How to fold a cloth diaper

How to fold a cloth diaper

Many people ask why they are called "prefolds" if you still have to fold them! It is confusing, but essentially cloth diapers used to be long rectangles of gauze, called flats. In fact, when many people think of cloth diapers, they think of those and the complex folds they used to have to do. Prefolds are called prefolds because the fabric is sewn with extra layers, for extra absorbancy, in the middle. A preemie prefold has 2 layers, 4 layers 2 layers (usually written 2x4x2) and a premium prefold has 4x8x4.

Folding a cloth diaper doesn't need to be difficult, and once you learn to do it you can put on a prefold as quickly as you can put on a fitted. In fact many people love the custom fit they can get with a prefold they fold themselves, plus there is an art to it. Also the absorbancy and price can't be beat!

Here are four great folds for a prefold cloth diaper
1. Newspaper fold - you lie the diaper down on the wrap with the thicker part in the middle. Then fold up the front edge so it lines up with the front of the wrap. This makes a lot of padding in the front where a boy pees most but the fold is great for a girl too. Then bring in the two sides so the whole prefold is folded in thirds. Fan out the back a drop to make a pocket for the poop. Lay the baby down on top of the diaper and wrap and close it around him. No pins are needed if the wrap is snug but you may pin or snappi it, if you wish. The bummis and the bumkins both have a little pocket in the front that you can slip the front of the prefold into if you want to. Make sure there is no diaper sticking out - especially around the leg holes.



2. Sidewall (or Jelly Roll) fold - Lay the baby on the prefold, with it completely flat and unfolded. Roll in each side (long side next to thighs), at a slight angle so that the front gets smaller but the back wings stay out all the way. Bring up through legs and fold front if necessary. This fold makes a nice pocket for poop and is great for babies who are not eating solids yet. You can pin or snappi if you wish but if you have a snug wrap you won't need to.



3. Trifold - Take the prefold and put it down on the wrap so the thick padded part runs perpendicular to the diaper. The diaper is laying down the wide way and the top and bottom should be approximately the same height as your wrap. Fold each side in so it is in thirds and fits right in the wrap. This makes a thick pad right in the center. This fold is great for a girl because of the center padding - but it is so simple you'll want to use it for your boys too! Lay the baby down on the wrap and close it up. The bummis and bumkins wraps have pockets in the front if you want but they are not neccessary. Make sure no diaper is sticking out anywhere... especially around the leg holes. This fold has nothing to hold in the poop but the wrap should keep anything from leaking out.


4. The Bikini Twist - this is my favorite fold. Lay the baby on the diaper with the diaper the long way. Then simply twist the diaper all the way over at its midpoint. bring the diaper up and fasten it - either with pins or a snappi. It's so so simple, it looks great, it holds in the poop, and there is a lot of extra diaper at the waist so the diaper fits longer. I recommend this fold when someone calls or emails and says the infant prefold doesn't fit anymore but the premium prefold is too big.

Why choose cloth diapers?

Chemicals In Disposables

Since the 1960’s the disposable diaper changed from a plastic diaper with a lot of paper fluff to a diaper constructed of a waterproof plastic outer layer, a pad with super absorbent chemicals (absorbs 100x its weight in liquid), and an inner liner. Disposables are made mostly of synthetic materials. Dioxin, the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is a by-product of bleaching paper. The super absorbent chemical, sodium polyacrylate, absorbs and holds fluids in the diaper. Interestingly, tampon companies no longer use this chemical because of Toxic Shock Syndrome. If the chemical isn’t safe to use on an adult, why are disposable diaper companies still having us put this next to our baby’s delicate skin?

The CDC says the following on their website "Children are uniquely vulnerable to toxicants in the environment. Pound for pound, children eat more food, breathe more air, and drink more water. Their hand-to-mouth behaviors and their activities close to the ground increase their chances for exposure to hazardous substances. Their metabolic pathways are immature, so they detoxify and excrete pollutants less efficiently than adults. In addition, children are growing and developing rapidly, which can be disrupted by hazardous substances in the environment. After childhood exposure, they can get diseases that can take many decades to develop."

And most alarmingly, disposable diapers have been linked to male infertility and asthma.

Disposables and Landfill Concerns

About 3.3 million tons of untreated body excrement, which may carry over 100 intestinal viruses, is brought to landfills via disposable diapers every year. This may contribute to groundwater contamination and attract insects that carry and transmit diseases. The average baby will create two tons of bio-hazardous waste that will sit in a landfill for hundreds of years.

Here is a compelling photograph - a girl sitting in front of all the disposable diapers she'd use and next to all the cloth diapers she'd use. Again keep in mind that cloth can be sold or handed down so that stack of cloth diapers can be used for more than one child, but the disposable diapers would always be the same for each child.


Environmental Burden

Manufactures of disposables say energy usage is the same for cloth as disposables, but the fact is that disposables use much more energy than cloth does. After all, it takes a lot more to run a huge factory than a simple washer and dryer.

A famous study was done in 1990 by Arthur D. Little, Inc. The report was commissioned by Procter & Gamble, the company that makes Pampers and Luvs and holds the largest share of the throwaway diaper industry. Not surprisingly, the report concluded that disposables are no worse for the environment than cloth diapers. That study and several others are based on a controversial methodology called "lifecycle analysis," which attempts to measure the environmental impact of energy and resources consumed in the creation, use, and disposal of a product. Defenders of throwaway diapers use this type of analysis to point out that the diaper debate needs to go beyond the single issue of solid waste disposal. Yes, they say, throwaways add unnecessary waste to already-overwhelmed landfills, but reusable diapers take a toll of their own. Laundering can require large amounts of water and detergent, for example. Diaper service delivery trucks waste gas and cause pollution. And the cotton crops that provide material for the diapers are grown with harmful pesticides.

Which factors are measured depends on who's conducting the study. "The science of doing lifecycle analysis has not been well established," says Beaudry. "It leaves open all kinds of questions: Where do you start? Where do you finish? How do you prioritize?" She notes, for instance, that the Little study fails to take into account the amount of water required to flush away the contents of used throwaways as recommended on the box.,/p>

A report released in 1991 by the National Association of Diaper Services and prepared by consultants Lehrburger, Mullen, and Jones challenged the results of the Little study with its own findings:

Compared with reusables, throwaways produce seven times more solid waste when discarded and three times more waste in the manufacturing process.

Effluents from the plastic, pulp, and paper industries are far more hazardous than those from the cotton-growing and -manufacturing processes.

Single-use diapers consume less water than reusables laundered at home, and more than those sent to a commercial diaper service.

Industry data from Franklin Associates and The American Petroleum Institute add to this picture. Findings reveal, for instance, that 3.5 billion gallons of oil are used to produce the 18 billion throwaway diapers that end up in landfills each year. Additionally, the Women's Environmental Network (WEN), a non-profit organization based in London, commissioned the Landbank Consultancy to produce a scientific critique of the studies funded by Procter & Gamble. The consultancy, which used the same raw data and reached markedly different conclusions, reported, among other findings, that throwaways use five times more energy than reusables.

In my family we chose to switch from disposable diapers to cloth diapers to save money. After doing all the research though, we decided we would use cloth at any cost. Afterall you can't put a pricetag on your baby's health or saving the environment.

How much can you save on cloth diapers?

Use this cloth diaper savings calculator to find out. Don't forget you can use cloth for multiple children or resell them when you are done using them. Can't do that with Pampers.

Great pro breastfeeding comic strip today

check out this comic strip - Greystone Inn. I guess the character just had a baby and is being quickly persued by formula companies... you know how that is if you ever had a baby. I love how you get MORE cans of free stuff if you check off "I'm going to exclusively breastfeed" on the forms. And they are perfectly timed to arrive about 3 days after your due date - just when you start to worry about your milk coming in.

You can write to the artist at bguigar@yahoo.com

Out and about with cloth diapers

There are three situations that people worry about cloth diapering - or at least this is what they ask me about the most ;) - diapering on vacation, diapering at daycare, and diapering when out and about on a daily basis. None need to be an issue at all - I mean if your child is being changed there is really not much difference between changing a cloth diaper or changing disposable diaper. The main difference is you have to take the cloth one home with you and the disposable, well you have to dispose of. Here is some of my experience with using cloth out of the house

Daycare/preschool When my kids went to preschool while they were still in diapers I sent them with cloth. I told the teacher, rather than asking her, and I made it as simple for her as possible. I told her to wrap the diaper up, even if there was poop, and send it home as is and I would deal with the mess at home. I wanted them to go with inexpensive diapers that I didn't mind losing (gasp!). But I also needed them to be leak proof and so easy to use that they daycare provider didn't balk at using them. So my only choices were AIOs or pre-stuffed pocket diapers. The least expensive option of those was the AIOs, specifically kushies, so that's what I used. You'll also need a tote bag. The best one for daycare is the medium bummis. The teachers never said "oh they are so cute!" or "they are way easier than I thought they'd be" like I hoped - but they also never complained. So hopefully I showed them that cloth is easy and nothing like it used to be.

Going out When going out you want to make a great impression and of course you want things to be easy. I'll never forget the time I changed my son at the park and a mom asked me, "Are those real diapers?? I'm not sure whether she thought mine were the ersatz diapers or if the plastic earned that fine distinction but she was obviously shocked to see someone using cloth diapers in this day and age.

Whatever diapering method you use you'll learn to do it quickly so it doesn't have to be a chore to change in public. A prefold can go on just as fast as an AIO if you are used to doing it. But to make a good impression on grandma or that mom at the park you might want to have a couple of pretty
bumkins or cute diaper covers, like the bummis super print or a bumkins. You'll also need a wet bag . I usually just wrap the diaper up and stick it in the wet bag and deal with any messes when I get home. Um, just don't leave the diaper bag in the car by mistake.

Vacations We went on a few vacations with cloth, including Walt Disney World and they were NOT difficult. Most hotels have a laundry facility right in the hotel and I would just keep all the dirty diapers in a large bummis tote in the bathroom in the room and then I went to wash them every other night after the kids were asleep. I even have friends who used cloth while camping.

Cloth Diapers 101

Types of Cloth Diapers
prefold? fitted? pocket diaper? AIO? I just don't get it! Tell me what everything is and what I *really* need.

I know it is confusing at first but it really is pretty simple! You need a diaper - either fitted or a prefold - and you need a wrap. You could also use an All In One diaper (AIO) instead ... which is a diaper and a wrap in one! These are great for grandma's house. Some people like to use them all the time and some people like to use them just for going out. If you are looking for the convinience an AIO can't be beat... but a seperate diaper and wrap are pretty easy too. A pocket diaper is a totally different type of diaper. It is a layer of fleece (nice and soft next to baby's skin. really keeps baby dry!) and a layer of waterproof fabric. These two layers are sewn together on three sides to make a "pocket" You put a prefold or a hemp insert in the pocket. You can use pocket diapers full time or you can use them just for night time. They really keep baby dry!

Your 5 basic diapering choices are
1) a prefold diaper with a wrap
2) a fitted diaper with a wrap
3) All In One Diapers all the time
4) Pocket diapers all the time
5) a combo (like pocket diapers at night and something else during the day and AIO when you go out)

How Many Cloth Diapers to buy

Your best bet is 2 dozen diapers, 4-6 covers and something for nighttime. You'll need 2 or 3 of whatever you choose for nighttime. Most people use a pocket diaper with hemp inserts or a wool cover with a hemp diaper.

What Cloth Diaper System is Best

For newborns I recommend prefolds and proraps. They are inexpensive and newborns grow so fast. Plus they need to be changed a lot. Don't spend your money on something that will be outgrown in a few weeks.The proraps are also great because they have the umbilical cord notch.

When the baby hits 15 pounds he'll be ready for a medium in most brands and you can start trying the fun stuff. If he's going to daycare get a few AIOs. If you liked the prefolds and proraps system stick with that. If not you can experiment with some fitted diapers and different wraps. Buy a sample pack to see which ones you like best, then you can buy a package of your favorites to save money.

Myths about Cloth Diapering
1. Cloth diapers are expensive.
Actually cloth is much cheaper – though the initial outlay is high. Average costs -Prefolds $300
All-in-one diapers $700
Disposables $1500

2. Cloth diapers are hard to use.
Cloth diapers are just about as easy as disposable. Velcro and snap diaper covers make the use of pins obsolete plus no more late night runs to the store. With cloth you just throw your diapers in the wash instead of the trash.

3. My baby has sensitive skin, cloth diapers will cause diaper rash.
Cloth diapers are much friendlier to sensitive skin since they are not filled with chemicals and they are breathable. Plus it is easier to tell with cloth diapers when your baby is wet, so you are apt to change your baby more often.

4. I am on the go too much- I can’t use cloth diapers.
Regardless of where you are - babies need to have their diapers changed. When using cloth diapers, all you need to do is bring along a plastic bag or a waterproof tote bag to put wet or soiled diapers in you take them off of your baby. This is a lot easier than trying to find a trash can to dispose of a plastic diaper.

Stay tuned for the next class: out and about with cloth diapers....

I love it!

The dodge ram is a perfect reproduction of the female reproductive system! Check it out.

Why does Atkins get such bad press?

I admit I thought it too. When you are on Atkins all you eat is bacon, eggs, steak, and butter. Not quite sure where I got that impression but everyone that I tell that I'm on Atkins has the same reaction - your teeth will rot, you can't stay on it forever, your cholesterol will skyrocket, your muscles will breakdown, your kidneys will fail... I could go on and on.

Then I read The Book (Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution). Wow! Just what I've been aiming for all along in my house. Cut out trans fats completely and all sugars including high fructose corn syrup. Get rid of all the white foods (flour, potatoes, pasta, white bread, etc) Later when you lose all the weight you can add back in whole grains. If you don't need to lose weight but you want to eat this way because you know it's healthier you can read Atkins For Life.

I am eating healthier than I ever have in my life - vegeatbles I never ate - kohlrabi, beets, daikon radish, rutabagas, turnips, bok choy, fennel, just to name a few. I have a huge salad every day for lunch with flax seeds, blue cheese, avocado, grape tomatoes, and anything else that strikes my fancy. I never eat anything packaged and very few things that wouldn't be considered "whole foods".

What's funny is that the people who say I am eating unhealthy now never said anything if they saw me eating chips or a donut.