help me get my tots bots nice and soft please

[KnickersOnMaHead]

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Vinegar in the final rinse helps if you have hard water.

Line dry and then whack them against a (clean) wall to stop them being too crunchy.

Tumble drying gets them really soft.

tumble drying wears your nappies out more quickly than line drying. I would suggest buying soap nuts (they are cheap) and use them to wash your nappies with. Bamboo nappies stay softer after washing in a hard water area so that is my other suggestion.

I live in Thames Valley and am so very used to the trials of hard water.....

I've got Bamboozles and although I live in a soft water area I notice a huge difference in softness between using liquitab things (crunchy) and Ecover liquid (much softer). It might be worth trying a couple of different cleaners. Comfort conditioner is also pants, Sainsbury's own or Ecover conditioner have both been much better.

When he's teething and extra grumpy I confess to bunging them in the drier so that they're super soft.

Arghhh...keep well away from any conditioner! It will coat your nappies and ruin the absorbancy - it takes about 10 washes tp get the absorbancy back up in some nappies.

If you have the option of a tumble drier a good tip is to line dry until they are almost dry then bung them in the tumble drier for 10 mins or so to soften them up. That won't affect the lifespan of your nappies.

Rubbing them together when dry also helps a bit.

If you have a washer/drier don't use liquitab things - you'll end up with very smelly nappies.

my main tips are

rinse in cold water first (ie in the machine on a rinse cycle)

then bung in the soapnuts and wash on a 40 degree cycle.

If when he gets older the nappies get whiffy (due to amonia increase in teething wee) then was at 50 occasional with bio powder (don't need loads - half recommeded dose) but do an extra rinse cylcle afterwards, and keep your soap nuts in too

watch how much detergent you use as well.....I think you only need about a quarter of the usual amount (or is it half?)

My machine doesn't rinse very well, so i get a build up on mine. Try washing them without any detergent a few times, and use a cupful of vinegar in the rinse as suggested by dontdreamit.

I prewash (or rinse by hand if I'm not feeling too lazy!), wash and extra rinse mine. I add vinegar to the fabric conditioner drawer, and line dry them. They usually get 15 mins in the tumbler to fluff them up. If they've gotten too dry on the line for the tumble drier, add a damp towel in with them.

Leaving them out on the line in the rain seems to soften them up too.

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No they won't. You need to use white vinegar which you can get quite cheaply in big tubs. I've used malt before though and still not had nappies that smell of fish and chips

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I used to use vinegar don't bother anymore since I started with soap nuts. Also every now and then you should do the hottest wash possible with your machine empty to strip it out of built up powder residue.

I also only put the powder in the drum never the drawer as it clogs up the pipes and the machine then rinses with powdered water. 2 diff engineers have told me this is the best place to put the powder.

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I do use soapnuts for nappies now, and they don't smell any more (was a big problem for a while here)

I've given up on powder and use soapnuts for lighly soiled non-nappy washes, and 1/2 dose non-bio liquid for everything else.

Knickers - perhaps your washing machine has had its day????? I put the powder in first and then jiggle the drum so it goes down the holes first?

You only need to use half the recommended dose anyway on all washes.

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I had the same problem and tried everything-vinegar and soapnuts din't work for me-maybe the water was just too hard where I am! Soapnuts were fine to get the nappies clean though. Tumbledrying for 10-15min at the end helped abit, but the best results were after leaving them hanging out in the rain for a day. They never went back to their original softness though and I am temporarily back to disposables as DD is now finding these more comfortable...working on an alternative though!
good luck!

Arti do you think your washing machine needs stripping as years of powder residue build up could cause this?