How to wash your Cloth Nappies
WASHING MACHINE
Step 1
Place pee nappies directly in your dry bucket. Poop nappies (where baby is already on solids) - flush the solids down the toilet or spray poop off with a diaper sprayer and then place nappy in your dry bucket. EBF poop nappies can be placed directly in your dry bucket. When your baby is older, you will probably need to rinse his/her overnight nappy in warm water immediately when it comes off the bum, before placing it in the dry bucket. Important: A wet pail or soaking is not recommended for modern cloth (any items that have elastics or PUL) as it will cause early deterioration (PUL delaminating, natural fibres breaking down, elastic deterioration etc).
Step 2
Washing day! Move nappies from dry bucket into your washing machine. Run a cold rinse & spin cycle (or a short wash/prewash, depending on your machine) without any detergent to get rid of the urine. Important: Make sure your machine is 3/4th full to ensure optimum agitation.
Step 3
Add your detergent - use the recommended amount as per the manufacturer for heavily soiled. You can use any regular detergent that do not contain softener (so no 2-in-1 detergents). Don't add softener. You can see our list of detergents and dosage indications here.
Now wash on the longest cycle with the most agitation (It’s usually the cotton cycle) on 40 degrees. (Cold water can also be used successfully or an occasional 60 degrees wash is also okay). If you wash cold, remember to increase one of the other washing elements (eg longer wash, more detergent etc). Important: Some suppliers have a maximum temperature restriction on their nappies, be sure to reference the guidelines if you want it to stay under warranty.
Step 4
If there are no soap suds at the end of the long wash cycle, you can take your cloth out and line dry or tumble dry on low. A final rinse is usually necessary to get detergent out properly if you have soft water. If you use soap like Sunlight Gel you will also need extra rinses. Rinse until you see no more soap suds.
Step 5
Dry your nappies. You can either hang them up outside, on a clothes horse or tumble dry them. Do not tumble dry PUL items on high though. Pro Tip: To remove stains, dry your nappies in the sun, it works like magic and gets rid of most stains.
HAND WASHING - Bucket and Plunger method
Flats and Covers
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Submerge flats & covers in cold water and plunge 50 times to get rid of the urine.
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Drain the water and remove the covers.
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Fill the bucket (with flats in) with warm water (enough to cover your nappies),
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Add about 100ml Sunlight Gel for 12-14 flats and plunge 100 times.
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Drain and fill again with cold water.
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Plunge another 50 times to ensure all the soap is rinsed out.
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Drain and wring out.
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Shake to get excess water off and hang to line dry.
Covers: Quickly wash with a little bit of soap and water, rinse, towel dry and then hang to dry.
Thank you to Hippie Safari blogspot, Read more here: http://hippiesafari.blogspot.co.za/2015/05/flats-challenge-2015-day-5-wash-routine.html
