Talk me through washing my own reusables please

[FrannyandZooey]

We have used a nappy laundry service up till now but as the nappies are getting fewer and farther between, I am thinking of taking the plunge into washing our own. We have been using wraps and prefolds up till now but have got some shaped style nappies we could use with the wraps. I guess I have several questions:

Do you have to soak nappies that are not pooey, just wet, or just bung them in a bucket till you do a wash?

How do you get the poo off into the toilet? I have read about 'sluicing' - how, exactly, does that work? Sorry if TMI but ds still does really loose poos and they usually go all over the nappy. Does your washing machine start to get a bit rank from all the bits of leftover poo? (sorry but it's the sort of thing that has put me off till now). How long can you leave a pooey nappy soaking or lying around until you have to wash it?

How long do the shaped nappies take to dry if left in an airing cupboard or on a line in summer? And do they go all stiff if you leave them to dry naturally? The few prefolds we have occasionally washed through ourselves have ended up like bits of cardboard.

Sorry for all these questions but I find it quite daunting. Thanks for any help you can offer.

I don't soak in anything, I just dry pail.
To get the poo off in the toilet I hold it under the flush.
No my machine doesn't niff, all the loose bits are washed away.
Drying on a radiator or in an airing cupboard usually takes overnight. Do you have a tumble dryer at all? I usually stick my nappies in there for a few minutes to soften them up.

faz, welcome to washing your own, it's fine honestly.

ok:
i don't soak, dry pail w. a few drops tea tree oil.
poo...paper liners flush down bog, usually with all the poo on them. tried fleece but seemed to give ds rash (tho oddly fleece lined nappies don't - ???). if anything horrific happens in the nappy i usu. get the shower head on offending nappy, whilst holding it over the bog. works a treat.
washing machine fine - so far!
something like a MEOS dries fairly fast, ditto bumble, not not much longer than prefold i'd say - & no prob at all on a line/radiator. yes they get a bit crunchy (not bumbles or other fleece lined ones tho), but i figure that's ok, with liner etc. a quick scrub together normally sorts them (i only tumble in emergencies!)

phew, pause for breath...hth

I scrape my prefolds with a bit of toilet paper scrunched in my hand.
Dry pail and then do em at 90.
Line or radiator dry but do give them a few minutes in the tumble dryer to fluff them up.

The wraps go into the shower/bath with whoever is having one at the end of theday,unless dirty with poo in which case they are washed in the machine.

My house smells beeeeeyooootiful.

I've never soaked my nappies. I don't use a bucket, I put each one of them in a nappy sack, that I then put in a bin bag that sits in a chest in my dd's room (and no, it doesn't smell, in case you're wondering !). I use fleece liners, I just shake the poo off above the toilet (if you don't want to do that, you can use paper liners that flush down the toilet). It doesn't matter if there's some poo left, I do a prewash, then a wash at 60 and a double rinse and they come out perfect. I do a wash every 3 days.
The drying time depends on the nappies you have. I use Tot bots and ME and on a sunny summer day they take about 3-4 hours to dry. Prefolds take less time. I've never used my airing cupboard for that.
It's really no big deal. But then we have a tumble dryer, much easier.
Is that any help?

hi faz!

no you don't have to soak nappies... i used to but don't bother any more

tip poo into toilet and then wash any excess down the drain using shower

i do a wash about every 2-3 days, longer if i am being lazy... but tbh the nappy bucket gets too full

I didn't used to have a tumble drier OR radiators so mine were left on clothes horse at room temp and used to take about 2 days to dry (hence me needing tons of nappies! lol)
now I tend to give them 20 mins in the drier and then leave them to dry themselves.

they can go stiff, but once they're on it doesn't seem to make much difference. you can always bung a fleece liner in to make it softer

oh yeh i also wash at 60... or sometimes 40

now and then they get a bit stained, but it comes out eventually!

I dry pail too. I throw them in the bucket and put a couple of drops of tea tree oil in.
Slucing is basically holding fleece liner in the toilet and flushing it. You can also use disposable liners if you dont like the idea of sluicing.
Not had any poo left overs in the washing machine.
I either dry on radiators or in the tumble drier. Usually takes a couple of hours and the wraps about 45mins.

I use meos and tots bots.

No, we have no tumble drier. Do you think that's a problem? I was planning to go back to the laundry service if we had another baby and I still didn't have a drier, that's the main reason we haven't washed our own up till now.

Yes paper liners should catch everything shouldn't they, but ds is virtually a fruitarian and there is not much solid in there most days. I like the shower idea but ours wouldn't reach. So you all just stick what's there into the pail and shove tea tree on it and leave it for....how long? How often do you wash?

Not sure what you meant by 'a quick scrub together will sort them' re: the drying roosmum?

Dry pail. Buy a nappy mesh and then all you have to do is lift that out and bung that in the washing machine. Add a few drops of tea tree oil and the bucket will smell nicer when you take the lid off. Bleach the bucket at least once a week.

Use paper liners if you are squeamish about the poo. Then this gets flushed away if pooey, otherwise the liners can be washed and reused.

I run the machine at 95 about once a fortnight, empty with powder to make sure it is completely clean.

Wash every 2 or 3 days.

I dry my shaped nappies (I highly recommend Motherease) in the dryer during winter. They'll dry in a day on an average summer day. I try and dry them again in a dryer to fluff them up - treat like towels. The sun is fab at getting rid of stains.

HTH

Sorry cross posts - yes yes this is all very helpful! Sorry to be such a remedial student.

So starlover you just hold the nappy over the bath plug and turn the shower on?

OMG - have my fridays nights come down to detailed descriptions of how I scrape sh*t off my child's nappies?? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Deep breath....right.

I hold the soiled nappy in the loo and flush. I then use a rubber-glove clad hand to scrape left over poo off and flush again. If it's a claggy one I rinse the rest of the poo off in the bidet (yes, finally a use for it !!!) and if its truly ghastly (like at the moment as dd has diarrhoea) it gets soaked in the bidet with some nappisan.

It's a happy day when dd does nice formed little nuggets that just roll off the nappy into the bog.

I airdry my nappies and the only ones that ever get really crunchy are original totsbots.

Welcome to nappy-obsessives-anonymous - HTH!!

no it should be fine! i managed with no drier and a newborn getting through 8 nbappies a day! i DID have to do a wash each day though, or at the very least every other day.

I wash excess down the bath faz! I know it's a bit gross, i do disinfect afterwards! but we have separate bathroom and toilet so if i can't get it off in the loo it's my only option really

faz, quick rub = softens up scrunchy dry nappies (a bit), not actually dries them...you'd be there a while trying to do that!!

i like MEOS too, tho find prefolds good now poo is solid. for night, bumble is ace.

yeah totsbots do seem to get crunchier than motherease... they're fab nappies!

does your council do any incentives/schemes faz? I got £100 worth of meos etc from my council

picknikel - I am listening to Pete Tong as I write this. People are going out clubbing, drinking, partying and here we are...

hahaha nik, it's feb 05 aka the diehard poo-nappy-washers, what a friday nite!

at SL's free naps, again!

So it's come to this, !!

My youth has disappeared down the toilet with dd's poo!

At least i am not alone.......

Erm yes that is partly what inspired us star, our council does 2 wraps and 3 shaped nappies for a fiver, so we have asked a few friends to send off for them for us. I thought we would probably only need about 10 nappies and 5 wraps now ds is nearly 3.

tee hee! i wonder if us feb lot have the most reusable users?

people warned me before ds was born how much time I'd spend talking about poo... i never believed them

ooh that's a bargain faz!

faz, are they modern baby?

if so, they're great, i just have one, but it's a fave.

I'm a Feb but 04 (and a July 02 too).

You can't lay claim to being the only ones able to chat about poo on a Friday night. There are more of us with no life out there!

Yes roosmum, I like the Modern Baby wraps as we use those already with our prefolds, but the little shaped nappies seem so sweet and cuddly. I am getting quite excited now! We had our laundry delivery today so will need to give notice but in a fortnight we should be going for it :)

FaZ, my ds bowel movements sound like your ds' and I have found disposable liners a bit of a waste of time tbh. If the poos were more solid I reckon it would be easier to just chuck the lot down the loo, but as it is it kind of soaks through, meaning you end up having to rinse the nappy through before dry-pailing. Fleece liners are better at keeping your nappies stain free, but it does mean getting down and dirty with them I'm afraid... I scrape off the worst into the loo with some loo roll then rinse it in the sink with some stain removal soap. Then I clean the sink, of course