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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

how to deal with the washing when working all day

24 replies

mousymouse · 02/09/2010 11:05

I am about to return to work after maternity leave. I have a 3year old who decided not to wear nappies during the night which means washing his bedding about 3 times per week
the normal washing is no problem, but having to wash bedding + duvet + what is on normally and not having plenty of drying space...
I have a washer/dryer but only use it for fluffing up the towels as it is a slow, noisy electricity eater.

OP posts:

iusedtobeasize8 · 02/09/2010 11:13

Erm...i would get your 3 year old back in night time nappies if he's wetting 3 times a week....he's not ready to go without.
Sorry, you did ask!

scurryfunge · 02/09/2010 11:15

If you can't put him into pull ups or whatever at night until he is ready, then I would dispense with the duvet and use blankets and sheets which are quicker to dry.

HerBeatitude · 02/09/2010 11:15

Get your husband to do it.

Original poster

mousymouse · 02/09/2010 11:16

yes I know, but he really gets upset if we make him wear them...
I will do one last try if he likes the pampers pyjama pants.

OP posts:

witchwithallthetrimmings · 02/09/2010 11:18

put them on when he is alseep. I have been doing this with ds for 3 years!

Othersideofthechannel · 02/09/2010 11:46

I think you need at least two sets of bedding including the mattress protector. One DC frequently wet through nighttime nappies. I put the washing on before leaving for work and hung it out on returning home. It wouldn't be dry by bedtime but would be dry by the following evening (if we had two leaky nights in succession).

muddleduck · 02/09/2010 11:49

do you take him to the toilet before you go to bed? That was enough to keep ds1 dry at that age.

Original poster

mousymouse · 02/09/2010 11:57

yep, dh takes him to the toilet before he goes to bed (Im in bed just after the kids).
already have two duvets that dry quite quickly but they take up soo much space...
at the mo its ok, because I can run the washing in the mornings so it dries during the day when I can keep windows open.

OP posts:

highlandspringerdog · 02/09/2010 12:02

Who is in charge?! You or DC???
He is 3! He can't 'decide' what is does and does not wear in bed. Not unless he is going to do all that washing / drying his mum has to contend with! Stick him in pull ups for a while longer til you've bought shares in the launderette.

muddleduck · 02/09/2010 12:06

I agree with highland.

not good for him to be learning that it is acceptable to regularly wet the bed.

find him some new nappies with different pictures on and say that once he can keep them dry then he can go to bed without them.

QS · 02/09/2010 12:06

Have you tried lifting him before you go to bed?

Ie, you lift sleeping child up, place him on the toilet, ask him to make a wee, while you hold him steady. Child wees, you wipe and carry back to bed.

I know 5 year olds who are still in night time nappies. It is not HIS decision to make!

GetOrfMoiLand · 02/09/2010 12:12

I used to lift dd when she was potty training.

I used to take her to the loo at various points during the evening - say 8 and then at 10.

Used to take her again say at midnight when I went to bed.

For the first couple of weeks set an alarm for 3 to see if she needed to go then. She never woke up (just peed in her sleep if she needed to) and gradually dropped the lifts. It was a PITA but less so than that of wet sheets.

Re washing, I work full time and change sheets often in the morning. I put teh sheets in before I go to work, then when get home take them out and put them on the line. I am lucky in that I have a laundry room with a line up so don't have to rely on outside all the time. I then do a few more washed in the eving and put the clothes on airers. I also usually leave a wash on the putside line overnight and take it off in the morning - sometimes is still a bit damp but then put it in teh airing cupboard. If it has pissed down in the night I give the sky a filthy look and leave the washing on the line to (eventually) dry.

So, you need 2 sets of sheets - one on, one in the wash/drying, but is not too much hassle to keep on top of it all.

GetOrfMoiLand · 02/09/2010 12:13

never used pull ups, they didn't exist then (and still don't think they are necessary, just nighttime lifts)

TheNextMrsDepp · 02/09/2010 12:14

I do my laundry in the evening after work, fold it wet, then whizz it onto the line in the morning before I go to work. You will need a second set of bedding, though....

highlandspringerdog · 02/09/2010 12:21

some kids wet twice or three times in a night though, even with night time lifts - my eldest did. Until he was 8! So I don't think we should right off pull ups just yet!

GetOrfMoiLand · 02/09/2010 12:23

Does anyone else leave their washing on the line overnight.

I remember a thread about that very subject some time back, loads of MNers thought it was slatternly.

Original poster

mousymouse · 02/09/2010 12:26

I don*t have outside space to dry my washing (flat).
when living at my parents we used wing airers that were placed outside when the weather permitted and carried inside over night.

OP posts:

LadyLapsang · 02/09/2010 13:46

Does your DH always remember to lift your child for the loo before he goes to bed or could it be possible the accidents are happening because your DH sometimes forgets? (Sure the person doing the washing wouldn't forget!) If your DH isn't forgetting then I think it's back to night nappies, at least on the days you have work the following morning.

FessaEst · 02/09/2010 13:56

GetOrf I do! I leave it out 'til it gets dry, so sometimes a couple of days getting wet-dry-wet-dry again. DH hates it but it works for me!

IHeartKingThistle · 02/09/2010 21:14

I'm going to disagree with everyone who says put him back in nappies. Normally I would agree that children do NOT make the decisions in the house but how else is he going to learn? You are not telling him thar it's acceptable to wet the bed presumably.

DD decided at 3 that she didn't want nappies at night, she wet the bed almost every night to begin with but she got it and she knew that she had done it herself. I can't help but think that it would have sent her backwards to put her back in nappies, not to mention sending mixed messages. The washing was a pain but worth it to see how proud she was that she had got dry by herself. She's now 3.9 and doesn't need lifting at all.

We got very good at predicting the time she needed to be lifted!

Sorry, I know your OP was about washing!

OnlyWantsOne · 02/09/2010 22:10

You could use the bed mats as well? It does tend to save some of the other laundry - we put DD on a towel, on a bed mat, over her sheets - which meant she wasnt too hot / sweaty (as the mats are plastic backed, grose) but all her sheets didnt get wet too...

But, I would put him back in some kind of pull up / nappy, and still lift him and encourage him to be dry at night.

Other wise, strip bed in morning, put on washing, hang out when get home, and repeat!!

My heated airer from Lakeland is fab - get one!!!

Meglet · 02/09/2010 22:17

I work 3 days a week and have compromised with 3.9yo DS, he wears nappy pants on the nights before a work day, just in case and no pants the other 4 nights. TBH he's only had 4 accidents in 5 months but when they've happened on a work night I was up in the night changing the sheets getting knackered and the washing went out of control.

Original poster

mousymouse · 03/09/2010 07:32

thanks everyone.
he likes to sleep on top of his duvet, even when it is very cold, so starts of tucked in and then tosses and turnes all night. so the bedding usually also involves the duvet to wash. we have an IKEA matress protector that is waterproof but feels like a sheet. it dries really quickly as well.
yesterday I bought him special underpants (a different kind of pull ups) and he accepted them.

OP posts:

highlandspringerdog · 03/09/2010 13:25

I really think you need to take the power back frm your child! 'he accepted them' - well good, what if he hadn't though? Sorry I know this is a really sensitive issue and I am by no stretch a perfect parent, but I do find parents who let their children run the show so infuriating. Hopefully he will accept not running into oncoming traffic etc also?!
You are the boss! And I say this in the nicest possible way! sounds like you'll have the washing under control from now on though which is fab!

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