Wool 101 - How to Buy Wool Covers & How to Measure Your Baby

We explained some of the benefits of using wool the other day in our Wool 101 article Why Wool. Today we’ll explain to you how to buy wool covers, how to measure your baby, and some of the accessories you may need.

There are several brands that make wool diaper covers, longies, and shorties. There really isn’t much difference in their function but some are much more ‘fashionable’ and ‘trendy’ than others. EcoPosh and Kissaluvs wool diaper covers are very basic in their design and function just as well as their higher priced competitors. EcoPosh is only available in an umber (brown) color while the Kissaluvs is available in a natural or cream color. The Kissaluvs is a much softer wool and uses an ultra-fine Merino wool that has a cashmere feel to it. The Kiwi Pie wool cover by GroVia is another simple cover and is available in natural color but it has a blend of 95% merino wool and 5% spandex. Kiwi Pie feels super soft like the Kissaluvs but with a slight stretch to it from the spandex. If you’d like to hand dye your Kiwi Pie wool covers GroVia has created a tutorial for dying Kiwi Pie wool with Kool Aid.

If you prefer more fashionable and trendy colors you may like the sustainablebabyish/sloomb (also referred to as sloomb or sbish) wool covers, longies and shorties. Sloomb is available in a wide array of colors and the color selections tend to change each season. Sloomb knits at the softest machine knit wool in the industry. It’s not uncommon for parents to use Sloomb covers, longies and shorties in place of pants so that parents can show off their fashionable babies.

Once you decide which wool is for you, the next question you may have is “What size wool cover do I get for my baby?” Wool is available in size ranging from xs-large. To find out which size is best for your baby you’ll need to measure their waist, hip, legs (inseam), and rise. You can always go by the weight range but remember that your baby may be taller, shorter, slimmer, or bulkier than someone elses baby. You’ll want to grab a tape measure for this part; one like a seamstress would use is best.

Tips for measuring your baby for a wool cover:

• Waist - Measure at the baby’s natural waist. This is just at or above their belly button.
• Hip - Measure the widest area of your baby’s hips while wearing a prefold/flat/fitted diaper.
• Rise - Measure from the belly button, down through the legs and around to the lower back where the diaper would rest.
• Leg/Inseam - Measure from the bottom of the diaper to the floor with your babies leg straight. You can always add a half inch for room to grow.

What other accessories will you need to get started with wool diaper covers? You’ll need to decide what diaper you will be using with your covers. Pre-folds, flats, or fitteds are most commonly used with wool diaper covers; however wool could also be used over a pocket diaper at night to keep your baby even drier. You may need Snappi’s or diaper pins for your pre-folds and flats. Aside from that the only thing you’ll need is a gentle wool wash and some lanolin.

To learn more about lanoloizing and caring for your wool diaper covers come back tomorrow for our Wool 101 - How to Care For and Lanolize Wool tutorial.