Best Laundering for Cloth Nappies?

[~Kimba~]

Hi all,

Bub #1 is due in October and I'm going to give modern cloth a go. After agonizing over my choices I figured the best way to approach it (since I have no idea what shape/ size bub will be) is to start stocking up on samples of various styles so that I can test them out when bub arrives, and then order more to make up a full 'set' when I know which ones work best for my bub.

Anywho I just wanted to ask you experienced cloth users -

How do you wash your cloth nappies?
What method works best for you?
How do you tackle stain removal?
What laundry powder do you recommend?
Do you need to use different washing techniques for different nappies/ covers (eg PUL and AIO vs hemp or bamboo)
Which nappies have the best drying time?
Which nappies can be tumble dried?

Edit: we live in a unit and don't have much access to line dry in the sun :( so will rely on the clothes dryer when we can't dry on the balcony.

Thanks for any advice :D

[Oscar's mum]

Traditional soaking


The traditional method is to have a lidded bucket full of water and a nappy soaker such as Napisan. As you change the nappies, you get rid of any poo off the nappy, then place it in the bucket. When the bucket is full, you pour the water out, place the nappies in the machine and simply give them a good rinse and spin.

This is a very good way of getting them clean, but it has two disadvantages. The first is that it is a pain in the neck having to fill and empty buckets of water, especially if you have to lug them around the house. The second is that Napisan and other soakers can be quite expensive - more so than ordinary washing detergents. If you are unlucky, it can also irritate your own skin as you handle the nappy buckets. And there are some of us who refuse point blank to have harsh chemicals like nappy soakers near our babies' skin so we need to consider other options.

Positives

Minimises marks/potential stains
Negatives

» It smells more. The liquid draws urine etc out of the nappy which causes the smell which is only too obvious when you open the lid.
» Extra work. You'll need to empty and refill the bucket at least as often as you wash and this means keeping the bucket near to a plug or the toilet. It is extra work that most of us would rather avoid.
» Splashing!


Dry pailing:


This alternative allows the washing machine to do the work for you. Once you have disposed of the poo (if any) you simply place the nappy in an empty bucket. (You might choose to rinse a poo-ey nappy first.) You could even use a rubbish bin with a flip-top lid or a tough bag. When the bin is full, you up-end it into the washing machine and then wash. No filling, emptying or lugging of buckets.

Now you would naturally think that drypailing would be a pretty stinky alternative however the opposite is true. Drypailing does not stink out the house! When curious friends ask where the nappies are they are frequently amazed that the nappy bin is sitting right there in the bathroom. There is no denying that the bin can get a bit smelly on the inside, but with the lid closed no odour escapes at all. (Elizabeth reckons that it really passes the test if it can cope with her two stink-monsters producing 6 poos a day between them!)

Positives

» No draining and refilling a bucket, you only need treat it like any other laundry basket.
» It doesn't smell like soaking can.
» You can keep the bucket where you want to and even use a strong bag if need be.
Negatives

» Marks take a little more effort to shift so a hot wash is advisable or at least a warm wash and an occasional prewash.
» If you leave several days between washes then the nappies take a bit more cleaning and will certainly need a rinse or prewash before the main wash.
Many people compromise by dry pailing in the bucket/bag and soaking in the machine. They load the machine at night and turn it off once it is full. The nappies are then left to soak overnight before the machine is switched on the next day to continue where it left off. Warm water can be used successfully this way without the need for a prewash (although an initial rinse is still a good idea).



Washing:


The first step is to remove any poo. With very runny newborn poo (especially breastfed) this is almost a lost cause. Thankfully it is so liquid that it just washes out anyway. Hard to believe but true. For the truly squeamish (usually the husbands, I'm afraid!), you could use a Little Squirt spraygun very effectively to get rid of most of it into the toilet first (see below).

Once on formula or solids, a baby's poo will usually become much easier to deal with. Typically it will simply roll off the nappy into the toilet. If not, giving the fleece liners a good stretch will usually get it off. You can also "sluice" the nappy - hold one end of it firmly inside the toilet bowl and then flush, allowing the water to wash the poo off the nappy. If you have used paper liners, then you only need to dump the liner and all into the toilet.

However, if you have any trouble at all with poo removal then we absolutely swear by The Little Squirt. This is a spraygun that you attach to your toilet cistern and it produces a high pressure water jet which is fantastic to get anything off the nappy. For traditional soaking you use the method described above.

For drypailing, you use the method above which gets you as far as the nappies in the machine. Then it's up to you how to proceed.

If you have a top-loader, a good method is to give the nappies a soak by using the washing machine itself to do it. First you put the nappies through a rinse cycle, which gets the worst of the wee out. Then you fill it up on a hot wash and add the powder. It's not necessary (contrary to popular belief) to use a nappy soaker - ordinary washing powder will usually do. In fact, it's usually best to use ordinary powder in roughly half the amount recommended. Once the machine is full and has agitated for a few minutes, you then turn the machine off and allow it to soak for a few hours or perhaps overnight. In the morning, you simply turn it on again and allow it to finish the cycle. It's that simple (and it still gets a soak).

You can skip the soaking period altogether, and you may wish then to rinse the poo-ey nappies before they go in the bin, which makes marks less likely. Some people find this helps, others don't find it necessary - it really depends on your baby. You may also wish to do an extra final rinse, particularly if your baby has sensitive skin. However, if you don't use too much detergent to start with, you are much less likely to need the extra rinse.

With a front-loader the story is different. An ordinary washing cycle on hot is usually adequate, with an extra rinse either at the beginning or the end. Many people add a small amount of white vinegar for the final rinse as this makes the nappies softer when dried on the line. The acid in the vinegar also counteracts any traces of wee left in the nappies (as urine is alkaline).

It is rare to have any problem with staining if you wash with these methods. Occasionally Elizabeth washs with something stronger like Napisan if the nappies have been particularly disgusting. But that is rare - usually an ordinary hot wash with ordinary washing powder will do. You do not need to "sterilise" the nappies or use really harsh chemicals in order to get them clean. Deborah stays clear of most chemicals and relies on bicarbonate of soda to give an extra boost to the wash if she feels it needs it.

In summary, then, the washing instructions are:

Remove any poo and dispose down the toilet.
Put the dirty nappy into your nappy bin.
Dump the dirty nappies into the machine.
Do a rinse cycle (optional).
Do an ordinary hot wash with ordinary detergent (in small amounts).
Add half a cup of white vinegar to the final rinse (optional).
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The sun will is your best friend and you will find that if you do have stains just hang out in the sun and it will all fade!;)

I dry pail myself and in the pail buckets I put a few drops of eucalyptus oil and a good shake of bi carb (the bi carb will help whiten the nappies as well as nuetralise any smells in the bucket!

You asked which nappies have the best drying time! That is probably debatable. But I can tell you now that hemp and bamboo will take the longest amount of time to dry as will AIO's!

Unless the nappy states otherwise (which I am yet to see) you can put all your nappies into the dryer. NOT on a hot cycle though I would definately only use a warm cycle!

[~Kimba~]

Thanks for that! I've seen a few websites advising care instructions, but it was info overload after a while! so I was hoping to get some 'real life' tips from you cloth users ;)

Does anyone use Omo Sensitive, or is something like Bio-Zet fine?
Is it safe to use pre-wash stain removers (if needed) or is something like bicarb better?

[Oscar's mum]

I do use Omo Sensitive, but then my little man has sensitive skin!;) I also use bi carb too (as I said to whiten and stop smells) but in the rinse I add a small amount of vinegar to the wash to soften the nappies too!

[sopolicha]

I use half the recommended amount of BioZet.

Dry Pailing is definitely the way to go.

I have never really needed to use any soakers because I put mine in the sun to dry. I thought it was rubbish when I first read it, but it really does work.

I think the bi-carb is a great idea for the nappy bucket (Thanks OM :thumbsup: ). I have been using Tea Tree oil in mine for the smell. I didn't need to use anything else until the baby went onto solids.

I have tried and bought more than my share of nappies :o . I have come to to conclusion that a fitted nappy with a PUL cover is the easiest way to go. You can get nappies that go from Birth size to Whenever and you can just buy the bigger covers when you need them.

Bamboo makes a lovely nappy but the drying time is really long. A lot of the makers also seem to advise that a lot of drying in hot dryer and vinegar will harm the elastic.

Pocket nappies might be good for you if you are going to use the dryer a lot. You could put the inserts into the dryer and hang the pocket out. They should dry pretty quickly. Personally I don't like pocket nappies, for a start my husband never takes the pockets out before they go in the bucket and they take more time to fold up ready to put on the bum. That is only me though, some people love 'em.

Look at my girl's pretty bum.

[LucyE]

How do you wash your cloth nappies?
In our frontloading washing machine :p

What method works best for you?
Our basic routine which we've used since DS was newborn has been:
Change nappy
When convenient, dump poo (if any) into toilet and whack into bucket
When the bucket's full (approx every 2 days) load machine before bed, set the 'soak', 'prewash' and 'extra rinse' options on a 40C wash with some OMOmatic
at some stage in the morning, I hang up the nappies on the line and bring them in when I remember :p
I usually don't bother folding, just stuff them all into the drawer but if I feel like it, I will prestuff some of the pocket style nappies to make it easier for DH.

How do you tackle stain removal?
Never been a problem. Washing on warm with OMOmatic (has optical brightner's) we've never had a stained nappy come out of the machine. Infact, my unbleached Tot's Bots are actually whiter than a friend's white terry flats (she washes on cold). At Mum's, she only washes with cold water so there's the occassional stain but that comes out after a few hours in the sun.

TMI warning! DH had accidently left a poopy nappy unwashed when DS and I were away for about a week. I came back to find it a bit mouldy but it all washed out after a few of our normal wash cycles and sunlight. I didn't use it on DS until it was back to white and just kept throwing it back into the nappy bucket. No need for napisan or bleach or anything special.

What laundry powder do you recommend?
We use OMOmatic and I'm happy with it. I found when we had really 'hard' water, I needed to use the full reccommended amount and make sure I did an extra rinse at the end to make sure there was no residue. Now that we are on rain water which is very 'soft', I've been able to cut down on the amount of detergent used and no longer need to do an extra rinse. It's a bit of trial and error to find what works best for you. If you have a family history of sensitive skin, then you might like to try the 'sensitive' detergents. I went with the theory that we'd just try our normal detergent with all of bub's gear and if he reacted, I'd then swap. DS has been fine so it keeps things simple for me. I also don't use any fabric softener (will reduce absorbancy) or vinegar.

Do you need to use different washing techniques for different nappies/ covers (eg PUL and AIO vs hemp or bamboo)
I don't. Everything that needs to be washed goes into the bucket and they all go into the wash together. The only nappy related item that I washed seperately were wool covers which only needed to be washed every 6-8 weeks anyway.

Which nappies have the best drying time?
Fabric-wise, microfibre, then cotton, then hemp and finally bamboo. Style-wise, anything which can be unfolded will reduce drying time. eg. A Tots Bot will take longer than a pocket nappy stuffed with microfibre because there is at least 3 layers of fabric in the Tots sewn together while the pocket nappy will come apart.

[b]Which nappies can be tumble dried?[b]
I tumble dry any 'cloth' type fabric nappy (eg. Tots, Baby Beehinds, Erica's, microfibre stuffing etc). I don't tumble dry anything with PUL or wool. PUL dries very quickly anyway, and if you are in a rush, roll it up tightly in a towel. I don't normally use a dryer because regular use will affect the lifespan of your nappies (especially the elastic). Another option is to just tumble dry for 10 mins or so and then line dry. It will speed up drying time without wearing out the nappy too soon.

Re using bicarb - I know a lot of people swear by it for smell reduction etc but please bear in mind that it will damage the elastic in fitted nappies and deteriorate PUL. Especially if it is used in conjunction with vinegar or heat.