April’s #Apwool challenge was using wool wraps. I have to be honest, I have been a cloth bum mum for 14 months now, and a cloth nappy library volunteer for 10 months and wool is the one thing which scared me the most. I’d always be honest to other parents and point them to the nappy lady website for further information as I knew diddly squat, and have almost always managed to shrink something or another over the years.
The benefits of a wool wrap
Wool wraps are more breathable than PUL wraps, and as a result can be better for heavy wetter babies because wool allows the evaporation of urine, therefore helping to increas the amount of time the inserts or shaped nappies last. Wool is water resistant, so will keep your baby dry as long as you have a suitable absorbency nappy underneath. Wool wraps can suit babies who are prone to eczema or rashes easily, and if you are finding you are getting any sock marks from using PUL wraps, wool wraps don’t have any elastic in, therefore stopping sock marks from happening.
The other benefit of wool wraps is they don’t need washing very often. They only need washing once a month or if they have any poo in. Hey are also really cost effective, you’d only need two in rotation for when the other one is being washed and lanolised.
The downsides of the wool wraps
Wool wraps need lanolising and washing in wool shampoo on cool. Velcro nappies need to be used with caution with wool wraps as the Velcro tabs can become stuck to the wool wrap, but this risk is minimised by folding the nappy in on itself. The nappy also needs lanolising a few times before the wrap is up to full water resistance capacity.
First Impressions
My first impressions were that the wrap was super soft, looked and felt amazing. When I imagine wool, I imagine itchy and scratchy, yet this is baby soft. When I used it on Evie for the first night she had no sockmarks, and she loved it so much after I went to put it on top of the nappy bucket she took it back off and tried putting them on again over her daytime nappy. Out of any nappy or wrap, this is the one Evie
Washing and Lanolising
So I used the Disana wool shampoo and washed on a wool setting on my eco bubble at 30 degrees. I then took out the wool wrap and soaked straight away in the Disana lanolin care treatment. *TIP* shake the lanolin care treatment bottle really well before use otherwise you end up with more of the watery separated stuff rather than the lanolin. One tablespoon of the treatment to 1 litre of water in a bowl and leave to soak overnight (you can soak for as little as ten minutes, but I left mine overnight). My wrap started getting some seeping of urine through onto clothing about 4 days after the first treatment but following the second treatment the wrap has been on for eleven nights so far and is still going strong, still water resistant and no smells! Totally brilliant! After soaking in the lanolin treatment you then lay flat away from direct heat or sunlight to prevent shrinkage.
Final verdict
I love the wool wrap now, it will be the only thing covering her night nappies now going forward. Evie loves the wraps, actively chooses them and my only criticism is a personal one of myself in that I wish I had chosen and tried them sooner because they are now my favourite wrap to put over the night nappy.
For more information about care of wool wraps go to: https://www.thenappylady.co.uk/news/care-of-wool-wraps.html
The Eco Midwife 
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