Sooooo, what will you do when your babes are all grown up and you have to stop buying super cute diapers and move on to something else? What about diapers for you? If you know what I mean? You don’t…………okay I mean Cloth pads for Mamas.

I know. I know. EWWWWWW Gross. I thought the same way. Until I made the switch and now I’m just as caught up in making cute pads for myself, after all I keep telling myself that we are going to potty train….soonish.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of places to buy cloth pads, I know! Who knew! Etsy (online shopping) is full of such stores just type cloth pads into the search bar. Since I have made my own I’m not comfortable recommending any online stores since I haven’t tried their product. But the all seem to have the same basic shape and they often come with snaps to secure them in your pants (like wings on disposable but with a snap instead of sticky stuff). Many cloth pads come with inserts just like pocket diapers, that you can wash, but I prefer the one piecers.

Launching right into the TMI portion of the post, I don’t wear ‘panties’ but instead have always been partial to boxer briefs so the winged pads that are seen most often didn’t work for me. And since I’m cheap thrifty innovative, I made up some of my own.

Here the pad is folded in the manner that it is placed in your underwear, I generally put the ties towards the back so they don’t create bizarre bulk in the front and stay relatively clean, as you’ll use the ties later to secure the used pad.

This is a picture of the pads rolled and secured. I usually carry them in my bag this way until I’m ready to use them, then after they are used the can be secured, soiled side in, this way and placed in any waterproof bag. Many of you probably already have nylon or cloth diaper bags in your repertoire these are perfect for you used pads.

Washing: So, how do you clean them? The pads shown in this post have been in ‘circulation’ for about a year as you can see they are not stained. The key to clean pads is soaking. I usually keep a receptacle in the bathroom, such as an over sized jug (lucky for me my husband is a potter) in the bathroom filled with water** that I keep the used pads in. When it is full I simply dump it into the washer with detergent and allow it to soak (usually overnight) in the morning I run the washer as usual and ouila! Clean pads.

Cloth pads, like cloth diapering isn’t for everyone. One of the reasons I switched to cloth pads was that post partum I was never able to get a good tampon fit (my first choice) once I made the switch to pads, it seemed obvious to go with cloth. It was much easier than I thought and my fabric stash lends it self to fun pads.

Interested? Check out some of the cloth pads on Etsy there are some super cute ones.

The truly green and crunchy among us might use that water on their rose bushes…..

Tags: cloth pads