washing cloth nappies...
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Category: Product Reviews
Forum Name: Cloth Nappy Discussion
Forum Description: Are you new to cloth nappies? Looking for washing tips? Want to rave about a great new nappy you've tried? By popular request a board especially for all our cloth Mums!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12083
Printed Date: 31 July 2025 at 9:13pm
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Topic: washing cloth nappies...
Posted By: LittleBug
Subject: washing cloth nappies...
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 12:14am
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What is the best way to wash cloth nappies... does anyone have a good routine? Are there any things I should watch out for? Are any particular washing powders better than others, and do I have to add anything else to a wash to keep them smelling fresh?
I would appreciate any advice... ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Replies:
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 6:44am
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I wash mine first thing in the morning, Daniel gets up, and I throw all the washing in, and wait for DH to get up then it goes on.
Ecostore, next generation and persil are the best brands to use for washing powder. Others tend to cause build up in the fleece, some faster than others. If you want it to smell fresh you can use dettol laundry liquid, canastan (sp??) or tea tree oil. I very rarely have to use any of these. |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 8:16am
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I always wash mine at night (we have night rate electricity), then hang our first thing in the morning. I use ecostore (was told not to use persil) and have never had any smell issues and have never used dettol etc on them.
Oh I always rinse the pooey one before putting them in the wash and I put tea trea oil in the nappy bucket to keep that smelling fresh(er). ------------- 
 
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Posted By: Mama2two
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 8:44am
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I do a load of nappies in the morning. Do the rinse cycle on the nappies first then add all the other clothes etc to the standard wash. We use Ecostore and put some of the Dettol Laundry sanitiser in the fabric softener dispenser.
We have never had a problem with not getting stains out (any that don't come out in the machine will be gone after a few hours in the sun) and the nappies always come out smelling clean and fresh. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 8:46am
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some washing powders contain fabric softener and you should never use those or fabric softener with your nappies, that will cause build up and is not good.
with some powders - like persil - you dont need to use a full amount but ecostore for example you can. The important thing with powders like persil is to make sure all the soap is out of the nappies, so doing a double rinse helps. You can also use baking soda and vinegar in your wash as opposed to chemical cleaners like canestan, ti tree oil is popular too for its anti bacterial properties. The best thing for nappies tho is SUN... |
Posted By: LittleBug
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 9:13am
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Thanks, this is good advice...
Are there different kinds of persil and ecostore powders, are some better than others? Also, u rinse the pooey nappies, right... do you rinse just the wet ones? And when you store them in a bucket, are you meant to soak them or just leave them? I know people do different things but I want to get an idea of what works for some people and why they like it... ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 9:42am
i dont soak my nappies - i dry pail...thats where the nappies are left in a bucket with nothing else. I rinse my pooey ones first tho but dont bother with the wet ones. some people rinse pooey nappies in the machine but i dont like that idea myself. i prefer dry pailing cause i cant stand the thought of my nappies sitting in yucky water 
I know people who soak thier nappies tho in napisan or water so it is just preference. and when i went away for the weekend my husband did a nappy wash and he said he soaked them in napisan before washing and they seemed fine. with regards to washing powders - some people just use what they already use with their clothes. but like i said if it has a fabric softener in it you wont be able to. Most nappy manufacturers give out washing instructions when you purchase thier nappies and some have a preference for a certain washing powder. but at the end of the day you have to like the powder you use and be able to afford it. |
Posted By: Mama2two
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 10:37am
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Yup, we dry pail our nappies here too. I put a little flannel in the bottom of the nappy bucket with tea tree oil on it to keep her room smelling fresh.
We now flush any solid matter (ahem..poos) in the toilet, but before Sam was on solids and it was runny I just dry pailed those as is. (after removing the insert from the pocket nappies). We always did a rinse cycle first in the machine with those ones & the wipes. I have to admit that I was a bit squeamish about all this at the beginning, but now don't even blink at it. There is only one kind of Ecostore powder and a Ecostore liquid, but many types of the other brands. We used to use Persil sensitive but we still found it resulted in a build up and leaking nappies so tend to stick with the Ecostore now as it is seems to be the one most recommended by the nappy manufacturers. Also the Ecostore is great to use on Samantha's clothes with her Ezcema. I know it all sounds confusing and a bit scary to start with but after a couple of times you will be an old pro at it like the rest of us  ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 1:20pm
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I never rinse my nappies.. I tip what I can off into the loo and then just dry pail until morning. Never had a prob with stains, build up or smells. I don't like soaking nappies, it's gross IMO..
We have always and now will always use ecostore. We use far less of it than the old powders we use to use even though we are now doing a load a day |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 1:40pm
i've always wondered about this - do you not worry about pooh in the machine? |
kebakat wrote:Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 2:29pm
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I only wash with Eco Store powder and some times I put Dettol in for the rince cycles. I will rinse my nappies that hve been pooed in. Just under the tap in the laundry and then chuck them in the dry pail bucket till the morning when I wash them along with our clothes. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: aimeejoy
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 2:50pm
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I rinse poo nappies, dont bother with wet ones. Dry pail. Wash every couple of days - I use ecostore liquid and dettol fresh in the rinse. Sometimes if I just have a few to wash I will cuck them in with the clothes. If there are a few pooey ones (rinsed) I will do a pre-rinse. In winter I wash at night and dry on rack by the fire overnight, but in nice weather I wash in the morning and leave them out on the line for the day.
On the rinsing poo naps thing - I tried not rinsing a few times, but had tipped the solids down the loo - but there where bits left in my machine so never did it again!! ------------- Aimee Hannah 22/10/05 Greer 11/02/08 |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 3:00pm
Nup, we have a new washing machine (less than 6 months old). The poo always comes off the nappies and doesn't stay in the machine. Daniels nappies are never very "dirty", most of it goes into the toilet. Even rinsing it under a tap wouldn't get the rest off anyway (DH has had a try). |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 07 November 2007 at 5:09pm
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Ecostore you can get liquid and powder have tried both and don't have a preference. Ecostore works in top loaders and front loaders you just use a different amount depending on which you have. I have a front loader but then only use half the amount recommended when I wash nappies. (could probably use full amount but two nappy stores have said to use half so thats what i do).
I use a dry pail, sometimes i rinse poos and sometimes I don't. Although the other day I had not done any nappies for 3 days and I put pooey ones in the machine and poo ended up in the door seal I had to put them through a couple of rinse cycles to get rid of it and then I had to clean the door seal to make sure it had all gone so that has put me off doing it again.
I don't rinse wet ones and I sometimes just chuck normal clothes in as well, seems a shame to run a cycle with a half full machine. -------------
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Posted By: LittleBug
Date Posted: 08 November 2007 at 2:36pm
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Thanks for all the advice! We did our groceries yesterday and I picked up some persil sensitive (looked at the ecostore stuff but it was so expensive! plus persil was on special... so we will see how that works for us), and also some canesten or something to put with the nappies occasionally.
I looked at tea tree oil and that is really expensive too! eeek ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 08 November 2007 at 2:47pm
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Ecostore does seem expensive but you only need a little bit so per wash it actually works out cheaper, you can also buy in bulk off their website. The tea tree oil you only need to use one or two drops so a little bottle should last forever. -------------
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 08 November 2007 at 3:52pm
dont forget that if you use persil you dont need the full amount for a load, i think about half is the recommended amount for nappies. I get my ti tree oil from greenbeans and a small bottle lasts ages. i put it in the wash and the bath for the boys too. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: emmapea
Date Posted: 08 November 2007 at 5:48pm
You can also get a sample pack from Ecostore Website for free... and it has a $2 off coupon with it so it does make it cheaper... and a little goes a LONG way!  ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Date Posted: 09 November 2007 at 10:00am
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And if you are lucky then they stuff up somehow and you just keeeep on getting sent samples! hehe
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Posted By: emmapea
Date Posted: 09 November 2007 at 3:32pm
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Ooo I wish they had that stuff up with me! Although I did get a LOT of samples from the parents show! ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: emmapea
Date Posted: 09 November 2007 at 3:33pm
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Ooo Im finally getting closer to the magic 100 posts...! ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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