by Becky Vieira posted in Parenting

I was naive about a lot of things when I was a new mom. One, in particular, was the job of a diaper pail. Sure, I knew the basics. Dirty diapers go in. My husband (hopefully) takes them out. I also assumed it trapped all odors inside.
Yes, I'm aware that it's a container filled with pee and poop. As in urine and feces. That sits for days. Sometimes baking, as if in an oven, during the summer months. But it didn't matter, the pail trapped in the stench. It said so on the box, right"
I was wrong. And made aware of this by my friend's 7 year-old son. "Ugh," he said as he walked in our house. "I forgot how it always smells like Archer's dirty butt in here."
Bam. From the mouth of babes comes truth. One I needed to know.
Diaper pails emit a wretched odor. The first few months it's present for just a brief moment, only when it's open. Soon, it starts to linger after it's shut. Like a heavy cloud of rot and misery that hangs at nose-height in your nursery. Finally, anywhere from 6-12 months later, there's no area that's safe. The aroma overtakes your home like the smoke from a raging wildfire. A poo wildfire.
I was at a loss. Of course I'd been cleaning it. Emptied it frequently. In fact, I didn?t even use it for a month in the summer to avoid the aforementioned poo bake in the July heat.
I decided to turn to my army of moms on Instagram for help. Here?s what they said:

Clean it. Before you roll your eyes and sa...