Cloth Pad & Menstrual Cup Discussion Thread

Tiff, I have very heavy, very long periods, and I haven't found a big difference in absorbancy. I change about the same, and if I am at work I use a small plastic ziplock bag (thanks to Maz's suggestions a year ago! :D) which I use to hold a new pad and when I swap the new paf comes out and the old one I wrap up on itself so you can't see anything ;) and put in, zip it up and put it into my bag. And to pre-empt the next question: no there is no smell that comes from the ziplock bag!
The back of my cloth is PUL and I like longers ones. I find I leak LESS now than I ever did. In fact I was constantly leaking overnight with disposable pads, but have rarely had leaks at all since using cloth.
I wash probably twice in my cycle, but that's because I have my favourite pads and like to wash and keep my least favourites for emergencies. I can't help with brands though, because I made mine myself. I soak them in a little bucket, because I'm the opposite to Maz and find the smell of unsoaking used pads totally revolting :sick: And I wash them separately. Not very waterwise I know but it's only a small wash :hide:

I've used my cup for two cycles now and I LOVE IT! We changed to cloth pads about 18 months ago (with two woman in the house, this saves quite a bit of money, I think they had paid for themselves after about 3 months!), and I started using a LadyCup 2 cycles ago. I still haven't converted Shel to cups though, she is so squeemish she used to not look at her disposable pads or tampons, just rip them off and chuck them out! I had to make the pads with a dark top so she couldn't see the blood.

I find my cloth pads much more absorbent than the sposie ones. And I change them the same amount too.

I just put mine in a little plastic bucket (dry) until the end of AF and then wash them in with my undies (let's face it - the undies have ickies on them sometimes too!) :rofl:

I'm an Obsi fan - most of mine are hers! :)

Im looking at getting a cup as I hate pads and tampons what cup would be best and what size (im on a budget and have to talk my DH round but it will be a BIG saving)

Aligater: I looked at a comparison done by Obsidan (I think) where she compared things like flexibility and width, length, size etc, and I searched a few of the brands I liked the sound of and ended up buying the cheapest one I found. I found it on the Australian eBay site, much cheaper than on their European site. The seller is ladycup-2008 and they are based in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Usually free postage, and quite fast considering (about 7-10 days). Buy it Now is usually about $40 for one, or $70 for two. Apparently they'll last for 15 years, so thats a pretty big saving!!

My LadyCup is a size two, for woman who are over 25 or have had a baby. I've read that the smaller size are a 'tight' fit around the cervix of a lot of people, and they get a lot of leaks if it isn't wide enough to create a suction. A lot of people go for the smaller size thinking it'll be more comfortable once inside the vagina, but the larger size isn't uncomfortable and honestly if you can actually feel it then it's not in properly!

I've seen 'Keeper' cups and 'Diva' cups on eBay as well, around a similar price. I think it just depends on the one that will suit you :) Google: obsidian reusable menstrual products and click on the second find (it should say "about cups") and theres some info on some of the popular brands :)

i bought mine off ebay (it's medical grade silicone) cost me less than $20 including shipping, its a PINKcup

Anyone know of any 'maternity' heavy flow cloth pads on sale lately?? Want to buy a few to take to hospital. I love Obsidian and Twinkle Lily's, haven't tried many others yet :)

For those of you with cups - are they difficult to put in? I've never really used tampons because no matter what I do - I can feel them :( I haven't considered the cup because I figure they'll be the same.

Nettie I am with you.... I've never used tampons cuz I can ALWAYS feel them and know just when they swell.... YUK! Thats the only reason I was not considering a cup.
Thoughts ladies????!!

you must be nice and crafty Indadhanu, making your own! PS I can't believe your little princess is 2! :) GL on your TTC journey, hope its a short one for you both!

Thank you so much for all of your help ladies.

It was probably the 2nd cycle before I got the hang of the cup - but once you figure it out it's easy and no, I couldn't feel it at all.

YEah takes a little while to get used to the cup, but nup can't feel it, I actually used to forget it was in there. Yet Tampons were HORRIBLE! always could feel them!

I can never feel my cup, but found tampons very uncomfortable. Cups all the way :D

Wow thats great! Well I guess I'll get both... Cup and cloth pads!
Thanks again ladies!

nope never felt the cup (well i lie...first few times i did) but honestly no don't feel it at all....

Another very very happy new cup user here. Warning TMI ahead, but I guess thats part and parcel of the thread
This is my first cycle and I've given it quite the serious work out
Slightly difficult to get in and out the first few times but so much more comfortable and "clean" than pads or tampons.
I have been running and it just stays there, doing its thing. In the 40 degree days it would have usually made me miserable to have AF but no more yucky pads to worry about! I haven't cut the stem yet, I am a but relcutant as I am a tall woman, with tall bits and sometimes it moves up a little and is slightly tricky to get a hold of, but I can feel the stem on my peri sometimes, and I have an episi scar so I am going to get brave. Anyone else ever find it tricky to get to?
And theres all the usual advantages...money, the environment....they are they way of the future.
If you were thinking about it...DO it!
Also if you're a cloth nappy user and have a pooshooter or little squirt that is perfect for cleaning it out.
A convert for sure

hmmmmm DON'T think i would be using the LS to clean my cup out with....blergh!! it's 'toilet water' soo definatly NOT washing my cup out that is going back into my va-jay-jay..... gets rinsed in the sink

I'm not sure how little squirt works but our home made poo shooter is just plumbed into the mains, same water that comes out the taps :)
Also going for a massage today, that would have been cancelled before hated getting down to undies with af

The LS water doesn't come out of the toilet bowl! It's clean water just like comes out of the tap in the sink.

PollyA, I am also getting brave and am going to trim my stem... soon... as soon as I get a bit MORE brave LOL! I don't even use the stem to insert or remove, so I don't know why I'm nervous about trimming it but it's sort of like my insurance policy in case it ever gets lost in there (LOL and I *do* know how impossible that is ;)).

Completed the test drive and went for a swim. Pass!!!
I know what you mean about insurance against it getting lost, I still kind of use the stem and get really red faced at the thought of needing help to get it out, though I'm sure it wouldn't happen. I'll get brave soon I think. :)

the water that gets 'flushed' into your toilet and comes through the LS is NOT the same water as in taps.... definatly don't want it in my who-ha......

Katones - in normal housing/plumbing the water from a LS is exactly the same as water from the tap. Would only be different if you have an unusual plumbing set up!


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the water that gets 'flushed' into your toilet and comes through the LS is NOT the same water as in taps.... definatly don't want it in my who-ha......

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Hate to press the issue - but it IS the same water - you could drink that water in toilet cistern quite safely as it is the same treated water. You have one water supply going to a house, that water goes to every plumbing outlet in your house, the toilet, the taps, the shower, the washing machine, they are all exactly the same. Find your water meter and turn the one tap off, it turns off everything in the house. Only time it's different is if you have tank water running your toilet, and millions of country people drink tank water everyday.

It isn't different water, unless you're set up with tank and mains connected like we are - we have our toilets, outside taps, and laundry taps (the cold water anyway) conencted to the tank and the rest is mains. But that is usually just as safe, unless it specifies unsafe for drinking (usually because of the coating on the roof surface which would run off or leech into the water and could be hazardous, but thats only in some cases).

Still, LS water isn't 'poo water'. It hasn't touched the toilet bowl, and if it has then theres something weird about the setup (or your plumbing, if it's washing back...). Normal LS setups are that it is conencted to the pipes and use water that hasn't yet gone through the toilet. Unless you have a setup where the LS pulls water directly out of the actual toilet bowl, you could easily drink it with no issue.

Got brave and cut the stem. Nothing terrible has happened ;)

I ordered a ladycup for me & one for DD yesterday.... sounds funny but I can't wait for them to arrive :p DD is pretty keen too.

I am thinking I will get a couple of cloth pads as well, just for the first couple of days of AF.

For those who use them, how many do you have? How many would you get if you were using them as backup, for a couple of days?

i have only one cup....and it is awesum!! and cloth pads...well i probably have 12+ and i too use them the first couple of days of AF

Ok I got my 1st cloth pads today from a ROAK they are awesome and cant wait to try them (sad) would love a cup but my AF is so light these days it hardly seems worth it. What are the best cloth pads others have found

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Ok I got my 1st cloth pads today from a ROAK they are awesome and cant wait to try them (sad) would love a cup but my AF is so light these days it hardly seems worth it. What are the best cloth pads others have found

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You would find a cup so much better if that is the case!

ohh i havent seen this thread before! I have some Maz pad i got just after bub was born but i havent had a chance to use them yet!!

i love my maz pads mummabear, theyy're my go to pads. if they can handle a post baby bleed, they can handle anything!

How many PP pads did you use? not sure how many I should have

i have 16 all up, 6 maz pads, and 10 scarlette eve ones, ranging from liners to heavy/overnight/pp ones. for the first maybe 3 days i used diposable maternity pads then switched to normal flow cloth ones and never had a leak, depends on how long the heavy part of the PP bleed lasts for u i guess

hmmm I should be ok then. I have 8 PP pads in the mix of about 20 normal (light to regular flow) pads. Just haven't done a PP in cloth yet.

*pokes in for a little look around* ok I have a confession to make.... when I first heard of cloth pads I was a bit grossed out :redface: I remember telling mum :redface: about these strange ladies and their cloth pads :redface: now like so many things BB has opened my eyes to I've been thinking about them more and more.

As I get usually get AF for between 6 to 10 days I get a quiet irritated by regular pads...drives me bonkers so much so I'm thinking about trying cloth.

so has anyone felt like me and now is a complete convert?

I used to find the regular disposable pads irritating too (one cover style more than others across brands - don't remember which ones now). Since I was browsing the "your period & concraceptives" subforum one day I stumbled across these threads about cloth pads - I got a couple to try for when AF decided to reappear after DS was born (ended up being around Dec last year) and I have to say I'm a definite convert - when out and bought me some twinkle lily pads and a maz pad. I love Maz's breast pads but not so wrapped in her pink bits - they're alright but I feel more confident with the twinkle lilies as they feel more solid if you get what I mean - I know that I haven't forgotten to put one on whereas with the pink bits, I couldn't tell. (I haven't quite gone as far as getting a cup - a bit squemish for that at this stage still.)

ETA - I got one of the twinkle lillies packs - I think it was the full time one but can't quite remember. I started with a trial pack though and then later when and topped up

ive got some maz ones but havent had the chance to use them still no AF for me still waiting

I've never even thought of cloth pads. Or heard of a menstrual cup. I'm guessing you couldn't use a cup postpartum? Sorry if that's a silly question.

Has anyone used cloth immediately after having a bub?

I used to think cloth pads were the most foul things I'd ever heard of. But now I can't imagine using disposable ones! I used them straight after ds no problems

WOW!! how did I miss this thread?!

Thanks Skybie.

Helle, it's great isn't it?

I've just had a look at a site called Bohemian Rainbow. The pads are totally not what I expected at all. Somehow I was picturing something like a face washer :redface:

Okay, quick question. I absolutely loathe pads with wings because I find the wings always get stuck to the back of the pad and stuff before I can put them where they're supposed to go - I'm a bit un-co. I'm assuming this wouldn't be a problem with the cloth?