Planning on using flats/prefolds...Absorbancy?

[corrabelle]

I've been given a huge pile of flats and prefolds from a friend (or friend of a friend...I should say.) 60+ flats and 30+ prefolds.

These are what I was planning on using anyway-the price was right, and i'm ok to shell out money for some PUL and wool soakers etc.

I can't afford using all-in-ones, and I hate that i'd have to buy mulitple sizes. (this was another reason I wanted to do flats-very versatile.)

I'm also ok with folding-I find it theraputic.lol

The thing i'm worried about though is absorbancy. How do they compare to other fitteds etc? Is it all in how you fold them? And whether or not you line them with doublers etc? (I do have quite a few of those too..) And do they have to be so bulky to be absorbant that my baby's clothes will no longer fit properly?

I'm mostly worried about being out and about/travelling and having major leak issues. (not that it wouldn't ever happen with disposable...;) I also just don't want the baby to have so much bulk between it's legs that it's miserable.

Any advice is appreciated:)

[flightgoddess]

Night time you will need more absorbancy, if you want to leave them to sleep through the pees. My lil guy peed through everything at night, so we did disposeables at night. Next babe, I'm going to try some happy heinys or other fleece lined ones at night, using prefolds as stuffers. I do use regular prefolds during the day, just fine w/o leaks, but once he reached about toddler age, I did start using doublers or an infant prefold for extra absorbtion. I like thirsties covers, and prowraps are good too

[Marissamom]

I have my 22 month old in premium prefolds, and without a doubler or anything it takes 6 hours before she has completely soaked through it. (obviously it's very rare that I let her go anywhere near that long without changing her)

[LeighPF]

Prefolds are pretty comparable with a lot of fitteds for absorbency. Flats have less, but are easy to double up. They dry like a dream. Both are far more versatile than any other system and the most forgiving of almost any laundry abuse. Absorbency is in the diaper itself, containment is in the fold. There are lots of great sites to find folds. We used prefolds for the first year. I used a strait tri-fold laid in the cover. In the beginning I also rolled the sides to contain the poop better. I also like a kite fold.

In the beginning they poop so often that you don't worry about absorbency. You will know when you need more absorbency. You may have wicking leaks at the top and sides and when you change the diaper it will be wet at their hips. You can add a doubler through the stride (fold it in, lay it on top or underneath) or an extra diaper. I love hemp doublers. You will for sure need more absorbency at night at some point and perhaps at specific periods of the day. Hemp prefolds (Baby Kicks makes great ones) are great for people who love prefolds, need more absorbency at night and want to cut down on the bulk. Great quality, less $ then fitteds and you only need a few.

When you are at home you can also fasten the diaper and skip the cover for fewer steps, more awareness of when they wet and in the summer more evaporation. We also put a prefold in the highchair followed my a naked boy for air flow and so we can just pop the messy boy strait into the tub.

They are bigger. We found that we needed to go one size up for clothes most of the time. But you were going to wear those clothes anyways. The bigness is bigger at the beginning. Babies have worn cloth diapers for centuries with out being miserable or otherwise harmed by the bigness. My son wore prefolds for the first year and never minded.