(this may be a really dumb question) ref:soaking diapers and how often to change

[zak]

So, I am using a bunch of old prefolds (from SIL used on two girls) and one pack of new DSQ from Target (Gerber brand). I use a doubler in each diaper (day and night every time). I use them with both plastic pants and with various wraps/covers.

Ok... here's the dumb question...

When I change him (usually) the whole diaper is wet - front to back, doubler and all (not the cover legs). Is this supposed to happen - being soaked and wet? Part of me can make logical reasoning for both yes and no. I hear mention of 'keeping them dry' and I wonder - how is that possible? Maybe my old diapers aren't absorbent enough and I need to just use them as burp cloths and get a few more packs of the DSQ/Gerber - but it seems to happen in those too. So... is that the way it's supposed to be? Soaked through? Is your cloth diapering a 'success' so long as you don't have any leaks? (I haven't had but a few).

How often to change? I change every 2-2.5 hours during the day. At night I let him go a little longer unless I hear him poo-ing. So it may be anywhere from 2-5 hours at night. Is this often enough? There isn't a time when he hasn't peed or poo-ed... so it's not like I'm changing 'unused' diapers. I've read a few posts about people using X diapers per day and I am like... HOW? I go through at least 10 per day... sometimes 12 or more - depending on his 'timing' of poo-ing after a fresh change! :)

I hope my questions (especially the soaking wet diaper one) makes sense. I'm really confused about the whole 'staying dry' thing. ???

Ok - one more dumb thing before I hit POST... where do I find tea tree oil and lavender oil? HFS?

[Gretchen]

I wouldn't necessarily expect a diaper with a doubler to be saturated every time, so some higher quality diapers might help with that. I used Chinese prefolds - I'm not sure how the Gerber DSQ compares to those.

When my kids were little, I changed them every 1.5-2 hours during the day. As she got older, my daughter went longer between pees, and she would sometimes be dry when I checked her, so then I'd just check again a half hour later. My son was the type that peed constantly. I remember doing a test one day where I put him in cloth diapers with no cover and no clothes (so it was really easy to tell when wet) and he peed over 15 times that day. This was at 21 months, so I'm sure it was even more frequently than that as a newborn.

It was easier to keep my daughter dry just because she didn't pee as often. Now that I think about it, I think I changed my son more frequently than the 1.5-2 hours I mentioned above, just because he was a little wet almost all the time. Of course, with a baby as new as yours it's hard to hit that frequency sometimes just because they do sleep so much. I did always put on a dry diaper if I was going to nurse baby to sleep, changed right away upon waking and then checked after a while if they were awake for some time.

Hope some of that helps a little ...

Gretchen

[Moon]

Something to keep in consideration is the age of the kiddo using X diapers a day :-) It's very common for very young babes to go through double what the average toddler would need. :lol

I wouldn't care for the kiddo being that soaked...I'd go for some more absorbant prefolds if you can afford 'em, and change him more often til then. Kids saturation abilities just increase as the kiddo gets older and nurses more. CPFs are fairly cheap and have good absorbancy (I'll add linkage for them). If a CPF won't tide him overnight (assuming he didn't poop in it), I'd get a couple hemp prefolds or fitteds just for night (hemp is more absorbant than cotton).

Here is GraniteSmith's ebay store (http://stores.ebay.com/Granitesmiths-Diaper-Store), she's great with questions (you can email her for size suggestions) and is highly reputable among CDing mommas. She has all sorts of covers, a few different type of prefolds in all the sizes, snappis, pins, everything you'd need to get going from the same place. It's all BIN (buy it now) so no getting outbid. :-)

These two WAHMs sell prefolds and have free shipping right now (lilbunz did last I looked, nopins4baby does all the time)~

www.nopins4baby.com

www.lilbunz.com

[zak]

thanks! glad I'm not crazy!

I do have 4 hemps - but I don't use them because they Snappi doesn't work :giggle But... I can get my pins back out I suppose...

Off to change the boy. :)

[Soliloquy]

When I was using cotton dipes I found I had to change my DD about every 1 to 1.5 hours to keep her from having soaked cloth on her skin. It was mildlly irritating, because the Kushies I was using could've held more liquid, but I had to change her because it was so wet next to her skin. I really like the idea of cotton next to her skin, but I ended up switching to a pocket diaper to keep her skin dry.

[zak]

Yeah - I thought something was 'wrong' or 'weird' when every time I change him it's totally wet. I'll have to feel the inside of the doubler and his skin next time to see how they both feel. He's not had a rash or anything yet.

:)

[ChloesMommy]

I didn't think that Gerber made DSQ? How can you tell the difference?

[Moon]

They do make a twill dsq, it's harder to find though. The one with the alleged "absorbant pad" in the middle is the one to stear clear of, the pad sewn into the center is polyester (poly barely absorbs anything).

[ChloesMommy]

The flatfolds?

[zak]

yep, they are harder to find. Didn't have them in FL where I was... but found in GA where I am now.

[Moon]

The flatfolds?


Gerber makes flats too, their DSQ is a cotton twill prefold. :-)

[BeckaBlue]

when i was using the prefolds they were almost ALWAYS soaked next to their skin after the first pee