Why are my diapers leaking? Am I doing something wrong?

Why are my diapers leaking? Am I doing something wrong? These are questions we ask ourselves while going through these problems with our little ones diapers. I started cloth diapering my son 4 ½ months ago; I knew nothing about cloth diapers. I did my research about what diapers I wanted to try or buy, but never on the “ HOW TO’s” so I was totally clueless on what to do.


The day came and I had a leaky Diaper. I found myself wondering “ okay now what, it keeps on happening” what’s going on? Well I did my research and all it was; was that I had the snap rise set on the medium size instead of a smaller setting. So therefore the diaper was fitting my son too big causing the diaper to leak around the legs.


Since then I have now learned a couple tricks as far as having leaky diapers, hope these help because they defiantly helped me.


Prepping your cloth diapers: I always try to prep my diapers even though sometimes I have to admit Ashton wears them without being prepped. They are just so soft and beautiful and sometimes I don’t want to wait to prep them so sometimes Ashton wears them new without being prepped, but this is not recommended. The reason why you want to prep your diapers before you use them is because there can still be residue left on fabric from production and fabric is not that absorbent because its new and not prepped so its not going to reach its full capacity of absorbency until after a few washes.


Diaper Rash Creams: If you use a diaper rash cream always make sure they are “ Cloth Diaper Friendly” I recommend you use a liner. I am OCD about my Diapers they have to all be super “WHITE” and no stains and stinks. I always use a liner even with cloth diaper safe formulas. Just to play it safe. Some of these creams can cause buildup causing the diaper not to be absorbent and leak. You don’t want this!


Fitting: Always make sure your snaps or aplix are on correctly; don’t make the same mistake that I did. Play around with your diaper and figure out the BEST fit for your baby. Also make sure the inserts are not sticking up from the back or the front. Make sure everything is nice and snug to prevent leaks.


Diaper on too long / Heavy Wetter: Another reason can be that your little one has been in his diaper for too long or he/she is a heavy wetter and needs to be changed more frequently. If so, then just change his/her diaper more frequently or add more absorbency by trying different inserts such as hemp/bamboo.


If you would need to strip your diapers. I would suggest you wash your diapers in hot washes. I did about 6-8 washes and rinses with hot water to get all the nasty/ buildup gone. After I do that then I add my detergent and wash and then do 2 more rinses and line dry them. I have not tried using Dawn soap. This is what I find works for me without ruining my cloth diapers. I know there are different ways of stripping diapers but this is what I do, and it works so i'm good with this method. I have also boiled my inserts and they too come out awesome.


Make sure you follow the Cloth Diaper rules and regulations as far as stripping that diaper, each diaper is so different. What you can do to one cloth diaper, you might not be able to do on the other.


I hope my post has helped you with “Leaky Diapers” if that’s what you’re going through right now. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions or find me on my blog at using the link below.


God Bless You


Have a very fluffy day!!!


Contributed by: Pollyanna
Pollyanna is happily married to a US Navy Sailor, a stay at home mom to Adryana who is 5 yrs old, and Ashton who is 4 mths old. She started cloth diapering Ashton this year as of January 1, 2012 and she is so happy she did. She has only been cloth diapering for coming on 3 months now so if you’re new to cloth diapering too feel free to leave a coment here and ask her a questions or visit her blog at Sew Fatty.