Re-useable nappies - leaking EVERY time! Advice please

[maldivemoment]

We are using totsbots Easyfit and they are leaking pretty much every time we use them. Out little one (boy) is 14 weeks old and the particular area of leakage seems to be around the thigh or at the top of his nappy, at his tummy.

We have them fastened to make them the smallest size. Have tried putting them to the next size up but this made no difference. Can't make them any tighter as there are already marks around his wee legs - they're currently a snug fit, not digging in.

We have moved to disposables at night as I was fed up completely changing his bed every morning, or worse still, our bed if he was in with us!

Anyone got any suggestions? Many thanks

Have you tried using a booster. You can make boosters for nappies quite cheaply by cutting up an old flannel/ towel or terry nappy.

Yip - got inserts which we used at night in the days (or nights, rather!) when we were still using re-useables during the night. They still leaked!

Currently changing him every 2(ish) hours. Is this too long to leave him in a re-useable? Perhaps I'm not using the nappy liners correctly 'cos it seems to me that the wee must be travelling up to his tummy/thigh for the nappy to leak.

Thanks for the reply Reallytired. Anyone else?

I never got along with all-in-one nappies because I found that they leaked, too. Maybe there is a knack to it but I never found it.

When they leak are the nappies sodden or is it wicking and not being contained by the waterproof part?
Maybe buy a couple of wraps to put over the top of the nappy and see if that works.

Personally, I preferred the 2-part nappies so probably not really the right person to help with these.

Are they the fluffle inner or the bamboo inner? I personally couldn't get on with the fluffle version due to leaks but got on well with the bamboo.

mmme have you made a major investment in lots of these? Diff nappies give better fits on diff babies. If can maybe try a diff type- I found all in ones less good in the early months, a shaped nappy under a motherease gusseted wrap (airflow?) was always leak free...

you have remembered the wrap? if its a nappy with separate waterproof wrap. Used to confuse my CM regularly and I'd get back a very wet boy. Also with separate wraps I found that having the wrap too tight caused more seepage than looser fit.

Boy- make sure his willy is pointed down when you do up nappy,weeing straight up tends to leak at tummy. I guess maybe also check you not leaving his willy pointing straight at a leg hole...

Liners... if they peep out of nappy, they will seep wee to everywhere that they peep out. tricky with big liner on small baby. I had some issues with seepage via liner and stopped using them till boy was bigger.

Good luck.

As 4andnotout says if they are fluffle inners then they aren't anywhere near absorbent enough. Boys seem to wee more than girls too, no idea why, but that's my experience as a nappy advisor!

The bamboo ones are much more absorbent, but still not absorbent enough for my heavy wetting son, so I boost with as many extra layers of bamboo as I can stuff in.

During the day I would expect you to get around 3 hours from your nappies between changes (unless it's a pooey one of course, or they are going through a growth spurt and feeding almost constantly).

To solve your night problem, boost with bamboo if possible and perhaps use a wrap over the nappy. I know technically it doesn't need one, but as you have a wet baby in the morning, this might help. Better than that would be woolies over the nappy, you could even add boosting between the nappy and woolies.

Failing that, I'd recommend using a two parter at night as others have said. The benefit of those is that you can boost as much or as little as you need to as your baby develops and the wee levels go up and down accordingly.

Oh, I forgot to say, you could always talk to Tots Bots direct about your problem. Magnus is very approachable and keen on customer feedback.

Echo others, plus we went through a phase of nappies leaking like crazy- plus a very strong amonia smell.

Turned out we'd been using too much detergent (and liquid detergent as well, supposedly worse) and the nappies (two part microfibre ones with seperate wraps) were so saturated with washing detergent they were repelling liquid and smelling so strong.

I washed them on hot with a dishwasher tab and then washed and washed with no detergent til there were no more bubbles. It's called 'stripping' them. Not very enviro! Now I use just a smidge of Ecover powder. Less than half the recommended dose on the packet.

HTH

Mrsmotmot, you can 'strip' the nappies by putting white vinegar in instead of softener for the final rinse.

Not recommended for wraps or all-in-ones though. Maybe put through an extra rinse?

One word. Disposables. OK shoot me now!

Thank you all for you suggestions.

Before our bundle of joy arrived we bought the bumper pack of nappies from Totsbots so no going back in terms of trying out other kinds. Grrr!

It's the bamboo nappies we've got.

May try the extra rinse.

Tellyaddict - what are woolies?? (MM gulps that she doesn't know!!)

Would a wrap over the nappy not give him a huge bottom and make him a bit uncomfortable???

If we were to go to a 2 parter for night time, which ones are best?

Many, many thanks once again!

I use two part tots bots with a boy & the leaks are few.....They're bamboo! I find microfibre (as mentioned by many here) are just not absorbent enough. I'm currently looking for next sizes & on Babykind website they do trials of many different types of nappy & they're very helpful.
I'm due to start a trial soon with about 8 different types, so I can always let you know my findings in due course if you're interested.

& BTW I use pop ins (All in one) for night time at the moment as it's the only nappy I've found so far that lasts right through with not a spot of leakage.)

Best of luck.

Woolies - wool wrap or longies (wool longjohns) you lanolise them (which involves soaking them for around an hour in a lanolin solution, rinsing then drying). The wool is very breathable and very absorbent. When you remove the woolies in the morning, they smell mildy of wee, but after airing them out for the day, smell completely gone and they smell fresh as if they'd just been washed. They only need washed every 2 or 3 weeks or so and lanolised around every 6 to 8 weeks so not the huge amount of work people imagine.

Yes adding lots of boosting, using a wrap etc will probably give him a bigger bottom but it doesn't matter as he's only lying down to sleep. In the good old days when people used terries, babies went to bed with their bottoms much higher than their heads - with no obvious problems lol!!!

If you need a 2 part night nappy I'd recommend a bamboo one, plus bamboo boosters and a wrap such as Motherease, OneLife or Lollipop all work really well.

Good for you for persevering with cloth and trying to solve your leakage problems - you will succeed!!!

I know you are getting loads of great advice on here but if you post on the Nappies bit which used to be with potty training but is now in the Products section.

here

I had loads of great advice when I was using reusables for ds2. MN is a wealth of information.

I use tots bots flexitots with my ds. You have to use a wrap as well as the nappy itself isn't waterproof.

I have no advice but I saved all the nappies I had (we used a mixture of disposables and nature babies + wraps) along with the nappy nippas and this thread is just making me feel broody!!!!