Coming Soon!

We've revised our brief style partially waterproof training pants! The previous style was bulky in the seat area and ran very large for size. We've corrected this by narrowing the soaker pad in the seat for a trimmer fit. Another perk is the addition of snaps on the sides. These will initially be available in sizes 2T and 3T. Initial color choices will include solid center of royal blue, brown, pink, green and bright yellow with coordinating print fabric on the sides.

New Beefed Up Boxer style training pants will be added to the site soon. Here's a preview:

How to Clean Cloth Training Pants and Diapers

Do you rinse and wash your cloth training pants and diapers only to find that they have an ammonia smell? Has your little one developed a skin rash or sensitivity to cloth diapers that he/she didn't have before? It might be due to the laundry process. Let's do a little microbiology refresher: some bacteria thrive in conditions where there's no oxygen such as a wet bag, sealed plastic pails, etc. E.coli, streptococcus, and staphylococcus just to name a few. But let me not get bogged down with name dropping here. Some skin infections, such as staph infections and impetigo are caused by these lovely microbes. "Ok, mother-nerd, how do I prevent this?", you're thinking that right now, aren't ya? 1. Shake off all solid waste 2. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Spray them down or just run them under a stream of cold water and rinse them well. 3. Store your cloth diapers or training pants in a ventilated container until wash day. That could be in a Rubbermaid container with holes punched in the lid, or an open pail. 4. Ensure that you're using enough laundry detergent. Sometimes the old eyeballing it technique isn't adequate. 5. Use the extra rinse cycle on your machine. If you're doing all of the above and still have ammonia odor try adding a little laundry detergent to your storage pail as a presoak while they await wash day. Try using one third to half of the amount that you would normally launder them with. 6. Add a cup of white vinegar in the washer. This won't work if you have really hard water, but does fine otherwise. I don't have a front loading machine, so make sure there's no contraindication to doing so if you have one of those fancy-schmancy models. Remember that fabric softeners decrease absorbency, so avoid using them when laundering diapers or training pants.

"How Absorbent Are Your Cotton Training Pants?" With Video Update

I was recently asked this question in an email inquiry and decided to do a little test and see. The average 2-3 year old has a bladder capacity of anywhere from 3-7.5 ounces (90-225 ml). I tested 4 pair of cotton training pants (2T). I purchased Gerber, Hanna Andersson Training Unders, and Okie Dokie (JC Penney brand) to compare to my BubbyBums training pants. The priciest and heaviest pants were the Hanna Andersson pants. They weighed 2.2 ounces and have 4 layers of organic cotton that go up the entire center panel. All of the other pants have the absorbent layer in the crotch area only. The Okie Dokie and Gerber pants weighed 1.2 ounces per pair and the BubbyBums pants weighed 1.6 ounces.

Gerber Cotton Training Pants-Made in India.

BubbyBums Cotton Training Pants-Made in the USA.

Hanna Andersson Training Unders-Made in India

Okie Dokie Cotton Training Pants-Made in Thailand

My hypothesis was that the Hanna Andersson training pants would absorb the greatest amount of liquid since they had extra layers extending completely up the center panel. Here's what happened:
Okie Dokie pants absorbed 38 ml of water; Gerber pants absorbed 46 ml of water, BubbyBums pants absorbed 110 ml of water; and the Hanna Andersson pants absorbed 105 ml of water. Since 5 ml is not statistically significant, the absorbencies of the latter two pair are very similar.

I attempted to videotape the testing process but needed a helping hand to do so, therefore it is somewhat incomplete. After washing and drying the pants I compared them to a new pair of each brand to assess how much they would shrink. That might be helpful to view. Take a look.

Remember that the point of training pants is that the child will "feel wet" so they are more absorbent than regular underwear. If your child is a heavy wetter, say at the 7,5 ounces end of normal, you might opt for waterproof or partially waterproof training pants no matter what brand you choose.

Next week's blog entry will be on laundering cloth training pants and diapers.
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Extra Absorbent Multi-Size Training Pants Customer Review

I can't take credit for everything. A customer had asked me if I could make custom training pants for her. She was looking for pants that she could essentially use as a pull up diaper. That is where the idea for the extra absorbent multi-size training pants originated. Thank you Cary! She recently sent an email after receiving her pants and I am posting it here. These pants are even better than I had pictured! Thank you so much! If you want to add my review to the website/blog/whatever else, feel free! Here it is: I use these training pants as a pull on diaper for my very wiggly and heavy wetting 15 month old (21 pounds)! I also use them for my 2.5 year old (24 pounds) for overnight. They fit each of the boys like a glove with no leak problems whatsoever! It is hard to find anything to fit our very skinny 2.5 year old, so I am very happy to have found these :)
The difference in her custom pants is that the padding in the front extends to within 1 inch of the waistband for increased absorbency during night time use. If you have a similar need send an email to bubbybums@yahoo.com .

Multi Size Cloth Training Pants

Extra absorbent multi size training pants have been added to the site. What makes these different? They have absorbent cotton knit terry lining and additional absorbent layers. Perfect for longer outings or if you just want added protection. We'll add new color choices in our bamboo multi size training pants within the next week: orange, green, yellow, lighter shade of blue and a few new prints as well.

Multi size Extra Absorbent Cloth Training Pants

Snap Side Pocket Style Training Pants

Coming soon to bubbybums.com: snap side training pants in pocket style. These pants have waterproof PUL outer fabric and are lined with polyester suede cloth (stool tends to fall off of suedecloth easily). There is a pocket in the back for stuffing the trainer with absorbent inserts. They will come with two inserts: a two layer insert and a three layer insert. The inserts are made from absorbent microfiber terry and should not be used directly against the skin. You can use both inserts at nap/night time for increased absorbency. Additional inserts will sell separately.

Photos of the inner lining and inserts:

Bubbybums Cloth Diapers

Many of today's cloth diapers have polyester linings...and there's nothing wrong with that. We carry those as well. Polyester fleece and suedecloth are moisture wicking fabrics. When I began my parenting journey with cloth diapers, fabrics used then included cotton birdseye and cotton flannel. My oldest son wore cotton flannel contoured diapers which fit into waterproof diaper covers. He never had a diaper rash and I don't recall problems with leaking. It was that positive experience which led me to use both cotton and polyester in these cloth diapers.

The outer layer is waterproof PUL, and the lining fabric is 100% natural cotton french terry with a cute frog print. Velcro tabs close these fitted solid color diapers. The inner layers of the diaper consists of both absorbent polyester microfiber and cotton flannel for a win-win combination.

The cotton velour diaper (below) has a printed PUL outer layer and cotton/poly (80% cotton, 20% polyester) lining with layers of absorbent microfiber terry in the soaker zone. These are fitted diapers with velcro closure. Extra absorbency can be obtained by adding additional soaker pads (the one in the photo is our bamboo terry soaker pad which can be placed against baby's skin, unlike microfiber pads).