Cloth FTW

I heart my cloth diapers. Well, R's diapers. Not mine. I don't wear diapers. Really.

I upsized and upgraded our diapers from Bummis infant sized prefolds and PUL covers to Kissasluvs One Size Hybrids closed with a Snappi. I love the Bummis for their durability and fantastic price, but the Kissa's are fantastic and I'd never go back. They're soft and fuzzy and cute and amazingly absorbent. They dry faster than prefolds. They're trimmer and softer and a much better fit. However, the main reason I chose them was so I could use knitted wool covers instead of PUL ones. If you've spent any time with me in the past few years you will have noticed that I am a knitting fanatic. When I learned about the possibility of wool diaper covers, I couldn't resist. Wool is God's gift to my baby's bum. Seriously. Also to sheep, I suppose.

Why? When wool is still coated in its natural lanolin (sheep grease - very gross in theory but hey, it's in your lip balm and it hasn't killed you right?) it repels water. After it becomes too wet to repel any more water, it absorbs up to a third of its weight in liquid without feeling wet. It breathes, keeping baby's bum a nice temperature both in winter and summer. It's antimicrobial - I don't know how, I'm not hip with the scientific jargon, but it is - meaning unless poop gets on the cover, you don't need to wash woolies very often (like... months) and they won't smell or be gross. It's even fire resistant. Wool doesn't have to be itchy and unless your kiddo is actually allergic to it, there shouldn't be a problem with comfort. Least importantly but most obviously, wool soakers are so CUTE!

I used the Curly Purly Soaker pattern - an awesome free knitting pattern with a great final product and very accurate sizing - and the Frantic Mama soaker pattern (also free) to make these:

They all use my hand dyed wool from my previous post. They fit R really well and look so very sweet on her bulky little cloth diapered bum. I haven't seen a single leak since I started using them. She seems very comfortable and has a far greater range of motion in her legs and waist than she did in her old covers. When she's wet you can feel a little dampness, rather like how a disposable diaper feels when it's wet (the barely damp part, not the warm, squishy, gross part). I haven't had any problem with compression wicking so far, including when I took her out in the me tai carrier for over an hour. Wool soakers take a little more care than PUL covers - I hand wash with Eucalan wool wash and lanolize them using Lansinoh (marketed as nipple cream, but just pure lanolin) as per this video tutorial. They are fantastic - wool is really as good as everyone says it is. It really works.

I love that I can use something natural like wool for R's diapers. Would you rather wear wool socks or plastic socks? Cotton underpants or paper and gel polymer underpants? The same goes for diapers. I'm happy with this choice.

By the way, I got the Kissa's diapers through Parenting By Nature - a Canadian online retailer that sells so much more than cloth diapers. The service was great, and shipping was free and fast. I'm pretty darn pleased.