can anyone offer mcn advice please

hi all, i am a part time user i basically only have some cheapo kmart ones which are too small now and some bbh magicalls. the problem im having is the bbh are full and leaking all over dd's clothes within 1 &1/2 hours (sposies are getting wet through pretty quick too so obviously she has become a big wetter) and they are giving her a really red bum. so i guess what im asking is can anyone recommend a really absorbent mcn (dont mind if its not aio) dd is quite chubby in the legs and is currently in bbh large size and is the redness from the bbh or more likely from the heavy wetting and the wetness isn't being absorbed away quick enough for her?
is it just too late to get more mcn's now shes nearly 2?

thanks in advance :)

Have you tried doing a strip wash on them? I find that if our nappies get too much soap build up in them, they lose their absorbancy.

Strip wash them hun, is she still in the mediums? She might need to move up to larges

I agree with the strip washing first.

I use the Bumgenius 3.0 (not sure what they come under in terms of Pocket or One Size nappies) and all I do is add a booster into the nappy along with the regular insert and DD only leaks if I forget and leave them on her for too long. There is a new version of these which are the 4.0 ones.
I have also discovered she becomes a MUCH heavier wetter when she is teething so maybe there is something else going on?

HTH Nae x

how do you wash them?

a strip wash will only be a temp. fix, if your usual washing practice, is not how you wash MCN.

not saying you do this, but it's worth thinking about, JIC you do wash with too much washing powder, use fabric conditioner etc. (I have no idea of how you wash your LO's MCN's.

tablespoon of MILD washing powder (e.g Planet Ark Sensitive or Ecostore) in the pre-wash drawer
same in the wash drawer
no fabric conditioner
no napisan

what do you mean about "nappies from kmart"? i have seen synthetic covers there and very low absorbency fitteds - but that was a few years ago.

is the absorbency in the baby beehinds, bamboo, microfibre etc???
bamboo is the most absorbent fabric in MCN materials
baby beehinds used to have "baby beehind foldups" - great for boosting the absorbency of nappies.

for a heavy wetter, i would avoid all in ones, as they are harder to boost.
i would go for all in twos and pockets, much easier to customise the boosting, to suit YOUR child.

If you buy pockets that come with free microfibre boosters, i would suggest you buy bamboo prefolds, trifolds, etc, to stuff the pocket with.

Fluffybubs AI2 for example, come with snap in prefold, snap in boosters.
WhizzKidz AI2 for example, come with snap in boosters.
both are bamboo for the absorbency part.

Fit is very important.
If you get leaks at the legs, it's a fit issue.
If you get leaks at the back, that nappy might be not a high enough rise for your child.
There are front and side closing nappies. If i got the nappy fitting nicely at the legs for my LO, then the waist would not fit, and vice versa - this was our experience with front closing nappies. As soon as i put her into SIDE closing nappies, the issue disappeared, as you can adjust them independently.

the other fit issue we struggled with initially, was the crotch width of nappies.
many OSFA styles, were very wide in the crotch, and my DD, whether a nb or a two year old, suited NARROW crotch nappies - which are usually found in SIZED nappies (not osfa).

Your child is two, the question about WHEN to stop buying MCN is impossible to answer.

Are you planning to have any more kidlets? If you are, even if she toilet trains this summer, you would have those nappies for the next LO.

Some kids toilet train at 3, 4, 5.

So very hard thing to give you an answer on.

so , a few things to consider. One or none of them may apply to your situation, but i have given it my best shot - considering i know nothing about your DD and her nappies, ha ha.

Hard to follow Gigi's nappy essay! She has given you some good advice.

Easy to boost absorbency in MagicAlls - just slip an extra booster in the pocket. I don't even use the original bamboo booster, I just use a prefold. Heaps better and my baby has never wet through. (if you want to PM me, I can sell you some bamboo trifolds and other boosters very cheaply)

It's never too late to buy them - if you hardly use them, just sell them on, or buy them cheaply secondhand to start with.

Good luck!

thanks girls some awesome advice here. i thought about an extra booster after i posted this lol
i will do a strip wash and add a booster and see how i go.
they get washed with her singlets & things that are hardly dirty with about 1/4 scoop of powder and nothing else so i think thats relatively close to the recommendation but there could still be some build up. i might also try a few different brands just buy 1 here and there to see if a side closing one is better, try some that arent aio etc etc
shes in the bbh large skye and from memory thats their biggest

thanks again for the advice much appreciated

Jen, I am not too sure about the nappies you're using but as far as I know the regular washing detergents are not meant to be used on MCN because of the softeners and enzymes used int he regular powders. The EcoStore or Planet Ark powder are the better ones to use asn they have NOTHING in them that will cause build up or even start breaking down of the PLU fabrics.
It MAY mean you have to buy a different powder for your nappies but you will use a lot less powder in fact we have only bought 6 lots of the Ecostore one and our DD is 21 months old and we wash every second day. You are also meant to use only 1/3 to 1/4 of the recommended measure for the washing powder.

I actually wash my nappies twice every single wash. Once with a teeny bit of powder and again with nothing to ensure there are no suds.

a nappy wash is more thorough than a usual wash, because you are dealing with human waste.

e.g
pre-wash cycle
longest wash cycle you have on the machine
longest rinse cycle you have (to get out all the suds)

alot of people like to use / or have to use, cold water for every wash. IF you have hot water hooked up, or have a top loader (where you can add a kettle of hot water easily), i would suggest doing a hot wash at least once a week (for the nappies).

I never actually used MCN part-time - but i can appreciate, not using them all the time, more time would elapse, before you got a whole nappy bucket full of them.

Some machines have a water function, the machine works out for you, how much water to use, based on the weight of the washload. If you have a machine like that, maybe you could do smaller loads of nappies, without worrying about the water.

it's a tough call, using MCN part-time, brings a different washing challenge.

I started off washing my DD's MCH with OMO Sensitive, then i worked out it had some chemicals and perfume in it, that interfered with the nappies (whiteners which means bleach, SLS for sudsing, enzymes and a few others, it's all a bit hazy now, can't remember exactly). Her skin was alot better, when i stopped using it. Crazy isn't it, even a product with "sensitive" in the name, had chemical nasties in it. So hard to know what to trust, i know read the Contents box very carefully.

THe extra ingredients in teh "normal" washing powders can do two things
- stop the waterproof fabrics being waterproof (due to build up on the fibres)
- stop the absorbent fabrics being so absorbent (due to the buildup on the fibres)

- irritate your baby's skin and cause/contribute to nappy rash

THere's another kind of nappy leakage i forgot to mention - COMPRESSION leaks. This is when there is pressure on the nappy. Examples are when clothing is done up very firmly over the nappy. Not enough ventilation basically.

I get confused about names - don't know why an all in one, would have a pocket? Doesn't a nappy with a pocket, make that a pocket nappy? anyhoo, maybe posting a thread with PART TIME WASHING MCN SOLUTIONS or similar, might bring out the part time MCN users, who could share their Part Time Washing Tips with you.

Buying 2nd hand mcn is a great way to try out different styles/closures, and then buy up, on the ones that suit your child best. When you buy 2nd hand mcn, ask to see a photo of the inner - so you can see the condition of them. Ask to see a photo of the outer, if the elastic makes the nappy "curl up" where the legs go especially (also, tummy and back) - elastic is good. if the nappy outer sits FLAT on the surface, the elastic is dead, don't waste your money on that one.

If you use a sewing machine, elastic is not so bad to replace on pocket nappy outers, but a cow of a thing to replace on other styles (IMO).

thanks again, great tips and advice. i order an ai2 and yes it seems the leg parts will make a huge difference being able to customize it.
i checked the washing instructions and had completely forgot that they need to be washed in hot water! my machine is a super water saving one as we were on tank water till not long ago so that was the way to go and so it doesnt do rinse cycles or anything and it senses the water level itself so from now on i will pre soak them all prior to washing. will do a strip wash and change the way they are washed and hopefully that will help, but i do feel being able to adjust the legs is going to make a huge difference. yes using part time means i can do a load which will be a couple of nappies only or i can chuck them in with the clothes to make a decent load, or i can leave them sit for days to make a nappy load which just isnt an option, that i guess is the downside to part time mcns. if i change the powder i use that should help too and hopefully with the new nappies she wont be wet so quick and i will have the motivation to use them more meaning there will be more to add to a load on their own.

anyway thanks heaps for the advice, much appreciated and has helped me a great deal

Unfortunately I am still using Omo on mine.

But what I do is small loads of even one or two nappies.

Pretty much I wash whatever I have daily, I also wet pail! Which you're not supposed to do?

So I put them in a nappy bucket in the sink, then a long wash cycle with no detergent on cold, then a long wash cycle with a small amount of Omo, a Hot wash, cold rinse.

That's probably all the wrong things to do.

I then dry them on a clothes horse, which is just one that is a Hills one which is just a flat rectangle of lines, so easy to put them on there - hanging across two lines.

emc - i reckon the "right" thing to do, is whatever works for you, in your situation. if it ain't broke etc.

but if what you're doing, isn't working, THAT"S the time, to find out what other people do to get the result you want.

i refined how i washed my bub's mcn, over time. and each time i made a change, it was in response, to fixing a problem. e.g when she started getting a red bottom, i had to investigate fabrics, washing powder etc. It wasn't an issue before.

some experimenting since i posted this has shown me that bamboo all in II's are working much better than the magicalls, no leaks, only slightly pink bum instead of red raw. i got some ecostore washing powder to wash in and did a strip wash they were slightly better but i just dont think the leg fit is right for her but the all in IIs seem to fit perfect. thanks again for all the info and advice ladies