There are a few challenges to cloth diapering that some parents face, which can sometimes lead to second thoughts about using cloth diapers. One of those challenges is having a heavy and/or fast wetter.

When I first started cloth diapering, I had a 2 year old daughter and a 9 month old son. I started with prefolds and wool and fleece covers. They worked awesome on my 9 month old. However, even a premium prefold with a second premium prefold folded inside the first did not work for my 2 year old daughter! I obviously had a heavy wetter on my hands. As I continued on my cloth diapering journey, everything worked with my son, yet nothing was working for my daughter.

Financially, I really needed to sew my own diapers, but I started thinking perhaps I should purchase a name-brand diaper, try them and try to figure out what I was doing wrong with my daughter. I eventually found a good sale on a couple of AIO microfleece diapers with lay-in boosters which were also topped with microfleece. So I purchased a couple of those to give them a try.

The first time I used one, it worked like a charm. It held without wicking for a 2 hour road trip. I was temporarily encouraged.

However, the next time my daughter wore the diaper, she was standing up and wouldn’t you know - peed straight out of the diaper. I pondered if there could be something wrong with my wash routine and my diapers were repelling, but everything still worked fine for my son. It took me a long time with much trial, error and research to figure out that my daughter was not only a heavy wetter, but was also a fast wetter (the dreaded combination)! Most stay-dry/wicking inners just don't wick fast enough for a fast wetter’s assault.

If you have a fast wetter, you should either avoid stay-dry/wicking inners, or lay or insert an absorbent layer on top of the wicking inner. Once I figured out what my problem was, I laid in a cotton velour insert every time I used one of the microfleece diapers and that completely solved my absorbency problem.

After figuring out the issue with stay-dry/wicking inners, I have only used absorbent inners for my daughter. My preferences have been cotton/bamboo velour or bamboo French terry. It is important though when using absorbent inners to make sure the legs are rolling in. The way I accomplish this is to sew the elastic in the seam allowance on the PUL side, and then carefully topstitch making sure the outer is rolling in.

Ultimately, just plain heavy wetters will also present a challenge. Regular absorbency doesn't usually cut it. I tested everything I could get my hands on. I'd read that microfiber worked well for heavy wetters, so I picked up some microfiber kitchen towels. The first batch of microfiber towels I tried were not the right kind. I looked up more information about which towels to get and found most sources recommended the automotive microfiber towels from either Sam's Club or from the Dollar Store. There are no Sam's Clubs around me, so I picked up a couple of different kinds from the Dollar Store. One kind that I got seemed to work better, but my daughter was still pretty much leaking out of every diaper. I’ve since learned that Costco has some pretty decent microfiber towels for this use.

When discussing my frustration with the absorbency issues with my husband, he suggested “Sham-Wow” towels. You know, the super absorbent towels from the TV commercials.  I laughed, but actually made a trip to Walgreens to pick some up that same day. Desperation with a heavy wetter makes you “boldly go where none have gone before…..” Walgreens also had some nice super- absorbent microfiber pet towels! Amazingly, wrapping a bi-folded cut from a Sham-Wow towel in a microfiber pet towel contained her fairly well!

I had also been reading about hemp and bamboo being great for heavy wetters. I hated the extra expense of ordering supplies online but thought I should give it a try. I found some hemp/bamboo fleece and thought that might do the trick. I ordered it and made a yard's worth of 2 and 3 layer inserts. It took about 12 layers of the hemp/bamboo fleece to contain her well enough during the day; but her diapers were just so thick!

When ordering the hemp/bamboo fleece, I noted that the site also carried heavy bamboo fleece. At this point, I figured I might as well try that out too, so I made 2 layer trifolds with the heavy bamboo fleece. Total success, finally! Those ended up being my ultimate solution! They worked well enough to contain her and the diapers were much trimmer! The only drawback with bamboo fleece was that it was a little slower to absorb, but all of my daughter's pocket diapers were lined with an absorbing material anyway. If you are using stay-dry/wicking inners, you will want to pair the bamboo fleece with something that absorbs quickly (cotton/bamboo velour, terry, flannel, etc). After all the trial and error in my search for proper absorbency, I was so happy to finally find something that worked for her that wasn't too thick to fit over pants!

Another fabric that many with heavy wetters turn to is Zorb 2. This product was introduced about the same time my heavy wetter started potty training. I use it in her trainers, and I do find it works pretty well. But, it does need to be washed about 10 times to reach its full absorbency (as does the bamboo fleece).

Based on my experience, my recommendations for the heavy wetter would be to pull out the big guns and get either heavy bamboo fleece (2 layer trifolds) or Zorb 2 (two 2-layer inserts seem to work best for us).

So if your little one is a heavy wetter, fast wetter or a combination of the two, don’t despair…it’s just a matter of experimenting with the right materials to find a combination that works best for you.

Note: Because of the drying properties of microfiber materials, they should never be placed directly against a baby’s skin. It’s best either to use microfiber inserts in pocket diapers, or to top them with another natural fiber when laying them into a diaper.