Again on my quest for an "all natural" diapering routine, I came across wool covers. At first I was anxious! Itchy, rough wool on my baby's smooth skin?? However I read sooo much information about how amazing wool is and how its able to BREATHE. As I began to warm up to the idea I read these facts:
-Wool is breatheable which cuts down on diaper rash EVEN more than just using cloth.
-Wool absorbs 30% of its weight which m
eans SUPER dry!
-It is in fact, NOT itchy, its actually super soft!
-Wool has antibacterial properties allowing it to resist odor and clean itself!!!
When using wool covers, you can use only one a day essentially! You only need to wash it if it gets a smell to it (after a couple of wears/days) or if it gets poop on it. When urine hits the wool, the lanolin acts as a soap neutralizing the urine. It is now clean, smells fine and completely dry! They come as longies (pants), shorts, skirties, soakers, and even plain diaper covers. This allows wool to be a clothing item, not just a diaper cover! Wool is seriously amazing. Once I read all of these facts, I knew wool was something I wanted to try. So I placed my order.
Brianna in a WCW Fairy Stacked Tangerine outfit! Shes wearing a Goodmama underneath!
This is an adorable example of an outfit of wool. The top is just a plain embroidered (cute!) cotton top and the bottoms are wool longies. It's wool interlock so it's stretchy, forgiving and can take some rough and tumble!! I got them at Wild Child Woolies who has a Hyena Cart and an Etsy!
One of the turn offs of wool for some people are the price. $50 a pair seems pretty steep to most. But in the actual use (you only really need 3 pairs so that's $150) it's not that bad. Some people wash every week, some people wait for two weeks. Its personal preference :)
Washing is a process, but thats the great thing of only needing to be done once a week/two weeks! One of my favorite sites Woolybottoms explains the washing process great! :
Fill your sink with enough lukewarm water to sufficiently cover your wool. Add a bit of woolwash (do not use Woolite, only use a lanolin rich wash specifically designed for diaper covers) to your running sink water. Wool wash bars can be used to help remove tough stains as well. Most wool washes are formulated so there is no need to rinse. A bit of baby shampoo can be used if wool wash is not readily available. With liquid wool wash, let your wool sit for about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain water and gently squeeze wool. Lay in between 2 bath towels and roll to remove excess water. Or if you are doing several covers, put them in your washing machine and run the spin cycled (no water) to quickly and efficiently spin out the excess water. Reshape, and lay flat to dry away from direct heat or sun. Liquid wool wash is good if your cover needs a gentle cleaning. If your child is like mine though, they like to abuse their wool with food, dirt, and grime. A good wool wash bar is good for these times. Fill up a sink full of warm water, wet your wool, and then lather the bar right into the wool to get out those tough stains. Always check in a hidden spot to ensure colorfastness. Then rinse immediately and remove right away and dry as listed above. For interlock wool, we recommend soak times of a maximum of 15 minutes. Interlock can also be safely washed in the washing machine on a gentle wash/rinse cool cycle for a really deep clean. Machine drying is not
recommended.
And then you need to lanolize once a month (what makes it waterproof). Again Woolybottoms is on top of it! :
Prepare your sink just like you are about to wash your cover. I have found the creamy style lanolin to work the best in getting an effective coat of lanolin on my wool. It contains all the original fats that are removed from the liquid forms. Take a pea sized amount and place in a baby food jar along with a drop of baby shampoo. Fill jar with super hot water and shake to dissolve the lanolin (or an alternative to completely melt your lanolin is place the jar lanolin without the lid in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Then add the hot water & shampoo. (This will ensure the lanolin is completely dispersed). I prefer to microwave to really make sure that the lanolin is liquifed and will not form pool and form spots on my covers. Fill your sink as I stated just above with warm water and wool wash. Add your lanolin mixture and swish. I prefer to turn my covers inside out so the majority of the lanolin is on the inside right where you need it. Add the wool cover and let sit anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Make sure water remains relatively warm to keep the lanolin suspended pr
operly and from forming lanolin spots. Drain and dry like normal.
It really isn't as much of work as it seems! From my experience when I put the longies on Bri, I forgot about the diaper (oops, bad cousin). Anyway a whopping 4 hours later while getting ready for bath, I remembered. Her cloth diaper (this time a Kiwi Pie- she wore the outfit all day long!) was drenched. Soaking wet. And the longies? Dry as can be. They are great!
My favorite wool sites:
Woolybottoms
Woolybottoms
The cutest thing ever is hanging around the house in a cute shirt, wool soaker and some baby legs. Instant outfit! :)
*UPDATE*
A great video of another mama's wool stash so you can see them!
Ack!! $50 for that pair of wool pant thingies?! :O Omy, that is high!! But they are cute!!
ReplyDeleteThat's the highest I've seen them! :) Woolybottoms is around $20 :)
ReplyDeleteHow neat! I never even considered wool!
ReplyDelete