Prefold Cloth Diapers | ecobabysteps

Finally, my favorite cloth diapers. I did say that fitted diapers are my favorites. Well, prefolds and flat diapers are my other favorites, and I’m ready to compare them with the other great cloth diapering choices you have available.

Prefold Cloth Diapers

I just laugh when people talk about “modern cloth diapers” as if there is something about prefolds and flat diapers that they are trying to avoid. In my experience talking to a big variety of parents in a variety of situations, at least half still use prefolds. Why? Because they work!

Prefolds provide simple and adaptable moisture absorbency for any cloth diapering system. Prefolds are a rectangular diaper with extra layers down the center. As with fitted diapers, you will need to use a waterproof diaper cover over prefold diapers.

Because of the simple construction and materials of a prefold diaper, they are much less expensive than fitted, all-in-one, and pocket diapers. If fitting cloth diapers into a tight budget is your priority, prefold or flat diapers are your least expensive choice.

The prefolds sold at bynature.ca are either all cotton or a hemp/cotton blend. These natural fibers are absorbent and very easy to wash. You don’t need a special routine to get a cotton diaper clean. They can take a beating, which also means you save even more money because they will usually last for more than one child.

If you like variety in your cloth diapering system, prefolds can help. They can be used as inserts in pocket diapers as well as on their own under covers. You don’t need special inserts or special fibers since cotton prefolds will do both jobs all on their own.

Prefolds come in different weights and sizes, but you can usually use the same size for all but the tiniest babies, adding your newborn prefolds as doublers as your baby grows.

Flat Cloth Diapers

Flat diapers are what our (great-great)grandmothers used before prefolds were available through diaper services. My grandmother saved her flour sacks for both kitchen towels and baby diapers. My mother-in-law uses my husband’s old diapers as kitchen towels now. Towels and diapers do a similar job of holding moisture.

Flat diapers come in a variety of sizes as long as you are looking for variety between 18″x18″ and 36″x36″. (A bit like Henry Ford’s Model-T, which came in any color you want as long as you want black.) The smaller sizes are usually a heavier weight, such as terry toweling, in order to provide enough absorbency for a diaper. The flat diapers we carry are made from cotton birdseye and shrink to about 28″x28″ after washing.

Flat diapers will need to be folded to create a size to fit around your baby and into a diaper cover. Prefolds are called that because they took a popular diaper fold and sewed it into place. The diaper came prefolded, which meant more layers needed heavier washing to get clean, but cleaning both types of diapers is super simple compared to more complex diapers.

Most parents also use a closure to keep the diaper snug on the baby to prevent leaks. Yes, some parents—many parents—still use pins because they are practical and they work, but another very popular choice with prefolds is a Snappi diaper fastener. This is a plastic T-shape with teeth to grab and hold the diaper on the baby. I skipped both of these and used flat diapers without closures. I had pins, but I ignored them. I just used diapers folded in thirds with snug covers and T-shirts that snap at the crotch to keep diapers on.

Prefold & Flat Diaper Advantages

The least expensive diapering option.
Very quick to fold and put on a prefold. (My husband says he reached for them first because they made a quicker diaper change.)
Customized fit and absorbency for every change because babies can grow even week to week, and you don’t want to have to buy new diapers.
A variety of folds put absorbency and a kind of catcher’s mitt exactly where you need it.
Very easy to wash.
Very quick to dry, especially flat diapers.
Flat diapers have lower environmental impact in production, washing, and drying that any other type of diaper.
Now, prefolds even come in colors, sometimes with prints.
After they are done being diapers, either prefolds or flats make good cleaning rags.

Prefold & Flat Diaper Disadvantages

You have to fold, even a prefold.
On a very active baby, your skillful fold can move around inside the cover unless you use a Snappi or pins.
Harder to put on a standing or running toddler.
No gussets can mean messes if you don’t fold with messes in mind.
The chemical impact of the bleaching process on bleached (white) prefolds results in a shorter life for the fibers.
A substitute caregiver can be intimidated by folding no matter how simple you think it is.

Saturday we’ll share highlights from our customers’ reviews of prefolds and flat diapers. You still have a few days to add your review.

Baby with a tie-dyed prefold cloth diaper

As the leaves change color, you may feel like a little change of color would be nice inside, as well. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful dyed prefold cloth diapers that parents have dyed themselves. This is a great way to add fun to your baby’s diaper wardrobe as well as finding out how easy it is to add more color to your closet and to the rest of your house. If you have a beautiful white blouse with a tiny spot, a bright, new color may cover things up nicely—at the very least, your new wardrobe will distract from tiny spots.

There are three simple steps to dyeing cotton.

The dye chemically attaches to the cotton fibers.
An alkaline mixture fixes the attachment, since most dyes on their own tend not to be colorfast.
A hot wash cycle carries away any dye that hasn’t reacted (bonded to) the cotton fibers.

Materials

12 cotton prefold diapers
Salt, ~ 1 cup
Sodium carbonate (soda ash), ~ 1/2 cup (buy from a swimming pool supply store)
Powdered fiber-reactive dye, 1 tsp
1-quart glass jar
Small non-food stirring implement (to fit quart jar)
Large non-food stirring implement (to fit bucket)
Rubber gloves
5-gallon bucket

Diapers. Prewash but do not dry the diapers.

Dye Bucket. Fill bucket about 2/3 full with warm tap water. Dissolve salt the warm water.

Dye Mix. Put dry dye into glass jar and add a little bit of warm water at a time, stirring to make a well-mixed paste. Do not use kitchen utensils to stir dye. Once you have a paste, add a little bit more water at a time until you have about 3 cups of mixed dye water.

Pour the dye mix into bucket with salt water. Stir thoroughly.

Add washed diapers to dye bucket and stir gently and periodically for 10-15 minutes.

Fix Mix. Rinse glass jar. Put on your rubber gloves because sodium carbonate can be quite caustic on the skin.

Dissolve soda ash in glass jar with 3 cups of water as hot as you can make it out of the tap. Hotter water makes it easier to dissolve the soda ash. Stir well to dissolve completely. This takes a couple of minutes. Don’t stop until you have no more little chunks.

Add soda ash mixture a little at a time to dye bucket. Stir well between each addition. Take about 5 minutes to add the whole fix mixture.

Stir periodically for 10-15 minutes.

Rinse. Pour out dye, careful not to pour into a sink or bathtub that will take on the dye color. You might find that pouring it straight into the washer is the best choice. If you pour the dye bath into the washer, run a spin cycle.

Run 2-3 hot washes with detergent. Look at the wash on each rinse cycle to be sure that the water is running clear. You can check for residual dye by scooping rinse water into the glass jar and holding it up in front of a white background. The water may be almost clear after the first wash with a load of only 12 prefolds.

Dry as usual, and have fun with your new colored diapers.

Tie Dye

Easy! The first time I tie dyed T-shirts with children, when I was a summer camp counselor, I had no experience at all with dyeing. Our tie dye techniques were very simple, involving rubber bands and wadded up shirts, but the children had a great time, and the shirts were passably colored. If I could produce fun shirts in that chaotic situation, I’m sure you can produce great tie-dyed diapers.

Dharma Trading has extensive articles, books, videos, kits, and stories to encourage you to get creative with your dyeing adventure.

Why These Materials?

We use fiber-reactive dyes because they bond with cotton fibers on a molecular level. They are permanent. Once fixed, they don’t fade.

Also, Procion dyes “have the very important safety property of not penetrating intact skin cells.” Paula Burch, an experienced home dyer, finds them safe for a woman who is pregnant or breastfeeding. Be cautious when using the sodium carbonate, though.

Sodium carbonate (soda ash) may sound close to sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), but baking soda is not alkaline enough to fix the dyes. It’s easy to find the right chemicals for your hand dyeing. Pool supply stores sell all sizes of sodium carbonate down to 5lbs for about $10-12.

We use a special wetting agent for most of our dyeing, but even a teaspoon of dish soap could be added to salt water mixture to ensure even dye coverage. To make the instructions simpler, I removed that step. If you are going to experiment with more dyeing, try some with and some without simple wetting agents.

Resources

Dharma Fiber-reactive Procion Dyes are my favorite dyes. Dharma has masses of information, shared experience, and supplies—far more than I have ever needed, and I dye a lot of fabric.

Paula Burch’s All about Hand Dyeing is a great site for any non-chemist who wants to understand the chemistry of dyeing.

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Tag Archives: prefold cloth diapers

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