Pilled Prefolds

[azzeps]

Hi all,

Just cruising around here because I'm pregnant with #2 and thinking about our newborn diaper stash.... wanting to buy some newborn sized prefolds, but I'm hesitant, because the "regular" sized ones I bought for our daughter became scratchy and pilled after very little use.  I sure don't want to invest in a few dozen newborn sized ones just to have them get pilled after a couple of washes.  Any idea why this happened or how to fix it?  For what it's worth, I was using Charlie's soap in a front-loading washer.  They were unbleached prefolds from a local cloth diaper store in town.  I say they "were" unbleached because I also had ammonia stink issues and got irritated and bleached them... but they were already pilled.  I thought maybe the bleach would break down the fibers somewhat and make them softer, even though they won't last as long....

Or if you have any suggestions as to where to buy the newborn prefolds, that would be great.

Thanks!!!

[AuNaturaleMama]

No help on the pilling but Im a huge fan of Green Mountain Diapers' prefolds! They get super quilty and hold a ton.

[azzeps]

Ok, cool!  Thanks!  I was just looking at their website to try to figure out what size I would want.

I'm thinking maybe I will take those pilled diapers back to the shop and see if they have any suggestions for me.  Or maybe they'd exchange them...  who knows.

[azzeps]

Hoping someone has a suggestion on why the prefolds got pilled, or how I can fix them.  Anybody else in the same boat?

Thanks!!

[MamieCole]

This won't help you with your pilling issue, but I bought some new GMD orange edge prefolds when DS2 was a newborn and they got super pilly and scratchy. I actually posted my own thread back then, asking if anyone knew what would cause the pilling...no one had any insight. 

I also have some chinese prefolds that were hand-me-downs from a friend...they were used the same and washed the same as the GMD prefolds and yet they have NO pilling and are super soft. 

[azzeps]

huh.  It's a mystery.  Amy, maybe your hand-me-downs were already "broken-in" enough not to pill.  I was thinking maybe if I just kept using and washing mine, they'd eventually "de-pill" if that's even possible.  But we moved on to FuzziBunz instead, so they really didn't get a lot of use after they pilled up on me.

[Jane]

I wonder if you could get a sweater shaver and take the pills off? 

In polyester garments, piling is broken or small fiber which escape the weave and ball up.  Perhaps some cottons have more small fibers? 

Otherwise, I'd suggest a run in the dryer with shoes or something to soften 'em up.