help w/ fleece

[M'Lyssa's mom]

My mom made my son some beautiful pocket diapers with Maiden Mills fleece and PUL outter. Well, the fleece is not absorbing, but repelling, so his urine is sliding out the side instead of going into the soaker. It's really thin fleece but not the right stuff (guess it would be better material to use for winter sports clothing!). I bought a bag of remanants so we didn't know what was what...

Anyhow, I obviously want to use the diapers but need the pee to soak in. Anyone have any ideas on how to make them absorb? I've washed them and dried them 3-5 times. That hasn't helped yet...

[Granny Anny]

Sorry about your pockets not working. Maybe the fleece is lightweight WindPro treated with DWR, which would be good as an outer. You could just use those diapers as covers or make them into AI2's (add a lay-in soaker). Maybe after 30+ washings the DWR will wear out...

It's frustrating, isn't it? There are so many different types of MM fleece. I've bought some MM microfleece that doesn't wick moisture that well, and some WindPro that doesn't repel as I expected it to (must not have the DWR) -- I'm just going to use it for clothing.

Maybe the answer is to cut a test liner and see how it performs inside a diaper before you use a mystery fleece for a wicking layer.

[mom2a2z]

Not all WP has dwr, and dwr is not necessary to use WP as an outer, if it truly is WP.

Anyway, if you have the wrong type of fleece there's really nothing you can do to make it absorb. Your best bet may be to do as the pp suggested and use them as covers. If you bought a bag of mixed remnants from MM, it's going to have 100wt (which includes microfleece), 200wt, 300wt, WP(in three weights), possibly WindBloc and each of these types has many possibly finishes and appearances.

Good luck!

[capemom]

Sounds like your inners may be light weight Windpro instead of microfleece. They can be hard to tell apart. I've been in the retail store and asked women who work there about a piece that is in the remnant bin, and they can't say for sure what kind it is. You know it is tricky if the people who handle the stuff every day don't know what it is. Anyway, sounds like you probably have some great covers there. Use them over a prefold or make yourself a couple of fitted diapers. Good luck!

[catalabella]

You can also try using a flannel soaker over it so it will absorb moisture and direct it through the inner soaker