How Many Types of These Are There?

Hello everybody!  Raconteur Daddy sharing a few of my thoughts.

Happy UnderCover month to you all.  Here in the home of the Trophy Wife we are all busy singing diaper carols and gently hanging prefolds up by the mantle.  Everybody has their own traditions.  But however you celebrate UnderCover month, I hope it is filled with joy and light and in the company of those you love.

When I heard that a few blogs out there were spending an entire month talking about all the diapering options available with covers I immediately wanted to be a part of it.  Thus began a campaign of constantly badgering my wife until she finally gave in and gave me access to guest post on her blog.  The "relentless begging" strategy has worked well for me in the past.

So here I am, and I am thrilled to share with you my experience with cloth diapers.  To be fair, the vast majority diapers in our 'stash' are pocket diapers, but we were generously given a cover from Zookies to try out so we could participate this month.  

Let me tell you a secret.  Lean in close to your screen.

<whisper> I change way more diapers than the Trophy Wife. </whisper>

So I feel I am in a position to give you the real story.

I'll start with the fact that I really love our diaper cover.  I dig the funky design, I dig the fact that it is a medium size and fits well, I dig being able to use it a few times before washing (provided the little man doesn't 'unload' on the thing), and I dig being able to customize how we fill it depending on our absorbency needs at the time.

One thing I have noticed with purchasing a good stockpile of pocket diapers is that we have more inserts than we could ever use.  We use them to stuff all our diapers and still have dozens left over to clean up household spills, insulate the hamster cage, and make improvisational toys for the kids.  So we always have plenty of pocket inserts for use in filling our cover.  

One of my favorite fillers for our cover has been a hemp insert with a prefold wrapped around it.  The prefold is excellent for wicking away moisture and the hemp insert is unbeatable for moisture storage.  I know that our prefolds are nine years old, but while there may be some new fabrics out there with different properties, there haven't been a whole lot of advances in prefold technology in that time. You can still buy a dozen cotton prefolds for about a buck each and, without some serious modification or accessorizing, they're still pretty much only good for burp rags.  However, when you combine them with a quality cover they can certainly meet your diapering needs, especially if you're on a budget.  Remember that (if you're lucky) you'll get a handful of changes from each cover before it needs to be washed.  So a person could conceivably create their entire diaper stash using covers and prefolds for a fraction of the cost of other diapering options.  Seriously, CD advocates should really make this their first response when confronted by people who balk at the idea of the start-up costs of cloth diapering.

That is what makes prefolds so useful.  On it's own its pretty much useless, but when you mix a little ingenuity and creativity into it they become exceptionally useful for a number of tasks.  Combining that with the fact that they are arguably the most affordable baby accoutrement makes them an indispensable staple in the nursery.

See more from The Raconteur Daddy at http://raconteurdaddy.blogspot.com. You can also 'like' him on Facebook.  Which you should do because he would totally 'like' you if you asked him to.

There are Names too?!

I figured that there were all sorts of different ways to fold a prefold for use when cloth diapering.  What I didn't realize was that there are actual names to go with the different ways!  I have to say Thank You to Trisha who opened my eyes to that knowledge.  After she told me about the Angel Fold, I just had to start my many hours of research on all the different names for the ways that I've been folding his diapers!  Here is what I have found.

This is how I tried laying
the prefold in the cover.

Then I tried opening the
back part.

The Newspaper:  This seems to be the way I have been doing it when I just lay the prefold into the cover.

To start, lay your prefold
down.

Fold top edge up.

Fold edges to middle.

Fold up and secure.

The Angel:  I like the added absorbency capability with this one for my little man.  It is different from the newspaper fold in that you can choose how much of the front to fold after lifting the front instead of before.

Start with your prefold

Fold edges toward middle.

Bring top up.

Fold top edge down toward
the inside.

Fold back edges forward
and secure.

The Bikini Twist:  That is so cute...but also pretty functional too.  I can see where it may lead to more mess with solids because of the twist, but I think that it would work really well for chunky legs and girls.

Start with prefold.

Twist front end.

Bring front up.

Fold over top edge.

Secure.

The Jelly Roll:  This seems nice for those covers that are a little loose around the legs.  It makes a little gusset around the legs.

Start with Prefold.

Start by rolling corner.

Roll at an angle.

Roll both sides.

Bring top up.

Fold down top edge.

Secure.

Origami:  I think that this would be a good fold for heavy wetters.  It requires a bigger flat or prefold than the others (a square shape would be best) and it makes a built in doubler.  It is also requires a little more patience.

Start with your prefold and
fold upward in half.

Fold in half again from
left to right.

Pull the top right corner
across to the left
creating a triangle.

Here's the triangle.

Now pick it up....

And turn it over.

Start folding the
rectangle side.

Fold it to the center.

Bring the top up.

And secure.

I have to give thanks to the other blogs that I learned my information from.  http://diaperpages.com/pf_folds.php  

http://www.diaperjungle.com/folding-diapers.html  and  http://www.angelfire.com/id/megnkatesplace/folds.html

*These are all my pictures and my personal explanation of the different ways that I learned by doing research on the internet.  I used the aforementioned blogs for the purpose of learning how to do these folds and as guides to be able to pass on the information.

Trials of a Prefold

Raconteur Daddy and I never used prefolds or other traditional ways of cloth diapering until January this year.  We have always been pocket users.  When I was approached with the idea of participating with Under Cover, we were excited to have an opportunity to try it out and talk about them from a 'first timer' perspective.

Now, I know that we aren't 'doing it right'.  I know that there are better products out there to use for prefolds than our 9 year old Gerber prefolds that were used as burp rags for Sweet Pea.  But, when we received our Zookies cover, we wanted to use it right away and didn't know what to put inside!  So, out came the old Gerber prefolds.  I have to say that it was a bit awkward at first.

I figured that I would fold them in a tri-fold width wise and put the folds inside, then I laid it into the cover and wrapped the corners across his little belly and put the cover on top.  I found that by doing this, it ended up with the prefold in a bunch.  But to my surprise, there were no leaks...so I guess it did it's job anyway.  Plus, Little Man didn't seem uncomfortable at all.

I also tried ways of folding the prefold around a FuzziBunz microterry insert or a Thirsties hemp insert.  They worked okay but still bunched into the front after an hour or two of playtime.  I think that the only way to successfully use a prefold though is by using a snappi or other type of fastener too.


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