bought flats and don't know if I like them!

[doulawoman]

Hi Folks, we're on a tight budget, I posted  earlier about diapering a tot and a newborn (due in January) for financial and potty training reasons I bought most of my stash now.

Before we moved I had a lot of prefolds and various covers...the onyl ones that fit were my little beetle organic merino wool one size covers. I sold the prefolds because I wasn't 100% happy with them and didn;t want to ship them cross country. Now I really regret it! I bought 60 flats because 1.) more economical 2.) mre "flexible"...I never did figure out prefolds with a snappi, we had just been trifolding them in a cover and I found poops got onto the cover legs way too much (esp on wool that is more of a PIA to wash). Now the flats are here, prepped, and They seem tiny after shrinking, they seem thin even all folded up like a prefold...not bad for a newborn but not good for my sensitive tot. I feel regret. But we just spent the money on them.

Can anyone help melike them better? :( I'm pretty upset. Imiss the absorbancy ofprefolds. I wish I never got rid of them! I did order one kawaii good night heavy wetter one size diaper (not here yet), one bumgenius 4.0 one size stay dry diaper (tried once) and one reg kawaii one size diaper (also not here yet) I wanted to try them out on my tot before I put them on our baby registry. I also have to say, as far as I know my wool covers aren't making me happy either (I have three) there are lanolized, and I had a flat and a three layer hemp insert in it today for dd (18 mo), first time we;ve used them since she was about 10 mo. The pee leaked through and got her pants a bit wet, and there was so much absorbancy! Also without extra leg gussets, poop gets on the legs a lot....

I so so wish I could just buy about 100 BG's or other pockety/AIO's.

Can anyone give me advice or help me like or modify my stasha  bit without spending a mint? :(  :(

[AnkaJones]

If you're open to it, you may be able to get heavily discounted prefolds from your local diaper service (ask for 'rags'... usually they have like one stain on them or something like that) then make some fitteds out of them.  There are some relatively easy to follow instructions at http://www.diapersewing.com/prefold_to_fitted.htm. 

Anka

Edit:  And i'm sorry you're having so much trouble!  I thought about flats because they seem cheper and more amenable to line drying, but chickened out at the last minute.

[LaughingHyena]

I used terry flats with both kids out of preference. They key for us was finding the right fold, so many options to try. We started with the origami fold when they were small and went to a kite as they got bigger.

If you sort of roll in the edges as you put the nappy on you create leg gussets. IT took me a bit of practice to get the snappi to hold everything tight enough. As first I often felt I was doing it too tight but it didn't seem to leave any marks or anything and it did make sure we had not leaks.

I found the layering of nappy and doubler seamed to make a difference, I suppose some fabrics absorb faster than others. Ours worked best with the doublers folded in rather than on top next to the skin. I found terry washcloths were handy for adding a bit extra absorbancy without too much bulk.

For covers we used motherease airflow. A lot of the covers available here (UK) didn't have enough height at the sides to cover a flat