best cloth diapers for an older child

[mw-naturalmama]

Hi! We're just starting our cloth diapering adventure. My little girl is nearly 19 months old; 30 lbs, 34" tall! And prefolds just don't work. Even  the toddler size was too tight in the waist, too bulky in the behind. I'd like to stay as natural / organic as possible. Fitteds? Contours? Thanks so much!!

[LiLStar]

Try the prefold folded into 3rds and laid in the cover. I never fasten prefolds on. If you want to use only natural fibers, your best bet is fitteds with a wool cover. There's tons of brands of fitteds, including wahm ones. Same for wool. There's knitted/crocheted wahm ones, mass produced ones (like stacinator, sustainable babyish, aristocrat) and recycled ones made from old sweaters. All work excellently. If you can sew, you can easily make a wool cover yourself from thrift store sweaters

[LittleBirdy]

Hi!  We started cloth diapering when our son was just about the same size.  I found the toddler prefolds to be far too large!  The size large "brown edged" prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers fit him quite well.  We do the "angel wing fold" and then put a Thirsties duo wrap over top - no pinning or Snappi or anything.

I tried a lot of different things to get started - fitteds, pocket diapers, and prefolds.  I really prefer the prefolds.  I have had stink issues with the pocket and fitted diapers I bought because they are not 100% natural fibers.  I didn't really care about natural fibers when I started out but I love that my prefolds come out of the wash smelling CLEAN.
 

[skycheattraffic]

I switched my DD over to cloth around 12 months to help her feel wet since we started ECing and I'm hoping to prime her for PL in the future. She is a VERY active, now 14.5 month old toddler and I have lots of trouble getting her to be still for diaper changes. Prefolds just didn't work for us and I use a combination of diapers in different situations. At home i usually use fitteds (bumboo and motherease) with a wool soaker. When I run out of those, I toss a flat into a PUL cover and that works ok. For going out or if grandma is watching her, I go with pockets. I definitely prefer the natural fibers in the fitteds but at times the convenience of a pocket goes a long way. I found prefold to be really bulky when folded in thirds and laid into the cover and my monkey is never still enough to try anything more complex. The flats are much thinner but they are fine as long as I change them soon after each pee, which I can do at home. My bumboo is still on the crossover snap (!) since they are so stretchy even though DD is 23 lbs, 30inches. The mother ease almost meets in the middle too so I think both of these brands should fit your LO well. The pockets I have are mostly glowbugs and I'm on the third snap so again there is still lots of room. I have a wahm wool soaker that's really bulletproof and I crochet another that works well but I think I'll add a second layer in the crotch since my DD is a very weary wetter and it has leaked once or twice.
I would recommend you start slow and get a couple of different diaps to see which type works well for you and what brands/wahm you like. I have a couple of things that weren't the best fit for us and I'm happy we have one of each and not five.
Good luck! Keep us posted. I'm curious to hear what works for your toddler since it might work for mine too :-)