Cloth Pads

Ok, so I started to blog about this last month.  I was more done than not when Phil peeked over my shoulder and with dismay said 'you're blogging about your period?!'  Discouraged I decided not to post it, and I even went so far as to delete my draft.  But now that it's 'that time of the month' again, I thought if I could make one gal's cycle more comfortable because of what I do wouldn't that be worth it?

Yes, yes it is!  Where would I myself be if I hadn't read about cloth pads?  Probably still dealing with allergic reactions and rashes each month.  The only time your lady parts should be burning is because of  passion for your lover, not because of chemicals reactions!

Anyhoo....I'm trying to remember how I learned about cloth pads.  I'm fairly certain that it was when we switched to cloth diapers with Abi.  I saw a website make mention of mama cloth.  Not knowing what it was I decided to investigate.  What I read was totally amazing to me, perhaps I wouldn't have to dread all of the pain I went through every month.  And since I was going to do cloth diapers, it wasn't that big of a stretch to rinse out one more thing.

Some ladies choose to soak their pads in an enclosed pot.  I've read that the water makes great plant fertilizer.  Makes sense to me, if it can grow a baby, why not a plant?  I choose to just wash them out in the sink and put them in the diaper pail.

After reading about cloth pads, I was ready to proceed.  Problem was, at anywhere from 3-12 dollars a piece, our college budget couldn't afford the recommended amount for a proper 'stash'.  So I looked at other alternatives.  I found a few things worth mentioning--jade pearls, moonkeeper, and the diva cup.  Jade Pearls, are sea sponges that have been sterilized.  They are reusable for up to six months.  While I found those intriguing, I didn't want to buy more every few months, didn't seem to be cost effective.  The moonkeeper and diva cup are the same principal.  A small cup that you use instead of a tampon, it catches the fluid, then when you remove the cup you just dump the contents, rinse and reinsert.  I chose the diva cup over the moonkeeper simply because it is made of medical grade silicon that you can boil.  At the time I suffered greatly from yeast infections, so being able to really sterilize it was comforting to me.

I laid out to Phil that even though there might be a large upfront cost, it would save him lots of money (not to mention the great service I would be doing the earth by not polluting it with my garbage!).  He agreed, and so I bought the diva cup, three heavy flow pads and three pantiliner pads.  That my friends is what I used for five years!  I never needed to replace them, or buy more.  So for somewhere around 75 dollars, I had something comfy to wear that was green to the earth and easy on the wallet.

Since Wesley has been born and my cycle started up about 6months ago, I haven't found much comfort wearing my diva cup.  Not sure why that is, but I've just found myself desiring to wear the pads.  Problem is, when you only have the amount that I do, it's not going to get you through a whole day, let alone an entire cycle!  I started looking at patterns, was pretty intimidated, and overwhelmed.  I decided to ask my seamstress friend if she would make me some, but as a busy mom to 6, she couldn't guarantee that they'd get done before my next cycle.

So I took a deep breath and started searching again.  Finally I found something that I thought I could use.  A circle pad.  Easy, no waste, and no cutting the wings just perfect.  Ok, pattern found, now to gather fabric.  I had a tote full of baby spit rags, so I chose the prettiest flannel that I was ok with wearing (the whole baby kitty fabric just didn't hold a lot of appeal to me!), and found a thick terrycloth bib that I inherited but never used.  But the waterproof layer was a kicker.  I didn't want to buy anything, just in case they didn't turn out or work, I didn't want to have a financial investment to my project.  Then I found out that polar fleece is water proof.  I had some fleece pillowcases that my washer conveniently took bites out of and rendered them out of service.  So I took them and checked it out--the water actually just sat on top of the material.  So I did have everything I needed, now to take a deep breath and get started.  For a fastener, against the sage advice of the internet, I opted to try velcro since I had that on hand.  I haven't run  into any snagging problems, but it did scratch my thighs.  So I trimmed off the edges and haven't had any issues since.

I started digging through my kitchen for a circle that would be about the right size.  Kid plates--too small.  Lids to my pots--too large.  Finally I found the lid to my pampered chef trifle bowl and it was perfect!  I traced circles on the flannel spit rag, and the pillowcase.  Cut strips of terrycloth about the width of the undies crotch.  Then assembly time.  It was a piece of cake!  I put the terrycloth strip in the center of the flannel and sewed all around it, then put the fleece on the back and stitched all around the edges.  Attached the velcro and was done.  All in all, it takes longer to cut the pieces out than it does to sew them together.  Unless your machine has a strange temperament like mine does.  I think it just doesn't like to work after 8pm :)

Here's what the latest off the press looks like.  Comfortable, free to me, and pretty to boot!

Sorry about the quality of the picture.  Phil takes the camera every day to work, so instead of waiting for my turn, I used photo booth instead.  Work with what ya got baby!