What to do with a cloth nappy straight off the bum

Nappy with wee only

1. Take the nappy off of your child, clean and dry bottom thoroughly.
2. Place the nappy into a “dry pail” separating inserts from cover/pocket and packing loosely (Dry pailed nappies can be left for up to 2 days before they need a prewash)
3. Place a new nappy on your child
4. Wash your hands

Nappy with solid waste

1. Take nappy off your child, clean and dry bottom thoroughly
2. Place the nappy aside (I find a small bucket at the change mat handy for this)
3. Place a new nappy on your child, then child into a play pen or somewhere else they will be safe while you sort the nappy out. (You can choose to leave them until the end of the day somewhere in your laundry, however if you start to get stains, I would try to do the next steps as soon as possible)
4. Place solid waste into toilet (sometimes using some toilet paper helps if it isn’t the nice “roll off in one go” type of poo.
5. Give the nappy a good rinse (a silicone dish brush kept only for this purpose is very handy) and wring out water, use pretreatment for stain if preferred.
6. Place nappy into a dry pail (Dry pailed nappies can be left for up to 2 days before they need a prewash)
7. Wash your hands

***Exceptions*** Toddler wee and night nappies: Sometimes these nappies need a daily prewash, urine changes as children get older and can get quite smelly (ammonia build up), or because the nappy has had no air overnight. In this case one option is to prewash daily in the morning and main wash on the 3^rd or 4^th day, as long as prewashed nappies don't sit for longer than 24hours.

Next please see our "Nappy Washing Routine Example"

If the terms in this page make no sense to you, please read our "Cloth Nappy Lingo"