One for the ladies only: Make your own pads/mooncup alternative

Caterina

Women's Environmental Network provide a free pattern to make sanitary pads at home (I think you just have to pay postage).

I have posted the WEN link in this thread but here it is again:

www.wen.org.uk

Caterina

Macnab

frannyscho wrote:

I have just read all this and it had never occurred to me to be green in this department in spite of using Kooshies for my kids when they were smaller.

I don't know why there is such disgust going on. I hope you're all just being squeamish, coz what a lucky privileged lot to have the choice really. Think for isolated villages, or the day when the planet is so poisoned then perhaps the factories will be long gone and you will have to make them yourself anyway. I bet you don't throw all your nice knickers or jeans away every time you have an accident, so no difference there for a start.

What I would like to know are really practical things, like - do the cup things leak much, how do you stay clean on the move, can you move much, are they in any way comparable to commercial products, do they stay in, can they cope with post child sort of periods, could they or do they ever fall out... etc etc etc...

I'm not sure I would dare use them in the main coz it's a deep trust thing, but they may be good for the end or for security on maybe days.

I agree with the person who says we should put the chemical and waste issue matter to the manufacturers of the commercial doobies.

Well mine does leak slightly on my heaviest day and I wouldn't ever wear it without a pad but then thats the same with tampons too.

No it doesn't move once in position, certainly has never fallen out!!! It copes with my post child periods and my not so briliant muscles after giving birth to 3 babies ranging from 9lbs 2 to 10lbs 12!

Certainly compares favourably to commercial products and I really wish I'd bought one years ago, its so great only having to take a few pads away with you rather than boxes of tampons - I could get though a box of extra super duper ones in one day on my heaviest day

eryn_kathleen

I'm reviving this thread to ask if anyone has had any luck using prefold baby diapers. They're the 'old-fashioned' plain rectangles of cloth that are stitched into three sections; the middle section has twice as much padding as the outer two sections.

My mum used to have some prefolds lying around the house that my gran had given her and she never used as diapers, but they were used for cleaning, lining cat beds, all sorts of things. I remember that they were very, very soft.

I'm planning to buy some to cut up and stitch into face cloths and general wipes, but I was thinking that they'd make quite good pads. Depending on the size (I don't have one to hand) you could maybe make two out of the middle section and another two (by doubling up) from the outer sections.

Oh, and here's the direct link to WEN page (patterns are in PDF links):
http://www.wen.org.uk/sanpro/resources.htm

rach

i'd recommend the mooncup i tried one out after reading so much on here about it. i've had three months with it and i have to say its become second nature. there's a much longer thread on the green and ethical board about it too.

hope that helps.

looby-loo_2

A good friend of mine had a sister who died from toxic shock syndrome caused by a tampon. Apparently they should not be left in overnight - ever!

queenpig

AlisonW wrote: »

Surely one jests. ( I hope ) : (

Nope I have read it some where too, although havent tried it. Iread it after a bought my moon cup however I dont think I would every try the sock thing though

MJMum

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Justamum

Mooncup is brilliant. I only wished I had discovered it years ago.

alocin

I've been using a Mooncup for over a year now as well - I'd never go back to tampons!

It's a bit of a fiddle to get the hang of for the first month or two but then it just becomes second nature.

Ms_Piggy_2

missk_ensington wrote: »

I don't wish to sound rude, this is my first time on the Old Style board and was horrified to see DIY pads/tampons! Surely nobody is that poor that they can't afford tampons? Think you can get a whole load for about 80p in Lidl, or better still, if you're not planning any children soon, have the contraceptive ijection. Not had a period for 2 years!

You'll actually find that a lot of people choose mooncups/cloth pads for reasons other than cost. I choose a mooncup because it's far superior to tampons, not because of cost. No risk of TSS for a start, it needs changing far less, is more comfortable and none of the bleached fibres of tampons inside of me!

missk_ensington wrote: »

I can't think of anything more unhygeinic that stuffing stitched up bits of cloth in your knickers when you're bleeding like a pig! Or a sock for that matter! And i can't think of anything more disgusting than having to wash it after!

Unhygenic? Well shop-bought tampons/pads aren't exactly sterile are they? Although they are bleached to high heaven and the fibres shed inside you -something I'd rather miss thanks! And as for being hygenic, do you get your partner to scrub his bits before he goes near you??
Personally I'm not a fan of pads, cloth or otherwise, so will stick with the mooncup. As for the 'ick' factor, well I could go on about women being grossed out by perfectly normal, natural processes by I fear that may fall on deaf ears!