Washing only a few nappies

There are many reasons why you might find yourself washing a small amount of nappies. Your child might be toilet training, you might be using cloth part-time, or you simply need to run a main wash cycle that coincides with an impromptu trip away from home.

When people are down to one nappy a day it’s usually the night nappy. Because of the amount of wee it contains this nappy needs decent wash. This stage of nappy life is hard! There is no best process, only what is best for you and your family.

~ Anastasia, Environmental Scientist and founding Facebook group admin

How to wash a small amount of nappies

We have several options for people to choose from:

• single-cycle routine (daycare protocol), or
• run the first nappy wash in warm/ hot water with detergent, then add to family laundry for main wash, or
• run the first nappy wash at any temperature with chlorine bleach and detergent, then add to family laundry for main wash, or
• handwash with detergent, rinse and spin out in the washing machine, then add to family laundry for main wash.

With a full-time cloth nappy routine, we encourage people to optimise their machine loading. While good loading helps remove soiling it is not necessary to remove urine. With the right combination of cleaning factors (time, temperature, chemicals and the mechanical action provided by your washing machine) your nappies will get clean in an underloaded cycle.

Adding nappies that have had a first wash (sometimes referred to as ‘prewashed nappies’) to a long hot (60ºC) towel wash is a useful substitute for a regular main wash.

My son was out of day nappies long before he was out of night nappies. I started prewashing his night nappies every second day, using chlroine bleach and detergent. I added the prewashed nappies to a towels wash or regular family laundry.

~ Group member