Reusable nappies need help

[lucy.lists]

Hello,

Have you tried using a wool wrap at night? You can buy them at reasonable prices on ebay. The thing with wool is - if you don't use close fitting clothes on top - the wetness evaporates. With warmer nights you might be able to just have a top shirt on, and the wool nap as the only bottoms, if you see what I mean.

With my first daughter we used totsbots shaped naps and motherease wrap for night-time, and left our experiments with nicer -looking and thiner naps for daytimes.

With my second daughter she would get awful sores round her legs with the motherease wraps. We finally (after much faff) discovered that the leg bindings have a small amount of polyester in them. We suspect this was the problem. This is when we moved over to wool wraps for night-time.

[Ratty]

Knowing how crafty you are MrsFlibble you could easily make wool wraps yourself - there is a pattern to use a felted jumper here - http://www.boiseclothdiapers.com/sew_wool_wrap.htm or here is one that my OH's mother made (I love the photos on this site too! http://www.birdcrossstitch.com/soakers/pattern/

Ratty

[Annpan]

I don't really understand the felt/wool wraps... doesn't the pee just soak right through?
I do have one fleece tots-bots wrap and when I used that (months ago) all E's bed sheets and her sleeping bag were soaked...I prefer to keep it all in...She doesn't seem to suffer from any allergies though so I have never had to look for alternatives to motherease or cotton bottoms wraps. Tots bots wraps seem to leak right through the material too

[lucy.lists]

I don't really understand the felt/wool wraps... doesn't the pee just soak right through?

I never got on with the fleece wraps either. I don't think (from what I can remember anyway) that the pure fleece wraps - that don't have a waterproof layer sandwiched inside - claim to be water proof. Wool is different because you cure it with a wool cure ...

So they do keep a lot of the wetness in, but they do also let some evaporate off too. I thought they were useless because I carried on putting my baby in babygro type pjs while using them, and she often woke up soaking. But as soon as it was summer, I tried again, and she just wore a top half and just the nappy and wrap on the bottom, then there was no wetness wicking through whatsoever. Also all the soreness that she'd had from the 'waterproof' type nappies (partly from the binding when we were using the Motherease but also from having wet legs where the other wraps had wicked) disappeared too.

We always used a felted wool wrap for night-time, rather than the knitted type ones (which were fab for daytime). I wouldn't recommend either for under clothes, though.

When I was experimenting with different nappies I used the buy and sell forums of parenting sites, and also Ebay. That way I could try lots of different types without a big expenditure. And if it didn't work out I could sell them again on Ebay. I think, overall, I inadvertently made a tiny bit of profit!

[ina]

From Germany, I know a lot of people use the woollen wraps. They are extremely absorbent (you notice that if you wear a proper woollen jumper, too - it seems to stay dry in light rain), and they still let the baby's bum breathe (equally like a woollen jumper - you get wetter inside a raincoat!). And if there's a rash, you use "greasy fleece", i.e. wool that hasn't had all it's natural grease removed.

[Ratty]

For woollen wraps to work propery you do need to make sure they are lanolised, for the waterproof properties to be returned to the wool.

I also have a Nature Babies wrap which is really roomy so I can put a Motherease with a big booster inside that one.

Ratty

[Annpan]

I wouldn't recommend either for under clothes, though.

A-HAA

This might be the thing...

Our house is too cold to have bare legs... Over night E is in a vest (with poppers under crotch) and full PJs and a sleeping bag (y'know the ones that are like a vest fastened on up top)

So that must be why they never worked for me.

I had been really struggling with re-usables until Tea sent us some for a swap and Stonehead gave us a bag of clothes including several baggy trousers for E... we now happily use re-usable right through the day (still in disposables at night) This is why I love 'ish'.... Thanks guys

[barefootlinzi]

Tots bots wraps seem to leak right through the material too

tots wraps are notoriuos for wicking! i have one but its for emergency 'i havent done the washing and i am out of clean wraps'!!! such a shame cause i love the bright colours they come in.

[lucy.lists]

tots wraps are notoriuos for wicking!

Yes, I found totsbots original shaped terry nappies great ... but I never got on with either their fleece or microfibre-whatever wraps at all.

[Annpan]

So glad it's not just me... they put me off real nappies for about a year.

[KellyB]

Yep I found it too with tots bots they look lovely but leak We use Mother ease airflow here for night but we're on pockets for the daytime which never leak

[Esther.R]

We found fleece wraps (minki ones) great for over night nappies but never used them with tight clothing or everything ended up soaked. Under loose pyjamas or a nightdress they were great.

Never tried tots bots wraps (mostly used motherease) but the nappies were fine, we found cotton bottoms wraps leaked badly. Everyone seems to have a slightly different experience with fabric nappies - Beth is a heavy wetter so I didn't get on with any of the slimmer nappies (except swaddlebees which were great), incl cotton bottoms, or any wraps without gussets, but any reasonably thick shaped nappy and a wrap with a gusset and we were fine.

I am hoping the next one is different as I have a load of first size cotton bottoms to use!