gentle wool handwash in cool. Dissolve a pea size amount of lansinoh in hot water and add to enough just warm water to cover shorties. Swoosh around by hand for a bit. Wring gently. Do not wash out. Dry flat in shade.
Oh gosh I haven't had any in nappies for 12 months lol....ummmm whenever it starts to leak? And Lansioh is in a purple tube at places like Big W and chemists
Wow, are there really 202 threads on cloth nappies? I haven't gone back to read any, so forgive me if these questions have been discussed!
Newby here. Bubs is 8 weeks. Doing MCN part time, our stash isn't quite big enough yet for full time. Have mostly groVia, tried bambooty, too.
Still trying to find the rhythm in it. When do you ladies wash? Do you soak overnight? Do you use flushable liners, or just rince straight away? Where do you keep the nappy bucket... Near the change table or in the laundry? It can sometimes seem like too much effort to walk to the laundry when bubs is crying, and need two hands for nappy bucket, so it ends up sitting on the bedroom floor until "later."
Any tips welcomed!
Last edited by turtledove; February 1st, 2015 at 03:24 AM.
: iPhone autocorrect typo
Hi Turtledove! Do you like MCNs? I'm a bit in love with them 😳
I do keep my nappy bin in the Laundry but it is easy to access in my house. Keep yours wherever works for you. Just make sure little ones can't access it / tip it over etc but your LO might not be up to that quite yet.
I try to wash every second day but my stash is quite big so often forget and wash later again. If you have a small stash I'd be doing it every second day especially if the bin is in the room and making things a bit stinky. it is better for the cloth actually to wash more often.
Do you use a MCN friendly detergent? Used at half the recommended amount? This will prolong the life of the nappy. Basically a gentle detergent ideally without optical brighteners. Also traditional fabric softeners are no good as they build up on the cloth over time and hinder absorbency.
I do soak mine overnight. I do one or two rinse cycles beforehand then soak, then wash cycle in the morn. Also saves time so I don't have to try to get the nappies in the machine and organised in the morn when things are usually hectic with a tiny babe.
And I do use flushable liners. Saves me a heap of time as I hate scraping poo off etc.
I have GroVias too- love them! And flushable/washable liners.
I kept my bucket in the bedroom by the change table.no water or anything in it. Wet nappies go straight in. Pooey ones get placed on top til bub is cleaned up and I could put him down somewhere. Once bub is sorted, carry the nucket with pooey nappy on top to the loo, drop flushable liner in, use the sprayer to rinse any other poo off, then straight into the bum and carry the bin back to the bedroom, then wash hands.
Washing every second day is a minimum, really, especially if you have a small stash.
I didnt soak, just chucked the bucketful in the machine with ecoballs, on a cycle with a pre-rinse. Hang on a peg hanger and carry it out to the line.
The peg hanger means you can grab all the nappies off the line and bring them inside or under shelter quickly if it's raining.
It's so much easier, ladylove. I also have hanger things that slip over a door, and they sit over my laundry cupboard doors, to hook my peg thing on to. So I can unload the washer, pop the basket up on the counter and them all up without moving my feet. Same for taking them off again- but I have a little hook over DS's change table, so they can come straight off the peg, I pull them straight and pop them straight into the drawer they live in.
I haven't had any in cloth for a while now, but;
Bucket, no lid in the laundry. When there was potential for an explorer it lived either on the bench or in the tub, but when it was no longer interesting, just on the floor. The lid traps the ammonia and not only stinks and makes your eyes water but ruins your nappies quicker.
I'd rinse poo off if it needed but otherwise just chuck straight in
Washed most days in cold with Eco washing powder. Just whenever it was full really.
I live in a by of a unique climate so it's rare I can't hang mine out in the shade and get them off within a few hours.
I folded/snapped/stuffed straight off the line as if I didn't I could never be bothered later.
I tried a million different storage solutions over 6 years and 3 kids in mcn and finally just used a washing basket on the floor lol.
I did try liners a couple of times but found they were just extra hassle for me.
My changetable is actually in the laundry, so have the bucket in there too, we also have a toilet off our laundry, which i have the little squirt attached too, so all i need is within like 2m of everything.
I drypail, so no soaking just nappies straight in the bucket, normally wash every 2nd day, but can stretch it another day if needs be. When i first started i had one of those peg things was great. I dont have a real clothes line (well i do byt its far out the back inside our pool yard so cant actually use it with the kids around. That and because of my dog i use clothes hoists on my front porch, so really easy to hang nappies on (impossible for sheets tho...)
I use liners, only because Spock had an insane nappy rash (had to go to pead dermatologist blah blah) so part of my trying to fix it was to use liners, and she wears disposable over night (dont know the cause of her sores but this helped)
Did i answer everything? Ill be back, im being sumoned anyway =p
Peg hanger? I'm picturing a pink spindly thing hanging in a shower, drying granny undies
Jokes aside, where can I get one?
Ladylove - yep, I do like MCNs, much cuter than disposable! My mother-in-law was very against it when she heard I wanted to go cloth, said in her day she had no choice, I didn't know how much work it was, how tired I would be, etc. She bought us 2 months of disposables, which did make the early days and extended hospital stay easier. Coming to the end of them now though, I figure if we are going to spend money it might as well be on something that lasts. Anything that saves money is always a little bit more work, like cooking dinner at home rather than getting take away.
Pholi - which grovia liners do you have? I have the organic cotton, and find they take FOREVER to dry, even outside in a 40deg day. Considering snipping the stay stitching at one side, to make them more single-layer.
How many is considered a good stash? We have 6 shells, 12 liners, which little boy will get through in a day. I feel like even if we had double, I would still have to wash every day.
I got mine from reject shop...really cheap, every few months i would need a new one cause pegs broke (but they were out in the weather) but were only a few bucks
I bought peg hangers at Ikea, with 16 pegs, they look a bit like an octopus with 8 legs.
I have cotton and stay dry inserts. I peg them from the middle of the top layer and pull the PUL lined part away from the peg and also pull it straight width-ways. That way the layers are separated as much as possible and they dried pretty quickly, at least in summer. Stay dry (hemp) dried even faster.
I also started with 12 inserts and 6 shells. I ended up getting another set of 12 and 6 as soon as I was sure the cut of the nappy worked for him, and A bit later (probably the next winter, when they weren't always drying in time) I bought another 8 or so inserts.
I've had a few casualties- one shell at least has gone missing, god knows where, and one looks like a cat attacked it, so I did buy a few more shells later in again.
And when we started needing to boost every nappy during the day, I sewed about 15 extra boosters from hemp fleece I bought online, each with 4 layers of fabric, and an oval just like the cotton boosters and top layer, but about 5cm shorter so they're easy to tuck inside the inserts. The homemade hemp boosters are really trim and absorbent, and dry fast too.
Don't split them. My son started to wet through both layers in 3-4 hours by the time he was about 1yo, and we started adding a booster every time.
DD1 was a very heavy wetter right up until we started toilet training and we mega boosted everything just to get 2-2.5 or so hours out of a nappy. DD2 much less so, so I hardly use the extra boosters.
We use an actual bin as our nappy bin with a swing / revolving lid. Keeps smellies in but aerates the nappies.
Ladylove - yes, using earthchoice liquid in a small amount. I bought my nappies from Booty Crawl (Modern Cloth Nappies | Green Nappies | Booty Crawl) so I have been able to ask Amanda lots of questions in person.
Pholi - I spilt a couple, just at the front end. Still stitched at the back. We've had a couple of leaks, too. They are still quite big on him.
Kim - I can see how 50+ nappies would be quite plausible! This little guy gets through 12 a day. 4 days = 48. It would save on water & power not having to wash every day.
With pooey nappies, after rinsing etc, do you leave them 2-3 days, or wash that night? I only had about 3 nappies in the bucket yesterday, but soaked overnight & washed this morning anyway. I was worried that the stains wouldn't come out.
cheap facecloths from kmart. I just carried a bottle of water to wet them when out.
I never soaked. doesn't do great things to elastic in the long run. depends how pooey they were and how stinky. Generally a rinse and they were ok. I had very few stains ever.
Reply With Quote
Registered User
Re: Cloth Nappy General Discussion #202
it is better for the cloth actually to wash more often.
Bookmarks