Absorbency?

[feminist~mama]

I'm using prefolds via the diaper service and am wondering about the absorbency. I bought and washed my own with my older DD, but memory fails me so-

The diaper service prefolds aren't very quilty or soft. My DD (now 3 weeks) regularly saturates them. However, we have only had one leak. DD doesn't complain about wet diapers, so I end up watching the clock and changing her about every hour to hour and a half during the day. At night the long stretch without changing is about 3 hours. Again, she's had one leak- a random long stretch at night that might have been about 3 1/2 hours.

I'm wondering if the diapers are a bit less absorbent than I remember- or if being wet up to her teeth but not leaking is just normal??? Or maybe DD is just a heavy wetter??

[cristeen]

It could be any or all of the above. Read the thread about aristocrats and the one about the first night in a CD.

If you have any friends who cd and might be willing to loan you a few dipes you should be able to figure it out (whether its the dipes or your LO). But in the meantime, trifolding a pf inside another will buy you some more time.

[rlmueller]

You never know what brand or quality is being used. You can be sure it is not the best brand or quality or the services profits would be down. Not bad, just business. And the only solution really is using a service that will wash your dipes from home (I've only seen one of those) or do it yourself--not always an option.

[Nicole730]

My DD soaked through our diapers way more than DS ever did. Turns out the diaper could hold better when it was little pees over long period of time, like DS was. Than one huge pee all at once, like DD.

We have 3 packs of Gerber prefolds, all from different times. One got nice and fluffy like it was supposed to, one stayed really flat, and one set got all bunchy. All three absorb the same.

[feminist~mama]

Huh. I was trying to just get a feel for how often folks change LOs in prefolds and if the super-soaked but not leaking thing was normal.

Thanks for the replies!

[rlmueller]

Yes, my pfs can get pretty soaked if I leave them on for 2 hours. Less than that not too bad and a few nights she was even dry ??? No leaks at all. I think we are doing it right. Oh, I never change at night unless she wakes to eat.