Absorbency Test

In my determination to make sure I am diapering my boy in the best cloth diapers available I decided to put my diapers through an absorbency test.

I had read in a nursing book that if you want to know how your diapers will feel when your baby has wet them poor two tablespoons of water into the diaper.

Knowing full well that there are times that babies will wet heavier and some lighter I decided to go with the two tablespoons test for all of my diapers.

In a previous note I had mentioned ply. Just as a refresher, remember that ply stands for how many times the layer of cotton has been folded over that particular diaper before it was sewn. The more ply, the thicker the diaper and therefore more absorbent. The 2-6-2 ply means there are two layers on the side, six in the middle and two again on the other side. And so on.

My two preemie Bleached Chinese Prefolds (CPF) that I bought as doublers and inserts are the only 2-6-2 ply CPFs that I have. I do, however, have five or six Diaper Service Quality (DSQ) 2-6-2 diapers in infant size.

I thought it only fair that I compare absorbency only between equal ply so I matched up my preemie CPF against my infant DSQ.

The test included a cup of water, a tablespoon, two napkins placed underneath of the prefolds to absorb any water that leaked through, the prefolds themselves and my camera.

Preemie CPF (left) vs Infant DSQ (right)

I measured and poured the two tablespoons of water into the middle of each diaper, waited about ten seconds and then removed the diapers to see what had gone through to the napkins beneath.

Amount of water absorbed by napkins under diapers.

As you can see, less water leaked through the preemie CPF diapers on the left than did through the DSQ diapers on the right.

Next, it was time to do the 4-8-4 diapers.

I purchased twelve bleached newborn sized CPFs, 24 unbleached infant sized CPFs and the rest were infant sized DSQs.

Repeating the same test as before I lined them up and watered them down.

Newborn CPF (left), unbleached Infant CPF (center), Infant DSQ (right)

Waiting a few seconds for the water to absorb.

And the results were somewhat astounding.

Results from the 4-8-4 test.

The Newborn CPF had about the same leakage as the Infant DSQ the only difference being that instead of soaking right into the center the DSQ wicked the water to the sides and the CPF kept the water in the middle of the diaper.

The most astonishing part, however, was the the unbleached CPF didn't leak at all.

In light of my test I'm glad that I chose the unbleached CPFs over the bleached for the majority of my baby's diapers.

Maybe this way I'll save my self some leaks in cribs and blowouts.

Test Concluded!