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Can I get some advice on using wool wraps please?

5 replies

threetinytots · 15/07/2008 22:09

I have been looking at getting some new wraps for dd2 and have come across the wool ones, but I don't know anything about how they work, washing, etc.

Can anyone give me some pointers?

TIA

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Anglepoise · 15/07/2008 22:38

I've never used them, but they get a glowing report from JoyS here (towards bottom of the page). Bump for you!

Flibbertyjibbet · 15/07/2008 22:51

Oh they are fab.
I knitted my own [and smug emoticon]

Wool is a natural fibre which, when its got its natural oil on, is waterproof, breathable, and self cleaning. Hence you never see wet sheep with their hair all flat hanging down around them. The water can't soak into it as the sheep produces its own lanolin like we produce sebum from our hair follicles.

The wraps I made were from untreated wool, still contained all its natural lanolin. So I knitted wraps and bunged em on baby. If however you buy wraps made of wool material or factory knitted, the lanolin has been removed during the manufacturing process by washing/dying etc and so you need to soak the wrap in lanolin (nappy suppliers sell it or Boots) to re-lanolise.

The breathability of the wool makes the baby more comfortable, the lanolin stops the wee soaking into the wool, and the self cleaning of the lanolin means that the wraps don't smell of the wee.

After a while of exposure to human wee though (as opposed to rain and a bit of mud in the field , the wrap will start to smell a bit and you know it needs re-lanolising. So you wash it very gently then make up a bucket of lanolin rinse (instructions on can of lanolin) and soak the wrap for ages, then hang up to drip dry and you are ready to go again for a few weeks.

I recommend wool for night or round the house but not under clothes/trousers as the wee will squash through the wool if a child is sitting on it or trousers are squashed against it.

Bet loads of xposts while I typed this!!

Flibbertyjibbet · 15/07/2008 22:53

By the way they are a bit of work to maintain the washing and lanolising. After ds2 was born I must admit I went over to motherease at night as with 2 kids 16m gap something had to give and it was the lanolising of my wraps.

Oh and they are not cheap compared with the motherease/totsbots type wraps.

There are often people selling them on the mumsnet classifieds so you could buy a 2nd hand one to try.

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threetinytots · 15/07/2008 23:27

thanks so much fj, that has answered most of my questions!

Probably a stupid q, but would it be ok to use a grobag with a wool wrap? And what about sleepwear? Also, really like the long of the long touser type ones - could dd wear these out and about during the day? Instead of normal trousers?

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Flibbertyjibbet · 15/07/2008 23:43

Yes i think we used wool at night in a grobag. No pyjama bottoms though, and if the nappy was truly truly soaking it would sometimes 'seep' onto the grobag. So you need a very absorbent nappy.

The very basic ones that I knitted go over a flat terry nappy very well. I didn't like the disana ones that are velcro, they just didn't fit my son right.

Personally I think the long ones look a bit daft anywhere other than at home! I think they'd look a bit funny as long trousers! I think I just don't 'get' the long ones but if its cold and you want wool and don't want to put trousers over the top...

But on a little girl the longies might look quite cute I suppose. I was held out to be the village idiot when I knitted my wool nappy covers 3 years ago for ds1 but recently a young mum asked me for my patterns so times must be a - changing lol.

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