to soak or not to soak

[Hayls]

Hi, I've just bought a full order of MEOS (did a trial with them and Tots Bots and preferred MEOS). I have a question though- do you soak your nappies before washing them and if so what solution do you use (or just water?) I think I'll be doing a wash either every day or every 2 days but I don't know if I should soak them or not.

Also, I've bought washable wipes- do you just use water with them? I'm not keen on using any strong chemically products so are there any nice natural perfume free products I can use instead to deal with the explosive nappies?

Any other advice and useful tips from seasoned users much appreciated... are there any essentials I should get?

I soak mine a solution with Napisan but apparently you don't have to - I was reading somewhere about drysoaking them to reduce chemicals or something like that. Also, important tip - get 2 buckets so you can change the water every day if you're not washing every day - you just transfer them from one bucket to the other - easier than trying to find a place to put a load of soaking nappies while you change the water! In fact, we have 3 buckets! (2 lots of nappies )

I use terries as I got them years ago for dd1 and am too mean to buy lovely new fitted nappies as this is my 3rd (and last) baby.

I've tried every permutation of soaking water, borax, bicarb, tea-tree oil, napisan and just chucking in a dry bucket and I can report that the latter is by far the easiest and least smelly option.

I use flushable liners, which I throw down the loo if pooey, or wash if just wet. If the nappy or cover is really messy I rinse it in the flush water from the loo and put it in the bucket.

I use washable wipes made from old brushed cotton sheet, and just wet them with tap water, wipe and chuck in the bucket with the nappies. Every couple of days I empty the whole lot into the washing machine and cook up on a 60 degree wash, with non-bio powder. When I remember I do an additional rinse with a splash of white vinegar added.

We almost never have sore bots, either -- if they have looked a bit red after a poo went unnoticed for too long, I use a bit of metanium, otherwise leave bot clean and dry and put clean nappy on.

hth

No, with modern washing machines you don't need to soak, and it's much less smelly, and easier to load the washing machine.! Also, you do not want to risk a bucket full of pooey water accidentally getting tipped over your floor, do you?

We have a large nappy bucket with tight lid and wash dd's nappies every 2 - 3 days.I put a few drops of tea tree or lavender oil in the bottom of the bucket each time it is emptied. Just rinse poo off in the loo and chuck nappy in bucket. When the bucket is full I put the lot through for a cold rinse with high water level and extra agitation , then wash at 40. You don't really need to wash at 60 unless you have persisitent stains to get out. You don't need as much detergent as the makers recommend, half of what they say on the bottle/ packet is plenty- you really won't notice the difference! If you are in a hard water area, a tablespoonful of white vinegar in the final rinse will help keep the nappies soft, and so will a tumble!

We just use water with wipes, but I know some people make their own wipe solution with camomile, olive oil, etc, I expect someone will post their recipe soon! We found the bought washable wipes rather small- you can just get cheap flannels (Ikea) or cut up and edge old bath towels!

Tissy -- are you me? Spooky...

I would like to be you two but the road to hell is always paved with good intentions.....

Does that really work - no water? I've heard it but never actually spoken to anyone who has done it. Don't they smell?

Have been experimenting with no water for the last few days and I have to say it's so much easier BUT really nasty stains seem to shift better after a soak in nappy soak stuff.

So I'm torn. I hate the pooey bucket of water, but I really dislike the orangey nappies from dry pailing.

I rinse then wash at 60 with non bio and a scoop of Oxiclean.

What else can I do?

Hayls - the recipe for the baby wipe solution has been on MN recently I think. Will have a nosey.

my mother always used biotex to presoak to keep them white because we only use them to ie the baby on we just throw them in the wash as normal but starting to go degrained so im heading for the biotex myself and give them a good soaking

Ok - Eidsvold posted this a while ago:

"...now use jay cloths cut into squares - have about 80 little squares. Mix up 2 cups of boiling water, two tablespoons baby bath/wash and a tablespoon of oil (use grapeseed) Put all the wipes in (plastic green pampers dispenser) ready to use when cool on babies bum.... last about a week, wash them and then use them again."

hth

We've always done drypailing. Drying them on the line in the sun works really well at getting stains out. Of course it only works when it's sunny, but at least at this time of year you can expect that every few days or so.

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I drypail. Started off with lovely tea tree oil to soak, but had immediate flash on to when, not if, I would kick the dirty bucket over. Immediate drypail decision and it's fine. My MEOS do stain a bit if I don't use liners but I don't care, tho it must affect the resale value.
Am currently using pampers wipes but will try making my own - looks good, and cheap. HOwever, pampers wash pretty well for at least one time round, as I found out by mistake.

Hi Hayls. I've just started using reusable wipes and make a mixture up of 2 cups of hot water, 2 cammomile tea bags, leave to cool, remove bags, add a squirt of olive or baby oil, put in an old margerine or icecream tub (something with a lid) and put in wipes. They last about 3 days.

I put the wipes in with the nappies in a waterproof bag (from nappylady) as I don't have my full nappy order yet and have yet to purchase a bucket.. I do find they stain if I don't give them a good rinse after the poo's gone down the loo. Must admit can't get the hang of 'swishing' under the loo flow. I have to rinse them in a small washing up bowl in my bathroom sink. Then pop them in the bag. The smell hasn't been noticeable at all. Getting fed up with trying to shift the stains before going in the wash so I'll experiment with leaving them and seeing if a squirt of Vanish or Oxiclean will shift them in the wash.. Will also try a cold rinse before the main wash (if I work out how to do that on my machine!)

Is it right that cold water shifts things better than hot before a main wash?

definitely, karen99. Breastfed poo is mostly liquid, so more likely to get into the fabric and stain. Babies who are on solids produce poo that is mostly fibre , so if you can get it out "mechanically" it won't stain. There are some things that come through and stain, eg large quantities of tomato and carrot. As rolymoly says, sunlight is as good as anything else at getting stains out.

Hi Tissy. Thanks for that. My ds is 10mo and does have quite solid poos, but he does eat alot of carrot so maybe that's why they stain so much. Just put the latest wash out on the line this morning! It's such a lovely day down here. Fingers crossed the sun'll do it's job

definitely dry pail!!!

i have always dry pailed as the thought of all that smelly water is really icky!!!

i put a few drops of lavendar oil onto an old booster and leave that at the bottom of the bucket... i also use a nappy net then i just hoick the whole thing out (remembering to leave the net open so the naps all come out in the machine!) and then just put the washing machine on!

I have never had any stains and my fuzzis look as brand new as the day i got them.... over a 1 and a half ago!!!

good luck....

and there's nothing better than a line of lovely naps drying on your washing line!!! sad i know but it's true!!!!

Thanks for all your advice. Looks like I won't be soaking (thankfully- wasn't looking forward to that prospect!) Now I just have to wait for them to arrive!

Dry pail - I had the experience of DS1 knocking bucket over and dirty water pooring through ceiling downstairs - that taught me

thanks mudda - have been using those wipes forever - sil gave me the recipe and she has been using them for almost two years - not needed replacing. I am looking forward to doing it again - using disposables at the moment as we are in the process of emigrating and stuff has been sent and packed - but can't wait to get into the cloth nappies etc again.

Another vote for drypailing here although we put 6 drops of tea tree oil in the bucket to make sure it doesn't smell.

We just use water for the wipes too. Great if you're out and about as you can always buy a bottle of water and use that if stuck in the park, traffic, etc. DS (summer baby) only ever had cold water and is a very hardy child, DD (winter) has had warm up until now...

I only use flushable liners for DS (22 months). DD's (13 weeks) nappies are less grim (lovely orange bf poo) and although they are a bit stained experience has shown that they will come out over time (she's in his MEOS hand me downs).

Enjoy the fun! There's no looking back once you get started.

I was happily using "flushable" liners only to be told by someone checking our drains that they block drains. He asked if I used "kandoo" wipes because they are also meant to be flushable but do actually block the drains (his wife has been told to stop flushing them). I now have to throw them out rather than flushing and it makes nappy changing a lot more messy! Anyone else had any problems?

Hi bozzy, I must admit I have heard that even though they say 'flushable' they can still block. The same goes for bathroom anti-bac wipes that state the same thing. I use Bumbles nappies which don't need a liner, but when I tried out the Totsbots I used a fleece liner which kept the bottom really dry and the poo fell off really easily into the loo. And as you're washing the nappies/wipes anyway it didn't make much difference adding the fleece liners to the load. Better for bots and the drains all round.

They cost around £1 each, but some advice I read earlier was to cut up an old fleece blanket or similar, as long as it was 100% polyester (no cotton content). HTH

I rinse pooey ones then stick them all in a bucket without anything else - works fine for us. When we wash we do a pre-wash without any soap.

Hi bozzy, maybe it was on that site I read about cutting up the fleece! I think Bloss posted it a while back. Just make sure it doesn't have any cotton content otherwise it will try to absorb water rather than let it through. I find ds' bottom very dry after moving to fleece.

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