Washing Cloth Nappies
You have two choices.
a) Laundry service - If you don’t have the facilities or time to wash and dry your cloth nappies at home, you could Use a laundry service. The dirty real nappies are collected weekly from your doorstep at the same time as the new clean cloth nappies are dropped off. You will need enough real nappies to last you two weeks. Look out for your nearest laundry service.
b) Washing at Home – You wash and dry your real nappies as part of your normal laundry
Washing cloth nappies at home Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
- Wash new cloth nappies at least three times before using to improve their absorbency
- Cloth nappies and the covers (or wraps) can be cleaned in a 40oc wash (they don’t need to always have a 60oc wash)
- Use environmentally friendly washing powder.
- Use a small amount of white vinegar instead of fabric softener
Don’ts
- Don’t tumble dry real nappies unless absolutely necessary
- Don’t use fabric conditioner on real nappies as it reduces the absorbency
- Don’t iron cloth nappies
Cleaning Cloth Nappies
Cleaning cloth nappies is fairly straight forward. You do need to be organised though. There are two methods for cleaning real nappies.
Wet Method of Cleaning Cloth Nappies
The Wet method of cleaning cloth nappies requires two buckets, preferably with a lid. One for the pooey nappies and the other bucket for only wet nappies.
- Fill the bucket to half way with cold water.
- Add a cup of baking soda and vinegar
- Skim off any excess poo into the toilet, or use the disposable liners, and then put the cloth nappy in the bucket.
- Close the lid (in case you have toddlers that like to explore)
- Empty the whole bucket into the washing machine when full.
- Put the washing machine on a spin cycle to remove the dirty water.
- Set the washing machine on a hot/cold cycle using environmentally friendly detergent or half a cup of baking soda. Vinegar is a good fabric softener can be added during the rinse cycle.
- You do have the option of adding a few drops of lavender or tea tree which can make the cloth nappies smell nice and act as a natural disinfectant.
- Weather permitting dry the cloth nappies using washing line as the sun will help bleach the nappies and reduce any stubborn stains. I have found that any toddlers in the house love helping mum with hanging out the washing if you give them their own basket.
- Finally, rinse out your nappy bucket with hot water with tea tree or lavender to disinfect it.
Dry Method of Cleaning Cloth Nappies
The dry method of cleaning cloth nappies has become the favourite method of moms.
You may prefer to do this if:
- you might find lifting a full wet bucket to heavy to lift or to carry to the washing machine
- you have a adventurous toddler in the house
- you don’t have a bucket with a lid
- you are in a drought and want to conserve water
The dry method of cleaning cloth nappies is straight forward
- Sprinkle baking soda into your dry nappy bucket. You can add a few drops of tea tree or lavender if you wish to give it a nice smell and to act as a disinfectant
- Throw the soiled disposable liner in the toilet and the wet nappy into your dry bucket.
- If the nappy is heavily soiled, get as much of the poo as you can into the toilet, run it under the cold water tap, and then throw it into the bucket.
- Close the bucket lid. This will keep the smell in. You can add some more tea tree or lavender to help with the smell and as a disinfectant.
- When full, wash the nappies in the same way as per the wet nappy, explained in steps 5 to 10 previously
Cleaning Cloth Nappy Covers
You can either wash nappy covers with your cloth nappies.
Or you can hand wash them separately in a bucket to help prolong their life. Very soiled nappies can be left to soak for an hour which makes them easy to hand wash.
So do your bit for your baby and the environment and try using cloth nappies. |
