I have a wool cover - now what do I do with it?

[ChicagoMama]

I bought a SugarPeas wool cover for each of my babes. Do I have to treat these covers before I use them? I seem to recall something like that from other threads? The naturalbabies web site didn't say anything about that, but I wanted to double check here too.

I'm a complete wool newbie, but I do have the Eucalan wool wash and I know I'm not supposed to wash it or dry it in the machines.

Any and all of your expertise regarding wool covers is appreciated...

Best regards,
Becky

Mama to DDs Shelby 09/19/02 and Sydney 10/16/03

[tarahsolazy]

You could try to just use them, they should have some natural lanolin in them and are probably pretty water resistant. However, to be sure, you can lanolize them. Get some lanolin, most folks use Lansinoh or Pure-Lan nipple creams, which are pure lanolin. This is what I do, but everyone seems to have their own wool-care routine. Soak your covers in a little tepid water with Eucalan, to make them clean and smell nice. Add about 1/2in of lanolin to a TBS or two of water and a little baby shampoo or Eucalan and melt it in the microwave, and swirl to mix. Take your covers out of the sink, and add the lanolin mixture (I do this so the temp change is not extreme for the covers, they can shrink, otherwise). Then add covers back in, and swish around, so that the lanolin gets on the cover. Take them out, don't rinse, and gently squeeze out the excess water. Then, roll them up in a towel to further extract water, then lay flat or hang over towel bar to dry. They will feel slightly sticky when they are dry, that's the lanolin. Eucalan and other wool washes have some lanolin in them, so you can wash with them as frequently as you need to. I only lanolize with the Lansinoh when we get wicking, which happened after 2 months of using an Aristocrat at night, which was washed about every three days due to poopie on the wool. I'd love to hear other's wool care rituals, as well.

[toomanystrollers]

Becky,
Go ahead and throw those new SP covers on your kiddos :)

FWIW, I've yet to formally "lanolize" any of my wool covers. I just use lavendar Eucalan - usually in the sink, but about every 2-3 weeks I throw them in the washer on gentle, fill w/water and Eucalan - let them sit 1/2 hr - or so, and then spin out. You should skip the "rinse" cycle so the lanolin from the Eucalan doesn't get washed away.

HTH