Mouldy Bamboo!!! PLEASE help!

[calace1804]

OK, so a few weeks ago I started getting this orangey/brown staining on my nappies after they'd been pailed, it's kinda slimey too, and they go really crunchy when dry. At first I thought it was a build up of detergent etc but then I also started getting black spots all over some of my inserts/boosters too! The black spots definately look like mould. I have done a strip wash but it hasn't got rid of it completely.

As DS has strong amonia smelling wee I rinse all his nappies before pailing them and I wash AT LEAST every second day. I thought maybe it was the moisture in the bucket so I tried leaving the lid off - they got even worse!!! I think the added light with the lid off excelerated the mould growth! Most of these nappies are only 4 months old ( a few a second hand but it seems to be the new ones that are mostly affected!)

PLEASE HELP!!! I don't want all my boosters to fall apart! DS is 22months old and I just don't know if it's finacially viable for us to replace them all when we are getting closer to TT!!! What am I doing wrong?? Is there something I can put in my bucket to stop this? ANY advice is appreciated!!!

TIA, Mel

[mum2lucas]

Has your bub been having panadol? That seems to leave a stain but I am not sure about the spots that sounds like mould??

[miss_das]

A strip wash won't kill off bacteria/mould imo.

I've heard some other people fix this with a very dilute bleach solution in wash - I can't vouch for that, though.

Perhaps a warm to hot wash (depending on what's in your stash), with some canestan or dettol in wash stuff.

if that doesn't fix it, you might have to do the dilute bleach solution. really, really dilute though. You can always bleach again if it's needed iykwim.

[miss_das]

btw crunchy bamboo/hemp isn't really a sign that there's mould on the nappies, it's just a normal state for cotton rich blends that are line dried. Try a lower rpm in your wrinse/spin cycle *especially* for front loaders..

[MyPinkWagon]

Are you using a pail pal? I had mould in my bucket and on the nappies from one of them that went bad

[adalheid]

Just wanted to say that Bleach don't kill mould it just hides it.. as in it just bleaches the mould to KILL mould nothing beats good old vinegar

[miss_das]

Just wanted to say that Bleach don't kill mould it just hides it.. as in it just bleaches the mould to KILL mould nothing beats good old vinegar

*nods* I wasn't sure about the bleach.
never use it.. always use vinegar for my household cleaning lol, and forget about it :x

[elizabetty]

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I've had that hard orange stuff on my boosters before and they've ended up falling apart I have no idea what it was or what caused it, cause it was only a couple of boosters.

[melchpeppi]

The orangey colour is usually from toxic wee (from teething) and it is the first sign of extreme deterioration. Give the boosters another week or two and they will be torn and falling apart . There is nothing you can do to save them except prevent it from happening in the first place IME

The very best thing you can do is wet the nappy before pailing them (I use my little squirt on every nappy) and wash more often (every day here). I have had to replace every single booster that I made for Taj . I was even using Lolas boosters that I made well over three years ago and his pee has even killed them

Panadol sends boosters black and it is not able to be removed with anything either IME. Though it doesnt kill the booster as quickly...

[calace1804]

ARGH! This is all very frustrating! I don't want them to fall apart!

I DO rinse every nappy and every booster thoroughly with water EVERY time before I pail them so I don't understand how DS's wee could still be causing that orangey thing! It seems to be spreading too. At first it was only a couple of boosters, but more and more of them are getting it! It's only in patches, not spread evenly over the boosters. The orange stuff is mainly on my Baby Safari boosters, although also on a couple of my d'lish snap-in boosters. The black spots are just on the d'lish at this stage. It seems to be attacking my new d'lish, not the ones I bought second-hand!

I will try the vinegar, how much do I put in, and at what stage of the wash cycle??

Also, it seems to have started since this really hot weather, do you think that has something to do with it? I have put a towel over the window in the laundry this morning to try to cut down the heat coming in, hopefully that will do something.

As for it being panadol staining, DS hasn't has any. The other thing is that the black spots are not on the nappy when I put them into the bucket, but are there the next day when I go to wash them (that's what makes me think it's mould)

Thanks for all your advice!