Flats VS. Prefolds

Moozilla11

What do you prefer/recommend?

We are a hand washing family and were told that Gerber flats were great but I am nervous to go that route due to all of its bad reviews. 

Vermillionsss

Gerber flats are worthless. Try another brand if you want to try flats. Prefolds/flats take some patience(which I didn't have much of in the beginning), but they work just as good as another diaper. I think most of the time when people talk crap about them it's user error. 

tokenhoser

Flats are a good choice for hand washing because they're easy to get clean and dry quickly. I wouldn't buy Gerber, though. I'd get OsoCozy or Swaddlebees or another more reputable brand. Check the review sheet in my siggy and see if anyone has recommendations.

The thing about flats is it's like origami - the learning curve is higher. If you figure it out, though, it will work fine.

Moozilla11

Thanks a bunch!

emolm

I love my Green Mountain Diaper flats! We machine wash but I seriously seriously love them.

Daisiesinmygarden

I think the one time there is an advantage of the gauze (Gerber/Child of Mine) would be when handwashing. You would definitely need to double them or use a doubler when LO is our of the newborn stage. They are about 12 flats for $12 with no shipping cost, so they wouldn't be a horrible loss if you wound up using them for burp cloths or as back ups, so I would give them a try just don't give up on CD-ing if you hate them, as there are much easier, more absorbent alternatives out there.

That being said, I have both GMD and CottonBabies birdeye flats and on a whim (and to have for camping/and for when she is playing coverless outside) I picked up some Child of Mine flats at Walmart. I prefer to use my GMD flats most of the time when I want a flat. If I had to handwash and was choosing between the birdseye, I think I might prefer the Cottonbabies to GMD only because they are a little thinner. I would probably prefer the gauze over birdseye if handwashing.

One thing to note is that the Child of Mine had the most ridiculous washing instructions I have ever seen. Completely ignore it. I didn't think they would increase in absorbency much with washing, but they did get a little better over time.

BriDaily

I have GMD flats and love them. DS has been growing like crazy ever since he came out of me and I decided to get the large flats so he could fit in them longer than prefolds. It really didn't take me long to figure out the folding... GMD even has a short video up on Youtube on how to fold flats. I do prefer putting a couple twists on the sides, it helps keep poop in. Good luck on your hand-washing venture!

Daisiesinmygarden

Also, right now GMD has almost square flats. I would love for mine to be square.