First, I need to say that Olivia is a heavy wetter and we found after just a week or so of getting her up each morning with pee soaked pj's that we had to scrap the idea of using them at night. I'm sure there is some ultra absorbent thing out there, but I'm just not interested in purchasing it so we've resorted to putting her in a disposable pampers at night. One diaper a day is no biggie and it is just easier all the way around.
Now onto my issues, well not my issues per-say- we could be here forever on that topic and I'll spare you... So about the end of July I noticed some black spots on the diapers and at first I thought nothing of it. Then one day I took off one of her diapers and the spots were very predominate and on the diaper and the insert. This is when it caught my attention that something was wrong. After further investigation I came to the conclusion that it was mold/mildew. I was HORRIFIED!!!! We are very good at caring for and tending to our diapers. We wash a load every other day and have never had a problem with it. My mind was racing with what I had done wrong. Here is a list of what I might have done, but the God's honest truth is that I have no idea what happened.
- Our clothes pins were left outside in one of the many flash rain showers we had this summer. They were then put away wet and got some mold on them. The clothes pins were then used to hang the diapers. So could it have been that?
- Olivia started solids around this time and her poop changed due to the food change so did I not do a good enough job of removing the poop and as it sat for 24 hours or so the mold took hold?
- We've kept a wet/dry bag in the bathroom downstairs- we shower in this bathroom and therefore the moisture level is higher, maybe causing the mold to have a better growing environment?
- We've had a very damp summer and I've hung the diapers outside a lot, could the mold in the air transferred to the diapers?
Now I need to say that the majority of the black mold spots are on the inserts, not the diapers. Only a few diapers have been contaminated and only one of them seems to not go away. I've done SOOOO many things to try and get rid of this issue. Here's what I've done.
- I bought new clothes pins right away.
- I started using the flushable liners to make sure the majority, if not all, the poop was being flushed away and not sitting on the diapers until wash time.
- I bleached the inserts to kill the mold- and I've done this a billion times it feels like. I've hung them outside to bleach them. I've used bleach in a soak load and then washed them and triple rinsed them.
- I used a mixture of lemon juice and salt and hand scrubbed each spot and then let them sit for a half hour prior to washing them.
- I've put 3% Hydrogen Peroxide in the rinse cycle.
- I've put them in the dryer on High heat for 40 minutes.
- We moved the wet/dry bag out of the bathroom and into the bedroom
Now nothing has completely gotten rid of the mold. I was about to throw a holy temper tantrum this week because I'm at my wits end. I've devoted so much time and effort doing extra loads and taking extra time to try and solve the problem and no matter what I do it won't go away.
I need to back up and say that often times when I bleach them they come out clean and look great. 99% of the mold is gone, but then I use the inserts again and when I take them out of the laundry there the spots are- taunting me.
This morning I pulled a load of "clean" diapers out of the dryer, that when I stuffed them they looked clean to the naked eye, and 6 out of the 7 had a black spot or two or three...on them when I investigated them. I looked at Matt and said- that's it I need a break, I'm going insane over this issue and I can't take it anymore. I'm putting her in disposables until I figure it out. I can't keep doing this. Are we really saving money at this point? I mean come on.
I've found most of the "possible solutions" on message boards on the internet. I'm not the only one who has had this problem. In fact, one person put the same issue down word for word. She said how they kept coming back no matter what she did. I've also been very frustrated since the internet is the internet and some of the advice has been "don't use a pal, use a wet/dry bag" and then you read "don't use a wet/dry bag use a pail." There seems to be no solution out there.
I'm devastated that this has happened. I hate to think I've caused it but have no real way of knowing where it originated from. I hate to think I've just ruined hundreds of dollars of diapers. I hate that I'm not finding a way to make it all stop so I can continue using them.
So if you're reading this and have heard of or have had this issue and conquered it PLEASE let me know!! I will continue to try and find a solution. In the meantime I'm going to purchase some more disposables to get us through this insane mess. Prayers are needed!
"...we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37b
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