Absorbancy testing

[KrisM]

I did an absorbancy test on the things I own, just to see how everything compares. I figured I'd post my results. For each thing, I tested 2 items and averaged the numbers (they were all very close). To test, I slowly poured water onto the item until it started dripping. I then hung it on a spaghetti drying rack, over bowl, until the dripping stopped. I poured the water from the bowl back into the measuring cup.

Here are my results and subjective thoughts:

Diapers:
Infant CPF: 12 oz
Regular CPF: 14 oz
Premium CPF: 19 oz
Sugarpeas Size 1 Organic Cotton diaper only: 6.5 oz
SP Snap in doubler: 3 oz
SP Doubler: 5 oz
Pampers Size 3: 32 oz

Inserts:
med. night LJ for BB: 10 oz
sm. JB: 4.5 oz
med. JB: 5 oz
Luke's Drawers Doubler: 6.5 oz
Blue MF towel from Target: 8.5 oz
White MF towel from Target: 8 oz

Subjectively, the prefolds soaked up the water the fastest. The hemp did the best job of spreading it around. The MF towels were both the slowest to soak and slowest to spread. The Pampers was actually the hardest to test, because it was slow to absorb the water, but kept on absorbing if I left it sit for a couple of minutes.

I don't know why the color of the mf towel made a difference, but my white towels are much more staticy too.

ETA: the LJ was a nighttime version. I only tested 1 Pampers so that I didn't have to throw 2 away.

[rrosen]

So interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[mudder17]

Wow, that's quite interesting! I'm surprised the MF towels absorbed so much! The speed of absorption of the prefolds is why I tend to wrap the MF towel inside the PF. I usually wrap the MF around the hemp, though, because I thought they absorbed faster than hemp. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Hmm...this is food for thought.

I think you should post these results in the inserts section, and then others who have other inserts can add their results. What do y'all think? :)

I think I have some inserts not on your list that I can try.

Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://www.babysfirstsite.org/newtic...4.birthday.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...n_amber_9m.gif Breastfed 11 months and counting

[daisymommy]

Kris, WOW! Great job! That is a way-cool experiment :) Very useful too!

[squimp]

Good work! Is that a nighttime LizaJane - the one that folds over?

I'd like to know how microfiber inserts compare - Nurtured Family says a "regular" (medium?) MOE holds 10 oz. Their large JB gets 5 oz - same as your medium.

http://www.nurturedfamily.com/detail...dfbinserttypes

That Pampers is scary!

[KrisM]

It is a nighttime LJ. I just edited it to say that. I forgot there were options :).

I am ordering a CottonBabies, which claims 15 oz. I think that is similar to the MOEs.

I figure the Nurtured Family people did a little more work to get their numbers. I only had a Pyrex measuring cup, so the measurements aren't perfect. I did only find a .5 oz difference between the small and the medium JB, too.

Yes, the Pampers is scary. It weighed about 5 lbs, too!

[KrisM]

For us, I end up putting the hemp towards DS and the MF towel underneath it. If I put the MF towel towards DS, we get leaks.

I'll copy my stuff over into the insert thread. I thought about posting there, but then I had diapers on it too, which didn't quite qualify as inserts. Let me know what you try!