13 Cloth Nappy Tips

To celebrate Cloth Shot a Day as well as 13 years in the cloth nappy industry, here are 13 cloth nappy tips. We shared many of these over on our Instagram stories during October, but if videos aren’t really your thing or you want a handy checklist, here they are again.

1. To help prevent the development of mould, make sure your nappies are completely dry before putting them back together. This may mean leaving them under a fan or running them on a short, low cycle through the dryer.
   
   
2. Use a few drops of essential oil in your nappy bucket or wet bag to help dissipate the smell in the bucket or bag to help keep odours at bay.
   
   
3. If your nappies still smell after washing, there are a number of things you can tweak to improve the outcome, but if you’re already running a pre-wash, followed by a wash cycle using the amount of detergent recommended for your load size, then the next thing we recommend looking at is the number of nappies going through the wash. Give the nappies lots of room to move and clean properly.
   
   
4. When the use of barrier cream is required, use with a liner to prevent permanent soiling of the nappy.
   
   
5. To help prevent the build-up of ammonia smell in your nappies, we recommend rinsing night nappies and heavily soiled nappies as soon as they come off baby. Personally,  we would always rinse every nappy as soon as it came off baby. In our experience with 6 babes in cloth, we found it to be a really important step towards preventing fabric deterioration, to minimise staining and to help cut down on smell.
   
   
6. We don’t recommend the use of fabric softener when washing nappies as it can coat the fibres of the nappy over time and cause it to repel urine and reduce absorbency.
   
   
7. Tumble drying can affect waterproofing and elastic over time. While a low tumble dry is fine for components of your nappy that contain waterproofing and elastic, for best results, please line dry cloth nappy shells and covers. If the weather is very hot, it is best to line dry everything in the shade.
   
   
8. To prolong the life of your swim nappy, rinse in clean water immediately after use in order to remove excess pool chemical residue.
   
   
9. UV helps to bleach stains, but it doesn’t have to be direct sunlight. In fact, leaving your nappies in direct sunlight during hot summer months can be really damaging to elastic, waterproofing and the gorgeous bright colours of your nappies, so be mindful of how hot it’s going to be and bring your nappies in before the heat of the day hits. For more summer nappying tips, please CLICK HERE.
   
   
10. Polarfleece makes a great liner as it acts as a moisture barrier and protects nappies from staining.
    
    
11. Separate nappy parts before placing them in the bucket so that when wash time comes around you can tip the contents of the bucket into the machine without having to sort and take them apart and wash nappies at least every second day to prevent development of mould, deterioration of fibres and the spread of bacteria.
    
    
12. Cloth wipes can be used as boosters.
    
    
13. Finished with your nappies? Maybe you could pass them on to a friend who is struggling to purchase a stash, or donate them to an orphanage drive. The Australian Nappy Association has a great list of ideas HERE.

If you’re considering making the switch to cloth nappies, just start with one and make it the first change of the day. Some people say it’s easier just to go all in, but find what works for you and have fun! Remember that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.