The last pad I used was a perfumed plastic sticky thing years and years ago. I've been happily using a cup since around 04-05, but I'm scheduled to get an IUD in a week
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absorbency: Depends on the fabric and your flow. I have also made a few pads in varying absorbencies because I don't bleed very heavily for more than a day and a half or two days; why wear something thicker than I need? My homemade lighter pads have a few layers of flannel, and the heavier ones have 100% cotton quilt batting (scraps from my mom's quilting business which I cannibalize when I visit). The best batting for this is the thin, dense kind that's marketed for machine quilting. This also comes in various weights. I haven't experimented with any other fabrics, like hemp for instance.
One thing I have noticed from my homemade pads and from pads made by other people is that some printed fabrics that people use for an attractive top layer, even if they're all 100% cotton, do not wick the blood down into the soaker layers as well as unprinted fabrics. If the cotton print looks and especially feels like it's heavily painted on one side, it might not soak through as quickly. This is especially true for fabrics with a lot of
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Thanks for the quick response. You pointed out a lot of factors I hadn't considered.
After thinking over the knitted ones, I don't think they'd be for me. Yarn loops can catch on piercings..
Good point about the flannel prints. If those aren't as quick to absorb, though, would that make them a better backing layer? For the front layer I'd feel more confident using a natural/light-colored fabric that will more easily show the, uh, contents so I know if my body's recovering okay from the IUD.
Not a huge fan of wings, but then again my only experiences with those were on disposables, and I can customize these 100%.
About three layers for a lighter pad? And is the batting in the other pads the usual synthetic stuff? I'm up to my eyeballs in polyester fiber fill from my sock monkey obsession and kinda cringe at the idea of anything similar in my pants. Though batting tends to be compressed and better-structured, I guess..
I don't think that printed flannel would have quite as many issues (unprinted is probably cheaper, though). I was mainly talking about the pads people make with a decorative fabric on top-- calico or something like that.
Yeah, for my lightest pads, for days when I'm just spotting, I think I used two layers of flannel and one of fleece for moisture resistance.
I don't know what you are asking about batting in other pads being synthetic. Synthetic batting is not going to be absorbent at all; I don't know of anyone who puts it in pads. Also, you definitely want batting and not any kind of fill fiber, even if it's cotton. The cotton batting they sell these days for machine quilting will not bunch up on you if you stitch it down properly.
id be careful using your cup after getting it inserted. the suction can pull the IUD out. it happened with me. and from iud_divas i hear it happens a lot.
Skinny straps work pretty well on shorter pads but can cause movement unless you use 2- which is definitely an option. Until you figure out what you like your best bet is to make 1 pad at a time and try it on and then modify your pattern and change what you don't like and keep doing that until you get it just how you want it to be
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Depends on the fabric and your flow. I have also made a few pads in varying absorbencies because I don't bleed very heavily for more than a day and a half or two days; why wear something thicker than I need?
My homemade lighter pads have a few layers of flannel, and the heavier ones have 100% cotton quilt batting (scraps from my mom's quilting business which I cannibalize when I visit). The best batting for this is the thin, dense kind that's marketed for machine quilting. This also comes in various weights. I haven't experimented with any other fabrics, like hemp for instance.
One thing I have noticed from my homemade pads and from pads made by other people is that some printed fabrics that people use for an attractive top layer, even if they're all 100% cotton, do not wick the blood down into the soaker layers as well as unprinted fabrics. If the cotton print looks and especially feels like it's heavily painted on one side, it might not soak through as quickly. This is especially true for fabrics with a lot of ( ... )
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After thinking over the knitted ones, I don't think they'd be for me. Yarn loops can catch on piercings..
Good point about the flannel prints. If those aren't as quick to absorb, though, would that make them a better backing layer? For the front layer I'd feel more confident using a natural/light-colored fabric that will more easily show the, uh, contents so I know if my body's recovering okay from the IUD.
Not a huge fan of wings, but then again my only experiences with those were on disposables, and I can customize these 100%.
About three layers for a lighter pad? And is the batting in the other pads the usual synthetic stuff? I'm up to my eyeballs in polyester fiber fill from my sock monkey obsession and kinda cringe at the idea of anything similar in my pants. Though batting tends to be compressed and better-structured, I guess..
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Yeah, for my lightest pads, for days when I'm just spotting, I think I used two layers of flannel and one of fleece for moisture resistance.
I don't know what you are asking about batting in other pads being synthetic. Synthetic batting is not going to be absorbent at all; I don't know of anyone who puts it in pads. Also, you definitely want batting and not any kind of fill fiber, even if it's cotton. The cotton batting they sell these days for machine quilting will not bunch up on you if you stitch it down properly.
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