Mailbox Mondays 2/14/11 - Making Your Own Diapers, Materials & Wool

 

It's Valentines Day, my Dad's Birthday, and it's Mailbox Monday! Every Monday (if I have received a submission), I will answer reader submitted questions, and ask readers to weigh in with their opinions.

Questions don't have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with "Mailbox Mondays" in the subject, or Fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Melissa says:

Hi Maria,

I know you usually purchase your diapers but I was wondering if you have any advice for making your own cloth diaper. I am currently pregnant with my first so I am still a newby with all this. I have found several great templates with step by step directions online and they all recommend using flannel as their main material. I was wondering about using fleece for the layer that touches that baby's skin, since that is what seems to be most popular with the name brand diapers. What is the difference between the fleece that I can purchase from the cloth store and microfleece? Is it really necessary to purchase microfleece?

Also, do you have a source for good wool soakers and longies?

Thank you so much for helping me wade through this world of cloth diapers :)

Melissa

You're right that I don't sew my own diapers!  I don't have a sewing machine and while I thought about getting one, I don't realistically think I'd have time to spend on that right now.  I think it's awesome that you are a) going to cloth diaper your first baby (why was I such a chicken??) and b) sewing your own!

So, when I had my bright idea that I wanted to try to make my own diapers, I joined the group Sewing Diaper Divas on Cafemom.  There is lots of great information there on materials, patterns and techniques, though my membership lapsed since I wasn't active there.  There are also a lot of talented WAHMs in the Cuties With Cloth Booties group on Cafemom, that can give you tips!

The benefit of fleece against baby's skin is that it will wick moisture away from the baby's skin into the insert or soaker of the diaper, while flannel will stay wet against the baby's skin. 

Microfleece and fleece are both polyester, but microfleece is made of smaller, and more tightly woven fibers.  It is a lighter "weight" than something like Walden Mills Fleece (which can be used as the outer of night time diapers.)  Generally speaking, water will pass through the microfleece more easily, and it doesn't get as pilly over time.

What materials you use will depend on what you want to make.  It's not a bad idea to just start out with some extra, or inexpensive flannel receiving blankets, and get some practice before buying materials.

I have three wool soakers: a Little Beetle Little to Big Cover, a Kissaluvs Kissa's Wool Lover Diaper Cover and a Mobums Wool Interlock Night Night Soaker.  Wool longies/shorties/skirties are often stocked in The Cuties with Cloth Booties Congo and The Bliss Congo, both of which are stuffed full of talented WAHMs!

I don't own any wool other than what I listed above, largely because wool is just out of my price range.

I think the readers would be better qualified to answer these questions this week!  How about you all?  Do you make your own diapers?  Do you have a favorite place to buy wool?

Mailbox Mondays 10/18/10

Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don't have to be about cloth diapering! I'll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject "Mailbox Mondays" to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

I'm looking for MM submissions for late October and beyond!

Marah says:

I am so sick of leaks overnight! What is your solution for overnight cloth diapering?

Marah
 
This is a pretty common dilemma, and one that caused me a lot of trouble!  Sometimes, it's as simple as the right fit and the right insert.  I was stuffing my Bumgenius diapers so thick that I had to size up, and was having leg gap issues.
 
Make sure the diaper fits snugly at the legs, and that the inner of the diaper and the insert are all tucked in.  Also make sure no clothing is tucked into the diaper! I've accidentally had my son's shirt stuck in the back of the diaper before!
 
If your diaper fits well, but you don't have enough absorbency (the insert is completely saturated in the morning) try adding a second full size insert, a hemp doubler, or what really worked for me, a Knickernappies Superdo insert.
 
If you still have trouble, bring out the big guns.  Super absorbent fitteds with wool soakers are an awesome combo.  I've had great luck with the Guerilla Fluff utilitarian.  Make sure your wool soaker is well lanolized, and look for soakers designed for night time, since they have extra layers in the wet zone.  I love our Mobums Night Night Wool Soaker. 
 
Now that it's getting cooler, putting your child in fleece pajama pants will give you another layer of wetness protection!  Like wash routines, overnight diapering is annoying since as soon as you figure it out, something changes!  Once I finally had our routine down pat, my son stopped wetting as heavily!
 
Nancy says:
 
Here's a question for Mailbox Mondays: What are the best soaking, washing and drying methods to keep your diapers clean, soft, and absorbent?

Nancy
 
Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all answer for this!  It depends heavily on your water, your machine, how often you wash, how many diapers you wash at a time etc.
 
For me, a cold wash with no detergent, hot wash with a tiny amount of detergent, with an extra rinse works well.
 
I hang my shells to dry and tumble the inserts in the dryer.
 
About every other month, I soak all of my diapers and inserts overnight in RLR, then rinse until the water is clean.  Then, I wash only the inserts with a dab of bleach, then rinse until the water is clean and I don't smell bleach.
 
I spent a lot of time playing with wash routines and detergents.  Right now I am using Tide HE powder, but I use only about 1/4 of the lowest load line for a full load of diapers. 
 
 
How about you gals?  Did you have trouble coming up with an overnight solution?  What have you tried?  What works for you?
 
How about wash routines?  How do you wash & dry?  What detergent do you use?  How many detergents did you go through before you found the right one?  Do you strip your diapers or treat them?  How often?  What do you use?

Mailbox Mondays 9/20/10

Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don't have to be about cloth diapering! I'll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject "Mailbox Mondays" to Maria at change-diapers dot com.

Please note: My intent is to get a queue of questions for the next several months, so it may be some time before your submission is posted. If you would like me to email my response so you don't have to wait until your question is posted, let me know!

Kristina says:

Hi, I am interested in trying out Wool Covers. What can you tell me about them in terms of care and usage. Thanks!



Kristina
 
Wool is fantastic!  I was initially a little afraid of wool, but it was so much easier to take care of than I imagined.  I have Kissaluvs, a Mobums and a Little Beetle cover.  The Mobums review has step by step photos demonstrating how I wash the covers.
 
I rarely have to wash them, you know you need to when they start hanging on to a urine smell (or if they are soiled.)  Otherwise, just air them out between uses. 
 
I use liquid lanolin that I found at my local organic store to lanolize when they don't seem to be as absorbent, but there are any number of lanolizing products out there.  Using a lanolin containing wash (like Eucalan) will greatly reduce the frequency with which you need to lanolize.
 
Wool was my lifesaver (over a super-absorbent fitted) for night time, when my son was a super soaker!
 
Does this answer your questions?  What else do you want to know?  How about my readers?  Do you use wool?

Crystal says:

Maria,



I have been having stink issues with my hemp gDiaper inserts. I have tried just about everything, including stripping multiple times, a little bit of bleach in the wash, I switched to Rockin Green detergent, and I wash at least every 2 days. And I have tried sunning (all day in Florida heat) when I have the time, which I try to find the time at least once a week. The smell isn't ammonia, it's just a funkiness, and it comes out of the washer and dryer smelling this way. We have no rash problems cropping up, just the smell. Any ideas on something else to try?

Thanks,

Crystal
 
What have you been using to strip?  It seems that sometimes adding things make stinkies worse.  I would try running the inserts through several cycles on hot, with water only; no detergent or additives.  See if you are getting any suds or residue in the water.
 
I know you said you already tried bleach, but after you've made certain they are rinsed clean, try 1/4 cup of bleach in the bleach dispenser with only the inserts in the wash.
 
Do you have hard water?  It may be mineral deposits causing the funk.  Try the Rockin' Green hard rock if you haven't already, or try adding calgon water softener.
 
Sorry I wasn't more help, you have tried most of what I would have done already!

Little Beetle Little to Big Diaper and Wool Cover

I've been really getting into using wool and fitteds at night, so when betterforbabies.com told me they were sending me a Little-To-Big Beetle diaper and a Little-To-Big Organic Wool Cover, I was really anxious to try them.

No doubt what I pulled out of my mailbox was what I'd been waiting for!

Better For Babies sells natural and organic baby products including diapers, covers, soaker shorts, trainers and other accessories. 

Better For Grownups sells reusable facial rounds, sateen tissues (really want to try these!) and family cloth, all crafted from fair trade organic cotton.

As the package says, the diaper is 100% organic, fair trade cotton, and is sweatshop free!  They're actually made in the U.S.A. wow!

That's the first time washing instructions have made me giggle.  Tee hee!

The orange is adorable, and the diaper is super soft and squishy.

Nice velcro closures.  Thus far, they are actually easy to get off of the laundry tabs, but still stick to them in the wash.  I have too many that I struggle to free from the grasp of the laundry tabs, but in the washing machine they're all like "Meh, whatever, we don't like you anyway," and become besties with 3 other diapers.  Gah.

The velcro strip on the front of the diaper had that funny, stiff feel/sound like the Rumparooz.  I actually debated taking a video of me crinkling it, but decided that would be a little weird, ha ha.  Once I put the diaper on him though, it wasn't stiff and didn't dig into his belly.  I think it must just be whatever the velcro strip is backed with making that sound.

This diaper is a one size (6-36 pounds) and it's the first one size fitted I've owned that has the snap down rise for sizing.  Love this.

The diaper comes with a soaker and a foldable "beetle booster."

One thing I found really unique is that the soaker is sewn in, just at one point on each side of the middle.  So, no matching up soakers or snapping them in after washing, but it's not sewn all the way into the diaper, allowing for better cleaning & easier drying.  You can slip the booster out to fold it and place in where needed (wet zone), or you can tuck it under the soaker to be held in place.

At first glance, it seems a lot smaller overall than other one-size fitteds, even all the way unsnapped.

Actually though, it just seems that way because the elastic is drawn a bit tighter.

Fully stretched, they are just about the same size.

Snapped on the smallest rise setting and unstretched, they are quite small.  I don't doubt they really would fit on a 6 pound baby!

I used it on the medium setting on my little guy (who is about 16.5 lbs and 27.5 inches).  It fit wonderfully, and I think he could wear this setting for a while.

This was so easy to put on him.  I love my other fitteds, but this is so much more Daddy friendly.  My hubby gets really frustrated by the soakers to pull up and fold over and adjust, rises to fold over and rows and rows of snaps.

I folded the booster in half, placed it in the wetzone, and used the diaper coverless the first time. It was the last diaper before bed and he hadn't uhh,  "used the facilities" by the time I put his night time diaper on him.

Because the soaker is in the middle of the diaper (it's very trim too!) rather than being snapped into the back, his tush wasn't fluffy like I'm used to.  I actually joked that it was weird to be able to feel his hiney through the diaper instead of a mound of fluff!

The next time I used it, I put fleece pants over.  He wore it for a good two hours and it was fabulous! 

I also tried it with the Little-To-Big Organic Wool Cover.

The cover is 100% organic merino wool and fits 6-36 lbs.

It's mamajammin, yo.  I feel like I'm looking for Waldo.  I don't want to miss anything funny on the packaging.

Yeah, Mother Nature is a smarty pants, but who figured out we could shave the wool off the sheep and make diaper covers out of it, huh?  Who's the smarty pants now, huh?

100% USDA certified, organic wool.

I received a cover with snap closures, though both the diapers and covers come with your choice of snaps or velcro.

I think velcro on the diaper and snaps on the cover are the perfect combo, especially since my son has figured out how to open velcro!  Better For Babies said "we find it's good to pair one closure with the other...snaps and aplix lining up exactly against one another can cause a funny fit."  You can overlap the snaps for a smaller baby.

The cover has the same snap down rise size adjustment that I love.  It's especially nice on a cover since you may need a slightly bigger cover to go over a diaper with a higher rise.

The first time I used the cover, I used it over my Licorice Lane Fitted.

It's so nice to be able to adjust the rise on the fly, depending on the diaper you have on under it.

The cover didn't really add any bulk.

So cute!!

I of course also used it over the Little Beetle Little-To-Big diaper as well.

The snaps are so easy to do.  With some others, the snaps can be really "sticky." 

Better for Babies told me that the "snaps do have to be opened and closed gently (since the 100% organic Merino wool doesn't have any synthetics), but it's easy to do so."  That makes me wonder if these are intentionally easier to undo, to avoid yanking on the wool. 

I do wish the rise snaps were just a tiny bit "stickier" though.  I sometimes inadvertently pop a rise snap on any diaper, usually when I am pulling the diaper to adjust it as I'm putting it on.  With the cover, I did it about 3 times in a row and really annoyed myself.  I'm sure it is just a learning curve with that.  I also popped one somehow with him on my hip.  That seems to be my only "complaint" though!

This was really trim over the super trim diaper!

I love that both the diaper and cover will fit babies from "Little-To-Big."  They may be a bit of an investment, but they will last.  I also love that they are completely natural, with no synthetic materials at all and that they're socially conscious as well. 

Thank you so much to Better For Babies for sending them to me to review!  Of course, my love can't be bought with diapers, so the freebies in no way affected my review! 

Check out Better For Babies and Better for Grownups.  I'd love to hear what products interest you, and what else you'd like to see me review.

(also see BFB on Facebook, BFG on Facebook, BFB on Twitter and BFG on Twitter!)

Edit August 2010: Although fitteds aren't really my favorite (I prefer pocket diapers) this is so, so trim, and soft and squishy, I can't help but love it!

Mobums Wool Interlock "Night Night" Soaker

I really like my Kissaluvs wool cover, but I wanted a spare for when it was being washed.  I also wanted to get a medium, since the large was a bit, well, large.

I managed to win an auction for a mobums "night-night" wool interlock soaker, for about half the price of the Kissaluvs.  The night night soaker has a double layer of wool through the whole soaker body, wider waist and leg bands, and all seams are serged for durability. 

The size medium I purchased fits a 17" rise, 15-17" waist and  9-10" thighs.

Monique at mobums ended up refunding my shipping (all of it) because there was a slight delay in shipping my soaker out.  I didn't even notice a delay; it came in about a week.  Still, that was my first hint that mobums has excellent customer service and really values their customers.

The soaker was shipped lanolized with cucumber melon scented lanolin.  I've become very sensitive to smells lately and this was a little strong for me.  I contacted Monique and got help washing the scent out.  She was very apologetic, receptive and sweet.  This was nice, since she had no way to know the scent would bother me. 

I thought this would be a good opportunity to show you my wool washing routine!

I fill my utility sink with some lukewarm water and a teaspoon or so of Eucalan, then swish it around before adding the wool.

I squeeze the suds into the wool a bit, then let it soak for 15 minutes or so. 

In the meantime, I get four towels out, and stack them in sets of two.

When the wool has finished it's soak, I drain the water, then gently squeeze some of the water out of the wool.  Then I lay it on top of a set of towels.

I roll the soaker up inside the towels.

squeeze

unroll

Then move to the next set of towels.

roll

squeeze

unroll

then lay flat to dry.  Mobums soakers can be tumbled dry on low, but I'd rather just let it air dry.  I'm afraid one day I will accidentally dry it on high and ruin it!

Here's a close up of the leg openings

and the seams inside the soaker

Here the mobums medium is on top and the Kissaluvs large is on the bottom.

another angle

The Kissaluvs has that extra, extra wide waistband to fold over and cover higher waist diapers etc.

The night night soaker actually has quite a bit of stretch to it.

It fit snugly, without being tight.

It fit over that super fluffy booty!

I topped the soaker off with fleece pants. In the morning, I could feel a bit of dampness on the outside of the soaker.  It doesn't surprise me, and in my opinion, it isn't a reflection on the quality of the soaker.  My son manages to completely saturate an outrageously absorbent fitted, so the fact that the wool (which is breathable remember) was damp where his tush was compressing it all night, doesn't concern me!

In the end, this is a great product and the fact that it comes with even better service behind it, makes it worth much more than the price I paid!!

August 2010: Still in our regular night time rotation!