how to look after dirty nappies...help novice mum-to-be

[ronniemummy]

I am now five days overdue and as organised as I can be. Have got my nappies- a mixture of motherease sandy's and some new all in one nappy- whose name I can't remember. I have got the bucket to keep the soiled nappies in -BUT should I have anything in the bucket ( besides the mesh bag) to help soak them or disguise the smell. Also, what kind of washing powder do you recommend?

I have prewashed the all in ones, but am leaving the Sandy's until I know how big the baby is in case I need to exchange for small instead of extra small. SHould I do a hot wash with no detergent first and then a wash with a little bit of powder???

Please help me as time is running out fast before this baby finally makes an appearance!

hi, i am new to cloth nappies but have been asking lots of questions on here and am going off my own short experiences. by the way, i love my cloth nappies and im afraid i have to warn you, it does tend to become an addiction.

anyway, i have been reliably informed to pre wash nappies on a 60 wash with small amount of powder, then do washes without powder. you dont need to dry inbetween pre washes. 10 - 30 mins in the tumble drier straight out of the washer can soften them up before air drying.

only use a small amount of washing powder to avoid build up and a smell, as i have recently found out. the nappy lady reccommends only 1 - 2 tablespoons.

i dry pail in the bucket, just rinse off any poo and apply vanish to any stains and pop in bucket. you can put some tea tree or lavender oil on a muslin on top of the nappies for the smell or put some on a cotton bud and tape to the lid

Hello! I don't have anything in the bucket with the nappies. You can choose to soak or not soak. They smell LESS if you don't soak, but I do a short soak (anything from an hour to overnight) in the washing machine before the wash.

I washed all the nappies with powder twice before using. However, I didn't use them for the first few months - used disposables while I got to grips with the whole baby thing.

HTH!

Lots of people dry pail, it smells less than soaking in most people experience and makes no differnece to the washing. Early days breast fed pooh wil not rinse off easily, don't bother, it washes out just fine. I still only try to rince off teh worst ones (some comes off but not all) and boy is now 5 months old but still only breastfed.

oh, just thought. 2 nappy buckets can help with smell isues if you are not washing almost every day , also means each bucket is a more manageable weight when full of nappies.
Good luck, have fun and don;t be afraid to use disys for a few days till you get past teh meconuim stage, they have their uses and that stuff is mega sticky and staining.