• Never soak cloth nappies - this is no longer recommended as the best way to care for cloth nappies.
  
  
• Use sard or sunlight soap to scrub of any soiling from the nappy.

• Most customers do their main wash every 2-3 days.

• Use the longest cycle possible for the main wash and use a hot cycle, but no more than 60 degrees as this can ruin the PUL lining. Some customers do a main wash twice, first with nappies only and then again with nappy and baby’s clothes at a slightly lower temperature.

• Persil is the most consistently recommended brand for washing cloth nappies amongst our customers.

• Open weave baskets are highly recommended for their good airflow. Top tip - find a basket with a lid so you can stack the baskets on top of each other.

• Some customers find it easier to do the pre-wash each evening, whereas others will do this first thing in the morning after the night nappy comes off. It’s really what will fit best with your family routine.

• Some customers will add terry cloth nappies, reusable wipes or other small items to the main wash as well. The extra friction helps to clean the nappies.

"I have just started my cloth nappy journey with my 7 month old. I wish i had done it earlier!!

I put the shell and inserts in a basket/ bucket with holes in it just as is, no rinsing unless they have poo on them. In which case i rinse then ring it. Then once a day put them through a 40 to 60 degree wash cycle on their own and back into another bucket.

Then once a day or every 2 days ill put them through another wash with other washing items and hang on the line or clothes horse inside.

Easy"

"We’ve been doing reusables since our son was 2 months and he’s now 16months We put our inserts and shells in a nappy pail with the lid off only rinsing if he’s done a poo. Every second day i chuck them all in the washing machine with Persil ultimate on a hot heavy duty wash. Once finished I add his clothes and do another heavy duty with Persil ultimate just on warm. Either hang them on a clothes horse inside or out in the sun depending what the weather permits. Been doing this for 14 months and it works perfect for us ! Can’t wait to start it with baby #2 that’s on the way"

"I have two open weave baskets in my laundry. When nappy comes off the bum (wees), it goes into smaller basket with inserts removed so everything can air. If poo I remove, rinse then scrub clean, and scrub with sunlight soap bar if needed, then that gets thrown in basket too. Prewash very night on 60°c with 1000rpm spin, just over an 1 hour cycle. These then go in the bigger basket until main wash.

Main wash every 4-5 days depending when I'm home and can do it, on 40°c, 1000rpm and just under 2 hour cycle. Never had a problem yet.

We use persil sensitive as bubs and I have eczema so can't use much else. I add a small scoop of vanish napisan to prewash as well and it works well together to get rid of stains.

Only ever used bleach once on an insert that was badly stained when first trying solids but that was before I started using sunlight soap bar to scrub poo stains

Open weave baskets are great to allow airflow and keep nappies and inserts from smelling . I have ones that have lids so can stack them on top of each other and not have to look at nappies all day."

"Dirty nappies are stored in an open air basket in the laundry. Prewash (30min 40 degree cycle) done every 24-36 hours depending on what chaos has unfolded for the day. Main wash every other day (used to be every 3 days but have 2 in cloth now) for 2.5hours on 60 degrees. Line dry for everything. I use Omo (persil) as a detergent and Sard in the pre wash.

We just toss our cloth wipes and Terry cloth flats which I use for mopping up everything in with our washes. If my girls (2 and 8 weeks) have quite dirty clothes then they get popped into the main wash too. I also put things like my period undies into the main wash when needed."

"We scrape off solids, then scrub then store just in the laundry tub

Then pre wash every morning 60 degrees 1/2 scoop persil ultimate for 1 hour on cottons

Then store in a laundry bag as we have a small laundry

Main wash every second day 1 scoop persil ultimate 40 degrees for 3 hours on cottons intensive

We line dry shells and inserts"

"About to embark on cloth nappy journey #2. Front loader machine.

Breastfed baby: no rinsing of poop. Nappies off the bum stored in a plastic wash basket with lots of holes in the laundry.

End of the day they all go in the wash for a pre wash. 60degrees for an hour. Wash cycle is daily 60 on my machine. Highest spin speed to get yuck water out. 1/2scoop regular persil powder. Maybe vanish or something if I’m getting stains. Not usually something I use.

Nappies back in the wash basket wet and I just lay a dedicated teatowel on top and put next day dirty nappies on top to seperate. Repeat for 3 days.

After the day 3 pre wash they go into a main wash. Ensure the machine is full up. I save my tea towels and socks to bulk the machine if we don’t have enough nappies. 1 full cap of persil liquid. I had too many suds with powder in the main wash. I use 40degrees if I bulk with baby clothing or 60degrees if only socks and tea towels in it. It’s cottons with time management pressed on my machine. Ends up about 3 hours long I think. Highest spin speed. No bulking with big items or the nappies won’t rub together and get clean properly.

We hang to dry. No dryer however I’d love one for winter!! Anyway in front of the fire they dry overnight.

Pull off, I like to stuff them and have them ready to go and me and my partner do this in front of the tv or something.

Repeat for 3 years  

oh once solids start we had a dedicated poo knife. Saved poo nappies to the end of the day and scrape them off into the toilet with a poo knife. Rinse in the laundry and same routine follows. Keep an eye on loading. 2/3 to 2/4 full an hour into the main wash. Loading doesn’t matter for prewash  

Clean cloth nappies taught me all I know! Game changer. My washing game is strong. People come to me to remove stains"

"I'm very causal with my routine cuz I’m like they’re just nappies and some days with two in cloth it’s about survival (can always do a S&S if they need)  

Have a basket I put them in after using, any solid   rinse off into the toilet, newborn   just goes straight through the wash, then put through a pre wash and main wash every 1-3 days, always wash on hot and always use Persil powder just found it works the best for me

I get my wash info from the clothnappyhelp website but found when i started it was too overwhelming getting my head around all the right ways to wash or don’t wash them so I just jumped in and started and then if I had issues I’d just figure it out from there

I camped and travelled a lot using cloth nappies where having a proper routine was very challenging

When I stayed in campgrounds I’d pre wash and rinse the nappies in a tub in the shower and then put them through the laundromat machines- hand prewash was better cuz those machines never cleaned then proper.

When they’re clean and dry I keep them in a tub and put together as needed if I can’t be bothered folding them up"

"(Front loader machine, I have had top loaders in the past but I personally prefer the front loader for nappies). Dry pail all nappies, scrap any poo off and flush the toilet onto it if needs be (things you never thought you’d hear yourself say ), wash in a 15 or 30 minute wash with sanitiser if necessary every evening. Then wash on 60 degrees for 2 hours when they’ve built up (usually over a couple of days). Line dry whenever possible as the sun really does wonders for stains. We are finishing our cloth journey as babe no 3 is now toilet trained/ training but I really need some pull ups for while we’re out and night time use

Also if I have anything else that can go in the main wash with them I add those too (after the first wash) as I find the friction of other things really helps to clean everything!"

"Been doing cloth nappies for 20 months now.

Have 3 wire baskets from briscoes that all clip together, use to live on top of the dryer now we have moved they are hang on the wall.

Top tray is for nappies straight of the bum, leave in there till prewash.

Second tray is for prewashed nappies.

Third tray- was originally so there was air circling through when stacked on dryer, not needed if hang on the wall however that's where I put terry clothes & tea towels to bulk out the main wash.

Wash routine as follows on a bosch seri4 front loader.

Day 1 - use nappies put in top tray of wire baskets.

Day 2 - put all nappies from the past 24 hours in machine for short cycle, which is 1hr 6mins at 60 degrees with half a cap full of persil liquid and napisan half a lid full chucked in drum.

Day 3 - do prewash from day 2s used nappies followed by main wash which includes the nappies from day 1 as well plus bulked out to be a full load by using tea towels and Terry clothes which is 4 hours long, press the extra rinse button (dunno why ) 60 degrees.

Sometimes I extend it out by one day so 3 days of prewash then main wash with all 3 days worth, depends how many iv used.

Drying - hard in winter but I brought extra inserts as they take longer to dry than shells.

But I use a bento hanging ninja and dried in the conservatory (great in summer) if we have the fire going (often do, in winter) hang on the curtain rail to dry.

Employed my step daughter to stuff the nappies ready to go again.

I only use cloth part time so I wait until I have a few before doing prewash. Just store in a bucket in laundry. Prewash on either 40 or 60 degrees with a half to 1 scoop of powder. Main wash after a few days on 40 or 60 degrees with a scoop of powder (usually Persil or Fab) and maybe Sard powder as well. I don't bulk up my load, I just wash what I have but I've never had a problem with the nappies not being clean. I hang them outside if weather is good then hang in the garage until dry enough to put in hot water cupboard. They take ages to dry properly. Might try using the dryer for liners after reading what others do.

"I use bamboo liners to make cleaning off   easier, store nappies in a dry pale then do a quick hot wash each night then hang them over the laundry basket. Every second day I do a longer warm wash then hang on the clothes horse, outside if it's not raining"

"Being on lifestyle block with a septic tank we need to be a bit careful with what we wash with. Can't use bleech as it ruins the bacteria in the septic tank.

I tip poos down toilet then scrape off with poo brush in laundry sink. Then they go into a wee basket that has good air flow and a lid, one that is full (or has been more than 3 days) I prewash at 60° for 2 hours with sards and persil ultimate. If I have a full load I'll then main wash in 40° for 1 hour, if not I'll pop them in another bucket waiting for more nappies and do a full main wash.

Always line dry here.

Then I sort and put inserts in each nappy ready for use. Rotating so that each nappy gets used the same amount of times."

"We follow the routine for fisher and paykel toploaders on CCN website. Due to limited laundry space we use the large fudgeypants sacks hanging on hooks.

Scrape and rinse solids. Rub marks with sards. Prewash daily as hot as toploader goes around 1 and half hours (persil ultimate and vanish booster). Mainwash every second day about 3 hours (have to manually restart machine and pause for soak to extend wash times), hot with persil ultimate. Both have an extra rinse. Bulk with bibs, small towels ectera. Dry shells out of sunlight on airer. This winter cloths and inserts dried in dryer.

Important that night nappies are hot handwashed in detergent straight off bum or 60° prewash.

Any sensitive or eco detergents need 60°C.

Add an extra 25% of the heavy laundry dose for every kg over 7 to 7.5kg.

Can use bleach instead of booster. We might use when get another machine. It is cheaper."

"I’ve got one in cloth and we have a great routine that works really well for us.

Prewash every morning with night nappy on quick cycle, 60 degrees and one scoop of persil ultimate.

Main wash at 40 degrees, bulked out with clothes, sheets and towels when needed. Every 1-2 days, two scoops of persil ultimate.

We dry them on a pulley drier over the wood burner. Covers go at the end furthest away from the fire where it’s cooler. Inserts at the fire end. They dry in 24hrs   in summer pop them on the washing line.

Bleach sanitise only when needed. We also use them at daycare and they pop them in a wet bag that I take home daily.

Works well for us!"

"We use cloth full time, which I still can't actually believe! Have found CCN guidelines super helpful... Nappies stored in wet bag at daycare or plastic hanging baskets in laundry at home. Use Sassy Pants brush to get solids off into toilet then usually finish in laundry sink if needs a rinse. 60° daily prewash for 1hr every morning 1 scoop Persil Ultimate, 1/3 scoop Vanish, leave in machine until we get home from work then into another hanging basket. Then 40° wash for about 4hrs every 2nd day bulked out with baby clothes, cloths, undies, other small stuff, roughly 2.25 scoops Persil Ultimate. When it was warmer, we hung everything out to dry but now stick all inserts in the dryer and just hang shells up, which dry super fast anyway. Has worked a treat so far, even around a busy work schedule."

"We follow Clean Cloth Nappies.

Nappy comes off bum and goes into dry pail (airy basket). If ploppable poo, I will plop straight away, or scrape at the end of the day.

I scrub any poo nappies immediately before they go into the pre wash - which is an hour long cycle, 60 degrees with 1 scoop of persil ultimate (for our 7.5kg washing machine). I also add bleach per the clean cloth nappies bleach in prewash calculator (behind the paywall), instead of using laundry booster.

Once they come out of prewash they go into a different dry pail. On day three I do my main wash, which is 2hrs 25mins long, 60 degrees, two scoops persil ultimate, ensuring washing machine is full to get adequate agitation, if not enough nappies to make it full I add items less than 60x60cm in size (eg body suits, socks etc).

Then inserts i chuck in the dryer, shells go on the clothes airing frame.

No soaking in our house at all.

Never had any issues with stains, smells or ammonia build up.

Also a very important point to add, is clean your washing machine regularly! Even if you aren’t doing cloth nappies."

We have been using cloth full time for 3.5 years across 2 kids. I’ve followed a Clean Cloth Nappies routine since day dot and credit the fact we have had such a good experience with cloth to CCN. My nappies are still dazzling white after all this time! (though some older ones that have been around the full 3.5 years through 2 kids are getting very worn)  

How we store before washing: in an airy holey basket, known as a “dry pail”. Newborn breastfed poos can go straight in but solids poo needs to be scraped off into the toilet cause it will stink!

Wash cycles / temps: we use a 7.5kg front loader. Each nappy goes through 2 washes. Prewash every day gets the soiling off- 60° cycle of 1hr+ with 1/2 scoop persil sensitive adding 1/2 scoop sard powder if there are poo marks. If any marks after prewash, rub with sard soap. Leave in an airy pail until ready for mainwash (~2-3 days) Main wash does the main deep cleaning - 40° 1.5+ hour cycle with 2.25 scoops of persil sensitive. Bulk with regular washing until the machine is ¾ full when running (equates to 4/5 ish full when dry, so, pretty full) this bulking step is important for adequate agitation. Your general laundry will be clean as too  

Bleach: in general we don’t use bleach day to day. I’ll do a bleach sanitise per clean cloth nappies guidelines in the following circumstances- a) Nappies are smelling sharply pungent like a dirty urinal (ammonia buildup); b) Child has had a fungal rash; c) I’ve taken the nappies on holiday or had not prewashed them daily / not followed a proper routine for some other reason; d) the nappies are second hand and I don’t know their wash history

Drying: we use bamboo cotton and hemp inserts which take ages to dry in a dryer so my preference is to line dry them. I’ll use a dryer with my other laundry and almost exclusively line dry nappies. Hemp inserts that have become stuff from being too dry can be softened up by popping in the dryer once dry for 5-10 mins or scrunch them with your hands / rub them along the edge of a bench

Tips:

- Follow a CCN routine! Quality nappies will last even washed at 60°

- if your routine gets messed up you can always do a bleach sanitise to “reset” your nappies

- front loaders are generally more efficient/ better for cloth

- it’s not all or nothing if you find you only have 1 or 2 nappies you can do the prewash by hand, just wring out thoroughly

- the type of detergent you use matters… CCN have a detergent index showing how effective different detergents are

Enjoy all the fun prints, the savings on nappies and knowing that every single time one cloth nappy is used, is one less item in the landfill taking decades / centuries to break down