If you've been following our guide on how to wash reusable nappies and your nappies are clean and smelling fresh but you've just noticed a bit of staining. Don't worry. Here's a quick, easy (and natural) remedy to remove stains from reusable nappies:

SUNSHINE! The sun is surprisingly effective at bleaching out surface stains. Just leave your nappy inserts out in the sunshine either outside or on the windowsill for a couple of hours and let nature do the work. Do make sure not to put the patterned nappy shell material in direct sunlight as this can damage the PUL fabric and void your warranty.

If your nappies are coming out stained AND dirty, there are four common causes. Once you address these, it's very likely that your nappy troubles will fade away:

POOR WASH ROUTINE - To clean your reusable nappies properly you need to be doing a short wash followed by a long wash and the water needs to drain out of the machine between the two washes. Once again, you can find our full guide on how to wash your nappies here.

NOT ENOUGH DETERGENT - Make sure you’re using the amount specified on the box as it's often more than you would expect. Remember that reusable nappies are heavily soiled and need a good amount of good quality detergent to get really clean. Also, be sure to check the water hardness in your area here as this may affect the recommended dosage of your detergent.

WASHING MACHINE NEEDS A CLEAN - Washing machines need a maintenance wash once a month and this is especially important when washing reusable nappies. You can find our guide on how to do a maintenance wash here.

WASHING LOAD SIZE IS TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL - If you’re using the right amount of detergent, your washing machine is clean and you're still having issues, it’s possible that your machine is over-full or under-full for your main wash. The drum needs to be around 3/4 full so that the nappies get properly agitated. If you don't have enough nappies to fill the drum, top it up with some tea towels, baby clothes or wipes. Just make sure you're not putting anything dark or brightly coloured in that might stain your lovely nappies.

If you have tried all of the above steps and your nappies are still not coming out clean you may need to do a strip wash. You can find out how to do one of those here.