Anyone use flats? Not prefolds, but actual flats

kristin720

So I've decided to cloth diaper once my little on arrives and I've been researching it pretty much throughout my pregnancy. I had planned to use prefolds and Thirsties covers for the first few months and see how it goes, likely moving into pockets or all-in-ones first at nights, then during the days if I liked them better than prefolds.

I had ordered a Thirsties cover with some other things from Amazon and it came this week. I snapped it to the smallest settings and had put a prefold in to see the size and it just seemed to be a lot of bulk for a newborn. So back online I went to look at different folds and I stumbled upon more information about flat fold diapers. I was very intrigued and I actually went to the thrift store last night and found a really soft flannel sheet for $2.00 and cut it up into 20inx20in squares and got 20 of them from the one sheet. Using an origami fold I get a 6 ply layer right where the prefold absorbency would but there seems to be a lot less bulk overall. I poured water on it to test the absorbency and it seems to absorb really well. I am excited about the possibility of using flats as it seems like they would dry quicker and I love the way they will seem to fit. I am just wondering how they will work in practice. I have fleece liners and microfiber to make inserts for extra absorbency and am definitely going to try this for the first few weeks of the newborn stage. Has anyone else successfully used flats and for how long? Much of my reading said they weren't as good as the baby gets older so I am wondering how long I could get out of them as this seems to be an incredibly affordable way to diaper if I can just make them out of flannel sheets and reuse covers.

bookworm982

The majority of my cloth diapering experience comes from flats. I volunteered in orphanages for 4 months in Ecuador. All we used were flats on 30+ babies who were under 2 years old. The origami fold worked wonderfully with newborns and was my favorite fold. Plus, flats were so easy to wash (by hand). I didn't like the diapers and folds we used as much on mobile babies, but we didn't have snappies...we simply tied knots. I think snappies would have change things a lot.

On a random note, almost everyone in Ecuador cloth diapers with flats, so fabric stores sale adorable diaper fabric prints. I wish I could go shopping in the fabric district there for material to make flats. Instead, I'm trying out a variety of American cloth diaper options, but still hope to find a friend to bring me a few meters of Ecuadorian fabric at some point.

kissntell

It sounds very promising!  How do you plan to close the flats?  Pins?  Snappi?

mettmkr

Bookworm 982- What folds did you use that you really liked as they got older and more mobile?

 

Yeah, I am planning on using snappies to secure them. I guess there is no harm in trying them and just continuing to use them as long as they work for us and if a time comes that they aren't I can try something else!

Thanks for the responses

aeg51107

I almost exclusively use flats on my DD who just turned 7 months. She is starting to get more mobile (scooting, rolling etc) and I still love them. I use them with thirsties covers.

I have been doing the origami fold since I started and it's super easy, and the cheapest way to go!

aeg51107

As they need more absorbency, and get bigger, you can always add another flat in the middle or a tri-folded prefold. You can also get (or make) cheap stay-dry liners if you are worried about the baby feeling wetness, but I don't find that's a big problem.