Nappies no longer absorbing urine. Advice please.

[mymblemummy]

My Fluffles and Lollipop fleece nappies have suddenly started leaking as soon as they are put on my one-year-old.

Looking at them it seems urine is pooling on the surface instead of being absorbed by the fabric. The same seems to be happening to my fleece liners.

I have no idea what is causing this but I suspect I need to strip them, and I'm not sure how.

Any advice on the best way to strip them please? Also on what has caused the problem?

I don't seem to have the same problem with the bamboo nappies or my one cotton nappy.

They are all (synthetic and natural nappies) wet-pailed with a sprinkle of Bio D nappy soak and washed with EcoBalls and a splash of vinegar at 40 degrees. Very pooey batches get washed with Sonett powder and a splash of vinegar at 60 degrees, with an extra rinse. I did put Vanish on some very stained ones the other day.

We are heavy users of zinc and castor oil as he is very prone to nappy rash.

Please help if you can. We are running out of clean clothes and he is sick of constant nappy changing.

I had this with my fluffles and I put it down to use of nappy rash cream. I followed these instrutions here and it did the trick.

do you use liners? if not then it'll probably be the nappy cream. it'll have left a nice waterproof layer on them.

i wouldn't bother with the nappy soak either, as that can do bad things to some nappies,.

i would chuck them in on a 90 degree wash with a little detergent and nothing else

Thank you very much Runnervt and Thisisyesterday for getting back so quickly.

I used to use paper liners but stopped recently after he had a hideous bout of nappy rash, and a Mumsnetter suggested fleece liners would be less irritating. Should I go back to paper?

The zinc and caster oil is recent too. It was suggested by my GP and he said to be pretty heavy-handed lathering it on. Before then it was a thin coat of Sudocrem or a nice organic beeswax balm. But they were hopeless at stopping the nappy rash.

Would it really be alright to wash Fluffles and Lollipop fleece at 90 degrees? I'd rather not melt them!

Given that we can't stop the zinc and castor oil use as it is the only thing that works as a barrier for us, should I follow the stripping instructions every so often? Once a month, say?

I personally wouldn't want to put any of my nappies in at 90 degrees but the stripping instructions should be more than enough, I know a couple of MNers have used them with good results.

if you';re using the fleece liners then it might not be that then, unless it's going through the fleece onto the nappy itself?

i have chucked all of mine through the occasional 90 degree wash with no harm done. I think as long as you don't do it regularly it's fine.

Oh well, I followed the stripping instructions, squirted water on them to test the success....and watched it roll off in little beads.

But I've now come to the conclusion it is probably all the nappy creams and eczema ointments he's had on his bum over the past few months rather than detergent overload, so they are now being washed in Fairy Liquid.

If that doesn't work it's 90 degrees for the whole caboodle. Nothing to lose after all.