Hello! I'm a convert.

HI and welcome!

Have a look in this part of the forum for advice on washing nappies.
http://www.clothnappytree.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19


When my son was in nappies (he's potty trained now) I didn't soak nappies at all. I dry pailed (tipped the solids down the loo). To wash I did a fast cold wash with no detergent then a 60 degree wash with a small amount of bold 2in1 powder and then an extra spin at the end to get as much water out as possible. This kept the nappies perfectly clean and fresh. Every few months I also did a strip wash (see the forum link above) on any nappies that had suspect absorbancy (usually his pocket nappies) or if his night nappies got whiffy - that was usually down to detergent build up from when DH did a few nappy washes in a row with too much powder!
HTH

WSS^

I use a little vinegar in the softner drawer every now and again to get rid of smell build up

On the intensive plus/cotton cycle I normally stick them on, if I add water plus and a prewash setting it goes prewash > rinse > main wash > rinse > spin... there aren't any soap bubbles left in the water by the end of it, so do I need to do an extra few rinses/spins, or is it just a case of play it by ear?

[clothmama]

Hi Katherine and welcome to the tree

The first things that stuck me about your routine is that it isn't great to soak modern cloth nappies as it is not good for the elastic or the pul. I'd just dry pail (you can rinse before if they need it) thne bung them in the machine and carry on with a cold prewash followed by your wash cycle. The other thing is that liquid is not recommended so I would swap that to powder, you are much less likely to get build up or smells.

Hi and welcome.Our washing routine is this
Dry pail.Put in machine,put on a rinse.Add about 1/4-1/2 tge recommended amount of powder (we use either the simply stuff or bold 2 in 1),do a 60 degree wash.You can do 40 but I do 60-particularly as we have a 12 week old. Then I do 2 more rinses.

Hi Katherine and welcome to the tree

The first things that stuck me about your routine is that it isn't great to soak modern cloth nappies as it is not good for the elastic or the pul. I'd just dry pail (you can rinse before if they need it) thne bung them in the machine and carry on with a cold prewash followed by your wash cycle. The other thing is that liquid is not recommended so I would swap that to powder, you are much less likely to get build up or smells.

Well I actually stopped doing that after the first couple of washes because I'd read it was bad for nappies so now I just stick them in a bucket next to the machine until I have enough for a full load. Why is liquid not recommended? I really don't want to change detergent because my daughter's skin is very sensitive to detergents&softener.