does anyone make their own diapers or breast pads?

[Jessi]

my grandmother has agreed to help me out to make some diapers and breast pads. but i need to get information for her. please help.my son is three months old and i want to start cd'ing. hes about 12lbs. I like the diapers you put the prefolds in and then the pull up idea for the covers. I dont care for the diapers that you put inserts in under a layer of fabric because the whole thing is automatically dirty. We've made so breast pads out of tshirt fabric layered its not very absorbent. but i like the pattern we're using.so my questions are
1 whats a good fabric for breast pads to be made out of? i would like thin possibly

2 whats a good fabric for diapers prefolds,covers,soakers, etc

3 and where do you recommend starting such patterns etc

4. and how many should we make

thanks so much for your time, obviously you can see im a little lost but really want to do this thanks again

[Krista Wenner]

Hi Jessi,
Congrats on trying to cd! I'm awaiting the arrival of my first child and am planning to cd too - using prefolds and diaper covers. I'm not going to be much help in making your own as I bought most of my diapers from a woman on Craigslist, then bought covers and a few extra diapers from a website called EarthyBirthyMama.com.

But, as for diaper cover material...it depends how much you want to spend and what you can find. I would recommend starting with PUL (poly-urethane-laminate). It's waterproof and breathable. You can go up from there: fleece, wool, etc. But I'm not sure about the waterproofing process of those.

How many to make...I bought 36, which should allow for washing every three days. It's recommended that you have a stash of about that many. Waiting longer to wash creates a smelly diaper bag...From what I've seen on-line, you might want to use this time to make the diapers and then start cd'ing when baby is around 15 lbs. I've noticed that's when the size goes from a small prefold to a medium one (for the most part).

Have you done a search for prefold patterns and cover patterns? I know there are a ton of sites out there by moms who make their own. Also, try logging on to www.earthybirthymama.com to get the dimensions of the prefolds (they're in a table on the prefold page). That might help with knowing how big and thick to sew them. Good luck! Let me know how it goes. I don't have a sewing gene in my body...so I admire your grandma for trying to help!