How Thirsty Is Your Funky Fluff Soaker?

How Thirsty Is Your Funky Fluff Soaker-

Ever wonder just how much liquid a cloth diaper insert can hold? By popular demand over on the Funky Fluff Chat group on Facebook, I’ve decided to answer that very question! I’ve tested the absorbency of each of the four current soakers and one booster that are part of the Funky Fluff LUX offering. Curious to know which soaker was the most absorbent? Wondering about how quickly each soaker absorbed liquid? Maybe you’d like to know which one was the most “clingy” (held onto the liquid under compression)? I’ve got all those answers for you! 

Let me start by explaining how I performed the absorbency test and why I did it that way. I’ve read about absorbency tests being done in a few different ways. One way was the place the soaker in a pyrex type dish, pour a pre-measured amount of water into the dish (way more than any soaker could possibly hold), let the soaker absorb as much as possible over a set time, let the excess drip out of the soaker, and then measure how much water was left in the pyrex type dish. This is NOT how I decided to do this. I felt that the best way to measure absorbency was to add liquid to the soakers in a way that would more closely mimic how they function in real life (ie. when a child pees on them). I weighed each soaker/booster dry, then added water by pouring it onto each soaker/booster in spurts until the soaker was fully saturated. I considered a soaker to be “full” when I put pressure on it with my hand and any small quantity of water that did seep up through my fingers was quickly absorbed back into the soaker without removing my hand or lightening up on the pressure. When “full” the soakers did not drip when I lifted them up and let it hang from one end. Then I weighed the soakers at what I would call “full” (no water left behind in the container even after putting pressure on the soaker).

How Thirsty Is Your Funky Fluff Soaker-
I took this very seriously…

Without further ado, here are the results of my at home testing. I performed this same test twice over to ensure some accuracy in my results. The results were practically identical both times for me, but individual results may vary.

Funky Fluff LUX Bamboo large soaker (6 layers bamboo):
Dry weight: 91g (3.2oz)
Weight when “full”: 320g (11.3oz)
Total absorbed: 229g (8oz)

Funky Fluff LUX Bamboo small soaker (5 layers bamboo):
Dry weight: 64g (2.3oz)
Weight when “full”: 212g (7.5oz)
Total absorbed: 148g (5.2oz)

Funky Fluff deLUX Hemp/Bamboo (HempBoo) large soaker (2 layers bamboo, 2 layers hemp):
Dry weight: 66g (2.3oz)
Weight when “full”: 247g (8.7oz)
Total absorbed: 181g (6.4oz)

Funky Fluff deLUX Hemp/Bamboo (HempBoo) small soaker (2 layers bamboo, 2 layers hemp):
Dry weight: 63g (2.2oz)
Weight when “full”: 214g (7.5oz)
Total absorbed: 151g (5.3oz)

Funky Fluff Hemp Booster (3 layers hemp):
Dry weight: 44g (1.6oz)
Weight when “full”: 169g (6.0oz)
Total absorbed: 125g (4.4oz)

How Thirsty Is Your Funky Fluff Soaker-
Pouring the water, and adding some pressure.

It came as no surprise to me that the large LUX bamboo soaker was the most absorbent. It is ridiculously thirsty, and I use one as part of the night time cloth diaper for Petit Prince. Out of the three types of soakers/booster that I tested, the LUX bamboo absorbed liquid the fastest. It was not the most clingy of all the ones I tested, but it was more than capable of reabsorbing any slight seepage very quickly when pressure was applied. The small LUX bamboo soaker was still quite impressive in its absorption, and is something I often use on its own during the day time for Petit Prince (he’s almost 8 months old now).

The deLUX hemp/bamboo soakers, although the large is not as absorbent as its LUX bamboo counterpart, were a little more clingy than the LUX soakers. What I mean by that is that they were less prone to liquid seepage under pressure. This is likely because of the hemp layers on the bottom of the soaker. Hemp is notoriously thirsty and clingy. It’s important to note that of all the soakers and the booster that I tested, the deLUX soakers were the slowest to absorb. Although the large deLUX absorbs less than the large LUX, it is more trim than the LUX soaker. Since the small LUX and small deLUX absorb pretty much the same amount, the deciding factor here would come down to trimness and speed of absorption. If your baby tends to flood a diaper (meaning they hold their pee and release a whole lot, just less frequently) you’ll want to go with the LUX soaker, or pair a small LUX soaker over a small deLUX soaker.

How about that hemp booster? I was quite impressed with both the volume of liquid that it could hold and the speed with which it absorbed the liquid. Considering that it is not meant to be used alone (hence being a booster), it held its own quite nicely through the testing. The hemp fleece is sewn together so that the “fluffy” side of the material is exposed providing a relatively quick absorption. It did not absorb as quickly as the LUX bamboo, but was quicker than the deLUX soakers. If I know Petit Prince is going to be taking a long nap, or we are heading out for a longer outing where I won’t have the chance to change him as frequently, I like to use the hemp booster under a small LUX bamboo soaker. I get the super fast absorption of the LUX, with the super clingy properties of hemp with less bulk than using just one large LUX soaker.

I’d like to take a moment to point out that when these soakers/booster were “full” they were quite likely beyond the fullness that a cloth diaper ever would (or should) be. In order to actually saturate a large LUX soaker with 8oz, your baby would have to be in that diaper for a substantial amount of time or be a very heavy wetter. I’d still recommend changing baby’s diaper every 3-4 hours during the day whenever possible. Just as a point of interest, Petit Prince’s last overnight diaper had absorbed 139g (4.9oz) after being on for roughly 12 hours (note that the soakers in the shell were still dry at the back). Just because an insert can hold 8oz of liquid, doesn’t mean it needs to hold that much on a regular basis or that it will hold that amount without leaking every time. There are, of course, other factors that determine if and when a cloth diaper will leak including fit, PUL, diaper construction, quantity/ferocity of baby’s pees, amount of compression (among others).

Have you ever measured the absorbency of your favourite cloth diaper soakers?

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25 Comments on “How Thirsty Is Your Funky Fluff Soaker?

  1. So interesting! I was considering ordering shells and then deLux soakers because I assumed they’d be more absorbent. But maybe I’ll just stick with the stay dry system first. It seems like it might be enough absorbancy for us after all!

    • I use both, for different things. I tend to stick with the DeLUX when the kiddo is up and running around, because though they don’t hold as much as the LUX soakers, they hold more than enough and are super trim – plus, they don’t leak when compressed (which happens quite frequently when the little monkey is running about). I tend to use my LUX soakers for nighttime/nap time, or when I know he’s likely to be relatively still (like when we’re out shopping).

  2. I haven’t used these yet. I got three months left of my pregnancy. But I would love to use these when he gets here. I plan on getting some =]]

  3. I love this! I keep wanting to test the different absorbencies of my inserts. I don’t have Funky Fluff though 🙁

  4. The most absorbent prefold I own is the large Bummis, but I never weighed is holding capacity. I might just look into this Funky fluff one.

  5. The most absorbent prefold I own is the large Bummis, but I never weighed is holding capacity. I might just look into this Funky fluff one. Thanks for conducting a thorough experiment!

  6. Thank you for taking the time to test these different inserts and sharing the results. As we are just beginning our cloth diapering adventure, this type of information will definitely help us make better decisions on where to spend our $$.

  7. Thanks for this! Your analysis was quite enabling for me to get 2 of the deLux and one more Lux to my stash. Haha.

  8. Ahhhhhthis is all new to me! I didn’t use cloth diapers with my daughter, but if I were to ever have another one, I might just look into it!

  9. Thank you so much for the great information these sound amazing . Will be telling my daughter for sure

  10. thanks for the review. I have been wanting to try funky fluff and I’m never sure what inserts to try. this is reallu helpful

  11. Thanks for doing this – makes me curious to try out the absorbency of my other inserts! 😉

  12. This is really great to know! I sold my deLux inserts because I found the shape of them so bulky – good to know I’m not missing out on much!

  13. very neat!! Ive always wondered how much they held. I def need the 6 layers of bamboo for my LO

  14. This is awesome! I’ve always wondered exactly how much they held but never really knew how to figure it out…plus I don’t have one of those handy scales LOL funky fluff ROCKS

  15. I love this post! It totally changed my thinking and way I stuff my diapers!! Cloth diapering is now a science!!!

  16. Thanks so much for doing this. I have always wondered about their capacity. This will help me with my stuffing configuration depending on need. I may also have to check out those hemp boosters….

  17. I have one lux diaper and don’t love it for daytime but I’ll definitely be trying the large soaker in his overnight diaper!

  18. This is so interesting! I have been wanting to know how much each absorbs.. Now maybe I will be able to match up the right ones for a night time solution. We just got some lux and delux inserts before we only had the bamboo and stay dry ones. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

  19. That’s pretty incredible. I’ve been wanting to test the absorbency. I think it would be fun and really good info. I like your method.

  20. so glad I’m discovered this post….I just purchased a FF diaper to give to a friend!

  21. Pingback: Your Ultimate Guide to Funky Fluff Diapers

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