Washable Nappies

jenjade

why dont you phone or go on your local county council website. i read on her some councils offer cash or other insentives to encourage reuseable nappies. my council offer a 2 week free trial which is handy to know

good luck

spaghetti_monster

Hi!
Sorry if this has been gone over before - I've not found it searching this thread.

Basic problem - have been using the Bumgenius for 8 months now and mostly everything has been fine. Had a few troubles to begin with as they were getting stinky (even after just a few weeks), but what solved that was washing at 60 with a prewash and an extra rinse. I know this is not exactly the cheapest/most environmentally friendly, but I just do a wash every other day and chuck lots of other stuff in too. And at least there was no stink......

Until now... I also searched on the internet and tried what many people recommended: washed just the inserts (they seem to be the source of the smell, not the outer bit) with a squirt of washing-up liquid and rinsed until there were no more bubbles.
They've just dried - but I can tell that it hasn't really got rid of the smell.

Any ideas?
(I've usually got guts-of-steel when it comes to bad smells, but this nappy bucket is really pushing me to the edge!:o)

Nicki

I didn't have bumgenius but I did have totsbots and bamboozles and when I went to put them away to wait for the next baby to come along they were a bit whiffy.

I washed them all with a full dose of detergent, with prewash and extra rinse cycle. Then I washed them with a full bottle of vinegar in the drawer on a normal wash. Finally I opened the door and put a dishwasher tablet in with the nappies and did one final wash. I dried them outside on a blowy day. The end result was snowy white, fresh smelling nappies. I hadn't actually realised they weren't as white as they could be until I tried this! Very little effort, and the washing materials were also cheap, though had the expense of 3 wash cycles I suppose.

Ravenlady_2

http://www.littlelambnappies.com/special-offers

Little lambs still have their offers on the old and shop soiled stock, the cotton size one's are fantastic for newborns and will fit easily up to about 18lbs (says 20 on the site but at that age you would need extra boosting) for £13.50 for 8 they are fantastic value. They are just the old stock and in pristine condition (i bough 16 extra for new baby.

Free postage too.

Ravenlady_2

spaghetti_monster wrote: »

Hi!
Sorry if this has been gone over before - I've not found it searching this thread.

Basic problem - have been using the Bumgenius for 8 months now and mostly everything has been fine. Had a few troubles to begin with as they were getting stinky (even after just a few weeks), but what solved that was washing at 60 with a prewash and an extra rinse. I know this is not exactly the cheapest/most environmentally friendly, but I just do a wash every other day and chuck lots of other stuff in too. And at least there was no stink......

Until now... I also searched on the internet and tried what many people recommended: washed just the inserts (they seem to be the source of the smell, not the outer bit) with a squirt of washing-up liquid and rinsed until there were no more bubbles.
They've just dried - but I can tell that it hasn't really got rid of the smell.

Any ideas?
(I've usually got guts-of-steel when it comes to bad smells, but this nappy bucket is really pushing me to the edge!:o)

You need to properly strip wash them and your machine.

Run your machine on empty or with 1 small towel in, with 1/4 a bottle of vinegar and a tablespoon of bicarb, on a hot 60 wash, this will freshen it up and remove any gunk causing smells

Then do a hot wash with a dishwasher tablet (not powerballs or gels, just the basic no frills tablet) for your inserts

Pop tablet in the drum, turn on to 60 minimum and rinse twice after.

Ravenlady_2

Smells are either caused by 3 things.

Detergent build up.
washing liquids and liquitabs will do this faster but using too much powder can build up too - rinsing after a wash can reduce this but you may need to strip wash every now and then. 1 tablespoon of powder is more than ample.

Using soapnuts or wash balls eliminate a lot of build up and can still be used at higher tempratures.

Wash using a basic detergent like value shampoo (tesco's own is a favourite on forums) this will benefit bamboo and cottons better than powders.

Nappy Cream build up.
Using a cloth safe cream like CJ's BUTTer balm or shea butter will stop fibres getting clogged up

Fungus or bacteria in the nappy
If your baby has had thrush or if you are air drying indoors (some bamboo can take days to dry) you will need to strip the nappies and wipes after a confirmed case of thrush or rethink the drying strategy if they are taking more than 24/36 hours to dry, I had a 1st bamboozle that took 4 days once, summer is not too bad but in winter if its cold and damp spores might spring up on the nappy or just generally smell musty.


If baby is well there is no reason to wash every time at 60 but occasionally it is needed.

spaghetti_monster

Hi there and thanks for all the advice,

LO hasn't had thrush. He's had a bit of redness and I've been putting some sudocreme on. I always put a paper liner then between him and the nappy, so don't know how much of that gets to the insert.

I dry indoors - but the outer nappy comes out of the machine almost dry and the inserts are definitely dry by the next day.

I use eco-powder (as recommended by the people I got the nappies from), never more than a small tablespoon. I think BG inserts are made of microfibre??

Thanks again for the advice - the washing machine is currently on with vinegar and bicarb in for a clean out!

Ravenlady_2

I would try and swap to a fleece liner as they keep babies bum drier than paper liners or if the redness is not healing up have a look at some silk liners.

What does the nappies smell of though?

spaghetti_monster

Thanks for the liner tip - I think I've heard you can get a cheap fleece blanket and cut it up?

Ha ha - you got me to go and deliberately stick my head near the nappy bucket! Difficult to describe - old pee smell, but definitely something else to it.. a bit poo-ey??? But there's no poo in there (it all sticks to the liners).

When the nappies are on (and need changing) they sometimes smell a bit of pee.

spaghetti_monster

Had a thought - could it have anything to do with weaning? In the last month or so (as the smell problem increased) he's been really eating solids a lot better and eating quite a variety of things and I've noticed that he seems to drink less when breastfeeding.
Maybe makes the pee smell different?