A cleaning question

I have been using cloth nappies for the past couple of months and lately they have become a bit stained. I know the sun drying is suppose to fade stains but I live in NZ where a sunny day is a rare commodity at the moment and so they are usually hung by the fire to dry.

Will I hurt my nappies (ittibittis) if I give them a soak in Napisan to get them back to white ?

Also, just wondering why old school cloth nappies had to be soaked? My MIL just about had kittens when I didn't soak a poo nappy and then went to put it straight in her washing machine lol

Noooooo not the napisan!!!


If its stained, that'll wash out with time (in Melbourne here, I mostly wash & tumbledry or clothes horse mine) and if you don't get sunlight, a good frost will also sanitise!

If they are not soaking correctly (eg losing absorbancy), do a strip wash (a little dishwashing liquid in the wash and rinse & rinse & rinse until no more suds) and if they're smelly, a little bicarb instead of washing soap and rinse in weak vinegar solution.

But a good frost will work as good as sunshine! Also, its the UV not the sunlight - so even overcast days work as well.

Suspect old-school nappies were soaked more due to old-school detergents!

:yeahthat:. Napisan isn't good for elastic or PUL, and probably won't do the minky any favours either. It could also leave a bit of residue build-up which will make your nappies less absorbent, too.

It may not kill your nappies if you use it just once, but they really won't love you for it. If you leave any stained ones hanging either outside or near a window, even the UV on a cloudy day will help. I don't know about frost because we don't get it up here (lol), but stains will fade over time even with minimal UV exposure.

Bleach and other chemicals can be used on flat nappies because there's no elastic or PUL to ruin, but are unnecessary and can be irritating to bubs' skin anyway. I think that a lot of the old perception that cloth caused nappy rash came from using harsh chemicals to soak the nappies. And there was much less understanding of the environmental impact of bleaches and chemicals, so they were seen as something desirable. This was also partly due to marketing, cleaning chemical manufacturers didn't want people to use common and inexpensive household products like bi-carb and vinegar that they'd been using for generations.

Thanks for the replies, I gave the baking soda a try and they are smelling a lot nicer and the stains seem to be washing out o.k on their own.

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Suspect old-school nappies were soaked more due to old-school detergents!

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That and lousy washing machines too I believe!

Solutions I have come up with are to hang the stained one in the window or if it's just the boosters then a soak in napisan on occasion can brighten them up. I'd not risk an AIO with PUL or brightly coloured minky too often though. I have read that you can make a paste from napisan and a bit of water to just put on the stained area but I've not seen any ratios of how much or tried it myself to see how it works.
Are you removing the poos straight away? I know it sounds obvious but I only get staining if I am out and the nappy is dirty in a wetbag for a few hours or I'm out and my DH changes the nappy and he throws it in the laundry for me to deal with when I get home.

I am intrigued with the bi cab - can you just add a bit to your load?