making cloth reusable menstrual pads

[jc12551]

chicks4kids:

I switched because I am allergic to disposable pads.

I change them just as often as I did my disposables (so 3-4 times a day).

I have never leaked with cloth, I use to leak with disposables all the time. My pads are all backed with fleece because fleece has water repellent properties. I have panty liners that are just flannel. I don't like pads with PUL in them, but some people love it. It really does ensure a waterproof barrier. Zorb is also a great feature because it absorbs and locks in fluid.

I love pads with a fabric called Minky. It is soft and doesn't stain. If you rinse the used flannel or velour topped pads off in cold water when you are done with them, they don't stain too much. I choose my flannel or bamboo velour topped pads in dark colors that hide stains.

The number of pads you need depends upon your wash schedule. If you want to wash them all together at the end of your period you might need up to 35-40 depending on how long your cycle is and how often you change. I wash laundry every day so I don't have that many. I can count when I get home.

At night I use heavier pads. There are special pads for nighttime use-they are longer and wider in the back but I find that I don't need them.

I was skeptical at first, so I bought two from TreeHugger Mamma Cloth and fell in love. I have bought from GEM pads, MotherMoonPads, Talulah Bean, Pampered Mama, and Pink Lemonade. Well I guess a few others too. But my favorite WAHM's are TreeHugger, MotherMoon, GEM, and Talulah Bean. There are a variety of styles, sizes, shapes, and absorbency levels out there. I even make four layer flannel/fleece pads with wings and snaps myself.

When out I use a makeup bag from Clinique to hold my dirties. If you have ones with snaps they fold up on themselves and snap shut so they don't get mess everywhere. Lots of people make wetbags for this purpose.

The first time I went out while wearing cloth I was paranoid! There are a few sea sponge alternatives out there for tampon users, but I have never used tampons (my mom was like yours lol) so I have never explored that option.

 

[goldenluver]

here are some new ones I've made

 

[dragonlaurel]

I was used to tampons before, but noticed that I always felt kinda toxic on my periods, so I switched to the organic cotton ones. That helped everything but the wallet. Now, I would keep a box of those for going swimming or stuff like that, and use my pads the rest of the time.

I hated disposable pads with a passion, but finally tried cloth ones. Cloth pads are actually comfy. Wish I'd tried them 20 years ago. I haven't tried a waterproof layer, but I have used a larger sized cloth pad with a slightly smaller pad on top of it for really heavy days. Worked fine.

I like different colored fabrics for the heavy absorbency ones, and lighter flow days. I can grab the right absorbency in a hurry that way.

 

[Iheartchicks<3:)]

Ms.FuzzyButts :

Uhmm, sorry, buy my first though was

Good luck!! Someone might, I just don't think I could. Especially for Aunt Flo...

and yeah it is

 

[EweSheep]

[JC]I was skeptical at first, so I bought two from TreeHugger Mamma Cloth and fell in love. I have bought from GEM pads, MotherMoonPads, Talulah Bean, Pampered Mama, and Pink Lemonade. Well I guess a few others too. But my favorite WAHM's are TreeHugger, MotherMoon, GEM, and Talulah Bean. There are a variety of styles, sizes, shapes, and absorbency levels out there. I even make four layer flannel/fleece pads with wings and snaps myself.


Can you give me the links for all these pad manufacturers? I found Mother Moon on Ebay but the rest of them, I don't see them on there.

Just sick of disposables, they are so stinky and sometimes they make me itch and raw on the edges of the pads particuarly when I 'm walking.

In order to wear those, do I need to get one size smaller to "hold" them in place? My panties are a bit loose but not stagging. I would not appreciate if those cloth pads would "walk" on its own or bunch up.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I like using cloth pads! My cycles actually hurt less, if at all, now that I'm not using the disposable pads. I didn't even need to sew a water resistant barrier layer into the pads. Just a layer or two of terry cloth is fine even for my heaviest days. I make sure to sew down the center of each pad so that fluids get collected towards the center of the pad and not leak to the sides. I also add a layer of batting such as Warm & Natural to the 'heavy days' pads. They probably cost me less than $4 to make each. I use the softest flannel cloth I could find in the fabric store or fabric scraps or old clothes.

 

[goldenluver]

Quote:
here is mine
http://www.etsy.com/listing/68408436/set-of-12-cloth-menstrual-pads

 

[EweSheep]

OK gals, you sold me on getting some! If I get some before my cycle is over, I would go for a test run on those things!

 

[Bleenie]

The more I read this thread it makes me really consider this option. I don't have periods right now(and won't as long as i'm on the depo shot) but maybe after i decide to get off of it I will do this. I have always hated disposable pads for many reason... feel, irritation, smell, etc. and tampons can be pretty irritating and painful at times, especially with Endometriosis & Ovarian Cysts.

Thank you for posting this, i probably would have never run across reusable pads if it weren't for you

.

 

[goldenluver]

you're welcome.

I know that I felt that way most of my adult life. I kept saying to myself "one of these days I'm going to make myself cloth pads" and now I finally did it and I'll never go back.