In 2019, I’m going to redo some absorbency testing results I have done in the past, and do some entirely new ones to get some new, consistent numbers about what Cloth Diapers actually hold.

I plan to absorbency test because I feel there’s a lot of misinformation floating around the internet about the values of different textiles, the quality of products, and assumptions being made. To start off, most people say they have a heavy wetter, but really they don’t.  I also know I’ve made many assumptions about cloth diapers and their absorbency in the past, and they might not be true.

Kitchen Science

I want to start off by disclosing that this is Kitchen “science” and it’s not to be taken as fully scientific results. It’s an estimate to provide a range on a scale of the absorbency of any one particular insert, diaper, or cloth diaper product.

I am open to changing the way I do this, but taking different ways from around the internet, plus conversations in Facebook groups, I have decided that this method of absorbency testing cloth diapers would garnish the best, most accurate representing results.

I am still looking for suggestions on how to test AIO cloth diapers as I have only been doing this method with prefolds and inserts. I feel an AIO might need to be tested differently, but perhaps we can talk about that in the comments section. 

How to Absorbency Test Cloth Diapers

You can watch the YouTube video, or you can stick around for the written explanation. I’m a blogger at heart, and while I do enjoy creating other mediums, I don’t enjoy watching videos to learn things. It’s not how my brain works best. I try to take a moment to write down some of my video’s for those of us who are still stuck in the past and love to read.

Keep in mind there are many different ways to do this. I wanted to be sure I had a relatively consistent method of doing this that I could easily replicate through out the year. I will be testing each diaper a minimum of three times for best results and to get an average answer. This post is walking you through how I do it, but many other vloggers have done it differently. 

I will be using a scale. Water is the exception and can be measured on a scale unlike other liquids of other velocities. I felt a scale would provide me with the most accurate representation of numbers short of buying a graduated cylinder and measuring volume that way.

Supplies for MY METHOD OF ABSORBENCY TESTING

1. Kitchen Scale that measures in Fluid Ounces
2. Bowl of room temperature Water. Because I’m doing lots of these, I choose to let the water be room temperature instead of warm like pee. The key is consistency. 
3. Timer
4. Cloth Diapers

My Method.

1. Weigh the initial insert and tare the scale. I take the measurement in grams and fluid ounces and write it down because sometimes the scale turns off. 
2. Place the insert/diaper in the bowl of water for one minute to soak. Letting it soak for one minute is my baseline, but I will be experimenting further in the year about letting it soak for different periods of time. 
3. Let the insert drip dry until it drips no more. I try to resist squeezing, but sometimes if an insert is being stubborn Ill encourage it along
4. Weigh the insert in fluid ounces.
5. WASH & DRY – REPEAT 3 TIMES. I wash and dry again because I found drying it I got different weights, but if I wash and dry the insert would return the same grams. 

What does this tell us?

Well, this is maximum saturation absorbency numbers. This soaking method tells us a value that is at full capacity of the diaper or insert. THIS IS AN UNREALISTIC NUMBER TO ACHIEVE BEFORE LEAKING. However, it does give us a frame of reference when compared to other inserts on the market when we stack them up in a row about how absorbent one insert or diaper product might be compared to another. There are vloggers and bloggers who have tested in other ways to get close to real life examples, but I felt this had too many variances to be consistent.

My Squeeze

I decided to do a squeeze result with each diaper. This is where the fake science becomes completely fake science. Squeezing is relatively inconsistent as I can’t squeeze the same every time. However, regardless of this my numbers of loss are relatively consistent.

Squeeze results provide me, in my opinion, with a relatively real life expectation of what this diaper holds. It also began to show me the average compression for each diaper. When looking at my spread sheet, I began to see trends in average ounces loss, and overall percentage.

The squeeze result does not drip and seldom has any liquid that will squeeze out of it more. I am comfortable with suggestion squeezed numbers represent a real-life maximum absorbency before the potential for leaks would start.

My Results?

Tune in every Sunday for new absorbency testing results on everything in my stash. If there’s a product you want to know more about drop a comment and I’ll add it to the list. Subscribe and follow on YouTube to get the latest videos on how much liquid a cloth diaper can hold.