Help with wool soakers, please?

[Darwiniacat]

I'm helping cloth diaper my 11 month old niece. We are confused about wool soakers.

I'm getting conflicting information online about how they are supposed to work. Some sites say that they absorb pee. Others say that they repel it. We tried using a soaker for the first time last night and she was up every two hours. We didn't realize the problem until Daddy changed her this morning prior to pottying (EC) that her diaper was dripping wet. The soaker was almost totally dry, so we don't know whether to be happy that it prevented her sheets from getting wet, or unhappy that it didn't wick the moisture away from her skin. We are also uncertain if part of the problem may be that we use Under The Nile cloth diapers that are super thick.

Additionally, I've read that the soaker should be lanolized, but wool doublers shouldn't be if they are to absorb urine. If lanolizing causes repelling of moisture, wouldn't that be contraindicated since having so much moisture next to the skin causes her to wake up - not to mention increasing risk of diaper rash?

So our questions are thus:

Lanolize or not, and what happens with each method?
Repel or absorb?
Soaker alone? Or with a cotton doubler underneath (we do not have any wool doublers.)? Or soaker with a contour or prefold (or washcloth, maybe?)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Katy

[sg784]

nak skuse the mess im doin the one finger tap....im a biginner too but from what i unerstand you lanolize the covers and the prefold or diaper gets wet aand the wool is a barrier to the clothes or sheets not sure tho thats what i been doing. my little ones hold it at night and wake up then pee so i usually have a warning instead of them waking up soaked.

[Funny Face]

Yep. If you lanolize them they will repel water. Otherwise they will absorb.

A soaker is never meant to wick away from the child's skin. If s/he is wearing a pf the pf will still feel wet against her skin. The reason wool's absorbency is helpful is that it prevents leaks.