# Stripping nappies



## Tegans Mama

The time has come to strip my nappies. How do you do it? I have a dishwasher tablet (stolen from under Mum's kitchen sink) and am gonna wash today's load first and then do them all. 
You don't have to wash them with normal detergent after do you? Just wash with a dishwasher tablet, rinse, maybe rinse again if necessary, and use?


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## Tegans Mama

Obviously rinse, dry and use. :lol:


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## Lottie86

A dishwasher tablet??! I've not heard that one before!

I've never done it with a dishwasher tablet but when I strip my nappies I do a cold rinse, a 60C wash with full amount of powder, 60C wash with no powder and then however many rinse cycles it takes to make the water completely bubble free.


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## Tegans Mama

I read about it on here, apparently it's a lot quicker, rather than a million rinses :lol:


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## Lottie86

Ooo that sounds good if you don't need to spend half the day rinsing :thumbup:

P.S: I went to send you a message on FB and you've disappeared :confused:


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## Tegans Mama

Oh fgs, loads of people have been deleted from my friends. I'll try and find you and readd you


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## Jetters

The dishwasher method works fab (I nick them from my stepmums!! :rofl:) but it needs to be on clean nappies.... soooo... wash them, then stick a tab in, and wash again, then rinse :)

waaaaaay easier than the full load of detergent, rinse x 1000000 way!!! and they smell fresh AND it's good for your machine too! win win win!

How are you getting on with the cloth? Which ones are you using??


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## Tegans Mama

We have a combo of cheapies and TB V2's Jetters, we're getting on really, really well with them! Before the cheapies arrived we just had 4 nappies so used those and sposies the rest of the time, washed the, every night. For the past month she's been in cloth full time, not used any sposies at all. It's a lot easier than I thought it'd be, and soo much cheaper for us since Tegan is incontinent and sometimes uses 10-12 nappies a day.


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## Jetters

Ahhh i'm glad you're getting on ok with them!! I bet you're gonna save a fortune with the amount of sposies T went through. 

(also, hope you're ok and not feeling too wobbly, saw you'd removed your ticker!! Keep hope!!!) xxx


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## Eala

I agree about the dishwasher tablet method, it's great :) What I'd say is that if you can get the tablets which don't have the disolvable packet around them they tend to work better. Somehow I kept getting bits of tablet left in the machine/washing when I used the ones which had the disolvable plastic around them.


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## Mynx

Sorry to hijack the thread, but what's the best method for the dishwashing tablet way? I have some just bog standard dishwashing tabs ready and waiting, but not sure where to start? What cycle temp etc? :flower:


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## Rachel_C

There's a great comparison of different methods on CNT. If anybody's interested I'll find the link.

The dishwasher method I was told and use is:

Start with clean nappies, they can be wet or dry. Put a dishwasher tablet in the drum of the machine with the nappies. I use Tesco eco ones and I'd avoid ones with the funny packet you leave on or any with gel in them. Put them on a good 60 degree wash and then rinse. I rinse once more just to be sure it's all out. You don't have to but it's good to hang the nappies in natural light for a few hours, even if it's only in the window on a cloudy day. Or if it's frosty outside, frost is actually good for your nappies too. You don't need to wash them in detergent before using them. This method is fine for PUL. 

I've never had any issues with this method but I somehow don't feel like it's quite as thorough as the other methods so I do it once a month as a preventative measure.


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## Kaites

If you don't have a dishwasher and the tablets handy, you can also use washing soda- sodium carbonate is the main ingredient in most dishwashing powders so it's essentially the same thing :flower: It just raises the pH of your water so that the built up detergent rinses off more effectively. If you already have really soft water, it might not be super effective though.


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## Rachel_C

Watch out for free samples of dishwasher tablets online too, I got a couple from various offers.


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## Tegans Mama

Thankyou everyone!! I did it last night. The only problem I found was getting them dry - I normally wash every day and did all my nappies (25) so was pushed for room! It's been cold and rainy all day today here too :(


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## Rachel_C

I usually do them in a couple of batches or I have the same problem. I just split the nappies into two loads and keep them separate until I've done them all.


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## fluffpuffin

I have washing soda. what quanity do I need to use?


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## Mynx

Thanks for those tips girls :) I went and got some dishwashing tablets yesterday and they're just the bog standard tabs, no fancy layers or red balls :haha: I'm in the middle of a maintenance wash atm, altho I was a bit daft really... I was sure I'd read somewhere that you can put a squidge of washing up liquid in the drawer to help cut thru grease in the pipes... well I did it, and the washing machine filled up with suds of course! :dohh: I'm such a plank :haha: So I'm just trying to get rid of the suds and clear out the pipes and then tomorrow I can start with the strip washing... Evie's in eco sposies (Nature's Baby) atm and I have to say, they're pretty good :thumbup: 

One other question.. (sorry Lea hun for hijacking again!!) We have really hard water in our area, is it worth using a water softener (one specific for washing machines) in with the nappy wash? Or is that a bad idea?


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## Tegans Mama

No prob Minx. I read a good way to keep your washer 'clean' was to chuck a bottle of dishwasher cleaner in it? I'm gonna do that soon! :)


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## Sherileigh

Maybe I should try this. I stopped using cloth diapers as I couldn't get rid of the stink! Will see if this works! I just get a dishwasher tablet?? Worth a shot!


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## Tegans Mama

Yes Sherileigh! Mine don't smell at all now they've been done, and my TB V2's were getting really wiffy. Smelled fine when dry but as soon as they were wet (with either water or urine) they ponged!


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## Rachel_C

If you've put washing up liquid in the wash, you probably don't need to strip wash any more. The other method I know of for stripping is to scrub the nappies with washing up liquid, so you've done a bit of that! 

Here's the CNT thread where they compared the three methods:
https://www.clothnappytree.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=39305


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## Rachel_C

Ohh and if the nappies are really bubbly, it might be better to put them in the shower for a bit and rinse each one with a good strong blast, then rinse again in the machine.

I use water softener, just the Tesco one not Calgon. It means I can use less detergent which makes me feel better!


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## Kaites

Mynx said:


> One other question.. (sorry Lea hun for hijacking again!!) We have really hard water in our area, is it worth using a water softener (one specific for washing machines) in with the nappy wash? Or is that a bad idea?

It's a good idea to use it if you have hard water since it will help your detergent fully wash out. You'll probably notice that you don't really need to do strip washes anymore if you use a water softener and aren't adding too much detergent. Laundry detergents already contain water softeners but if you live in an area with hard water, you just need more.



fluffpuffin said:


> I have washing soda. what quanity do I need to use?

Use what's listed as the full laundry amount. Unlike detergent, you can't really use too much since it's just changing the pH of your water.

There was an awesome thread on detergents on DS a while back- hope I don't get in trouble for cross linking to another forum, but here it is anyway :blush: Definitely worth a read (or at least the first post, lol)


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## JessdueJan

sorry Im just gunna hijack this a bit too. I have pinched a dishawasher tablet off my mam but it has one of those powerball things in the middle of it :dohh: should I break the tablet up and remove the ball or is it ok in there?


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## Rachel_C

Is the ball solid or is it a weird gel thing? If it's just more powder, use it. I'd guess that they're actually just shaped funny and dyed to make them look extra special but probably the same stuff throughout.


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## Rachel_C

Bumping for Corrie Anne


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## corrie anne

Thank you, i am going to read it now! :)


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## corrie anne

These were very helpful. I do, of course, have a few questions. lol. Am i suppose to strip new diapers before wearing or just wash them? Should i strip used diapers i just bought over the internet or from other people before using other than just regular washing? Do new diapers need to be washed before using them? I have a drawer for my detergents, i read on one post to put the tablet in with the diapers, will this hurt my washer? And but i need to double rinse each load?


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## Rachel_C

You don't need to strip new nappies, you just need to prewash them. If they're made of microfibre, they only need one prewash when they're new but if they're bamboo, hemp or cotton they will take up to 10 washes to get fully absorbent. You don't need to do it all at once though, just know that they will keep getting more absorbent until they've been washed enough.

It depends who you buy the used nappies from really. If you know they're coming from a good home where they will have been washed properly and stripped if needed, I don't bother with a strip wash when I get them. If I'm unsure, I sometimes do, or there are a couple of ways to tell if a nappy needs stripping: They sometimes smell a bit whiffy when they're clean (it smells stronger when they're wet but clean), like a bit musty or of wee/poo. Or if they start causing rash. Or if you notice that they don't seem as absorbent as they should be. 

Yes, put the dishwasher tablet in with the nappies in the drum of the machine. It won't hurt your machine, they break up pretty quickly in the water and machines are designed to cope with things like buttons and metal studs etc. If you're concerned, you could put the tablet in a mesh bag, like the ones you can line the nappy bucket with, or in a sock I guess! I wouldn't bother though. 

The more water you have in your washing machine, the better for the nappies. If there is not enough water (and modern machines use as little as possible), the detergent can build up in the nappies quickly and then you need to strip them again. As standard, I rinse my nappies before the wash to increase the water in the machine cos the nappies will already be wet, then I do an extra rinse at the end (the machine does one at the end of the wash and then I do another). This seems to be working for me.


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## corrie anne

Great, thank you so much for helping. I will be going to the store tomorrow and searching for a good tablet. I just washed my diapers so the next time i have a pile(which will be tomorrow since i have a small stash) I will rinse,strip,rinse,wash,rinse and dry.lol.
I have heard of some how getting stains out and i can not remember what it is called, is it this too or maybe *sunning* or something like that? I dont have stains in my diapers more in my inserts.


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## Rachel_C

I'd do it the other way round - wash the nappies first and then when they're clean, then you do the strip :)

Sunning is basically putting the stained inserts/nappies in natural light to remove stains. It doesn't have to be bright sunlight, even on a windowsill on a cloudy day will work but bright sunshine is quickest. If you do that after stripping them it should work nicely.


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## corrie anne

Thank you, you have been so helpful.


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## Jenniflower

This has been extremely helpful to me as well. Thank you all you ladies who ask these questions :flower:


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## chichestermum

Well i learn something new about cloth nappies every day! by the time LO gets here im going to be a cloth diaper know it all! 

dishwasher tabs are amazing! :) have you tried them for cleaning your loo? mix with a big jug of hot but not boiling water, mix unti dissolved then leave to cool until warm and pour it down your loo, leave for 15-20 mins and flush! Voila a clean sparkling loo with no hard work! 
...sorry for going off target on the thread! my head is thinking 10 things at once! 
but thankyou for teaching me yet another thing about cloth nappies, my poor LO would probably of been in nappies that were never stipped and would probably end up stinking from build up! xx


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