Leaking issue with girls?

Connie - posted on 11/07/2010

I'm having the same issue with my 5 mth old daughter at night. I've read on another group that wool covers with terry/bamboo diapers work well? Anyone use wool covers? I am currently using pocket diapers. I'm wondering of it would be effective to just throw a wool cover over at nighttime? Super bulky I imagine though. We are currently using disposables at night after many tries of doubling up the inserts.

Amanda - posted on 11/04/2010

I never had success using pockets or AIO's on my little bubs, usually once they were crawling it was fine. maybe she doesnt pee hard enough to push the wee thru the fleece liner?

Jessica - posted on 10/23/2010

It could be the fit of the diaper - I found my little girl leaked in diapers with a wide crotch, as the fabric bunched up around her legs. Most OSFA nappies were too wide, which was a bummer! Once we switched to narrow crotch diapers she was fine. (Don't know if you can get them in the US but here in Australia, Itti Bittis are a great narrow-fit nappy...) You might have to do some looking round review sites to find brands that might work better, then just get one to try and see if it makes a difference. Or just wait until she's a bit bigger - my daughter grew into the ones that didn't fit her at 3 months.

Alix - posted on 10/19/2010

My daugher had this same problem with diapers that had a stay-dry layer. We ended up switching to prefolds and covers because of it. There just wasn't enough pressure on the diaper for it to soak through the stay-dry layer. I love my prefolds and covers though!

Lerin - posted on 10/19/2010

I had this problem with my daughter, when side-lying, when she was much smaller. I think stripping them would be a good idea, but if you still have the leak, as I did, I finally figured out that it was a combo of them not being tight enough around her legs, and we were using pockets, the absorbant layer not being pulled right up to the edge. Good luck!

Sayward - posted on 10/12/2010

Also, water beading up is a good sign of whether a dipe is repelling, but if it's that infamous stay-dry fabric - again, you do need some pressure to get the soaking going. So put a few drops on the diaper, and if it's stay-dry or suedecloth, place your fingers gently over top of the water drops. It will either begin to soak through or it will truly repel.

Sayward - posted on 10/12/2010

I don't necessarily agree with having to strip your diapers (unless you recall having used something that would bring about repelling, or have determined that they are actually, truly repelling). I noticed this with my girl -- she's a side-sleeper too. Stay-dry liners in diapers seem to need to have pressure from baby's bottom to make the pee soak through. So, if she's sleeping on her side, she's not putting pressure on the suedecloth/stay-dry fabric, and that's what's causing your leak. We went through this too, and I was sure I had done something to ruin my diapers. Countless unnecessary strippings later, I realized that the diapers were fine - they didn't leak when she was sitting up in them, just when I found her sleeping on her side.



A good stripping can help, but depending on whether you have a suedecloth liner or stay-dry fabric touching her bum -- it might just be a "goes with the stay-dry/side-sleeper" territory. Sadly we have had to de-stash and re-stash with non-suedecloth/stay-dry fabric diapers - like the organic Flip inserts, hemp prefolds, and Bamboozles for nighttime.

Janelle - posted on 10/11/2010

Sounds like you may need to strip them to me as well

Aicha - posted on 10/10/2010

You need to strip your diapers Over time you may notice that your cloth diapers no longer smell April fresh, even right after laundering. You may also notice an extremely strong (stronger than normal) urine smell in baby’s diaper after peeing in them. Both are signs that your diapers have build-up on them and need to be ‘stripped’. Stripping is the process of removing detergent build up from diapers in order to eliminate odors and improve absorbency.

Build-up occurs when residue left by detergents, oils or other substances remain in the fibers. This is more common in areas where the water is hard. Also, diapers with man-made materials like microfleece tend to gather stink more easily than diapers with all-natural fibers like cotton, bamboo or hemp. Build up can also decrease the absorbency of your diapers and cause leaking. Don't worry though - removing build-up from your cloth diapers is really easy. Read on!
You need to strip your diapers if...

* Your diapers are leaking
* Baby’s urine sits and beads on the diaper
* Baby has a rash.
* Your diapers are turning yellow or gray
* Your diapers have an ammonia or urine smell AFTER they’ve been washed
* Your diapers have a really strong ammonia smell during the day after baby wets

Steps for Stripping Your Diapers

1. RINSE (cold with no detergent)

2. WASH (hot with detergent)

3. RINSE (with additive from list below)

4. Repeat RINSING (with no additive) until you no longer see soap bubbles when the load is agitated.

5. DRY (line dry or air dry)
Recommended Additives (only choose one):

* 1 tablespoon of Dawn liquid soap (or 1 teaspoon for HE washers)
* 1/2 cup of Baking Soda
* Two scoops of Oxyclean (*NOT recommended for hard water areas)
* 1 cup of White Distilled Vinegar (*NOT recommended for hard water areas)
* 1 packet of RLR Laundry Treatment

IMPORTANT NOTES:

* Don't confuse soap bubbles with agitation bubbles. To tell the difference, open the washer door during the rinse cycle and count to 5. If the bubbles have disappeared, they were agitation bubbles. If not, they are soap bubbles and you will need to run another rinse cycle.
* Be careful not to overuse vinegar. While it is a great when used occasionally, overuse can cause the PUL in your diaper covers, All In One, All In Two and Pocket diapers to breakdown and leak.
* Using the right detergent can cut down on how often you need to strip your diapers. See our list of Recommended Detergents for your cloth diapers.

Samantha - posted on 10/03/2010

What type AIO. I know with my BG organic one-size I had to wash them and dry them 5+ times before using in HOT water because the fabic wasn't bleached so I had to wash out the oil in the cotton before it would absorb. Also try putting the AIO on tighter, maybe there's a slight gap at her legs?

Majaliwa - posted on 09/30/2010

Try shaking a few drops of water on your diapers. If the water beads up on the surface then you have an absorbency issue and your diapers need to be stripped. Here are some simple instructions for how to strip your diapers: http://www.pootersdiapers.com/stink-out-...