Questions about prefolds for a newborn

[beckington]

I started cloth diapering my son when he was a few months old and have loads of diapers that fit from that stage but not many from newborn. I'm thinking of trying prefolds - the price is very attractive, and I do think they are quite cute! I was scared first of the various folds, but a friend showed me and I think it'll be fine with a bit of practice. But my concerns still are:

1. Are they really super bulky on a newborn? My son was super skinny and we had some Motherease birth to potty nappies that we couldn't figure out how to use on him because it was like he was drowning! So if we have another skinny baby I'm worried I'll be frustrated by the bulk. Are there some prefold options that are less bulky?

2. Do prefolds really contain newborn poop? I'm not sure of all the names of the folds, but my friend showed me one that you make a little diaper out of it and close with a snappi, so I don't think we'd just go with the trifold, which I would think would be worse for poop?

3. Can you use a fleece liner with prefolds? I really want some type of stay-dry barrier between wet nappy and baby bum. (I can't see any reason why you couldn't use one, but you never know!)

Thanks!

[chely7425]

I will try and answer some of your questions... we pretty much only use prefolds

1. No, they are not super bulky if you get the correct size. greenmountaindiapers.com sells prefolds in 5 sizes, we started with the yellow edged (smalls) because we have big babies, but if you have smaller babies you can get the orange edged (newborn).

2. Just trifolding does not contain newborn poop. Folding and using a snappi does, I get the least leaks with prefolds, I have actually only had 1 big leak with each of my kids. We do the jelly roll fold.

3. Yes, you can use a fleece liner

[traceface]

I loved the preemie-sized prefolds for my newborns (though my babies were far from being preemies at 9+ pounds.

I found that they weren't bulky at all and then later they can be used as doublers in larger-sized diapers and as cloth "wipes"

[thediaperingdoula]

Prefolds rock! I own a diaper shop and tell people that whether they buy a $30 AIO or a $3. prefold, if they are good quality and used correctly they will work the same. It's all in the folding. You can You Tube "jelly roll" which I think works best for watery newborn poo. Your covers should have gussets- Thirsties are great because they have a generous size range 6-18 pounds and have the extra protection around the legs.

[blumom2boyz]

My dd was the first babe that I actually cloth diapered and I only use prefolds (well, I have two fitteds that I use as well). I also used the jelly roll fold and had only 1 or 2 poop leaks and she pooped a lot! They aren't that bulky at all! I used a newborn size, but she was also a huge baby. She is now a skinny toddler and the prefolds don't swallow her at all (mix between GMD red edge and toddler prefolds). You can definitely use liners. My dd has a fleece sensitivity, so I use hemp. It doesn't add too much bulk at all. Hope this helps!

[beckington]

Great, thanks everyone! Jelly roll and prefolds sounds like a plan then!

Any advice on brands of prefolds? My local cloth diaper store sells unbleached organic Bummis prefolds - are they a good bet? I'm in Canada and it looks like Green Mountain Diapers are expensive to ship up here.

[cristeen]

IMO, the Bummis pfs are thicker and more absorbent than the GMDs. We had the Bummis infant and the UtN infant, both of which I love. When I had to size up though, I went with GMD and they're not as absorbent for my heavy wetter. The main drawback being that there are fewer size options (only 2 instead of GMD's 5).

[beckington]

Originally Posted by cristeen

IMO, the Bummis pfs are thicker and more absorbent than the GMDs. We had the Bummis infant and the UtN infant, both of which I love. When I had to size up though, I went with GMD and they're not as absorbent for my heavy wetter. The main drawback being that there are fewer size options (only 2 instead of GMD's 5).

But then would the Bummis be more bulky, a bad thing in my mind?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by beckington

But then would the Bummis be more bulky, a bad thing in my mind?

To a certain extent, you have to balance bulk w absorbency. W the bummis and utn, they caught every pee, and we still use them in a HH at night. The GMDs hes peed right through (puddle on the floor).

If you want trim, id go for the UtNs, but they are in fact the smallest and will be outgrown the quickest. But i've always gotten the best fit w the utns because they're stretchy. When you outgrow the infants though, you're stuck for bulk because the only other size fits to PL. I still love the utns, but they a
re too long for my 1yo.

[beckington]

Originally Posted by cristeen

To a certain extent, you have to balance bulk w absorbency. W the bummis and utn...

Sorry, what's 'utn' stand for? Still getting used to all this new lingo!

[cristeen]

Under the Nile.

[Coconut Chronicles]

My DS was (is) a super skinny baby too (6 lbs even at birth.) We used GMD (Green Mountain Diaper) prefolds almost exclusively for the first couple months (then we added a few pockets, fitteds, aio etc). Never had a blow out with the prefolds when he was a newborn. I added a folded flat at night for extra absorbency and used both snappi's and pins.

To be honest when you have a skinny baby any diaper is going to look large but I never thought he looked too large in a prefold: 8 days and 4 weeks

[IdentityCrisisMama]

OP, do you mind if I crash with a related question. I'm looking for prefolds for a newborn as well. I was originally going for GMD prefolds but am now looking at using Abby's Lane.

What is available through them are:

Indian Prefolds(Cotton)
Babykicks hemparoo Fleece Prefolds(Hemp Fleece)
Diaper Rite Prefolds(Cotton)
Thirsties Duo Prefolds(Hemp Jersey)

The site seems to "rave" about the hemp products but I've read that it's difficult to get the smell out of hemp once you get some stink. Can anyone elaborate on that and/or give some reviews about the above diapers?

Also, are Bummis cotton? What makes them so nice compared to other prefolds?

Thanks -- OP I hope this will be helpful to you too!

P.s. Does anyone know how to do a two word search on MDC. I want to search "best prefold" but it doesn't work...I just get everything with either the word best OR the word prefold, which is kinda useless.

[cristeen]

Bummis are Organic Cotton and they are the thickest and most absorbent of the pfs i've tried.

I havent had any more difficulty gettin. My hemp clean than my cotton, but the hemp definitely takes longer to dry.

The only way i know of to do a 2 word search is to use google advanced searching.