Use sunlight to remove nappy stains
FINDING it tricky to get tough stains out of babies’ clothes? The answer may be sunshine.
Parents have been sharing how they have been removing dreaded poo and food stains from nappies and clothes by hanging them out in the sun.
Nappy Experts at TheNappyLady website shared before and after photos of a stained nappy looking nearly brand new after being hung outside.
They wrote: “The first photo is how the nappy looked straight after coming out of the washing machine. The second photo is of the same nappy after approx 24 hours on the line on a cloudy day. (I left the nappy out overnight as well.)
“The stain had almost entirely gone using power of the sun.”
The process works by ultraviolet rays in sunshine breaking down the chemical bonds, causing a bleaching effect.
The nappy website explained: “The stains aren’t removed only the but through a process of oxidisation they are made invisible by changing the way the colour (or stain) absorbs the light to make them seem colourless.
“Bilirubin is responsible for the brown colour of all human fecal matter and is produced when red blood cells break down naturally in the liver.
“The chemical bilirubin is photosensitive, which essentially means it breaks down under UV light, which is why sunlight is good for cleaning nappies! (If I wanted to be completely accurate, it isn’t actually photosensitive, it undergoes isomerisation in the presence of light, but only scientists would pull me up on that point!).”
The Sun