Any other wool users?

[twinpossible]

I noticed that wool using mommas tend to have a TON in common in the way we parent. Just sending a shout out to see if there are any other wooly mommas, it would be nice to get a thread going about our type of diapering and to share resources to feed our wool obsession :)

(Admin - can we have our own forum if there are enough of us?)

I'll introduce us - We have 9 month twin girls, we rock the Goodmama diapers and I have totally fallen down the rabbit's hole with wool! Always on the hunt for new woolies, right now I am stocking the Facebook wool swap page :)

[Brambleberry]

We've used almost exclusively wool from day one.  We got some g-diapers with flushable inserts for our baby shower and used them a little for trips and overnight diapers when dd was an infant, but we much prefer the wool.  I've made almost all of her diaper covers from used sweaters.  We did get a few hand-me downs, but I can't recommend any of them.  For the infant stage we preferred wraps with good stretchy leg gussets.   Once dd started walking we found shorties and longies more convenient.  I love the wool pants in the winter!  It's so convenient to not have a separate diaper cover, they keep her warm, and wool doesn't show dirt like other fabrics.  We always use fitted cotton diapers under the wool now.  We started out trying to do prefolds, but dd had extra explosive poo and we got tired of spot-washing the edges of the wool covers.  We have a very mixed collection of fitteds including $2 ea used from ebay and some we really love from etsy.com sellers ("Chubbie Bums" and  "Organic Hideaway") that only cost from $5-$6 each.  For night time we use a bigger fitted diaper with an additional thick soaker pad, a wool wrap and wool one-piece pajamas in winter, or just a double-thickness wool wrap in summer.  

DD is 24 months old and we are expecting another in late september.  With #2 I'd like to make a few wool sleep sacks to serve as diaper covers in order to streamline the changing process during the infant months.  We'd dress baby in t-shirts rather than onesies (which DH never liked anyways - why the extra snaps?) and a fitted diaper, and the sleep sack would take the place of both the diaper cover and the pants or sleeper.  I hate trying to pull pants onto a stiff-limbed newborn.  I can't remember at what age we stopped using sleep sacks (I mean regular sleep sacks - we didn't have any wool ones) for dressing DD during the day... I should probably make some wool sleepers with legs... anyone have any suggestions as to what size to start making those in?

[sweetBBkendall]

Ok, I feel a bit odd posting this here because I unfortunatley did not fall truly madly deeply for wool covers. In fact, we have not used those covers (we had purchased for nighttime) in maybe a year. There still remains a burning question, however, one that I was hoping you of all people could maybe shed some light on. I noticed in the above post one mamma stated she always uses fitteds under her wool -longies I think it was... I tried using mild baby soap (with lanolin&without) to wash out baby poop smears but it did not work. I tried re-lanolizing it afterwords because I thought maybe that was it but no matter what I did to that cover, after it got that stain on it, it would wick right out of that spot to whatever dh was wearing. It was a large stain right in the middle front that had seeped through the prefolds. I had bought two 'swaddlebees' wool covers and paid the price at least $35 ea. I am obviously a little jaded and I believe rightfully so but I did have such high hopes for those covers and to progress to longies too really, so I thought maybe you would know where to start. 

[twinpossible]

Couple suggestions for you

Poop is always hard to get off any cover! I soak my wool overnight in Sodason wool wash maybe once a month or if they get poopy. Then I run them in a spin cycle and sun dry in a window. If stains are really in the fibers you can run a COLD wash on gentle with wool wash then sun dry. Washing my wool is much more simple then other clothes once I got the hang of it

[Brambleberry]

I'm not sure, but I would guess that the problem is the Swaddlebees and not the poop stain.  I had two hand-me-downs that I'm pretty sure were Swaddlebees, that simply DID NOT WORK.  It was something about the texture of the fabric I think, I don't know.  I would lanolize them to death and they would still wick right through.  My felted wool hand-made covers and other felted wool factory mades I was given worked great.  How can a company make something like that for that price and have it just not work?  I did a little searching for reviews out of curiosity and found some similar sentiments.  Also, if you got them for overnight that is a little more of a challenge.  I use two layers of thick wool for overnight and you HAVE to have enough diaper absorbency under the cover because once the diaper is filled up the pee has to go somewhere.    That's true for any diaper system.  

 However, I don't want to second-guess your experience either.  Maybe it is the poop stain causing wicking.  I never had a stain in the middle of a cover, only on the edges where it's less likely to wick to clothes.  I would try soaking in dish soap, rinsing well several times including once with vinegar, and then re-lanolizing.  This is just an educated guess as to what might work for a stubborn stain, I never had to resort to anything other than my Biokleen laundry liquid mixed with a little lanolin.  

[twinpossible]

True, it could be the brand. Just because it is expensive does not mean it is high quality wool :( Every once in a while I try something new and I am really disappointed in the wool quality. If you are interested in really good quality wool I can point you in the right direction

[iowaorganic]

I love wool covers but don't CD 100% of the time.  I have almost all hand knit covers/shorties/ and Longies.  Soooo adorable and insanely practical.  I finally put away all my PUL covers because they really suck compared to my wool stash.  My favorite pattern is picky pants and my fav yarn is probably lambs pride- but that could just be because I love single ply.  I also have some super $$  merino wool hand knit covers that are just lovely.  I learned to knit just to do Longies :)  That might be a new level of obsession!  I finally made sleep sacks last winter.  One I knit out of lambs pride and the other I sewed out of a couple of old felted wool sweaters.  I didn't really have a pattern- I just kind of winged it.  I did use a V- neck sweater because that seemed better with new baby wobbly head...  I put an i-cord in the bottom and needle felted on it.  It turned out adorable :)  I would just play around with some thrifted sweaters and see what you come up with using some other baby clothes as a sample.  

I don't lanolinize anymore.  My covers work awesome without it.  Not really sure why either. 

Mamas- if you haven't tried them yet you must try wool nursing pads!  They are seriously the most awesome things in the world!  I love love Lanacare ones!

[BubbleMa]

Can you share the link to the FB wool swap page?  I tried searching, but couldn't find it.

I plan to use wool with this LO.  I used mostly wool with DD, but that was ages ago. 

[twinpossible]

http://www.facebook.com/groups/wool.swap/

Be careful...it's super addicting ;)

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by twinpossible 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/wool.swap/

Be careful...it's super addicting ;)

Thanks!  I'm already a member of the Goodmamas group, so I've gotten pretty good at resisting temptation.  Although, if I had a credit card I probably wouldn't be so good.  lol 

[greenmm]

I love wool as well! I can't believe i was so scared of it in the beginning & it took me at least 6mo. to get over my fear & try it for the first time. My son is almost 18mo. & i am expecting another this summer & will definitely start them off with nb wool :)  I have the fitted love as well, esp. Goodmamas but i do like to share the love. I think I'm addicted to all things fitted & wool. They are just so awesome when you have a heavy wetter not to mention cute ;)

[twinpossible]

Originally Posted by greenmm 

I love wool as well! I can't believe i was so scared of it in the beginning & it took me at least 6mo. to get over my fear & try it for the first time. My son is almost 18mo. & i am expecting another this summer & will definitely start them off with nb wool :)  I have the fitted love as well, esp. Goodmamas but i do like to share the love. I think I'm addicted to all things fitted & wool. They are just so awesome when you have a heavy wetter not to mention cute ;)

I was super nervous too...ok for at home but not when out and about then ok all the time but not in car or at night then ALL THE TIME!!! I suddenly got brave :) I also realized over time that wool does not leak like PUL covers so I was converted. Our next babies will all be wool babies from day one!

[mamayogibear]

Does anyone use wool trainers? My son is almost 18 months and has discoverd how much fun using the potty is but he can't pull off his prefolds with snappis. I'm thinking of using the growing baby green side snap covers on a larger snap so that he can pull them off and with their inserts instead of prefolds under them. The only thing is I can not find the inserts anywhere since the mama went out of business. Does anyone know where to find them. There two flaps of three layers of bamboo and zorb and snap into the diaper cover... Thanks!

[greenmm]

Originally Posted by twinpossible 

I was super nervous too...ok for at home but not when out and about then ok all the time but not in car or at night then ALL THE TIME!!! I suddenly got brave :) I also realized over time that wool does not leak like PUL covers so I was converted. Our next babies will all be wool babies from day one!

Hehe...i actually was more scared it would be high maintenance than actually leaking. I was having leaking issues with my son when he was a newb anyway w/ pockets. I used them at night first actually & then went pretty much full time. I was having a horrible time at night before i tried fitted & wool :) And it's seriously so addicting.

[Brambleberry]

Originally Posted by mamayogibear 

The only thing is I can not find the inserts anywhere since the mama went out of business. Does anyone know where to find them. There two flaps of three layers of bamboo and zorb and snap into the diaper cover... Thanks!

If you already have the covers, measure the spacing between the snaps and send a request to an etsy seller who makes snap in inserts.  One I can recommend is http://www.etsy.com/shop/twinkletoesdiapers.  

[KnittinKitten]

I am planning on using wool and have made several covers already. I want to make some more wrap styles from up-cycled wool. I am having a hard time figuring out what I will like best and how many I need of each size. Any suggestions on styles and # of covers? Also , I am planning on doing EC and using wool covers with some light absorbency as back up.

[mamayogibear]

I am thinking of ordering a wool sadle blanket for a piddle pad... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weaver-Lavender-Wool-Saddle-Blanket-Horse-Tack-/300644658479?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45ffd16d2f

Has anyone else tried using one?

[earthy]

Anyone have a great recommendation for a felted wool wrap?  Ds is almost 4 months and 17 pounds.  I have a Biobottoms that shrunk and he just out grew it-we really liked it.  I haven't been able to find something else we love.  I think I like the felted better than the knitted, especially for a wrap, and at this age I really don't enjoy pull ons-and neither do my kids, lol!

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by earthy 

Anyone have a great recommendation for a felted wool wrap? 

See if you can find Piper's Closet.  Hopefully she's still around.  I love her wool wraps.  I ordered a custom dyed, custom sized wool wrap and it was on my doorstep in a week.  I definitely want to get some more of them for this babe.  I just need to dig out my stash still and see what sizes. 

[BubbleMa]

My cousin is making me one of these adorable wool rompers!  I'm so excited!  :D

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/molly-bubble-romper