The changes in how much and how often a child wees at different stages means that you may need to adapt your nappies to suit. Thankfully, this is quite simple with cloth nappies! If you find that your child is out-weeing a nappy, the simplest thing to do is add a booster. Bamboo, hemp and cotton are the most popular choices to make nappies more absorbent but you can try other fabrics too.
Place the booster inside the nappy, under the liner if you're using one, and change baby as usual, ensuring that you still get a good fit at the legs and waist. If the nappy has a separate waterproof cover, another option is to place the booster between the nappy and the cover. If you find that you are getting leaks before the nappy is saturated but you are confident that the fit of the nappy is good, it may be that the child is flooding the nappy with wee so quickly that the material can't keep up. Different fabrics absorb at different rates so have a play with different options to see what works for you. Some find that microfibre absorbs the fastest, whereas others find cotton, hemp or bamboo better. If boosting your nappies isn't working, you can either change them more frequently or swap to nappies that are more absorbent to start with. Generally, hemp, bamboo and cotton nappies will hold more liquid than microfibre nappies. Most people find that fitted nappies with a separate cover will absorb more than nappies that go on in one piece. You could also consider wool covers, which allow some of the wee to evaporate off slowly, leaving room in the nappy for more wee. If all this has completely bamboozled you or you'd like to try different options before you buy, contact your nearest nappy library. They know their stuff and can lend you things so you can find out what works for you. How we worked it out:
The following formulas can be used to estimate normal bladder capacity in children:
Our info came from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9366371 If you would like to share the graphic from this page, please use the larger image from the top and, if possible, include a clickable link either to the link on the graphic, the UK Nappy Network website (www.uknappynetwork.org) or to the nappy library map (www.uknappynetwork.org/map) in your comments on social media.
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