what am I doing wrong? Help!

[Faither]

DD is 14 months and a little on the "bigger" size (31or so inches and 28 or so pounds). She's firmly in 2T clothes. We started CDing when we moved into our house, when she was about a year old. We have a couple of one size Bum Genius, Fuzzibuns, Knickernappies and Smartipants as well as a box of Econobaum prefolds and covers.

I have no idea what we are doing wrong but they leak. EVERY. TIME. she pees. If I change her diaper three times in one day, then I change her pants three times and occasionally I change my clothes as well. We figured out that it's coming out the leg holes (gussets?) because of where you can see the pee on her pants. She's got super awesome baby thighs and I've tried to make the leg holes as tight as I can but they leave marks and I can't imagine that they feel good that tight.

So far the only ones that are even remotely work are the Bums and of course we only have three of those.

Thoughts? Words of wisdom? Hubby and I are at our wits end with this. We really want to ditch the disposables but at this point we don't know what to do.

[tootersmom]

Is it possible you're having repelling issues? I have a chubby baby, too. And while I only use prefolds and covers, I never have leaking problems unless I wait too long between changes. Try pouring a little water in your diapers and see how quickly they absorb. Maybe stripping or simply changing your detergent/wash routine  would do the trick.

[octobermom]

 have they always leaked?

DO you use a dryer? I know people say dont or rarely but I've had the complete opposite experience. WHen I line/air dried consistiantly I had CONSTANT leaking diapers/covers once I started dryer drying all the time and even high heat the issue 100% resolved it self. Hoe is the diaper fitting? does shes need something bigger or a diffrent rise setting?

Deanna

[chel]

How often do you change diapers? Three times a day?!

[cristeen]

What are you stuffing the pockets with? Did you buy them new? Are they saturated when they leak? Whats your wash routine? Do you use fabric siftener at all?

As for the legs, they should be snug, but not tight. You want them to contain poo, it is not their job to contain pee.

[Faither]

Originally Posted by chel 

How often do you change diapers? Three times a day?!

Nope. Maybe 3 time in four hours, or at least that was this morning.

The leaking is relatively new. But we've always used the dryer. They were all bought new and the pockets are stuffed with whichever insert came with them. They're not overly saturated when they leak. There's usually a little pee in them; not nearly enough to overflow, I would think. I just poured some water in one of them and it's not absorbing anything. Which would make a lot of sense. So what should we do now? Strip them? How?

Before we moved, we would rise them out in the sink then wash them with her other clothes with regular (7th generation) detergent (laundromat). Then when we moved we started washing them by themselves and one rinse with baking soda and another with vinegar then just a plain rinse. Overkill?

Thanks for the help!

[macandcheese]

If you dry them in the dryer, are you using dryer sheets or anything like that? Fabric softener will cause repelling issues. As far as detergent, here's a huge chart that compares various detergents and rates them for use with cloth diapers: http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm

Whatever the cause, it sounds like you definitely need to strip them.

[tootersmom]

I would start by stripping with Dawn and several HOT wash cycles to see if that helps.

It's possible you have detergent build-up from washing along with her clothing (not adding a secondary rinse). Also diaper creams are often culprits of poorly functioning diapers - if you using something that's not cloth friendly.

You may want to start using a three step washing process to make sure your diapers are coming clean - cold wash, hot wash w/detergent, then cold rinse. 

[Faither]

no dryer sheets or any softeners. And we use a cloth friendly diaper cream.

I'll give striping them a shot. How many hot washes do you think? And what kind of detergent would you recommend after that? I checked out the list that someone else posted and of course now am confused. I read on the Cottonbabies website that the Trader Joe's brand is ok to use. Now Pinstripes and Pokadots says it's not. Thoughts? And also one says that 7th Gen is ok while another says it isn't. We had been doing cold wash with baking soda, hot with vinegar and then cold rinse according to something I read on DiaperPin. But I guess that might be part of the problem.

[octobermom]

pouring water is not a way to test for repelling. Mine will do the same thing but never leak on baby... However from what you describe YES it does sound like they are repelling. Try addding 2 cups white vinager and 1 cup baking soda to a full hot water cycle of clean diapers rinse as needed and see if that doesn't help.

Deanna

[tootersmom]

As you can see, opinions vary greatly when it comes to diapering! ;)

Here is some info copied from http://cottonbabies.com .I read above you said you'd visited their site about detergents, but this says it better (and quicker) than I: 

What should I avoid?

• Do not use extra additives in your wash (like baking soda or vinegar). These ingredients are unnecessary and will cause problems in your diapers.
• Do not use fabric softeners.
• Do not boil your diapers.
• Do not use rash creams without a barrier between your baby's bottom and the diaper.
• If your cloth diapers are made with hook and loop closures, do not wash them with natural fibers. Natural fibers produce lint that will build up in the diaper's closures. This will shorten the lifespan of your closures.

What detergent can I use?
Ingredients in certain detergents may ruin your cloth diapers or cause your baby to have a diaper rash. When washing cloth diapers, always use a detergent free of perfumes, dyes, whiteners, brighteners, softeners, enzymes, or other fabric enhancers. Using too much detergent may cause cloth diapers to leak. When using detergents not made for cloth diapers, use 1/2 the amount of detergent suggested by the detergent manufacturer for a load of 18-24 diapers. We recommend bumGenius™ Detergent. A list of alternative detergents can be found atwww.cottonbabies.com/clothdiaperdetergents.pdf 

 

1. I think my diapers have detergent buildup. What should I do?
   1. Wash once in hot water with one teaspoon (for high efficiency machines) to one tablespoon (for regular washing machines) with original liquid Dawn (blue formula) and up to 1/2 cup bleach in the wash cycle.
   2. Do two additional hot water washes with no detergent to completely rinse the diapers clean. If you still see suds, keep rinsing until the diapers are rinsed clean.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I have used the above method WITHOUT the bleach and it's worked fine. 

[tootersmom]

Oh, and apparently I should have clarified above. PP is correct - pouring water on your diapers is not technically a way to test for repelling, but it has always given me a better idea of what is going on with my diapers.

[Faither]

And I should clarify that I didn't just pour water in them. :-)

I stripped them last night and today they seem to be "working" fine. Thanks for all the help!

Now I just have to figure out where I can purchase a detergent locally, since I'll need to wash them tonight.

[tootersmom]

Glad to hear they're working better!

You might want to try Arm & Hammer Essentials (perfume and dye free) as it seems to work okay and can be found just about anywhere. I like to have a couple of different detergents to switch around every few of washes. I think it helps prevent any build up that might occur from using the same brand all the time. 

Edited by tootersmom - 2/22/11 at 4:00pm