Reusables: Wet pail or Dry?

[Chickpea]

Hi,

I've always just slung my nappies in my nappy bucket, in the net bag thingy, without any water/soaking etc. But I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who swears that soaking them in the bucket helps get rid of stains/smells etc.

What do you do? And what are the advantages/disadvantages of wet/dry pailing?

thx

cpx

[Tekkencat]

I wet pail with nappy soak - i didnt do it once and had to wash them again (and i hadnt left them in the pail thaaaaaat long incase you think im smeggy :wink:)

[scatterbrain]

Dry pail.

As far as I know, wet pailing is a PIA, smells & really doesn't make any difference to the nappies.

Do you have a problem with smells or stains? You could try a cold rince before you wash the nappies if you know there are any nasty ones in there or even put a couple of drops of lavender in the final rinse. I've been using real nappies for over 2 years & have never encountered a stain that the sun doesn't bleach out. Again, if you do have a problem with stains, try running a hotter wash every couple of washes & you could even put some of that oxy stuff in the prewash for that wash. I've never had to bother tbh.

Scatterbrain

[Micah]

I rinse them in the machine (rinse cycle obviously) at the end of each day. Then fling them in the nappy bucket.

Rinsing first seems to sort the smells and stains, and I only wash once a week.

I think it was Scatterbrain with the rinsing tip :bow: , I seem to remember posting about staining yonks ago:puzzled:

[Micah]

crossed posts SB!

[noo noo]

I dry pail. Have never had a problem with it. Any stains come out when they are hung out in the sun and if there is any smell it tends to come as a result of a build up of washing powder/liquid so I do a wash without anything or use soda crystals.

[scatterbrain]

I think it was Scatterbrain with the rinsing tip :bow: . No, it wasn't me :lol: I just bung the dirty nappies into a bucket & wash every second day. I've never really had to think about doing anything else as they always wash/dry OK.

Scatterbrain

[Tekkencat]

its just me then - smeggy smelly nappy girl :oops:

[Cherrypie]

I tried both when we used reusables. Dry pailing was definitely the better option IMO. I found wet pailing actually made the nappies more smelly, and on more than one occasion I had to wash them again as although the looked clean they smelled really badly.
I dry pailed, and used to sprinkle an aromatherapy oil blend in the bucket with each nappy. The blend was made by Waterbaby on HB, and after that I made my own - with tea tree, lavender and lemongrass.
I put the nappies on a cold rinse, and then a 60 degree wash. Rarely had problems with staining, and much less hassle and mess than wet pailing.

[IncyWincySpider]

Definitely dry!

When S was newborn we had stains on the nappies so I tried soaking. I did it for about a week but it was so disgusting - smell, draining the bucket, trying to get drippy nappies into the machine etc etc that there was no way we could carry on with that!
I switched back to dry pailing and have never looked back.
Once their poos are a bit more solid there are rarely probs with stains anyway.

[redhed]

Another dry pailer here. The other thing that is a consideration is that in the bad old days when everyone used terries and wet pailed, drowning in the nappy bucket was a sufficiently frequent cause of toddler death that they kept statistics on it.

[Cherrypie]

Another dry pailer here. The other thing that is a consideration is that in the bad old days when everyone used terries and wet pailed, drowning in the nappy bucket was a sufficiently frequent cause of toddler death that they kept statistics on it.

When we wet pailed, we kept the bucket in the bath for that very reason, out of Eilis's reach.

[shamu]

Another dry pailer here :grin:
One time I wet pailed and got really horrible stains that wouldn't shift :huh: That said, James' poos are horrific at the moment and we have a few stains that the sun hasn't shifted - please let him toilet train soon :sigh:
Thanks to advice on here I have started rinsing them before washing and that's sorted the faint whiff we had begun to notice...
Shamu
:wink:

[silverpod]

Almost always dry pail and a cold rinse before a wash. Generally, hot water sets stains of any sort- e.g. blood and so on.

I sometimes soak the odd nappy if dd has bad poos, but I have enough buckets that I only do the ones that matter, and generally fling them in the normal dry pail bucket after a few hours.

[Nettie]

And another dry pailer - I have tried wet pailing occasionally (although not for a few years!) and thought the smell was 10 times worse.

[Sazzle]

Dry here too. Started off with wet but it was a complete PITA with emptying the bucket etc and pooey water all over the floor after getting them into the machine.

Dry pail, cold rinse, 60 deg wash. Sometimes an extra rinse too if the wahs looks really sudsy.

[scatterbrain]

lol - why don't you suggest your friend tries dry pailing - if she has a reasonable machine it'll be so much easier for her :lol:

[Chickpea]

thanks all, just wondered if I was missing something, as my friend was adamant that it was the way to go! I've noticed the odd smell, but an extra rinse with white vinegar seems to do the trick.

[Angel]

We used to dry pail with a few drops of lavender oil in the bucket to mask any nasty niffs.

[bluecow]

Another vote for dry pailing. :thumb: