My experience using my homemade
cloth mama pads have been going rather well. It took me forever to come to this
decision for some odd reason my sons poop on a diaper didn’t bother me but my
blood on a pad did? Silly, right? Maybe, a little? I worried about having
enough to wash them without wasting water. Treating stains which is different
than treating diaper stains. Mostly my mind was going would it be comfortable
to wear? Can the blood soak through the fabric as well as my sons pee does to
keep the moisture at bay?
How this journey started. I occasionally sew a
few custom made diapers for my son if the inspiration arises. With my last set
there were quite a few larger pieces of PUL scraps because of the size and
shape of this diaper pattern. With the curiosity getting the better of me I
decided to whip up a few different experimental cloth pads to use.
My design was based off the disposable brand I
already use with wings. They consist of a layer of PUL sewn to a layer of
fleece. The point in using the fleece on top was so that the shiny side of the
PUL wouldn’t be rubbing on my thighs and if the pads I had sewn happened to
leak the fleece would create something to catch any overage. At the tip of the
wings were snaps to secure the pad to my underwear. Since the pads were truly experiments
I had decided to use fabrics I already had, so the padding is made of four
layers of upcycled flannel blankets. At first I thought to make the pad snap
onto the PUL/fleece bottom so that I could easily change the padding without
removing the entire cloth pad unit. What went wrong there, the snaps were much
too strong and removing the pad was more difficult than I preferred. It was
doable but what really changed my mind was that when I wore the pad it
scrunched up between my legs. It was not terribly uncomfortable but
improvements were desired. Changing plans the pad was completely sewn down to
the PUL/fleece body. The other design
flaw came about while snapping the pad to the underwear. The soaker section
needed to be wider between the wings. When I snapped the wings together they
scrunched up the underwear itself. The problems aren’t horribly uncomfortable
it’s just not quite right for my taste.
The functionality has been perfect. Even on my
heavier days the pads have held up very well not a single leak, even overnight.
To help reduce staining when I sit down at the toilet to change my pad I set the
dirty one under cold running water in the sink to help rinse any excess out. Don’t
wring it either the water will help soak the pad until wash day.
My wash routine resembles that of cloth
diapers. Every two to three days. Cold rinse, Hot wash with detergent safe for
cloth pads, Cold rinse again. Besides my
design hiccups these have worked out quite perfectly. With disposables the
outer layers are plastic and do not allow breathing so you can become wet and
even raw feeling while wearing one, but because I used the same materials we
use for cloth diapers it’s a very welcome breathable change.
For future designs I want to
experiment with using other absorbent fabrics like microfiber, zorb, bamboo, or
hemp. My traced out pattern will be
wider to allow for turning and top stitching, and the wings will have more room
to fold over the underwear.
My stain remedy for a bad one is
to rinse in cold water, add a little peroxide to the wet stain, toss it into
the bucket, wash as normal, dry in sunlight. Peroxide should be used when
really warranted I do not know how this will affect the pad over time. It may
take a couple routine washes to get the stain out but should work fine. Also
using an enzyme based detergent like Bac-out can be beneficial just rinse them
out thoroughly before using the pad. Bac-out detergent can be found at my local
Fred Meyer in the health food section maybe yours may have this too? What has worked for you?
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