Anyone use a wool puddle pad with a potty learning toddler?

[tommom]

I'm not sure if this is definitely the right place to post but... I am wondering about this because my ds is moving to a big boy bed very shortly. He still has night time accidents 1-2 times a week. I refuse to put him back in a diaper even at night. He wears cloth night training pants which don't keep him dry at all. I need to protect the very expensive, natural mattress he will be using obviously. Does a wool puddle pad make sense if it will need to be washed 1-2 times a week? I also found a waterproof bed pad made by Kushies. The waterproof layer is vinyl coated but the company assures me that it is BPA, pthalate, and lead free. It is also much less expensive than the wool pad. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!

[Jojo F.]

Reading your post got me thinking- sometimes that's dangerous!!- you could make your own using old wool, merion, etc. sweaters and felting them, then sewing them together and lanolize. You could also add a layer of something soft on top if you like. The thrift store should have tons of sweaters for cheap so you could make a bunch of pads.

Another suggestion I read was to buy an old wool army blanket at a surplus store and lanolizing it.

You could knit your own using virgin wool but that might get expensive but then you could choose your own colors, make patters or designs.

That's my goal for today, check my stash and start felting!!

[tommom]

I love that idea but although I am quite a sewer I have never felted and while I would love to start I just don't think that this is an ideal beginner project. The wool blanket idea is a thought though. I wouldn't mind buying a couple of those.

[Jojo F.]

Felting is super easy. I found an old sweater of DH's and tossed it into the washer with a few soapnuts-that's what I use for all my laundry- or you could use nothing. Keep it on the agitation cycle for a few times and then let it rinse. Toss the sweater into the dryer and dry it. It will take a few times in the dryer and then you may need to line dry the rest of the time. The sweater was an XXL and came out a perfect size for DS- 5yo Now all I have to do is cut it up, find another sweater at the thrift store, felt it, sew them together, and lanolize

That's it!!

Have you ever lanolized before, like cloth diapers? That's pretty easy too. http://littlefornow.com/pages/lanolin.php

[thixle]

You would still want to felt and lanolize army blankets, too. That's what makes it super-waterproof. If you can run a washer and shrink a sweater, you are good to go
I would absolutely use thrifted sweaters if you can't get an army blanket. It would only take 3 sweaters tops to make a puddle pad for a toddler. Once wool is felted, it won't unravel, so you don't have to hem anything. Just cut big squares (one front, one back) and sew them checkerboard-style.


Thank you for the idea Jojo! DD is potty trained, but we have a baby on the way, so dd is enjoying being in the diaper at night (hoping she won't regress, because she is "allowed" a baby diaper at night)... but her bladder is much bigger now.


Alot of kids physically cannot control night time wetting... and even the thickest wool pad isn't going to "contain" urine, it disperses it over a larger area, and is super absorbant, usually staying dry-to-slightly-damp on the outside... but if a kid has a forceful pee, there isn't going to be enough time for the wool to wick the moisture over a larger surface-- it's just going to go straight through. Felting (wadding up the fibers and making it thicker) helps, but if there isn't any other cloth to slow down the pee, it may not be fool proof. You might want to keep a 100% cotton quilt or a folded sheet on top of the puddle pad (different layers will slow down the stream).

[Jojo F.]

thixle- right, DS still wears a nightime dipe even though he HATES it but it's the only thing that helps keep the bed dry most of the time. Sometimes the dipes leak and then we have a mess, so wool pads here we come!!

Plus, we will have another in Jan. so this is a good project for me to work on, ahhhhh wool, I wool!!

[Daniel's Kitty]

We were having problems until I asked around and decided to try the Happy Heiney's trainers. DS thinks it is okay at night, he is still a little annoyed that it isn't his regular underwear (Grandma bought him Cars and Thomas) but it works and he can manage them himself.