Cloth Pads Postpartum ?

InfinityDreamer

For years I wore tampons and then switched to a cup in recent years to handle menstruation.  With my past pregnancies I used the disposable pads that came from the hospital or in my home birth kit, and then switched to tampons after the first days of heavy flow had passed (terrible dangerous idea, I know!) because the feeling of the disposable pads was intolerably uncomfortable.  

I am hoping to use cloth pads this time.  But I don't know what brands are worth using (I'm open to WAHM made) that will be effective enough for the early heavy flow and won't totally break the bank or will be easy to resell since I will likely not be using them regularly in the future.

Also, I was given samples of the Charlie Banana panty liners recently which I tried and found the microfiber to be really irritating to my lady bits, so I think I'm looking for something that is at least natural fibers on the outside?

So what brand do you recommend and how many do I need? 

DownToEarthGirl

I didn't bleed for very long, so I just stuck with the disposable ones, but I bet if you get some that are all cotton and used for overnight or post-partum they would work.  I know I've seen some advertised like that somewhere on the internet. 

In general microfiber is hard on all skin - in diapers and I guess in menstrual pads too. 

Jcrab

Taking alfalfa supplements from the health food store can really decrease your bleeding. My MW had me start at 30 weeks and even though I delivered early just before 36 weeks I hardly bled at all. Might be worth trying. GL!

caralck

I'm going to try cloth pads for my PP bleeding.  The ones I'm trying out and so far love for my pregnancy discharge are Pink Lemonade, Homestead Emporium, and Gem Cloth.  I think my faves are the homestead emporium ones.  The first 2 are faster at shipping out but the owner of gem cloth has been busy lately and she is upfront on her website about it taking awhile.  My plan is to use them for AF later too.  It's nice and comfy wearing these cloth liners compared to the disposable ones.  And I swear it seems to keep the amount to a minimum compared to the disposables. 

pixieprincss

With DS, I used disposables at first and then tried newborn-size prefolds which worked well. Once the bleeding was a bit less, I used some flannel pads for medium flow that I got off Etsy. I'll try the prefolds again this PG. I looked into getting mega-absorbancy cloth pads, but they are just so expensive compared to the small amount of time I'll need them.

footnotegirl

I used the take home ones from the hospital for the first week and then switched to LunaPads. They have a whole post partum set that you can buy, and they've been really wonderful!

LunaPads does cotton fleece, and they have them available in undyed organic if you are particularly sensitive.

wifeofadam

I made my own out of old prefold diapers and flannel PJs.  When the bleeding was really bad I would just use two regular prefolds.

InfinityDreamer

For those of you who used prefolds, how did you avoid them leaking out the other side with no waterproof backing?

wifeofadam

InfinityDreamer:

For those of you who used prefolds, how did you avoid them leaking out the other side with no waterproof backing?

I folded two up on top of each other and there was so much bulk that it would have been really hard to soak all the way through.  I did this at night and since I was up every couple of hours to BF anyways, I changed them often.

Even with my homemade pads there is no waterproof backing - just a prefold and a couple of layers of flannel.  If you change them often enough there are no issues.