Wool longies: a guide from an experienced cloth nappy user

Experienced cloth nappy user, and lover of all things wool, Karen talks about wool longies. 

Cloth night nappies are generally quite bulky, sometimes so much so that pyjamas don’t fit over them. This can make it a challenge to keep your little one warm overnight, especially in the winter.

Temperatures can fluctuate from over 30°C in the evening to as low as 5°C at night and that’s inside the house. My solution to the challenge of ill-fitting pyjamas was to make modified wool covers and a pair of hand-made wool pyjama bottoms that would comfortably fit over a bulky night nappy.

I love wool, it’s natural, has thermal regulation properties and requires very little washing. You can also lanolise wool to add an extra layer of protection against a sneaky leaky night nappy.

Making my own woollen longies

I wasn’t able to find a pattern that met my needs, they were either too short in the leg or too small in the bum. This meant I needed to get creative when it came to crocheting longies for my petite pee machines.

I used a few different patterns, I can’t recall the specific ones but there are plenty of free or cheap ones available online. I combined the most suitable parts of each so that I could accommodate the extra space for the night nappy. I was able to do this by adding extra rise and width. 

I used crochet but you can do the same thing with knitting if you prefer. The most important part is selecting the right wool. The wool needs to be hand-wash only wool. 

Machine washable wool doesn’t lanolise well. This means that it doesn’t have that extra benefit of soaking up any leaked urine. 

Caring for woollen longies

Wool is surprisingly easy to maintain and launder. Caring for woollen longies is similar to caring for woollen nappy covers.

These only need washing once a month or two or if they become soiled. Airing out between uses is important to help extend the time between washes.

Washing woollen longies  

Once I had enough absorbency under the cover, the longies only needed to be washed every few weeks or months. 

Washing these was as simple as hand washing with a wool-suitable detergent, popping them in the machine on a spin cycle to remove as much water as possible and then lanolise.

Lanolising woollen longies

Longies are essentially a hybrid of a wool cover and long johns. There is no need to lanolise the entire thing, only the part that covers the nappy. 

I used more lanolin than we recommend for a standard wool cover, simply because these are larger and I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of lanolin to absorb into the wool. I used ½-1 teaspoon for two longies.

Play around with the amount of lanolin you use. You want it to feel tacky. Too little and it won’t be effective and if you use too much lanolin, this is no biggy because over time it’ll work its way into your littlie’s skin and it’s a great moisturiser!

Drying woollen longies

I used 10-12 ply yarn for my homemade longies. This is thicker than your average woollen pyjamas, and this thickness affects drying time. 

Over winter these took a few days to dry. I had two pairs for each child. This way I could have one in use and the other drying or waiting to be used next. 

Avoid putting wool in direct heat, sun or in the clothes dryer. 

To help the longies dry, lay them flat on a dry towel, roll up the towel and squeeze. This helps to soak up excess water and speeds up drying. Be careful not to wring or twist the wool as it stretches the fibres.

Summary

I’m so glad I made these for my little ones, they kept them dry, and cosy and worked really well as the wool is a temperature regulator. The lanolin works to wick moisture, and you can add extra absorbency to suit underneath the woollen cover meaning this can be used for even the heaviest of wetters!

If you’re up for the challenge, grab yourself some hand-wash wool, and some crochet or knitting needles and give it a go!