Soaking Nappies - advice please

[Jane99Thomas]

My nappies absolutely stank of ammonia so I stripped them in soda crystals - worked like a treat.

I previously tried pre-washing them, putting them on a cold rinse before the main wash, adding vinegar/bicarbonate of soda etc. but nothing worked - they still stank. They smelt really musty too, despite being dried outside.

So..... I have decided to soak instead of dry-pailing, in order to avoid the build up of ammonia again. I use prefolds so dont have to worry about elastic/velcro deteriating.

What do you find the best product to soak your nappies in?

Also - when soaking nappies, do you still need to wash them at 60 degrees, or can you get away with a 40 degree wash?

Any other advice on soaking would be appreciated.

Many thanks

I soak mine in Boots nappy soak. I do a rinse, then I wash them in with other washing at 40. They don't smell although sometimes I do an extra rinse at the end just to make sure there's no build up.

Actually when I was using prefolds (Bambino Mio) I just soaked them and rinsed them, no need for washing at all.

ooh, would you tell me how you stripped them - mine are getting a little bit whiffy

when i soaked i used distilled white vinegar. threw in a splodge with the cold water in each pail. rinsed and spun and then washed at 60 degress until ds was 6/12, then 40 degrees.

I used to soak but ended up with a smelly bucket of smelly water. So for the past 3 years I have dry pailed and my nappies always wash pristinely.
Soda crystals on nappies will rot the elastic and not do the nappy fabric any favours, I would never use it as it will seriously shorten the life of any nappy.

As someone who's been washing nappies for 3.5 years, 1 year of that for two children, and never had smelly nappies or had to 'strip' them, here is what I did/do:

Use paper liners in nappy, liner and poo down loo, shake any surplus poo in the loo while flushing. Bung in lidded bucket.
Wet nappies just put in bucket.
Bucket kept outside in a cool part of the yard near the back door so no smells in house.
On wash day, nappies in washing machine with normal amount of powder for size of wash, pre-wash with no powder, and if sometimes use extra rinsing option.
Wash at 60 most times (some times 40), line dry in fresh air if poss or on maiden (we don't have tumble dryer).
Nappies always fresh and sparkly clean and some of them have been in use 3 years.
If your nappies still smell after washing then its simple, they are not quite clean. The manufacturers tell us to use 1/2 normla amount of powder when washing nappies but I found this just does not get them clean. So wash them again with a decent amount of powder, plenty of rinsing, and all smells will go.
No need for 'stripping' at all, just a hot thorough wash will do.

aha, extra powder and extra rinsing sounds a goo dcombo - thanks