This article discusses information about cloth diapers for bed-wetting, specifically pin-on diapers. As mentioned in another article, many people consider pin-on diapers to be the best type of reusable diaper to use for bed-wetting because most of them provide the best absorbency for nighttime incontinence. In general they seem to be more absorbent than alternatives such as pull-on cloth diapers. Also the pin type closures are supposed to have certain advantages over other types of diaper closures.
For example I've read that alternative diaper fasteners such as Velcro can wear out and the snaps on snap-on diapers can break. Some people find that snap-on diapers and Velcro diapers are more convenient to use for daytime use when multiple changes might be required although some people use pin-on diapers during the day also. If you have an older child, adolescent, or teenager that wets the bed you might want to consider using pin-on diapers covered by plastic pants. A valuable source for information about diapers and waterproof pants is "The New Diaper Primer" which is published on the incontinentsupport.org website. What makes this source particularly valuable is that it is written by someone who suffers from incontinence. The section on pin-on diapers is particularly valuable for any parent who is thinking about using these diapers to manage their child or teenager's bed-wetting. This is a guide which talks about how to fold pin-on diapers to get the most effective protection from the diapers and avoid leaks, the different types of cloth diapers available, how to launder cloth diapers among other topics.
One of the key points to consider when wearing cloth diapers is wearing multiple diaper layers. This coupled with proper pinning techniques is supposed to provide the best protection for problems such as bed-wetting. Additionally, most pull-on diapers do not offer adequate protection for bed-wetting. This is something that parents need to keep in mind if they decide to purchase reusable products to manage their youngster's bed-wetting. Adults with bed-wetting problems should also keep this point in mind. The main reason for the introduction of products such as pull-on diapers is the stigma associated with wearing diapers. Furthermore the label "pull-on diapers" is a misnomer as many products labeled "pull-on diapers" are not really diapers at all but extra thick underwear. One person said that the products that are labeled pull-on diapers are basically training pants which generally don't have the absorbency required to deal with heavy incontinence such as bed-wetting. As far as increasing absorbency of diapers, another method to consider is adding liners to diapers. One person on an incontinence forum who wore adult cloth diapers to bed said that he used the Gerber brand baby cloth diapers as a liner or "booster pad" for the adult cloth diapers. Gerber cloth diapers can be found at stores such as Target and Walmart in the infants section of the store. In addition you can purchase other diapering supplies at these stores such as diaper pins(known as safety pins), baby wipes, powder, and diaper rash ointment such as Desitin, Balmex, A&D ointment, in addition to other items. This would be a good time to talk about skin care. There have been a number of articles pointing out the importance of having a good skin care regimen when incontinent. Although wearing diapers do a good job of protecting both the person and bed they can also cause skin problems if you don't clean the skin carefully after waking up and changing out of the diaper.
The Health Central Network has an article called "Skin care and incontinence" which talks about the various products out there designed to minimize or prevent the occurrence of skin problems resulting from incontinence including moisturizing creams, skin cleansers such as aerosol sprays, foams, and wet wipes, as well as skin sealants and moisture barriers including creams and ointments. Additional sources of information about how to maintain healthy skin when incontinent include wocn nurses (known as wound, ostomy, and continence nurses), urologists, your primary care physician, and your pharmacist. All of these individuals might also have suggestions regarding this issue. There are also a couple of organizations that you can contact-The Simon Foundation for Continence and the National Association for Continence. These organizations might be able to provide you with information about proper skin care when wearing incontinence garments such as websites, articles, and other sources. Finally incontinence forums could be an especially good source of information on this topic because these people have first hand experience dealing with incontinence and are well aware of the skin problems that can result from wearing incontinence garments and how best to deal with these problems. Some companies that carry skin care products for incontinence include Continence Connection, National Incontinence, and HDIS(Home Delivery Incontinence Supplies).
Right now I'd like to talk briefly about both getting a proper fit with cloth diapers and how comfortable the diapers are. The author of the New Diaper Primer in his discussion on cloth diapers says that the size and weight of the diapers are important factors in both how well the diapers fit and how comfortable the diapers are.
Another key point mentioned about cloth diapers is their wicking ability. The technical term for wicking is capillary action. This guide mentions two aspects of diapers that are important-absorbency and wicking. This is how wicking is defined- "Wicking is the ability of cotton(and some other fabrics) to pass liquid along from "particle" to "particle" " and Wikipedia defines capillary action in this manner- "Wicking is to absorb something and then drain like a wick. Paper towels absorb liquid through capillary action, allowing a fluid to be transferred from a surface to the towel. The small pores of a sponge act as small capillaries, causing it to absorb a comparatively large amount of fluid. Some modern sport and exercise fabrics use capillary action to "wick" away sweat from the skin. These are often referred to as wicking fabrics, after the capillary properties of a candle and lamp wicks." Basically wicking allows multiple wetting of the diaper by dispersing liquid throughout the diaper.
The following analogy describes how wicking works: "Picture, if you will, adding multiple tablespoons of water to the face cloth. As you dump a second or third spoonful, note how the center gets saturated but then recovers over time (as wicking transfers the liquid to dryer parts). When you add the next one, you see the saturation occurs again, just in the center where you added the water and then wicks into the rest of the face cloth as time passes. That momentarily saturated central spot becomes un-saturated after time. Wicking occurs and the particles have transferred liquid to other, outlying particles. " Basically wicking allows time for the diaper to disperse or transfer liquid throughout the diaper allowing it time to dry, which in turn makes the diaper capable of absorbing more liquid later if the person wets again. Cloth diapers have superior wicking abilities which makes them a good choice for heavy incontinence such as bed-wetting because of their ability to handle multiple wettings. As I have mentioned, some bed-wetters wet multiple times during the night and the pin-on diapers seem like they'd be more effective in regards to protecting the youngster if they do wet more than once at night. This will enable the child or teenager to get a better night's sleep because they won't have to get up throughout the night to change themselves if they use reusable pull-on garments instead of pin-on diapers.
There are several different types of fabrics that cloth diapers can be made of. These fabrics are birds-eye, terry cloth, flannel, and gauze. The author of the Diaper Primer thinks highly of gauze diapers. Both Adultclothdiaper.com and Angel Fluff sell gauze diapers. According to the Adultclothdiaper.com website one of the advantages of gauze diapers is that they allow air to circulate very well which helps to reduce the likelihood of diaper rash. Additionally, they're real absorbent and are very comfortable to wear in hot weather. There are also different styles of pin-on diapers-prefold, flat, and contour. Contour diapers can have elastic in the waist and and leg openings and are usually more expensive than flat diapers. Flat diapers are not used much anymore and the only place that sells flat diapers near the U. S. is a company based in Canada called Bear Bottom. Prefold diapers have a soaker strip in the center of the diaper. Prefolds are the most popular style of adult cloth diapers. For a more in depth discussion about the different styles of cloth diapers see chapter 7 of the New Diaper Primer. This chapter is called "Diaper Types" and talks about the different types of cloth diapers and the different kinds of fabrics cloth diapers can be made of. As mentioned at the start of this article the web address for this information is http://www.incontinentsupport.org.
One of the things that must be stressed is that picking an incontinence product is very subjective. In some cases there is a great deal of trial and error involved in picking a product that will best meet your needs. The factors involved in making this decision include the type and level of incontinence, whether your incontinence occurs during the day, night, or both, whether or not you want(or have) the time to wash diapers and plastic pants, etc. That is one of the reasons people prefer disposables-for the convenience they offer. If finances permit you might consider trying both disposable tape-on diapers and pin-on diapers and plastic pants to manage your youngster's bed-wetting. By trying both kinds you'll be able to determine what works best for you. Many people use both kinds of diapers. Some individuals alternate using different types of diapers-on some nights they wear pin-on diapers covered with plastic pants and other nights they wear disposable diapers to bed. There are also cases where people wear cloth diapers and plastic pants only during certain times of the year.
For example some people use the pin-on diapers and plastic pants to manage their bed-wetting during the cooler seasons such as fall, spring, and winter, whereas during the summer months they switch to tape-on style diapers(also known as disposable briefs) In addition some people with both day and night incontinence wear disposables during the day and pin-on diapers at night. It's good to be flexible and open-minded. That being said, some people might be inclined to stick with cloth diapers because of the savings and what many people consider to be the environmental advantages of cloth diapers. An advantage I see of using both disposable diapers and pin-on diapers is that you're washing the diapers and plastic pants less which means that theoretically they should last longer. Cloth diapers do wear out over time. If you do decide to use both styles of diapers you can have the child or teenager wear the pin-on diapers and plastic pants for four nights and the disposable diapers for three nights (or vice versa) Ultimately parents have to decide for themselves whether or not to use both kinds of diapers for their bed-wetting child or teen. Some of the factors that need to be considered when making this decision include your budget(do you want to spend the extra money for disposable diapers or do you want to save money by just using cloth diapers) and if the child or teenager feels uncomfortable wearing the pin-on diapers covered with plastic pants during the spring and summer months when the weather is real hot. . If this is the case, you should consider switching to disposable diapers during this time. Just like some parents use both cloth and disposable diapers for their babies, it might be a good idea to consider using both kinds.
A good way to get information about incontinence products is to go to incontinence forums and ask questions about various forms of protection. As far as pin-on diapers are concerned, there seem to be certain advantages over pull-on cloth diapers for bed-wetting. One person who used both pin-on diapers and reusable pull-on diapers said that the pull-on diapers wear out faster than the pin-on diapers. Another person mentioned that it's easier to put additional layers of material in a pin-on diaper to increase the absorbency of the diaper. With a pull-on diaper you can put extra material in the diaper to make it more absorbent, but if you move around a lot at night there's the possibility of the extra material in the pull-up shifting around and bunching up which can be uncomfortable in addition to causing leaks. This person also mentioned a few other advantages that pin-on diapers have over pull-on diapers, particularly for heavy incontinence such as bed-wetting. One is that the pin-on diapers have a more snug fit which is an advantage if you move around a lot at night. Also diapers that have a more snug fit are more effective at preventing leaks.
Second, the elastic waist bands on pull-on diapers are not adequate to hold the pants up when they get wet. When pull-on diapers get wet, the pants have a tendency to get heavy and the elastic waist band will not be able to hold the pants up. Third, the pin-on diapers are generally of higher quality than the pull-ups. This, combined with the fact that it's easier to manage layering in a pin-on diaper, results in a thicker diaper that is more snug and offers better protection at night. The other disadvantage of pull-on diapers which was mentioned in an article on diaper types was that in general pull-on diapers aren't absorbent enough to handle multiple wettings because they're not thick enough. If you wet all night while you sleep the pull-on type diapers will not be absorbent enough to deal with this type of problem. One article has this to say regarding pull-on cloth diapers -"Most are typically a thick pair of underpants with a soaker strip sewn in the crotch, which in some cases doesn't even extend from waist to waist. We wish to emphasize that the the pull-on is not a "full fledged diaper". "
Another point I'd like to mention regarding using cloth diapers to manage bed-wetting. If you do decide to use pin-on diapers keep in mind you must use waterproof pants to cover the diapers. The most widely used type of waterproof pants are plastic pants. Plastic pants such as the Gary, Suprima, and Comco brands have excellent reputations. Plastic pants have many advantages over other styles of waterproof pants including comfort, durability, and cost.
Some companies that sell pin-on cloth diapers for both youth and adults include Loving Comfort Diaper Company, Angel Fluff Diaper Company, Babykins (also known as KINS which stands for Kinder Incontinence Supplies), and Adultclothdiaper.com (also known as All Together Enterprises) I was on the Loving Comfort Diaper Company website and they mention that they can custom design diapers to meet specific needs(for instance if you have a child or teenager that won't fit into standard size diapers or if you need diapers with a particular level of absorbency they can design diapers that meet those needs). I read on an incontinence forum that Loving Comfort might have gone out of business. If you consider purchasing pin-on diapers from this company I would try to contact them to make sure.
Whatever you do don't get discouraged if it takes you a while to find a suitable product to manage your child or teenager's bed-wetting. There's a lot of high quality products out there to deal with bed-wetting and other incontinence problems. As with everything else in life it's good to be well informed. This includes reading as much as you can and asking questions. With perseverance you'll be able to find a product that will make your older child or teen feel confident and secure.
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