Washing Cloth nappies

[shoppingmad]

Sorry I am sure this has been discussed many times but need some advice.
My 11 month old is in one life cloth nappies and they are great, but, I am having a nightmare getting them clean.
I have tried several options:

1. taking wet/soiled nappy and putting it into pail with nappysan. Washing nappies in 60 degrees wash with 3 tabs of persil non-bio. Outcome-nappies still smell of wee, so have to go on for further wash.

2. taking wet, soiled nappy and putting it in pail with non-bio tablet washing at 60degrees with 2 tabs persil non-bio. Outcome- nappies still smell of wee so have to be re washed.

3. taking wet,soiled nappy and putting it in pail with 2 drops of lavender and tea tree oll and water, washing nappies again they smell of wee.

I love the fact that I am doing a little bit to help the environment by using these nappies but surely the double washing defeats the object.
My washing machine is 3 months old top of the range Hotpoint and washes all our other clothes really well. I always try to get my nappies on the line to dry if weather good.
What am i doing wrong, tips greatly appreciated.

too much washing powder- you only need to use half the amount you would for a normal load. you will have a detergent build up- they need stripping but someone more knowledgeable than me will come and tell you about that

I use bumbles- we don't soak (euurgh poo soup) put them in for a cold rinse/ pre soak type, then wash at 40 with a vanish scoop full of bold- nappies don't smell here- until the little blighters get their bums in them that is

I do the same as reallywoundup. Dry in the bucket, rinse cycle in the machine and wash at 40, with usual amount of detergent if not a little less and some white vinegar in the softener drawer.

I also find nappy-san has... a... particular smell. (stinks!)

Sounds like I am getting it all wrong.

just soak in plain water, then rinse cycle, then wash.

give them a 60 degree wash with no powder - see how bubbly the water goes!

Its starting to really bug me, thanks for your replies, interesting about detergent build up had no idea!!

The smell will definitely be detergent build up. Just use one tablet with a full load of nappies and I always do an extra rinse too.

To get rid of all that product build up some soda crystals could help (in the first wash). Followed be several full washes to get rid of it all (I do extra washes at 30).

Strip wash them first - 60 deg wash no detergent - def no napisan! Then as a routine I would:

1. Dry pail nappies (no water/sanitiser)
2. Wash nappies at 40-60 with a natural sanitiser like soda crystals, tea tree oil or clean & fresh.
3. Max two tabs of detergent.

Octo - why do you say def no napisan? We use a scoop in a bucket to soak and then half a scoop with half the normal detergent to wash at 40.
Every 3/4 washes we do an extra rinse to get rid of any build up.

I'm nervous of dry pailing - does it not smell? How often do you wash the nappies?

soaking in napisan rots the elastic and does evil things to your wraps.
Use a spoonful instead of Vanish powder to get stains out of normal clothes htough - it is ace and much cheaper.

I dry pail (doesn't smell if you scrape solid poo off first)
do a pre rinse if they are particularly nasty
wash at 60 with half the recommended amount of non-bio

NB teething wee can reek - I needed to do a pre-rinse even if not pooey when dd was cutting teeth at 12m.

oh and I wash either when bucket is full or we are low on nappies, whichever comes first!

now dd is in size 2s with boosters the bucket fills faster than we run out - when she was in teeny weeny size 0 Bimbles and we only had 10 I had to wash every half-bucket, filling up the rest of the load with the inevitable sicky muslins etc

We don't soak the wraps, they go in a waterproofed linen bag.

Can you use a couple of drops of tea tree in water to soak the nappies? I really don't like the idea of dry pailing for some reason!

tea tree also bad for elastic apparently (do onelifes have elastic? I forget)

just try dry pailing for one bucketload and see what you think

if you don't like it go back to wet but IMO it is much better than having poo-soup slopping about
also safer with a curious toddler around...

Thanks MrsBadger - I will be brave and give it a go!

when mine got to doing toddler amonia wees I did add napisan to the wash - not soaking bucket and not the wraps! Just every few washes and washed with a small amount of bio, soap nuts (we've got very hard water) and did a 6o wash, it was the only thing that worked tbh.

I used half the recommend dose of washing powder and did an extra rinse before (I dry pailed) and after the main wash.

Interesting the washing machine engineer told me that napisan is great for cleaning your washing machine out. Also I put all the powder in the drum and never in the drawer because it clogs up the feed tubes and ends up with your washing being rinsed in soapy water.

I put napisan in my "soaking bucket" which is for hand cleaning flannels, filthy socks etc It has carroded the plastic bucket over a couple of years........

Argh - I am worried now that I ruined my nappies by using napisan for so long

I have just been looking on Nappy Lady and there it recommends soaking in white vinegar for shaped nappies. Reckons that if you dry pail then you need to wash at 60 or the nappies won't smell clean - any thoughts?

I read that soaking in plain water helps dilute the amonia in the wee which is the smell that is hard to get rid of. If you are used to wet soaking I'd carry on and just use plain water and then wash at 40 - try it and see what happens.

I think some bottoms react to napisan residue.

I think if you dry pail and don't prewash you might then need a 50 or 60ºC wash to get the smell out. The pre-wash kind of takes the place of the wet pail by diluting the ammonia.

Don't worry re previous napisan use - unless you've noticed your elastic losing its ping you're probably ok.

Thanks everyone - and sorry for hijacking the thread!

I think we will go for either plain water or water with vinegar and see how we get on.

As they said the bleach erodes th fabric.

Be brave, dry pail & no prewash

We have just put the nappies on to wash and now DH and I are debating what to do with the bucket. Who knew it could be such a dilemma!

Put the bucket down and go watch tv

I agree you are using too much detergent I have a new washing machine and was told only use 1 tablet and half the powder I used with old machine something to do with not using so much water etc. It is years since I was washing nappies and and they were terry towelling. I never used napisan too expensive then plus didn't like the smell.Then just used to wet pail them and did a rinse and then washed at hotest setting on washing machine think it was 95o I think that hot would rot the elastic in fitted nappies. I always had sparkling white nappies even after two children.

hi all
this is another question on same theme - just started with cloth with my 11 week old. Like them lots and am dry pailing and have read all the tips above - but the nappies with poo have come out of the 60 degree wash stained. I did put napisan in the wash.
can you help?
TIA

I think staining is pretty inevitable with tiny babies. You could try a little bit of bio washing powder but to be honest the sun is the best thing for them. We had our first day of sunshine in ages yesterday, quickly stuck the nappies out and they are all bright white again now

OK if it's only to be expected I won't worry too much. didn't want to be the only one with orangey marks and will try the sun if he ever shines again!

thanks