Washing cloth wipes

[meow]

I've just made up a bunch of cloth wipes that are squares of terry and flannelette sewn together. I've now realised though that the reason I supposedly don't need to soak my MCN's is because they are made from 'modern anti-bacterial fabrics'... but then my wipes aren't. So does anyone know if I should be soaking the wipes in an antibacterial cleaner or something to keep them hygienic?

[Liz]

Nah. Even cotton nappies are dry pailed these days We have much better washing machines and much better washing powders these days.. no need for soaking, and the sun will get bacteria out of any fabric, I don't think it discriminates

[meow]

We don't get much direct sun in our back yard- so as much as I love the sun as an antibacterial idea I'm not sure if it'll work for us.

I wouldn't have worried but my Dad made me feel terrible about the not soaking thing like I'll be giving my baby a disease! Hence why I checked up about not soaking the nappies... I really don't want to soak so I hope you're right!

[Janie]

I use a combo of terry flats and MCN, as well as cloth wipes. I don't soak anything! I personally don't think it's very hygenic to soak (think of all those yuckies floating around in water for however many days! Ew!), and I think all of my nappies come up brilliantly We don't get a huge amount of sun either.

[Cherie]

I just dry-pail and launder my cloth wipes the same way I do with my MCN. They always come up clean and fresh-smelling. It's just poo - it washes out, the same way that food would. Every now and then I'll throw some Dettol sanitiser through the rinse cycle in my machine, just to kill any nasties, but I certainly don't do it every wash. Just think - when you go to the toilet, you only wash your hands with soap afterwards. You don't soak them in napisan and rinse them in bleach lol.

I have to agree with Janie too - the thought of soaking them and having all my wipes/nappies percolating in bacteria-laden water really isn't very appealing to me at all.