How do you get your washable nappies clean?

[stringbean]

My nappy laundry service has come to an end, so I'm now into washing my own. I'm using Motherease, which are great in every respect, but how do you get those 'hard to clean stains' out of them? Dd is still at the runny poo stage, and I understand that liners can't be used until poo is a bit more solid, as it just slides off. Nappies get sluiced first in the loo, then soaked in a bucket with Nappy Bright (or similar) and then rinsed and washed in non-bio at 60 degrees. But I've just taken three out of the machine that are still tinged with green (and suspect that these have been through at least twice now). Any suggestions as to how to clean these gratefully received!

If you were to use a fleece nappy liner then a lot of the staining would go onto that instead (sluice it like you would the nappy).

In the summer stains were easy - hang em on the line in the sun and they bleach out, but winter is less so. I ended up leaving them - the nappies themselves are well washed, it is just a visual thing that is hidden under a wrap anyway. Do I just not take enough pride in my nappies?

I also found I was better not soaking them - I was getting the same amount of staining either way, and not soaking means no nasty water to deal with.

err..dont know the environmental implications of this atall,but i use napisan to soak .

marvellous.

also come summer, the sunlight will bleach some of the most 'stubborn ' stains,if you hang em to face the sun.

I have made some 'liners' from flannalette sheets. They are bigger than the nappy, so are folded to create a total of six layers between the baby and the nappy. This stops all poo, which prevents the nappy from getting any stains.

I don't soak, just rinse the poo off of the liner and rinse the nappy to get wee out, and then dry pail until they get washed.

After the wash, the liners are sometimes still stained, but I hang on the line, so long as it isn't raining :O and this sorts any staining out. If it's raining, putting on an airer next to the window can help a bit.

If you've got some badly stained nappies, I'd just leave them on the line for a couple of days come rain or shine (my neighbours probably think I'm mad!) and so far I've never had a stain that didn't disappear.

HTH

I use napisan - here in AUs it is different to the UK napisan. The sun is brilliant for bleaching the stains out as well - no help for you during winter though I realise. What about oxy-action I think it was called??

I always used fleece liners, rinse off down loo then wash with soap in the bidet - what a great invention - then stick in nappy bucket to soak til go in the machine
sounds a bit of a faff really when I think about it but it doesn't seem to take all that long
have to say though I didn't realise that everyone didn't do that when I started out or I probably wouldn't have bothered.

I just flush solids down the loo, soak in plain water, wash at 60oC with half dose of non bio, and hang out on the line for at least half a day come rain or shine, keeps our nappies nice and bright !

ive just started useing reusables and do what my mother done empty rinse soak in biotex over night then wash with extra rinse cycle if this dont work you can get stuff called oxy bright it comes in a box of saches put one saches in with your normal powder and wash sorry cant say about the line because we live in a flat so i have to make do with a tumble drier
hth

Many thanks for all your replies. I'm reluctant to wash/soak using anything that isn't non- bio (is the Oxy stuff non-bio?), and suspect that just hanging nappies on the line may be the answer (and getting over my concerns about green tinges ).

i dont think napisan is bio

does anyone else know?

It all comes out eventually -- just wait till summer and hang out in sunshine for as long as it lasts.

Have used oxyclean and ecover laundry bleach, but can't say I noticed any difference.

Napisan is fab and non bio. I use disposable nappies but when there is a monster of a poo and it leaks, off the offending article goes to soak in Napisan. 24hrs later it is stain free. Hurray!!

thanks chickpea...that saves me going to look at the packet and losing my spot on the computer!

It's really a fantastic product. My DS has eczema and he is safe with Napisan.

Napisan can damage the elastic in some of the more modern style nappies and wraps though. Nappy soak style stuff will help in the prewash but I think sun is the best thing. Really recommend using a liner too. B/f or young baby poo won't slide off fleece.
I dry pail in a bucket with a net having flushed away my paper liner if dirty and sluiced the nappy in the loo if there is poo on it. I then do a prewash with nappy soak and then a wash with a little bit of non-bio at 60 degrees with a super rinse. DD suffered with nappy rash when I first fell pregnant (with no 2) as DH was doing the washing as I was too tired/queasy. We got to the bottom of it and it was that he was using too much powder and then her wee was reacting with it. I washed all the nappies in plain water and we still got bubbles from powder residue so that clinched it for me. She has been fine since we sorted that out though. Alternatively you could dye them all a funky colour. HTH

Thanks for the advice - and for the warning about Napisan Cooperoo. Actually I hung my nappies out on the line yesterday, and was amazed to see that the sunlight really did bleach them.