mamapinky will give you the best advice.

If I had a top loader I'd likely do an underwear load with a long wash, adding a big pot of boiling water into the wash cycle, and use some oxygen bleach in there to disinfect.

If you're looking for a front loader, you'd get some comfort from the high heat cycles. All underwear needs a hot wash IMO.

I agree with Roc...undies need Hot water and a long wash time. I personally don't use chlorine bleach in undies..I use Tide with Bleach powder and hot water 130 degrees works. If you want them disinfected you will need to use the chlorine bleach.

If there is e coli in your kids' undies, get to the doctor ASAP!

I don't think you have a thing to worry about regardless. Problems arise from what goes in, not by what comes out. I would not use bleach. It weakens the fabric. To get stains out, spray some Shout on them. Post puberty/pre-menopausal girls/women should wash their panties in hot water.

Other than that, I'd just load the washer, get the tub filled with water, agitate for a minute or so, then let it soak, lid closed, for 15 minutes or so.

You, and they, will be fine!

There is e coli on your undies and much of the food you consume. We and our environments are petri dishes. Detergent, mechanical action and temperature fluctuations from wash to rinse are enough to kill the the daily stuff. It's the things you haven't been exposed to that make you sick. Unless someone is ill normal laundry practices are sufficient.

I spray hydrogen peroxide on the underwear stains, then shout. I let that sit while I do a different load. Then I rinse the underwear out in the bathroom sink to make sure, stains are out. If not I rub some fels on it and let sit a little longer. Rinse it all out and then throw it into the washing machine with the white/light load. Comes out very clean.

I read that oxygen bleach also disinfects. That's one way to go.

As we know, chlorine bleach will kill everything up to and including anthrax. But I also would not want to over disinfect. Don't think soaking in bleach is necessary at all. Just a good hot -- meaning 140F or higher -- wash and a small amount of bleach at the end as mamapinky says.

From a sanitary perspective your panties are clean. You indicated you soak them in bleach prior to throwing them in with other like similar fabrics. The bleach soak will take care of bacteria even in cool temps. However, I would follow up that soak with a Hot Wash. They can be combined with white t shirts, socks, etc. Since you have pre soaked using chlorine bleach, I would not use any bleach in the wash and Oxi Clean or Percarbonate is a waste at this point, as is the use of any enzyme detergent.

On to the correct way. You can pre soak in warm water and use any enzyme based detergent or pre soak, more specifically one with a protease. Then wash normally in HOT water and detergent. Add your chlorine bleach the last 10 minutes of the wash, then double rinse as a minimum.

I had 4 kids in 5 years. I get it. I second the suggestion of the detergent filled bucket, but I usually did not have the energy for that. I just hand washed the offending pair with dish soap in the utility sink and left it until it was time to do the whites. That way any solid matter was washed away and the underwear was more or less clean when it was put in the washing machine. I am lucky enough to have a utility sink and when I was really lazy, I would just let them soak indefinitely until wash day. I would change out the water once a day (if I remembered). Human beings with normal immune systems are able to take on a good bit of bacteria without a lot of problems. Kids are dirty (teenage boys are not much better). Don't stress over it.

It doesn't take a huge dose of chlorine bleach to disinfect.

For example, depending on the concentration of the bleach (consumer products typically range from 5.25% to 8.25%), purifying suspect drinking water with chlorine bleach takes as little as 6 drops per gallon or 1/2 tsp for 8 gallons for 30 minutes stand-time (cited from US EPA article found online). I suppose a larger dose calls for shorter exposure time.

When my nephews were potty training and learning to use underwear, etc, I would use the diaper pail method. Soak in borax or a smidge of detergent until wash day. Let the washer wring the water out, and launder with another hot water load. Just my two cents. :)

Ya'll have talked me back from the ledge. Thank you! I have several good ideas to work with, and most of all, assurance that perhaps I'm not so far from "clean" as I imagined. The bleach soak is totally ruining the panties...I have not minded so much, because it seems they grow out of them so fast anyway, but it would be nice to avoid the fast deterioration. I am going to work with your suggestions and get back to the laundry room! Thanks again!!!

Kat, if ot was me I'd just soak in a bucket of water with a small amount of a good powdered detergent Tide with Bleach powder is a great one for this, than on wash day wash with like colors in hot water there's really no need to use chlorine bleach unless it makes you feel better. But a good detergent and hot water is a must.

I had my kids back in the days of cloth diapers. We rinsed the poopy ones in the toilet and then put them in the covered diaper pail that had water and Dreft detergent in it. When there were enough to wash emptied the pail into the washer and spun the water out. Then finished with a hot wash. Never needed to use bleach and the diapers were clean and fresh smelling. Poopy panties were rinsed in the toilet and thrown in the washer with other clothes. Even now with great grandkids we do the same with panties. Nobody got sick. You can't insulate everyone from germs, in fact a few germs help to build resistance.

I like Dreft even today. I keep a box or two in my stash. Its really a pretty strong detergent, but it needs to be to clean all those baby protein stains. ya I always just rinsed out kids underpants and put them in a bucket to soak with a smsll amount of whatever powdered detergent I grabbed and washed with socks and underwear loads ...trick is using a good powder detergent and hot water after the cooler soak.

Throw the poop outside on the grass . Soak the undies for an hour with a little laundry soap.

You're kidding, right?

Just like cloth diapers, scrape any solids off into the toilet then soak the undies in a bucket with oxyclean.