They are all designed to wash clothes, but no two brands are identical.

The big brands will have different methods of producing washing powders in large volumes at lower costs. That doesn't necessarily mean that the best wash is obtained from a big brand detergent however, and in the case of nappy washing, more specialist products can provide more absorbency and less irritation – as well as great stain removal.

Most of these ingredients are common across all the products:

• builders, these are used to soften hard water and allow the surfactants to function – typically zeolites, polymers and carbonates
• surfactants are used to dissolve grease and stains, and lower the surface tension of the wash water to help remove soils
• oxygen bleach and activator are used to gently bleach out stains – the activator enables this to work at low temperatures
• some powders include soap – to keep foam to a minimum
• optical brighteners – to make whites appear whiter in certain lights
• perfumes

Non-biological powders have less prospect of irritating the skin, however they do still need to perform as a washing powder. Enzymes found in biological washing powder are used to speed up the chemical reaction and help remove stains. Enzymes can remain in the fabric after washing which can cause some to have an allergic reaction. To remove stains without using a biological (enzymes) washing powder, please see our section on stains below.

Optical brightners can be found in some detergents. Optical brighteners remain on the fabric after washing and can irritate the skin. If your baby is particularly sensitive you may need to rinse the nappies several times to ensure they are completely removed, alternatively use a detergent that is enzyme free and free from optical brightener.

Yes

No

Add a scoop of miofresh to your wash and wash at 60 degrees or soak in a solution of miofresh.

This is something which is mentioned on many websites and can occur occasionally with nappies containing synthetic fabrics.

Man-made/synthetic fabric nappies can occasionally develop a very strong odour and/or reduced absorbency. A standard washing powder when used on its own at lower temperatures, is not designed to kill bacteria, and over time a build up may occur resulting in a strong smell of ammonia and/or reduced absorbency. To prevent a build up we recommend you regularly use a nappy cleanser such as miofresh and the recommended detergent dosage.

Detergent alone is not enough to ensure that nappies are free from bacteria when washed. Historically nappies were sanitised using heat, this is now not necessary as a cleanser like miofresh will kill bacteria at low temperatures.

No. They are enzyme based and therefore biological which we do not recommend to use on nappies. They contain no additional ingredients to remove odours or stains.