"Strip washing" cloth nappies????

[HappyChildminderBerkshire]

Hi all,

Am I the only one who is skeptical about "strip washing" cloth nappies, on 3 plain water washes at 30, 40, and 60 to get rid of smells? It just seems like such a waste and although we've had some smelly nappies this week (smell like tuna as soon as they get wet, ewww) I am loathe to waste water and electricity! Does this actually work for anyone, and if so, how often do you do it? TIA

I'm skeptical too! Never worked for me. I think that some fabrics are a bit more likely to smell than others. I use ecoballs to wash them in now and that seems to make no difference.

The only way I know to strip wash is to soak overnight in vinegar solution and then wash in normal (biological) washing powder and then rinse till water not producing bubbles any more.

Never heard of progressively hotter washes.

I like the vinegar solution idea, so long as it doesn't eat my Bamboozles! I suppose lots of direct sunlight is the answer so fingers crossed it will be nice the next few days.

Oh and I got the strip washing from The Nappy Lady. Don't think I'll bother!

I always do a prewash, a normal 40 degree wash and then throw in an extra rinse; it seems to keep the pong at bay.

A friend of mine just gives hers a wash in biological powder every three or four weeks and that seems to help as well.

Im having a week of washing my nappies in just water @ 60 degrees as i have so much build up, they are clean and smell fresher so will cut right down on the amount of detergent.

A strip wash defiantly helps if you have this problem. Yes, I agree on the wastage side of things but its not like you have to do it everytime you wash, just once when you start having the problems should sort it out. And if you have build up, you are probably using too much powder (I have made the same mistake and now cutting right down to half a tablet).

I have never heard of doing all those washes though. I stripped my nappies by washing with half a tablet and some soda crystals on my normal cycle, with an extra rinse and then doing a quick wash with no powder. I think that should be fine and will now only use half a tablet of powder, which is hardly anything really but I think as long as they have had a rinse cycle first to get the worst out, it should be fine. I wash at 60 anyway so that in itself should do the actual washing.

I have been thinking about using eco balls but a bit worried that the nappies wouldn't be clean without any washing powder? Can you use them at 60?

ecoballs do the job really well - they work at 60.

I agree with the sunlight solution.
Mine were smelly last week - a dry on the line and they're fresh as daisies again. No idea why but it worked!

I tried 'strip washing' as well, when my nappies got pongy.
Washed them about a million times at different temperatures, with bicarb, vinegar, all sorts, made no difference to smell.

Used a bit more detergent... and hey presto.. they smelt nice again.

So keen was I not to use enough washing powder... I wasn't using enough

that's meant to be... so keen was I not to use too much washing powder... oh god, too tired, must go to bed