Washing modern cloth nappies

To clean these nappies, you put any poo down the toilet which is easy with any liners, but particularly with fleece (did you know that even with disposables you are suppose to put poo down the toilet, and not just wrap them up and put them into the bin) and just throw them into a dry bucket with a lid (use a nappy bucket or something cheaper from the hardware store).  There is no need to soak them – so much less hassle, less detergents, less smell and less danger with crawling babies getting into water filled buckets.  Also less expense for the detergent.  Wash them in the washing machine.  Some people like a hot wash for nappies and others just wash the way they normally would.  PUL fabric can be washed up to 75 degrees C with no problems and can go into a warm dryer, although it is better to hang them on the line in the sunshine, at least every few washes.  Because Pocket nappies aren’t lots of layers thick, they will mostly dry overnight on a clothes drying rack if the weather is bad.  “Choice” magazine online (Aug 2003) has an article comparing cloth and disposable nappies, and says that if cloth nappies are washed about 65 degrees C and hung in the sunshine you will have no problems with harmful germs.  Use half your normal amount of detergent, as you want no residues, and no fabric softeners or highly perfumed products – once again to minimise residues.  Excess residues may lead to increased nappy rash, and may also trap bacteria – further leading to nappy rash and smelly nappies.  

I find that occasionally the nappies stop working!  At this point I just put them all through a special wash - one time through with even less detergent than usual and a hot wash, then a second time through with no detergent, then I hang them on the line.  With this treatment they come back good as new, so I guess it is from detergent residue.  I only need to do this every couple of months or so!

For more information about cleaning, or if you're worried about not soaking them or disinfecting, please look at the links page as there are articles there about sanitising with the sun and the like.