Week 2 Under Cover: Tell Me About Prefolds!

Prefolds are basically pieces of cloth. They are usually layered in the middle so it is the thickest there. You fold the piece of cloth into thirds, place inside your cover and voila!

There are two ways to fold a prefold depending on the size of your baby and cover you will be putting it in. You can either fold it, as your elementary school teacher once said: "like a hamburger bun or like a hotdog bun"

The hamburger bun fold is best for a newborn (if you don't have newborn size prefolds). The hotdog bun fold is best for all other sizes of babies. As you can see, the hotdog bun style has the thin sections folded on top of the thick middle length-wise. The hamburger bun has the shorter sides of the rectangle folded in so the middle is very thick. This works best for a newborn (that super thick middle will actually be right where you want it to be) and if you have a very large prefold and want to fold it to wrap around your baby, although you can use either fold for a wrap depending on what works best for you.

You can also wrap your prefold around baby so it fits more like a fitted diaper. I have found that doing this seems to make the diaper a bit less absorbent because some of the material is no longer under baby but rather around them. Some people say this is the best way to wear a prefold, so you'll have to try it for yourself!

Yes, prefolds are sold in different sizes to best fit the needs of your baby. Any given size is made with extra room for your baby to grow into. The extra can be folded over so the prefold fits best into your cover. Where you place the extra material will depend on the gender of your baby: extra goes in the back for girls and in the front for boys (this is true of all cloth diaper inserts that you will fold).

Coming up this week I will post on: pros and cons of prefolds, how to keep your prefold closed if you wrap it around baby, and what to do with your prefolds if you don't like them or if you have stopped needing them.

Happy Diapering!