my washing regime..wdyt???

[Kitt3n]

i have gotten into a cycle of washing

monday morning
wednesday afternoon
friday afternoon

basically this is how long things take to dry, sometimes even longer!

i only have one bucket - when this is full i use wetbags - usually 2 large wetbags and one bucket in each load.

can you foresee any problems that may arise for me?

tia

[Vicky]

maybe a bigger bucket or bin or a second bucket
otherwise sounds fine to me

[Lousmum]

the might get a bit stinky over the weekend I suppose. I find if I leave my nappies in teh bucket for more than 2 days I have ended up with weird brown stains.

I just wash when the buckets are full - I have two - I usually fill them both up in two days and wash on the 2nd day.

[Lisel]

I wash Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings. This is to make sure I have enough nappies for our two day care days. I have two buckets and top up the machine with towels and clothes as necessary. I know a lot of people wash every third day, I wet any bamboo fitteds, esp night nappies before putting them in the bucket as I was told this helps to reduce the problems caused by concentrated wee.

[~Peta~]

DD has super strong pee and kills her boosters if I leave them sit for too long. I've started doing smaller loads every morning so that the night nappy (the stinkiest) gets washed straight away. I've already noticed a difference in the amount of boosters being killed.

But we have a water tank that's overflowing at the moment so it doesn't matter if I use extra water.

[mollymouse]

I wash every two days, I have a bucket in the laundry sink closer to the squirter in the loo (that bucket is for soiled poo nappies) and another bucket in Ollies room for wee wet nappies lid has clips so he cant get it off. My dh calls the smell "off coral prawns" so I can leave them more then 2 days or else they stink

[jimmysmummy]

I usually wash every second day. I left them for three days one time and got mildew stains on them

I always give the night nappies and any bamboo ones a rinse before pailing them.

[Superwoman]

I think you need a bigger bucket - we use a big kitchen bin - don't want baby crawling into the laundry & discovering the webags (or more specifically their contents).

Sounds fine for now.

As the others have said - you may need to revisit when baby starts getting manky teething wee - but you'll know when that happens by the smell of it. Having said that I've cloth nappied 3 children over 4 1/2 years and not had a single hole - even with a lax washing regime- although I do have one with a stain - so you may not need to change your system - just be aware that it is a possibility.

Also you might need more as you come into winter - even if you pick up some terry squares for the "just in case" days.

With the actual washing - you're doing a cold prerinse then warm wash with detergent then cold rinse - yeah?

[mollymouse]

I searched everywhere for a bigger bucket for a lid and coudnt find one anywhere so have to use two

[MadMel]

I wash mine every night so I have no advice there lol

Maybe you could just wash when your bucket is full?

[~*Rebecca*~]

I used a swing top lid kitchen bin and a bucket and just washed when the bin wsa full or every second day.

[Vicky]

i have a large swing top kitchen bin and 2 PUL wetbags/bin liners
I find the smell is way less than using a sealed bucket
every 2nd day i just chuck the wet bag and contents straight in the wash
works great

[bilbylove]

target has nappy buckets (with four lock down clips, to keep toddlers out of it) for $12.

i think if it ain't broke . . . . etc

but if problems arise, such as smell, fabrics breaking down, and you think "i don't like this", THEN it's time to alter what you do. (wash more freq, use hot water, wash first thing in the morning to cater for night nappy etc).

putting infrastructure in place, so it's easier to do stuff (like get another bucket, or a big pail liner wetbag, or a swingtop kitchen tidy) could help you (in advance) too.

it's a dynamic process, i think the longer you use MCN, you learn to roll with it, adapt as you go - as your bub changes. At the start, i thought i could learn some "magic rule" and as long as i stuck to that, everythign would be fine. There is no magic rule, you end up dealing with whatever your situation is. But it's great to find out what other people have done in similar situations, try out what worked for them, see if it works for you. (dependent on varying resources and varying babies!).

[Kitt3n]

i guess i should add that i LS everything, when they go in the machine they get a pre wash and then they are washed warm/hot.

The bags arent a problem (even when little one starts crawling) as i hang them from the hooks up on our toilet cupboard (they are pretty wetbags so it doesnt look yucky!!).

I guess I am just worried about them falling apart - but as they take 2/3 days to dry for now it just seems to work. If others leave them for the same amount of time i am hoping i will be ok - mould woulndt grow in 3 days would it? (but someone did say tey had mildew?).

if i have 3 days of nappies on the line and 3 days in the bucket/bags, i still have anough nappies, that area is sorted!!

[bilbylove]

i am guessing the bit about MOULD is more relevant if you live in a humid climate, e.g the tropics?

certainly, the threads i have read about nappies getting holey, is prolly a big reason why i do a daily wash (to prevent that).

we get very long very hot summers and i cannot stand the smell of nappies left for days (even though i LS too). it's the amonia smell that gets me.

i'm not smart enough about the percentages of things in fabrics, to know when it's warranted or not.
i read stuff about
80/20 % bamboo/cotton
70/20/10 bamboo/cotton/poly
100% bamboo
and some letters on the end = prolly the thread count?? and the weight of various bamboos
so i am just erring on the side of caution, and i only have one child to worry about.

by the time a bamboo nappy gets to me, i have no clue WHICH type of bamboo has been used to make it. or if the different types can be left in the pail for varying amoutns of time before washing (wihtout going holey).

[sabrehunter]

which nappies do you have? and where are you? do you have lots of rain, or do you dry inside
ours take a max 36 hours to dry (and thats inside) so i cant answer you about the mould situation
but we wash every second day, cuz i dont want my boosters to deteriorate

[bilbylove]

of course, the drying time! nice one Sabrehunter

Do you dry indoors or outdoors Kitten?

Do you dry in direct sun, or under a verandah/porch? (where they get wind but not sun).

is your washing getting rained on before it gets dry?

(i live somewhere with a 12 year drought atm, so i would LOVE to have the chance to say truthfully "my nappies got rained on" LOL).

[sabrehunter]

tee hee, i dont understand why it takes that long to dry either - seems quite strange to me especially as its summer

[Kitt3n]

well - i have all kinds of nappies.....

i dry under the balcony - we are in a unit and my clothes horse gets only a few hours of sun a day - that is now, in summer - winter they will probably be airing inside (was thinking of getting a UV light to help get the stains out in winter)..............

I might have to start washing every second day - its just that then i have to put some of the last load away, re arrange what hasnt dried, put up the rest.... instead of putting out, leaving, and then putting it all away after a couple of days............

not in the tropics, in sydney, but our unit doenst get much sun (even on thise 40 degree plus days our place stays comfy)..........

[berniebabe]

I wash every day and a half. When the bucket is full. I alos use the orange disks to help with the smell, we live in a hot area so they get a bit pongy if I leave them to long.