My son is 6, so I feel like we are kind of late to this party. We've been waiting years and years for those pull-ups to be dry in the morning and we have NEVER had a single dry morning. Lately even with the dang pull-up I am having to wash sheets 3-4 times a week anyways so I thought, Hey! Maybe he needs to try without and he'll do fine! So Friday night we started having him go to bed in underwear. He was excited, I was terrified! OH the pee, the soaking bed, the changing sheets at 2 in the morning. I basically encased the mattress in multiple layers of waterproof material!
The first night he did fine. I woke him when I went to bed, then again at 3 when I woke up because I had to use the bathroom. He was damp the second time but the bed was still dry so I considered it a win! The second night was similar but he was WET this time so it required a full PJ change. The third night all hell broke loose… he was wet, PJ's were wet, top sheet and over pad were wet.
So when I was falling back to sleep my brain was thinking, what can we do to minimize leakage without it being like a diaper? He needs to feel he is wet. Then I remembered the Gerber Training pants he wore when he was little and learning to stay dry in the daytime! Too bad they only make them up to 3T. I searched the web for something in his size but couldn't make myself pay the costs $12 a piece! NO WAY!
A quick search of the web yielded a few options for making your own and so I jumped on it. I got some flannel and terry cloth at Joann's along with a small 1/4 yard cut of their white PUL and I set to work. With my coupons I only paid around $13 for all the materials. We used some existing underwear so that didn't cost anything. So I can make around 6 pairs for the cost of one purchased one!
I cut a pattern based on the front outline of the underwear. I made a couple where the padding only covered the front and they work ok. I decided to try one where the padding extends all the way around and up the back and that's the one I photographed here.
In this pic above you can see I cut out 3 layers of the cotton flannel and one layer of the terrycloth. Not pictured is one layer of the PUL that will be on the back of the pad. The side that faces the underwear. The idea here is to gain a little time before the accident leaks completely through underwear, PJ pants and onto bedding. We are not trying to completely contain the accident since the point is to FEEL the wet, right!
I sewed up the two long sides using my walking foot and a heavy gauge needle.
Then after I turned the tube right side out, I zig zagged the two open ends closed. Remember you want to sew it so the terry is sandwiched between the flannel and when it's turned right sides out you want PUL on the back and flannel on the front. I did one where the terry ended up on the outside and although my son wore it, it seemed kind of scratchy to me. I suppose if you have a serger you could make it even easier by just serging all the pieces together!
Carefully pin the pad to the underwear and sew all the way around. I used a straight stitch, but a wide zig zag might be better for the stretch factor.
Here's how it looks from the outside. Not too bad, eh?!
And the inside basically looks like a maxi pad sewn into the underwear.
Note to self : Don't wear dark corduroy while working with terry cloth! Ha ha…
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