Waters breaking in bed- what's the best (cheapest!) protection?

[pendulum]

Hi, I am nearly 38 weeks and beginning to think that I ought to have something protecting my mattress just in case my waters go at night. But I really don't want to fork out on a special cover (they seem v expensive...esp as we have a king size bed). DH thinks that when PG with DD I just put a bin liner under the sheet- I can't remember doing this, but it sounds a) a bit sticky and yucky and b) unlikely to be effective.

Anyone got any good tips for cheap mattress protection?

You can buy various types of plastic sheeting from your local garden centre. It comes on a large roll and you get it cut to size. If you go this budget route, it can be very hard to sleep at night as you get extremely sweaty.

If you can afford a non-woven mattress protector, you will be much more comfortable.

Make up the bed with your normal sheet, then cover with a shower curtain, huge bin bag,, etc etc, make up another sheet on top then remove the two leaving a clean sheet ready to snuggle down on with your new baby.
Argos do waterproof king size covers but not sure on price.

You can get Pampers bed mats for toddlers for about a fiver for 7. They are disposable and go under the sheet. Then you can save them for when you are potty training . HTH

Pendulum - You can get those Pampers bedwetting throwaway sheets for young children - they would work if you placed it under your backside. I have a load of them - if you want to give me your address I certainly don't mind posting you one! Saves you spending a few quid on buying a pack of them.

I was going to suggest bed mats too, you will sweat too much with bin liners or plastic underneath.

Hehe Canadianmum - great minds!

One thing to keep in mind that for the vast majority of labours, the waters go at the end of first stage. It is very unlikely that your waters will go while you are asleep, without any contractions.

Ask your MW for some incontinence mats. I used plastic dustsheets from Homebase - very big, cover everything and you get 3 for not much money. I had my matress protector over the top so not sweaty. And a towel on top of that. Then the sheet. Good luck.

scienceteacher - mine went in bed, before I had any idea I was going into labour - I now have a lovely stain on my £1500 mattress! Better to be prepared IMO!

i got a hippychick thingy, about half a metre square. has been super useful since for leaky breasts and ds bed.

ditto the hippychick thingy - about £20 I think, but a lot cheaper than a new mattress and washable so useful for leaky breasts (as fishie said) and future potty training

good thinking

i never thought of this and i have new memory foam mattress

going to get pampers things
thanks

wow, thanks for all the replies- have been putting DD to bed. Never thought of using the Pampers mats, what a good idea (helenelisabeth- thanks for your kind offer but I haven't set up a CAT facility and don't want to put my e-mail in here cos I know several of my work colleagues are MNetters and don't want to "out" myself!!!)

Will also investigate the hippychick pads, you have reminded me about the leaky boobs (how many other unpleasant post-birth phenomena have I forgotten about?)

thanks again- MN is great for questions like this!!

I used the pampers things last time and will again this time, but I will make sure that I have more than one of them and that it goes over the edge of the bed 'cos of course for some reason I was in a very peculiar position and my waters broke on the bit that wasn't covered by the mat!

The mattress wasn't too badly marked but it was a bit of a pain for DH to have to deal with that and everything else - and to try to stop me putting all the sheets in the washing machine before we went to hospital!

I used a bin liner and then put a couple of towels on top. I figured that the towels would absorb most of it and then the bin liner would stop anything from getting to the mattress. Cheapest option I could come up with and towels were very comfy to lie on.

My water went first before anything else happened, but it was just a small quick gush and then a slow leak so nothing that would have soaked the bed anyway.

Good luck with the birth!!

Another vote for pampers bedmats.

I am 35 weeks pregnant and have put one on my side ofour double bed. DD des not need them any more and I can use them when the time comes with this LO.

Another vote for the Hippychick - expensive initially, but has been in constant use for nearly 4 years now! I always keep it under the sheets for leaky boobs, or milk sicks (DS2 threw up massive quantities). Also I found that I sweated loads after the birth of DS1 - soaking through everything. This was in April so not due to the heat.

I bought a waterproof bed cover for my side of the bed - I needed it post-baby because there was milk EVERYWHERE for weeks - I have to change the bedding all the time and a sour-milk fragranced mattress would NOT have been nice...

ahh - this happened to me and I personally regretted not having a canoe prepared

i bought a waterproof mattress cover for about £20 when i was pregnant first time round, which i put on a day or two before i was due. my waters broke as i was walking across the landing instead though!

will be handy this time as having home birth (i hope) and it'll protect the bed from all manner of waters / blood / gloopiness!

This happenned to me on Friday night and as they hadn't broken last time I hadn't thought about it. Luckily I had been sleeping on an unfolded sleeping bag to help with pelvic pain so that did the trick and I just shoved it in the washing machine afterwards and it was fine. I put a pampers bed mat and towel on top once it had started while I was still at home before gping to the hospital and that was enough.

One thing I had not factored in was that I used almost a packet of maternity pads before giving birth because of the waters going so then only had one for afterwards so might need to get some more.

If you have a Wilkinsons store near you, they do mattress protectors up to £5 for kingsize. My waters didn't go in bed (consultant popped them in hospital) but the mattress protector has come into its own since the birth with my pukey boy!

I got a pack of 5 maternity mats, Boots own brand. They are specifically for putting under the sheet for if your waters break. Can't remember the price, but fairly cheap. I kept 1 in the car as well. Can also be used post-birth on the bed and I also keep one now as a changing mat.