knitted pilchers

[becca74]

well....I am finally weaned onto cloth nappies I think....apart from running out of them at my brothers the other day and using a disposable because he was on a pooing spree, Noah has been in cloth day and night all week :smiliedance:

Anyway, my mum started me on out by buying me a pack of terry nappies, and 6happy heinies (which at present are wayyyy to huge, so havent had a chance of trying them yet....I bought myself the 2nd pack of terries, and intend to buy another pack next week (when I get my shopping allowance).

Anyway, my mum has recruited my grandma to knit some woollen pilchers, and she sent me a pair she did to test for sizing etc...so any and all advice to pass to her would be very welcome....she just outright knitted pants to cover a nappy - does anything else need to be sewn into them?

How good are they at stopping leaks? Is there anything I can treat them with to keep them from leaking?

Does anyone have any patterns for knitted pilchers?

thanks in advance :D

[Oscar's mum]

There are tonnes of free soaker patterns on the net. Here is one of them:

http://www.birdcrossstitch.com/soakers/pattern/

[Oscar's mum]

And here is a link for a pair of longies:

http://www.tinybirdsorganics.com/organicwool/woolpants.html

[becca74]

Thanks Oscar's mum, with the longies, are they just long legged versions of pilchers? (sorry if dumb question - but I'm so new to these things :o )

Should knitted pilchers be changed with each wet nappy?

[Oscar's mum]

Yep longies are a longer version but just oh so cute!;)

Here is a bit of info about fleece and wool covers for you:


Fleece and wool covers both work quite differently from PUL. With PUL, the cover is supposed to contain the moisture, while still allowing a little air to pass through to prevent things getting too "steamy" inside the nappy. Fleece and wool allow much more air in and out of the nappy and this air-flow causes evaporation of moisture from the nappy. So instead of just containing the moisture, they actually get rid of some of it - which makes them particularly good for use overnight when large amounts of wee are produced. It also makes them the coolest option as the cooling effect of the evaporation makes the cover a personal, bum-sized air conditioner.

Of course, fleece and wool both also act partly as a barrier to prevent leaks as well (especially with leg elastication) and since fleece and wool do not hold water (as with fleece liners) they work well. One word of warning; wool is only made water resistant by the presence of lanolin. Wool covers need to be relanolised every now and again by soaking in a diluted lanolin solution. It sounds like hard work, but given they only need washing every 'now and again' they are actually incredibly easy to use and maintain.

The only time when fleece and wool covers are not a great choice is when there is not much air-flow, eg very long periods spent in a car seat or a pram. In that case there will not be much evaporation going on. As they are not technically water proof (though highly water resistant) you could get leaks - unlike with PUL covers.

There is another nifty thing to point out with woollen covers. The lanolin in the wool has an interesting effect - it actually breaks down the elements in the urine so that the cover rarely needs to be washed! Yes, it sounds icky but it really does work. Frequency of washing depends on the frequency of use but as a guideline:- if you use wool at nightime only then you can expect to have to wash it roughly every four to six weeks (unless it gets soiled) and relanolise it every eight to ten weeks. And the best bit is that the covers tell you when they need to be washed - there is no guessing! In the meantime, though, it is incredibly effective and no work at all!

[becca74]

I think I'll have to learn to knit, as I'll have my grandma in overdrive - woollen pilchers are such a good idea.

Where would I get a hold of lanolising solution? do supermarkets do them? I've never seen this before.

[the_queen]

Just use Lansinoh! You can buy lanolin spray from some of the nappy websites (I've just ordered some, the scent is "biscotti with nuts" mmmmMMM!) but just the good old lansinoh from the chemist. :thumbsup:

[LucyE]

Yup, just to repeat what's been said - wool is great as a cover. I prefer to Lansinoh because it's a 'pure' lanolin compared to other brands. What I do is, dissolve a pea sized amount into a bucket with some boiling hot water and swish around (this can be a bit fiddly so some people prefer to do this in a screw top jar and shake, shake, shake). Then add enough warm-ish water to fill (too hot and it will felt the covers but I find cold not as effective). Then soak the covers in overnight, spin dry in the machine and dry in the shade.

The some of the knitted covers I have have are double layer in the crotch region for extra protection but if the wool knit is close/tight enough, that may not be necessary. You will need to change it ever nappy change but no need to wash. Just air it out so the wool has a chance to dry.

When I was using wool, I had about 6 on rotation and would throw them all in the machine (f/l) on a woolen wash once every 6 weeks or so. It only took them out of the rotation for about a day or 1.5 days (to wash, lanolise and dry) so I would just use PUL covers during that time.

Oh, and make sure the nappies you are using them over are really well fitting because poo on wool is a bit of a pain.