wierd wee!

[manna]

My ds occasionally has some weird stuff in his nappy! It's always with a wee, never anything else. It looks like transparent granulated sugar, but is rubbery not hard. Someone told me it might be uric (?) acid, and several mums at baby massage mentioned that they'd experienced it, too. I can't be bothered to queue for hours at the baby clinic if it's not serious (bad, bad mother) , so does anyone have any ideas?

Manna, what nappies do you use ? A lot of nappies have tiny roundish, clear little balls which come out of them. Are you sure it's not this ?

Isn't it the gel from disposable nappies leaking out?

I think they're right too - and you wouldn't necessarily notice see-through granules in a heap of poo, as opposed to wee.

Manna, this has re-assured me too! Dh and I used to call them 'crystals'!! They are really odd and used to appear in the morning after he's been in his nappy all night. I agree that there seem to be more of them when the nappy is really wet. Thanks for asking this as it had baffled me!

Isn't it worrying that they put these things in nappies !! I really was so determined before DD was born to go to good old fashioned nappies rather than disposables but all good intentions have flown out of the window since I discovered the Nature's Own baby nappies that have no chemicals etc, etc and are 70% natural. You can feel it when they're on because they get really wet quickly. Not so good for long trips but great for around the house. It frightens me to think of all the chemicals they put in nappies.

Its never happened to us since we've been using Tesco ultra dry disposables - it used to happen often with huggies and pampers.

Manna, we had the granules occasionally in overnight nappies until we switched to Nature Boy and Girl, and that seemed to work.

We had the same thing with Huggies, we now use Totsbots.

Those granules are a water absorbent polymer (polyacrylate). They can migrate from the inner layer of a nappy onto the child through a tear or worn out place in the papery barrier that is in contact with the child's bottom. The granules swell when they absorb water, just like one of those flat sponges that pops into shape the first time it gets wet. They're non-toxic and do not react with the urine, they simply absorb it. Different brands of nappies will wear better with different children, hence the observations that it seems to happen with one brand and not the other. The polymers inside are all the same. (Except, of course, in the cases where there are no polymers as in the Nature Boy and Girl nappies.)

It's amazing how much water they can hold. For a neat little demonstration try this:
Pour a small glass of water over a disposable nappy. Give it a minute to soak in, then cut the nappy in half. In between the cottony layers, there will be little clear rubbery granules. Scoop some out with your fingers and put them into a cup. Fill the cup up a bit and wait for 10-15 minutes. The crystals will have absorbed most, if not all of the water. It's interesting to see just how much water you need to supersaturate them (ie make it so that they can't absorb any more).

Seriously, don't worry about the granules being at all harmful. They're about as dangerous as polyester, out of which those fleece liners for cloth nappies are made. (Those work wonderfully, too.)

well described JJ!
On an upbeat note, it's the same gels garden centers use for hanging baskets so you can peel back the outer skin of a nappy and tip it into your hanging basket compost to retain water.

And I think it's in the new cat litter you can buy. Expensive but it lasts for absolutely ages and absorbs any pong.

Tillysmummy - I too worry about all the chemicals they put in nappies, as my children both get worse nappy rash in disposables than in washables (we use disposables for travelling). We had the wee crystals the one time we used pampers, we usually use huggie sand have no probs with them. The thing that gets me with pampers is all the lotion they put in them - we only bought them once because it turns out the lotion has lanolin in which I am allergic to, and therefore changing a nappy gave me hives all over! dh had to do the nappies (why did we stop using them? lol!) We usually use Kooshies and have no problems with them at all.

Nature B&G nappies also have these gel crystals. if they're not polymers like all the other disposables, then what are they? anyway, we don't use them because we found that every time that they got very wet, eg overnight, they split and leaked gel all over ds.

the only gel-free disposables are Tushies, but they leak dreadfully, especially soft poo, because they don't have the inner 'gusset'. personally i think Moltex Oko are the best eco-friendly disposables. they have less gel than any other dispos, no lotions, no chemical bleaches and no smell (other than what baby puts in!). and you can tell which way round they go.

Wmf, you're right! Those little gel crystals are the polymers. I was making an incorrect assumption based on what was posted here. That'll teach me. Thanks for pointing that out.

My pet hate for a week or two when the baby was little was the Tushies brand. The nappies didn't work, gave my son horrible nappy rash and the wipes ripped his skin to shreds. To top it off, they're still taking up space in landfills and they feel the need to bleach the wood pulp and cotton. Bah!

I agree with you completely on the Moltex-oko nappies. Is there a store near you that sells them? I had to order them, which was my downfall as I usually remember to buy new nappies when there is one left. We use Totbots now and are switching over to the unbleached (I didn't realize they had those when I ordered the little ones).

I don't want to frighten anyone but some of the chemicals they put in disposable nappies have been tested and found to change the sex of shellfish. There's no way I'd put them near my boys' genitals if they are that harsh!
On the off chance that anyone is mildly interested, my website is www.aloadofpants.co.uk where I get to sing the praises of cloth nappies!

ds pees so much at night that he often leaks out of his moltex oko nappies. i don't really want to go back to conventional dispos, even though there's a greater range of sizes and absorbencies. we've been trying fabric booster pads in his dispos, and it helps a bit. any suggestions?

JJ you are so well informed and articulate on this subject, you sound like an advert for nappy manufacturers. Do you know anything about TBTs, which I know are found in Pampers and are harmful chemicals?

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Hilary... I will be brave and post under my real nickname but I happen to now a lot about the fish studies you are referring to...

Fish are species that change sex VERY VERY easily this isn't like a human or any sort of other mamals ! I am familiar with what you are referring to and have personally met some of the scientists behind the research.... all I would say is that conclusion of their studies has been spinned by both sides of the arguments to fit their purpose !
No one is squeeky clean in this debate... and you will probably never know the truth (is there such a thing anyway?) as everyone has their agenda. All I would say is that P&G and Unilever (for example) would not knowingly put chemicals that are harmful to babies and EC legislation (and US legislation) are very strict... but I do know what you are talking about.

Now I use Tots Bots myself.

Serena, here's a link to an article on TBT (tributyltin) in nappies. To summarize: Greenpeace found traces of TBT in Pampers Baby Dry, Fixies Ultra Dry and United Colours of Benetton Junior unisex nappies in Germany. It was a good place to discover this, as Germany has very strict laws on environmental pollutants and, in general, is a seriously "green" country. Yes, organotins are bad (TBT is an organotin-- a central tin molecule with carbon sidechains), but I personally don't think you need to worry about your son or daughter suddenly getting sick because it's in his or her nappy. If you are worried about it, simply change brands. Greenpeace tested almost every brand and style out there and only found it in those three particular products.

There is a real problem with ships using organotin paints to repel barnacles and other sea creatures that attach to the bottoms of boats. (See here for an example of the research that was being done a few years ago.) It's polluting the waters and getting into the food chain via mollusks and little creatures like that. (I'm a little out of my depth here, so you'll have to go with the gist of what I'm saying. I don't know much about sea creatures!) For years, companies have treated the oceans as a dumping ground and that does need to stop. I think the ultimate point Greenpeace is trying to make is that by contaminating the waters, one makes nothing safe. Here's a sample letter that is less emotional than the first site and hints at their ultimate goal which is stronger regulation of these chemicals. For me, that's a bigger concern than the fact that one analysis showed trace amounts of toxic chemicals in three brands of nappies. Those studies have not been reproduced and reproducibility is the gold standard of analysis. If it's irreproducible, the analysis was wrong.

Now, I use cloth nappies for environmental reasons. None of my reasons have to do with the fact I believe they are "healthier" for my son, because I do not believe that except in an indirect way, eg I want him to inherit a greener world and be conscious that the choices we make have an impact far beyond us. I also believe that plastics and synthetic chemicals have been a great boon to mankind and our lives are so much the better for many things that have been developed in a laboratory. But a great deal of thought and care needs to be taken to use them responsibly.

At any rate, I learned a lot from that! Gotta love the internet.

Interesting that bloss says avoid Kooshies etc as I have used kooshies really sucessfully with my 2 children and wouldn't use anything else. I use them with a fleece liner I bought seperately after dd had nappy rash (related to pampers!) and they have been fantastic. As far as can see, as good as any of the other systems available - you have to choose what works for you in the cloth stakes, there is a lot more choice than there is in the disposable market. Foe example I have a friend who swears by motherease but I hated the one I tried! It's very personal what works for you.

bloss - i quite happy to go for reusables for nightimes, but haven't a clue which to go for! what do you use on your 'heavy wetter'?

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