AIBU to go Ewwww at how my eldest's using her re-usable period pads

[Wills]

Now, I'm not against them, just against her tossing them into the main washing pile! I have four kids and do approximately 2 loads minimum a day BUT sometimes some things get left for a while at the bottom - this has lead me, in the past, to insist that ordinary used face flannels are put in a separate container in the bathroom that I can pick up and put in the wash before they start to stink. But given how I feel about face flannels being left to fester I hope you can understand that I'm being rather squeamish about used sanitary towels. At the same time I want to be progressive and save the planet and my youngest will be starting in the next 2 years so umm, if you use them how do you 'deal with them'. I have 3 daughters so need to find a solution suitable for them all.

@SherlocksDeerstalker

That is entirely unnecessary.

Dealing with periods as a teenager is annoying enough without having to stamp about on cloths with your blood on them.

Ours get tossed straight into the washing machine with what ever washing is needed to be washed at the time

I did use to soak them in a cold salt solution but it didn’t make any difference

If we have no washing (very rare), they are put into a small sealed washing bag, waiting for a wash.

Tell her that her ideals are all well and good but that she must sort them out. It is ok having great ideas if you deal with them but not when it is left to someone else to sort out. If you can't do that the nappy bucket is the only solution.

@Fluffycloudland77

I don’t think a mooncup would work for a virgin.

Of course a teenager can use a menstrual cup

Rinse and put straight in the washing machine.

@MaliceOrgan

Yeah, that sounds great. Make her think that periods are something to hide and to be ashamed of. Yup, that's going to end well.

There's a big difference between wanting her daughter to hide her periods and not wanting to touch her dirty pads for goodness sake.

We soak them in cold water until the next wash is going on (DD’s clothes, I’m a bit squeamish about them being washed with mine).

Put them in a fifteen min cold wash at the end of the day, then just add to the next load of laundry.

Wow, I hadn't expected so many responses so fast - thank you - there are some fantastic ideas out there that I need to go through and work out what suits her/us. To clarify a load of things.
Firstly
I HAVE NOT reacted with Ewww to my daughter - only on here. As I said in my original post I accept that this is the way to go for the environment and need to think this through so that when my youngest starts in the next couple of years its totally normal and part of life all the family including DH and DS see it as matter of fact.
Secondly
My Ewww is not over period blood - what the hell difference is it to a cut finger or knickers etc. My ewww is the finding the ones from the start of period hidden at the bottom of the laundry box. I'm really proud she's researched this and sorted it - good on her - now I need to make sure we have a workable solution so the rest of us can follow suit.
Thirdly
She's a uni student and is perfectly capable of doing her own wash. However none of the pads went through in HER wash and were left for me to discover a short while ago. So obviously she's also a little squeamish which I need to talk gently to her and make sure we get around this. Periods are clean - its only when they're left to fester that they become nasty.

I do hope that clarifies whats going on. To those that defended my 'ewww' thank you.

To those that have made suggestions thank you so much - I wont show my daughter the post, instead I'll go through and list all the ideas that would work with the rest of us and chat to her normally about the best way forward. I'll also ask her where she got them from and start the conversation with dd2 so that by the time dd3 starts it will already seem normal!

I would echo the suggestion to ask her to give them a quick rinse in the sink and then pop them in a mesh laundry bag (could live near the flannels or in with her ordinary washing perhaps?) so they can go in the normal wash in the next couple of days. I use the period pants sometimes and this is what I do with them as they need to wash at 30 or 40. The only smell issues I've had are with the heaviest flow period pants not drying quickly enough in winter.

I wash the baby's reusable nappies every two days and those are on a quick rinse cycle for 15 minutes to get the wee and poo out, then on a longer wash at 60, so perhaps a variation on that would work well if she's not keen to do the rinse in the sink.

I always thought they need rinsing with cold water straight away (or asap if they are not somewhere they can)

If you’re doing at least one load of washing every day there’s no need for the pads to hang about. She needs to wash them out in the bathroom sink as soon as she takes them off and then put into a mesh laundry bag and straight into the washing machine. If you have more than one daughter and want to keep their pads separated in the wash they could each have a different coloured laundry bag perhaps?

The answer to this is so blindingly bloody obvious I am struggling to understand why you needed a thread to discuss it.

You seemed to manage to crack the face cloth conundrum all on your own.

I used to have a small bucket with cold water in the bathroom. There would always be a wash put on in the next 24 hours so it was fine.

Oh & the soaking water is bloody good for your bathroom house plants, if a bit Little Shop of Horrors....

I had 6 years of washable nappies though, so I'm not easily icked by grotty washing.

Rinse after changing, into a wetbag in the bathroom, washed at 60 with towels

I don’t think they need to be rinsed or anything like that, but you can get things called wet bags that you used to put washable nappies in when you’re out and about and that kind of thing. I use one of those to collect my period pants in and then just chuck them in with the normal wash whenever I’m doing one. So they get stored separately from the rest of your washing but don’t require any extra treatment that starts to get a bit faffy.

I was about to say put them in a bucket with Milton solution or similar, but I see now she is uni age, I was thinking she was

Rinse in cold water, I would avoid Milton/Vanish etc for anything that's to go next to your fanny!

Put them in some kind of opaque Tupperware in the bathroom, with a bit of disinfectant if you want and then chuck the whole lot in the machine.

I never subjected my mother to dirty period underwear let alone reusable pads full of blood. I washed all underwear by hand in cold water to prevent stains.

Your dd needs to wash her pads herself, either by hand or in a cold machine wash.

Don’t mollycoddle her, she will get lazier.

Still waiting to find out why she can’t do her own washing..

Uni student?? then that really is disgusting of her at her age to not know how to be considerate to everyone else.
Tell her straight, at her age you don't need to tip toe around the issue. She should well know by now that she needs to sort it out. It is disgusting find one that has been sitting in the pile that wasn't at least rinsed and cleaned out.

Completely agree with others about no need for rinsing. Also, a water bucket sounds much more ‘fester-y’ to me than a nice dry laundry bag!

I hand wash them in cold water in the sink after use then they get washed in the machine next time I do a load. Stops them staining like this.

If they dry in time I reuse after hand washing but I like to put them in the machine between cycles.

I rinse mine in cold water then throw then in a wash bag which gets put in the washer. Only put them in the usual washing when I’m at the tail end of my period & not quite sure if it’s done or not & it comes off clean. Couldn’t imagine putting a bloody one in the wash basket