Washing cloth nappies!

1. Remove solids and place in a bucket with no added water. This is known as dry pailing.
2. When you have enough nappies for a load, place nappies into machine.
3. Use a cold pre-rinse and then a regular warm wash.
4. Line dry. The UV rays from the sun naturally sterilise your nappies.
5. Once a fortnight wash in hot water again after the final rinse (no washing powder) to sanitise your nappies and help prevent odours.

Because hemp is such an absorbent fabric it is prone to odours, bamboo is less likely to have this problem, but can happen, particularly in winter when there is less UV rays to kill bacteria, or if too much or too little washing powder is used. If your nappies are a bit on the nose you might try some of the following:

• Soak overnight in hot water after final rinse (no powder);
• Experiment with more/less detergent;
• Ensure they are exposed to enough sunlight;
• An occasional wash with antibacterial rinse or nappy sanitizer;
• An occasional wash in borax.

If you are switching from disposables remember that there are no chemicals here to disguise any smells so a certain level of odour should be expected. Particularly that overnight nappy on your teething toddler! Phhheeewwww!

Don't skimp on water when washing your nappies. The UK Government found that laundering nappies: flushing solids down the loo, presoaking, then washing in a top loader uses two litres LESS water than it takes to manufacture a single disposable nappy. In fact, they concluded that if every baby in the country was in cloth nappies - then household water usage would only rise by 1% - and obviously there would be a decline in industrial water usage due to there not being any need for water to manufacture disposable nappies.