Question for users of cheeky wipes?

[GiraffeObsessedBaby]

I have a set of cheeky wipes and I love them! So much better and cheaper and blah blah all the love lol. However I'm struggling with the dirty box. I empty it every other day religiously but as it starts to get to the middle of the second day the box is full and wipes going in don't go in the water. Is this an issue?

I use an antibacterial additive when washing them and they look clean. But it's starting to become a bit of an irritation now every time I see them sat on top and not in the water.

Anyone? Just me? Any tips?

As far as I remember the soaking is only to prevent stains from setting so if you care about that then just empty it more often or get a bigger mucky box. After a (very short) time I gave up on the soaking entirely and just threw the wipes into a wet bag when out and about, or into the cloth nappy bucket at home (dry, no soaking) and washed every other day. Yes they would get some stains but whenever there was a bright day I'd put them to dry in the sunlight and the stains would come out. Also - they're wipes for bottoms...I wasn't ever going to use them for anything else so I didn't really care about stains!

In terms of irritation it's much more likely to be that the essential oil and/or detergent hasn't all washed out, so do an extra rinse and a 60c wash to strip them back, or that you need to go right back to just using pure water. Also any baby can an irritated bum from acid, teething, if they're sick, etc so some cream could help too - the Weleda calendula nappy cream worked best for us but worth trying different ones.

Omg I just realised you meant it was an irritant for you!! Not the baby's bottom so ignore my second paragraph!!!

I've never put water in the dirty box. Only the clean one.

I never used to put water in the dirty box either - the worst stains they had were always banana!

Has anyone used them as loo roll replacement? I really loved them when DDs were babies, so much better than baby wipes, but wonder if folk would think I was mad to have reusable loo wipes! I’d obviously provide normal loo roll for guests!

I never stored them wet - clean or mucky. I stuck them under the tap just before using and then chucked them straight in the washing machine (hands and faces wiped) or straight in the nappy bucket (bums wiped)

Thank you I've never thought about not putting the water in! I know people dry pale cloth nappies but never thought about it.

On another level those who dry pale how bad is the smell when you wash them every other day?

Smell is fine. I never really noticed it anyway. I just draw the strings of the bag whenever it looks full and chuck it in the wash with whatever else needs washing.

Since you don't have whole poos in there (those go down the toilet) a dry pail nappy bucket doesn't smell bad, no more than skid marks or when little kids have accidents. If you leave a really soaking wet wee nappy for more than two days it will smell of ammonia though. Washing every other day is best. If you only have wipes you can wash them with a normal load of laundry, no need to do a whole wash just for wipes unless you have a drum full of them!

Not saying this is you OP, and somewhat off topic, but it does make me laugh when people get precious about cloth nappies and wipes and wanting to wash them separately because of poo germs - by the time you get to potty training and night time weaning and your first few bouts of whole-family D&V you are just chucking everything in desperately trying to keep up and trusting your washing machine pre-rinse to get all the chunks off!!

Slipperylizard I tried to convince the family to use our lovely minky wipes for loo roll once the kids were potty trained, but we were all at work and nursery/preschool and we weren't doing as much washing by then - so it was hard to stay on top of them. If I had still been putting on a wash every other day, rather than blitzing 5 loads on the weekend, I think we could have managed it!

Ah, good point - I hadn’t thought of when I’d find time to wash them!

Put very little water in the dirty box, tea tree is only mildly antibacterial at the best. Wash every 3-4 days here.
slipperylizard have a look at zero waste uk on Facebook. Lots of people using family cloth as it's known!

@Xiaoxiong yeah I just shove them in with everything. The only things I ever separate are known culprits who's colour runs and sensitive stuff like proper wool silk or bras.

I just chuck some antibacterial stuff in when I'm doing wipes and tbh it gets stains out of everything!