Tips for winter drying

[Lenny]

Can anyone please offer me advice on how they get their cloth nappies dry in this very cold wet weather?
I mostly use BumG's and they aren't too bad to dry, but it's the bulkier nappies I am really struggling with. DH reckons they are starting to smell funny.
I already hang them outside undercover for a day then bring them in overnight and leave them on a rack under the central heating duct. But they never feel really dry. So now they are going in the dryer too. It's a lot of effort and time, and I don't want to buy more nappies IYKWIM.

Bring on summer!

TIA
Jo

[teresa]

i wash my nappies in the morning then put them on an airer in the lounge. they are usually dry the next morning. u could always add a couple of drops of lavender to your wash for the smell side of things

[Bathsheba]

I remember my house always looking like a chinese laundry in winter when i had a child in cloth nappies... but mainly used flats.... they dried so much faster. But with my youngest I had a few MCNs and I hung them on a drier over our ducts (ours were on the floor so could get the heat nice and close). I also often put them in a hot oven! If I had just taken out a roast etc i would quickly gather up some nappies, pop them in a clean tray and use the remaining heat. The oven is cheaper than a tumble drier because it doesn't have a turning mechanism and fan to run as well as the heating element. Obviously be careful not to scorch by touching the oven's heating element.

My MIL had a fantastic set up! Her kitchen had an old fashioned combustion stove (similar to an Aga) which had a special plate warming area underneath... it was quite large.... about the size of two huggies boxes side by side... with shelves. She had put 5 babies' nappies through that drying system and always said she wondered how modern mothers coped without one!

[CrazyCat]

Hmm.....i'm not sure if i'm missing something...maybe I'm stupid...lol.
But why don't you skip the hanging outside, skip hanging them on a rack, and put them straight in the dryer!?

I don't really understand why people dont use a dryer. ESPECIALLY in winter. Is it about the electricity bill? I'm not being a smart a$$, I've actually always wondered. There are many many mothers I know that spend days with racks in their lounge rooms by the heater.
When you have kids, isnt there enough work to do and things to worry about without having the hassle of drying every single item of washing??

[onthefly]

It's nice to get them out in the air (and sun, if any) if you can.
If it's sunny I put them on a rack in the sun, either inside or out (or else just inside if it's not sunny). then I chuck them in the dryer as needed.
And yes, it's expensive to put everything through the dryer - I try to use ours as little as possible and only to finish off drying if possible.

[Bathsheba]

Using a tumble drier has always been very expensive but with the price of electricity recently dramatically increased i think many families are going to struggle with paying their bills even if they don't use a tumble drier.

[Rivlas]

When you put the nappies on the clothes horse use pegs. This will dry them faster as they are not folded over. Also top n tail them during the day as this will help dry them.
I used to wash at night and hang them on the clothes horse over night. If it was sunny the next day I would take the clothes horse outside to get fresh air on the nappies. If you have them outside make sure they are in by 3.30 so the night air doesn't make them damp again.

[CrazyCat]

Hmmm... that's interesting... We always use our dryer and our bill is fine!

These days you can buy a dryer with a good energy rating. Maybe mine's just a GREAT energy rating. =P

[meow]

I put mine on a rack and only inside- it's so cold and damp outside here that it's not worth putting them out. I wash in the evening and hang them out while I'm watching TV and pop the rack in front of the heater. They generally take two days to dry, and I then replace them with the next lot! So I constantly have a rack in front of the heater... doesn't bother me, that's just how it is.

We don't have a dryer so obviously that's why I don't use one. But I have no interest in getting a dryer due to the environmental impact given they're such power gusslers, also the cost and the fact that I always manage to shrink something if I use a dryer so I prefer to dry everything on racks indoors over winter.

[Lenny]

Thanks for the great response.
I endeavour to do my best at leaving the smallest footprint that i can - and it saves money too.
I think I will use my prefolds a bit more too, they dry well.

Bath - in NZ (my hometown) everyone seems to have their hot water cylinder in the house (in a kitchen cupboard?!) - that's how my mum dried everything.

I was just wondering about the lavender though? I had a feeling that I wasn't meant to use lavender or tea tree or eucalyptus?

[Bathsheba]

I meant to add that I agree with the cost of electricity (ie carbon emissions) rising... if it helps us all think about shrinking our footprint then all the better So ditto Lenny!

[onthefly]

yeah, I'm not sure about the oils. I'd probably give it a miss.
Actually, in the past I've switched to more flat nappies and the like over winter for this reason. DS doesn't use so many nappies now so it's not an issue, except on daycare days. God I hope he's out of nappies before the next one comes!

[meow]

God I hope he's out of nappies before the next one comes!

I'm just hoping my son is out of nappies before next winter. I can handle the idea of drying loads of nappies quickly in the sun... but over winter??

[onthefly]

oh yeah. well maybe that'd be more realistic

[Loveinamist]

I have tons of experience with this having had my bub in the middle of a particularly snowy and rainy UK winter!!!! Like Lenny said they have in NZ, in UK houses there is usually a cupboard with the hot water cylinder in it. I used to store my towels and sheets in there but they got moved elsewhere so I had a shelf in the cupboard to dry the thick terry inserts of my Wonderoos. The outer PUL pocket wrap I would hang on an airer in a spare room. In fact I rarely get to hang any washing outside due to the weather here so I always use the spare bedroom as a sort of laundry drying room. We have radiators as well so I have radiator airers and standalone airers in that room. They would usually dry overnight however if I needed something quicker than that I would whack on my small electric fan heater for maybe half an hour in that room with the door closed, to speed things up a bit.

Even though it is summer here now and it has been a really sunny and hot one, I still tend to use my 'laundry room'. I just cannot get around to trusting UK weather enough to dare hang a load of washing outside!!! LOL!!! Amazingly I also found poo stains disappeared via the bit of sun that might come through the window if I positioned the airer in the right way!!

[LimeSlice]

The oils are fine to use...check out the Cloth Nappy General Chatter thread for the details, but you basically add a few drops in water in your fabric softener dispenser for the rinse cycle.

Not sure where the hesitation comes from, but there is no issue.