers came out stinking strongly of ammonia the next morning. I’m not giving up on the Fnk Rock just yet, but I am not sure why it won’t work for me!
Erika says
So…I am on the verge of starting with cloth, and all this ammonia talk is scaring me! Is it mainly a problem for those with FL or HE washers, or everyone? I have an older top loading machine.
Autumn Beck says
I’ve only had problems since having my FL.
Julie says
The issue is not with the machine, but with synthetic fibers. For front loading, add the diapers already wet, or toss in a large soaking towel – you want to increase the weight of the load.
That said, I have a FL and use Rocking Green with no issues, and I do not do anything special at all. Just a single wash and single rinse, hot/cold. I’m very much a fan of simplicity.
Anonymous says
I haven’t had any issues using Rockin Green with my HE toploader on bulky so there’s lots of water.
Joey says
I’m so excited I just put my entire stash away for storage. I’m ordering that today!!! And pulling them out of the closet. I’m also hopeful that it will take away my repelling issue. Water will sit on my insert for hours and never absorb.
sarah says
Funk Rock worked great for me too. We had gone pretty much to disposables full time b/c of the smell & burn I couldn’t get rid of. Hard Rock stopped working for me. So far my first time w/ Funk Rock worked wonders. Absolutely no smell in a pee saturated diaper! Just hoping this sticks!
Andrea says
I have also have had serious ammonia problems. Sometimes I still get a slight ammonia smell in the morning from my son’s diaper, but nothing at all like we used to have. When I had ammonia problems, I majorly stripped my diapers by soaking in vinegar & then RLR & added BacOut. After that, many hot washes (I even used the sanitize option on my machine) & since then I use a squirt of Allen’s detergent in my front loader & sometimes fill the softener section with vinegar & for the most part my diapers have been great. Every once (maybe once a month) in a while I soak them in RLR again & this seems to do the trick.
I tried funk rock & while I think it helped similarly to the RLR idea (but much more expensive), I want to see how often I need to do that versus the RLR.
I also should note that I have a front loader (Whirlpool HE) with a steam option that I use with each wash. The diapers get way cleaner that way than even with just the heavy wash. I actually use the bulky items setting which adds lots of water & I can specify no spin which makes it add more water to the final rinse.
Autumn Beck says
I have a steam LG. Maybe I should use the steam setting.
Christy @ pureMotherhood says
We have ammonia issues here but it’s only some of our diapers (we use mostly prefolds with a few fitteds). The ammonia smell coming from those ‘bad’ diapers is enough to severely sting my eyes and nose and they obviously burn my baby’s skin. It’s just horrible. Thankfully it only happens once a month or less but why in the world would only some of my diapers have ammonia issues?
Marcy says
I have 3 ages 2 and under in CD, and I have never had issues with ammonia. I have been using Tide, and it works well for me. Of course, I don’t have hard water, and I have the traditional agitator-style washing machine. I also use mainly prefolds (I don’t have the $$ to invest in the more costly Bgs and others since I started CD all 3 at the same time…) and Gerber style plastic pants to cover them.
Autumn Beck says
I recommend to people not to buy a FL. or to have a TL just for cloth diapers. I’ll have that when I have more room!
Kat says
I am fairly new to cloth diapering and in my attempt to be frugal I started making my own detergent. Since I started doing that I havent had an issues with smell. I make my diapers though, maybe thats why? I dont know. Your blog is what got me started on the cloth diaper revolution, and I LOVE it!! Thanks for sharing about Funk Rock, sounds like a winner!
Ashley says
I have never tried the rockin green line but have been very tempted. As everyone I have had ammonia issues. It never got to burning but his bottom was getting red. I started rinsing more and that has helped tremendously. There is just a slight hint of ammonia in the am. Perhaps I’ll try the funk rock and see if it pulls that last bit away for us.
libby says
My sugg. now that you have solved the problem is to rinse your night diaper in the morning very well (if you don’t already do this). I think a lot of the stinkies come from letting diapers sit. I rinse every morning and it really seems to help as I have not had to resort to stripping or special soaps. I also wash every night but I am a little crazy :) Good luck and I hope it continues to work for you!
Summer Kovacs says
I just ordered Funk Rock on Friday and can’t WAIT to try it. We’v been battling ammonia on and off for about 9 months now. I’ve done, Dawn, RLR, extra hot water washing/soaking. We’re going through a low-ammonia stretch right now so the timing’s perfect. However, I don’t know the instructions for funk rock. If I have to do what you did, I may feel a little overwhelmed. I have 13 mo old twins so we have a LOT of diapers.
Heidi M says
I’m also curious how often you think you would need to do the soaking with the Funk Rock.
Sarah Davis says
Hi Autumn,
I’ve been following your blog for almost two years now, I really enjoy it! With my battle with ammonia, what I have found to work for my cloth chinese prefolds and Econo-bum covers is:
Place 1/2 cup grocery store borax in with the diapers and covers
Run a prewash cycle with 1/2 cup of Bac-Out
Wash cycle with 1/2 tablespoon Nellie’s Laundry Soda and 1 tablespoon of Nellie’s Oxygen Brightener
I have been using this routine for over a year and have fresh diapers. We also have a water softener installed in our home.
Have a great day!
Sarah
megan says
I AM IN LOVE WITH RnG!!! I don’t know why though because it doesn’t work for me. I too have had come-and-go ammonia burning. it started about 3 months ago when DS turned 1. I have tried boiling, vinegar(only on the inserts and the prefolds), RLR, Classic rock, Hard Rock(which is when the burning started, so i stopped using it, and have yet to use up the rest of the classic rock i bought since), everything but Tide. It has gotten so bad that i am frequently considering switching exclusively to prefolds and flats because the vinegar helps, and is cheap enough to use a lot of (this is especially heart renching for me as i have put blood, sweat, and tears into these dipes-I have handmade every single one of them). When i got my supply of Funk Rock, my 1st thought was “its such a little bag, and for the same price as the classic rock!” Oh well. I guess having ammonia-free diapers comes at a price. So right away I did a 4 hour soak with my classic rock then the half hour soak in 4T recommended on the packaging, and multiple rinses . When i opened the drier, it smelled…..like pee. I have NEVER had my drier smell, even of ammonia. So as you can immagine, I was a little disappointed. I used my diapers, and after an overnight, there was a hint of ammonia, but just a hint. so i continued to use the funk rock with every wash thinking maybe it will get better, but it hasn’t. the smell is becoming more prevalent with every wear, and i still have a drier smelling like pee. And don’t get me started on the smell when i open my wetbag!! The burn has not yet reared its ugly head again, but i am sure it will any day now. I am at a loss. I do not know what to do. It seems everyone has had a ton of success with this product…but me. My next step is to try washing in only oxy clean and washing soda. I do not know where i read this but as of now i will try anything. then it will be Tide (I REALLY hate Tide!).
Daphne says
I haven’t tried funk rock yet. I have been using white vinegar though and it’s helping quite a bit. I do a cold rinse with a cup and a 1/3 of white vinegar and then a hot wash with soap (ruby moons or charlies) and then an extra rinse cycle. It’s inexpensive but I have been using the vinegar every time. I don’t think it works 100% but I notice a vast improvement.
I also wanted to mention (and perhaps get some feedback) about a post I saw on babycenter about TOP FIN ammonia remover. It’s made for fish tanks, but the women on there seemed to do there research and found that it was safe for their babies. Everyone that tried it said it worked. I need to pick some up. Here’s the link http://community.babycenter.com/post/a23042415/ammonia_is_gone
Britt says
I know this isn’t the “politically correct” thing to say but after trying so many different detergents and add ins (borax, oxyclean, vinegar etc) , cleaning routines (soaking, boiling, countless rinses) I decided to try a bit of bleach in my hot wash as recommended to me by the wonderful lady at Green Mtn Diapers. Problem solved! I don’t want to sound smug nor do I want to tempt the fates and have the dreaded amonia problem come back … but for the past year + I have enjoyed the simple life of the following easy routine: cold pre-soak & rinse, hot wash with Country Save and a splash of bleach once the tub is full, and a cold final rinse. Also, I have an old-fashioned top loader and am convinced it gets my diapers cleaner than in my mom’s snazzy new front loading HE machine. Maybe it’s convenient for me to believe that so I don’t have to shell out money I can’t afford for a new machine or expensive commercial products but I am so happy with my simplified routine. Sure I use more water, but I am a very happy cloth diapering mommy at the moment. Hope you all find what works for you!
Marcia says
I think you are absolutely right- HE machines do not work as well as conventional top loaders. I made the change to a HE frontloader about 6 months ago and am still trying to work out a wash routine that works well. I have found that I have to do 3 full cycles to get my dipes clean- but I still have ammonia issues.
Grateful for Grace says
I’ve tried bleach! Sigh. I haven’t tried Country Save, though. I, too, have a top loader. Man, I want to find a routine that works.
I’m so glad you did!
Heather says
Britt,
Are there pocket diapers in the loads you add bleach to, or just inserts?
Anonymous says
I use mostly prefolds and covers with pockets for naps & overnight and the occasional AIO and it all goes in the wash together. So far the elastic in the covers, pockets and AIOs have held up just fine. I only add about 1/4 cup (I just eyeball it) to a full tub of hot water.
Trenna says
Wish we had the same success. Our diaper inserts are once again pad folded, GMD flats. They absorb, cost a dollar each, and are trim and dry; I just hate the folding and would love to have a reliable way to keep another type of insert clean. Have not tried soaking in the bath, just the washer, and not with boiling water.
Jenny says
I also have ammonia problems about every 4-6 weeks. My regular wash routine in a front loader is 2 scoops of Rockin’ Green Hard Rock 2.0 and I also fill the fabric softener dispenser with vinegar. I wash on Hot/Cold with an extra rinse on the heavy duty cycle. This works great for us. We mainly have bum genius 3.0 and 4.0’s. When I start to smell ammonia I put about a tablespoon of bleach to the wash cycle above and then run another wash cycle with no soap or bleach with an extra rinse to make sure all the bleach is rinsed. It is the easiest way I have found to get rid of the ammonia with out schlepping all of my diapers to soak in the tub. I will also now be getting some Funk Rock thanks to this post!!
Amy T says
Did you write this or did I? My goodness I felt like I was reading my own story! I just ordered a bag of Funk Rock and am so excited! I hope it works for the long haul!
Jenelle says
Ugh! I wish I had your experience with it! I have tried it twice, pretty much wasting the whole bag, and no change :( I was so sad when I did the sniff test on my “clean” diapers. I have about one soak left with the bag and will give it one more shot! I hope it works!
Grateful for Grace says
You have described my journey exactly. Well, except for the ending. I have hesitated in ordering the Funk Rock because I have a bag of Hard Rock sitting there as a waste of money. I don’t want to go through another failed attempt.
Are you going to have to wash this way every time? or every few? That’s a lot of work. How do you know it was the Funk Rock and not the boiling water and soaking?
I am getting frustrated with the ammonia. My son isn’t ready to potty train, but the come and go burning is just wrong.
I’m glad it worked for you! You think RnG would trade me? Keep us posted and let us know wacko cd users know if the funk returns.
Angie says
I’m with you, Grateful for Grace. I have ammonia problems that come and go, but the cure has always been boiling water, or soaking individual dipes in hot tap water if they smell of ammonia when the come off the baby. I am so sick of trying new products, so I’m sticking with God’s cleaning product…good ole’ water. But I, too, would like to hear what happens in the future with this product. Thanks Autumn. I love your posts and get excited to read them every time there is a new one! Keep em’ comin’!
Peyton says
I’m very curious about this stuff!! I switched to stuffing my pockets with prefolds to help with my stink problems (plus numerous types of detergent..seems to help when I don’t use the same one for too long–maybe). I’d love to switch back to the microfiber inserts though! I’m really curious what detergent you’re using along with Funk Rock?
Jenn says
I have some as a tester and I FINALLY got around to doing a soak the other day. I soaked for 30 minutes like the instructions said, then laundered. The smell of pee (not ammonia) was pretty strong so I was encouraged. I have been putting my son in a disposable for bed every night because the ammonia and the burn is so bad. After the soak and rinsing, I put him in a double stuffed BG 3.0 for the night. His room wasn’t as overpowered the next morning, but his butt is still recovering, two days later. :-( He’s also been red and raw if for some reason we end up going more that two hours between diaper changes. Did I do something wrong?? It’s not an overnight sensation for me…
Lynn Wilson says
I was a tester too and I had the same problem. With both formulations I still had ammonia lingering and my little man had burns. Almost 3 months later he is almost cleared up. At first I didn’t think I rinsed it enough, but when I did it again and rinsed 3 times and still had the problems it wasn’t for me.
I have however switched the regular detergent formula back to the classic rock with smaller loads and have had huge success.
Hope you find a cure :)
amelia says
I have been fighting the terrible ammonia monster too. Maybe I’ll have to give funk rock a try. Thanks!
Funny story, sort of…..There was an ammonia leak when I was out shopping a few weeks ago and the area was evacuated. As everyone else was coughing and panicking, I was standing there thinking I’ve smelled worse most mornings….sigh. Maybe not so funny after all.
Sweetheart Diapers says
I was laughing the whole way through that story. “At this point I’m thinking us cloth diaper moms are a little crazy.” That’s how I always feel too.
Funk Rock worked great for me. In fact I fond the whole Rockin Green product line to be amazing!
Hearther Lent says
I’ve had AMAZING results with it as well!! I’ve even used it on other items that my HE washer just doesn’t get clean enough – hubby’s work clothes, DS stinky blanket, etc. I’m actually soaking a funky diaper as we speak :)
Jill says
Would love to know about the longevity of this. Tide is still working for us and I’m hopeful that it will continue. Kim contacted me, too, and she’s supposed to send me some hard rock stuff. Tide seemed to knock the ammonia out for us, and for that I’m very thankful. We too were getting the burns.
Andrea says
So…my daughter has been fighting a bad rash that turns into a burn and blisters for about a month. I assumed it was from teething, but it is really her first rash, so I didn’t know. I’m kinda tired of using cream. I’ve been using RNG exclusively trying to make myself like it because everyone else raves about it. Now I am wondering…should I just go back to Tide?
Alex says
I’d say go back to Tide if it worked for you. I too wanted RNG to be everything everyone said it was but it wasn’t for me. My water bill was $200+ bc of all the different rinsing and washing. I stared using Tide and very happy with it. I just throw the diapers dirty with the soap and rinse once. Same as a clothing wash!
Sara says
I wondered if anyone else had had water bills rise through the roof from rinsing and rinsing and rinsing. I started adding more water to my fl when I wash, and almost doubled my bill! (I use homemade laundry soap)
Autumn Beck says
no change in water bill for us. ours is relatively low for a family of 6.
Nina says
I’ve had lots of ammonia issues and have tried lots of stuff. I keep hearing about Tide. Which Tide do you use? I haven’t tried Tide or Rockin Green. I guess I should try both! Thanks.
Jess says
Yup I just tried it too, good timing on buying it because I was house sitting at a home with HARD WATER for a week, and my “classic rock” rockin green did not do the job with that water (you need “hard rock” rockin green – but i wasn’t going to buy a bag to use for 7 days, and only 3 loads of diapers). I got home and soaked everything with Funk Rock and washed with Rockin Green again and all is BETTER again! oooooooooooo so happy to have the stink gone!!!
seriously….rockin green is the best!