So confused on vinegar

[Nekhbet]

I've been reading a lot of sites on the care of nappies and they tell you to put vinegar in the first rinse cycle, yet later tell you that vinegar will ruin PUL.

Since all my pockets and AIO have PUL in them, does that mean that I shoudn't use it, only use it occasionally, or just make sure that I rinse properly? It seems a bit wasteful (and time consuming) to seperate my nappy washes into PUL and non-PUL cycles.

Thanks

[johT]

i reckon its bad for elastic too
terry flats ok....i never noticed it do anything myself though

[Nekhbet]

Ugh-

oh I forgot- they also say if you use bi-carb in the wash, that you must use the vinegar in the rinse.

So I can only use detergant on those nappies??? -- now all nappies that have elastic?

I've been using bi-carb/vinegar in my towel washes for a while now. I love it- they don't come up all smelly if you have to dry inside (the slow drying seems to give them a moldy/musty smell). I figured with thick nappies- it would be worse.

[johT]

i sometimes add bicarb to my wash or rinse no worries.

[Nekhbet]

So you think just use the 1/2 detergent, and occasionally toss in some bicarb for an extra boost?

[Lis]

I use vinegar quiet often and have never had a problem with elastic or PUL breaking down.

eta: it does work well as a fabric softener too... we have really hard water here.

[Theresa]

I used to do an occasional bicarb wash and vinegar rinse and didn't have any major issues...

I would say as long as its not a regular thing its probably not tooooo bad....

[Nekhbet]

Originally Posted by Lis

I use vinegar quiet often and have never had a problem with elastic or PUL breaking down.

eta: it does work well as a fabric softener too... we have really hard water here.

We have hard water here too. Strangly enough- even though it works better with hard water- I also read not to use it with hard water as it reacts with the minerals and makes it smell . Can't win....

[Lis]

really?
smell is one problem we don't have here

I think *touch wood* I may have solved the bamboo falling apart problem by rinsing all the nappies as soon as they come off his bum.... it has at least slowed down the breakdown of the fabric.
I still have boosters that are disintegrating away from the wet zone, so I don't get it.... I'm fairly sure it's something that I can't change though, like the washing machine or the water we have here
It didn't used to happen, and I'm using the exact same washing methods as I was before we moved here and got this new machine

(sorry to hijack the thread!)