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I wear the Abena Xplus every night and commonly throughout the day if I am going to be away from the house for any length of time. I also wear a pair of plastic pants that I got from xpmedical. I have found that when I'm sitting, the capacity of the xplus is cut in half. Today, I wet once sitting down in my leather chair, then I wet a second time standing up, and finally I wet a third time sitting down again. This last time, I leaked on my clothes. The urine travled around the leg opeing into the wings of the diaper and leaked out. Even through the plastic pants. I don't want to have to change the xplus after one wetting, but I don't know what else to do. It just seems like a total waste. For all you guys, I do point myself down to the middle of the diaper. But I still leak. Anybody got any ideas? Should I buy better plastic pants? I want a plastic pant/diaper combination that will hold up to leaking while sitting. How does everybody else do it?

Hi Don, I find a pair of regular underwear overtop of the diaper will catch any leaks that "might" get through... especially around the leg openings. We all know it happens sometimes, and is embarassing if it leaves a wet spot on your pants/shorts. A coverpant over that and you should be good to go... Puffy

Don,
Thank you for sharing your recent experience which points out what many have said: "plastic pants do NOT prevent leaks when worn over a disposable" and yet, so many folks wear and recommnend plastic pants over a disposable...."to catch any leaks".....they say. Leads to a false sense of security, IMO!

What Puff points out will work! Wear something cotton or absorbant over the disposable and it will soak up minor leaks....emphasis on "minor" and then the plastic pants over the cotton pants should do their job of keeping your outer wear dry and free of those embarassing spots.

And let me add that you should be selecting plastics pants with gentle leg and waist elastics.....when you wonder if you need a "better" plastic pant and for those who recommend a "well fitting" plastic pant....I fear the emphasis is on the tightness of the leg bands. "Get them tight enough to prevent leaks" ....and I cringe at that! That is terrible for your skin. Leg bands should never leave red marks. Please remember it is the diapers job to soak up wetness. If you need your plastic pants to contain "liquid", then you are not wearing enough diaper...in my opinion!

As for your question as to just what to wear....to be secure sitting....and not waste an X Plus with one or two wettings....I really don't have an answer other than cloth diapering which has kept me totally secure for many, many years. I fully appreciate the convenience factor of disposables but they haven't come up with a good answer for wicking wetness away from the source to other parts of the diaper....which is the "secret" to why cloth works so well.

The SAP in disposable diapers does a great job of absorbing wetness but it just doesn't pass it along to the rest of the diaper. You may just have to accept that short coming that it part of the convenience of a disposable. You may need to spend even more, and add a booster to put in your Abena to get you the security you want. The booster will not wick any better and you'll be tossing out the diaper with a lot of dry material left and a booster with a lot of dry material left....but hopefully with your pants and furniture dry when you get up.

And, just a thought, if you don't mind a little diaper laundry....buy some infant cloth diapers and fold one or two into a soaker strip and place that in your Abena X-Plus for the long sitting spells. That bit of cloth will do some wicking....carrying wetness up the back of the diaper further than would otherwise happen. That might just be your solution.

Otherwise, you need to add the cloth outside the diaper in the form of cotton box briefs and wear plastic pants over them. Laundry issue is about the same except you also have plastic pants to wash as well as the cloth "diapering".

Don,
Let me add as an after thought.....some disposables rely more on fluff than SAP....and fluff (paper fiber) does some wicking. I recall someone once telling me the Molicare diaper is one of the best for wicking and for securing you in the seated position....and the recommendation came from a wheel chair user.....who is always in a seated position and depending on a diaper to keep dry.

So before you spend more money on disposable boosters or even the cloth baby diapers I recommend above.....try the Molicare....yes, the ugly purple Molicare....and see if that might just solve your problem with one disposable at a time and no plastic pants!

I haven't noticed the the Molicares wick better than other disposables. Although they are one of the most discreet, super-absorbent disposables out there.

The trick of putting a toddler sized cloth in a disposable for better wicking is one that I have used for a long time and it does work pretty well.

-Darin

The only thing I don't like about Molicares is that they clump up something terrible if you move around a lot, especially when they are wet.

I've had a few issues with "pinhole" leaks from the Xplus over the years, but never anything serious.

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~~PuddleGuy

I use a "Dignity Doubler" inside my X-Plus, and then plastic pants for a bit of extra protection and concealment. I can generally wet four times in this combination and rarely leak, and when I do, it's just minor seepage that can be contained by the plastic pants. I've been in diapers since '87, and this is the best combination yet.

I got two from a current case that split today. There is a visible line in that was pressed into the outer plastic. It ran the length of the diaper. I caught the second one before I put it on. I put a strip of packing tape down to cover the line. No split from that one.

I think something is pressing too hard on the cover at the factory causing the it to get damaged during production.

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