Cloth Diaper Insanity - Part 2

Well, after Brian got home from bible study last night, I told him all about my frustrations with the cloth diapers.  He asked me if I had ever actually checked the absorbency of the liner.  I said yes, I had sprinkled water on it and it had soaked into the fabric.  Then he made a brilliant point that I didn't even think of - babies don't "sprinkle" - they spray a fire hose at it.  Er, at least boys do.  So today I did some experimenting.

The automotive wipes?  AWFUL!  I poured water on top and it poured through onto my hand, almost like there wasn't even anything in between.  Ridiculous.  But then I got curious.  I pulled out one of the liners I had made for the diapers that had a special wicking fabric on top and decided to pour a bunch of water on it.  I was SHOCKED!  The water literally beaded up and fell off, not sinking in AT ALL, until I had soaked it about 3 times.  No WONDER his diapers were constantly leaking!  I had only ever tried the liners with the wicking material, thinking "this will make it so much more absorbent"...WRONG!

Anyway, then I grabbed one of our birdseye cloth burp cloths and tried that.  It absorbed pretty well, actually - which is probably why it was used as diaper material in the first place.  You'd think as a history major, I'd remember to look to the past to find some of the answers instead of constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.  Goodness gracious.  Well, armed with this new information, I will try again!!  I have high hopes, people!

For more info about my cloth-diaper-making journey, check out posts 1, 1.5, and 3.