How Do I Wash Different Types Of Reusable Nappies?
31st July 2010 by Babies No CommentsIf you use reusable nappies, then you may have found that traditional laundry soaps are less than ideal for washing nappies. To avoid irritating the baby’s delicate skin, some use vinegar, unscented laundry soap and even do additional rinse.To guide you in finding the right cleaning habit for your cloth nappies, here are several pieces of advice
Your Wash Routine
In order to achieve a great cleaning habit for your cloth nappies, you need to rinse them properly, ensuring that you were able to wet and removed all the solid waste from the nappy before you put them in the washing machine. The exception is when you have an exclusively breastfed baby. However, if your baby is breast fed, you don’t have to wet and remove the wastes from the nappy because they can be removed during the first wash.
During the first wash, you don’t have to add anything Washing the nappies is the subsequent step in cleaning your washable cloth nappies. In this step, you can add oxygen cleaner if you have stains, as well as your detergent. It is always recommended that you use a detergent specifically made for cloth nappies, although you can also make your own detergent if you wish. When your having troubles with hard nappies, you can put vinegar on the last wash. You can also add essential oils at this time if you want some scent in your nappies.
Your Laundry Soap
It may seem unbelievable but the kind of laundry soap you use to clean the nappies has a great effect on its scent and absorbency. When your having troubles maintaining the fresh odor of the nappies, you can strip the cloth nappies. Stripping the cloth nappies is the process of removing all the soap residues inside the nappies to make them look clean. A good way to do this is to clean the nappies with hot water and dishwashing solution. When you start stripping your cloth nappies, begin it with hot water rinse and put a little dishwashing agent. Then you need to wash until you no longer see bubbles in the wash and dry as usual. See to it that the laundry soap is fragrance-free, brighteners and other substances that will give good scent to the nappies. There are lots of ecofriendly soap in the market which are made only for reusable nappies.
Do I Need that Extra Rinse?
One usual reason why cloth nappies accumulate soap residues and become stinky is the insufficient water or rinse. That one extra rinse really does matter, and can completely change the look and smell of your nappies for a cleaner and more desirable outcome. Also, make sure you aren’t overloading the washing machine. About 15 nappies makes a large load and anything more will reduce the amount of water flowing through the nappies.
Having the right cleaning routine for the cloth nappies needs some readings and studies although these guidelines are good enough to help you wash and maintain clean cloth nappies.
