# Anyone just diapering with flats?



## Adasmommy (Feb 26, 2005)

Any experience diapering with flat diapers and a cover? Especially, wool, as that's all I plan to use. I know I want wool soakers, but if wrap style covers are going to be a huge boon, I could get some wool wraps too!

Flat diapering pros? Cons? Possible?

Oh, I'm talking about newborn breastfed diapering, but would also love to know how flat diapers work through all stages of diapering. Thanks!


----------



## aurinia (Jun 16, 2007)

:

I'm thinking of switching to flats from prefolds and am also curious what others have to say.


----------



## lexbeach (Mar 6, 2002)

I used flats exclusively for a while. They worked well for us because my ds was such a light wetter at the time (he's always a light wetter, but in humidity he barely pees at all; we used flats mostly in the hot, summer months), and only pooping on the potty (he was an EC pro from 4-7 months, and has been on strike ever since).

Pros:

- easy/quick to wash and dry
- you feel really cool when you master all the folds
- trim

Cons:

- hard to pin a flat on a squirmy baby.
- hard for others to change diapers if they don't know how to do the folds
- not the best at containing poop
- not the most absorbent

We ended up switching to fitteds when ds became so wiggly (around 8 months) that I was poking myself with pins at almost every diaper change, and he was *screaming* because he hated having his diaper changed. We probably could go back to flats now because he (at 10 months) actually lies quite still for diaper changes these days, but I'm pretty smitten with the fitteds at the moment.

Oh, and we were using the flats with mostly wool wraps, which would probably be comparable to wool soakers. We did get a lot of poop on the wool once he stopped pooping in the potty. I used the origami fold almost exclusively--not the best fold for poop!

HTH!

Lex


----------



## Adasmommy (Feb 26, 2005)

Thanks for the insights, Lex. I hear you on the squirmy baby. When my first became mobile we switched from prefolds to fitteds.









I do want poop containment. I hate getting poop on beautiful wool covers! I wonder if another fold would make it work better for that.

Do you remember what brand you used?

Aurinia, I'm curious, why switch from prefolds to flats?

I'd love to hear from more people, but flats being as prevalent as they aren't, I won't hold my breath!


----------



## raversangel (Jul 1, 2005)

I use them on my 6mo and my 2.5yo and they are wonderful! i use Imse Vimse muslin flats which *imo* are more absorbant than the birdseye ones







(which i have 8 i was going to put up for sale if your interested) They worked well for both of them, i too have a light wetting toddler, so they didn't get any more wet than a prefold for us...i LOVE the jo fold:

http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/public...ls.aspx?id=141

its by far our favorite...i even taught my 6yo how to fold them ...lol...he thinks its the funnest thing in the world! overnight we just put a couple bamboo doublers and we are good to go


----------



## jessimeredith (Jul 5, 2004)

Have been doing them for 3yrs, love them.

It's all in the fold. The Nappy Lady is the best, imo, for different folds. Double up for extra absorbancy or add a doubler of sorts. We use strictly wool here and have had very few blowouts.


----------



## aratiaw (Oct 15, 2006)

Lex has the pros & cons exactly right!

You may find more flats users on Australian boards, as hardly anyone here knows what prefolds are - cotton terry flats are the traditional cloth nappies here. (Try
Nappycino.

Regarding wraps vs soakers, IMO wraps will be your friends when it comes to cleaning up NB poo; soakers have to slide down the legs and have more potential for spreading the mess.


----------



## aurinia (Jun 16, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Adasmommy* 
Thanks for the insights, Lex. I hear you on the squirmy baby. When my first became mobile we switched from prefolds to fitteds.









I do want poop containment. I hate getting poop on beautiful wool covers! I wonder if another fold would make it work better for that.

Do you remember what brand you used?

*Aurinia, I'm curious, why switch from prefolds to flats?*
I'd love to hear from more people, but flats being as prevalent as they aren't, I won't hold my breath!









Couple of reasons we want to switch...number one, I like the idea of having one size diaper to get us through potty learning. She's just about out of the infant size prefolds now and it just seems like a waste to have these 3 dozen diapers sitting around that I could only use for a few months. And, our dryer is so old it does a horrible job of drying anything...it takes 2 cycles to get PF's dry. If I use flats, we can customize fit and if I need to hang them to dry, I can. That's pretty much it.


----------



## lexbeach (Mar 6, 2002)

We used the tiny birds organic colorgrown flats (so soft) and some dyed baby textiles flats (not nearly as soft) during the day (both 27") and the Imse Vimse organic flannel flats (36") at night. The 27" flats were too small for most of the folds on my chubby baby (he was 20 lbs. at 6 months with a 21" waist), which is why we stuck to the orgiami fold. But the flannel 36" flats were too bulky for use during the day.







I wish there were more size options in birdseye flats. A 36" birdseye flat would have been perfect for my baby.

HTH!

Lex


----------



## jessimeredith (Jul 5, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lexbeach* 
We used the tiny birds organic colorgrown flats (so soft) and some dyed baby textiles flats (not nearly as soft) during the day (both 27") and the Imse Vimse organic flannel flats (36") at night. The 27" flats were too small for most of the folds on my chubby baby (he was 20 lbs. at 6 months with a 21" waist), which is why we stuck to the orgiami fold. But the flannel 36" flats were too bulky for use during the day.







I wish there were more size options in birdseye flats. A 36" birdseye flat would have been perfect for my baby.

HTH!

Lex


They do have them Lex, lol. Granitesmith on evilBay sells an "adult" flat that is probably exactly what you are looking for. I have a 36x36 muslin flat that just swallows my guy whole but that being said...he is just NOW at 19mths outgrowing infant pfs, lol.


----------



## Adasmommy (Feb 26, 2005)

Some of the cons are pretty big cons to me.

How do you all deal with the poor poop containment? Just wash a lot of covers? Does anyone use a tie-on nappy like this one? Do you think it would solve that? http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm#tie

What about the difficulty securing on a wiggly baby or toddler? How do you handle this? Just grit your teeth? I'm trying to decide if I will end up investing in something different because of this, in which case, I will skip the flats altogether!

Allison, my interest in flats is similar to yours. Since my little one isn't born yet, I would love to get one set of diapers for the whole go. And I prefer line drying but IME prefolds take forever out there!


----------



## aurinia (Jun 16, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Adasmommy* 
Some of the cons are pretty big cons to me.

How do you all deal with the poor poop containment? Just wash a lot of covers? Does anyone use a tie-on nappy like this one? Do you think it would solve that? http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm#tie

What about the difficulty securing on a wiggly baby or toddler? How do you handle this? Just grit your teeth? I'm trying to decide if I will end up investing in something different because of this, in which case, I will skip the flats altogether!

Allison, my interest in flats is similar to yours. Since my little one isn't born yet, I would love to get one set of diapers for the whole go. And I prefer line drying but IME prefolds take forever out there!

I've got three of the tie nappies, and while I like them (especially at night), I hardly ever find the need to use them. If I do, its to hold a tri-folded PF under her Disana soaker for nighttime. As far as difficulty securing flats or prefolds or whatever...I just use Snappis. I've never been able to figure out pins. Much quicker to fasten on a squirmy baby, too.







And I'm pretty sure you can fold the flats to be like a tri-folded prefold and just lay in a cover, too.

I just got a couple of dozen flats from Green Mountain Diapers in the mail today (YAY!) and I think I'm really going to like them. They're so soft! And much more substantial than I expected...cross you fingers and hope things go well.


----------



## birdiefu (Jan 19, 2005)

I don't use flats exclusively, but they are an important part of my stast and I like them *way* more than prefolds! They are more versatile and I can use the same flats on my 3 y.o (doubled and self-devised fold) and 6 week old (single w/origami fold). I've never really had poop problems (it still happens, but rarely) with flats as I usually modify the folds for poo-catching gussets of some sort. I snappi my flats, they work with any cover for me.

ETA: I never had issues with flats being worse with a wiggly kid. I just fold them prior to the diaper change and store it in a folded-up (like it's on the baby) position so it doesn't unfold. When it's time to change, remove old dipe, clean, stick new one under bum and pull the front down then place over the top of the baby.

And oh, I love the Hemp babies flats, but most of mine are regular 27" birdseye.


----------



## elanorh (Feb 1, 2006)

I use mostly pockets now but used prefolds and flats for 3 1/2 years - discovered pockets when SJ was about 6 months old and have switched over. We switched because of Wiggly Baby syndrome and also because dh changes more diapers this way (I'd have to stop whatever I was doing and show him, again, how to fold the flat or prefold whenever he changed the others - he has some short-term memory issues).

My mom used only flats. She would hold our legs slightly twisted while putting the diapers on, and diaper changes were quick. So wiggly baby syndrome was less of an issue for her. I think she also unconsciously EC'd a bit, as most of us were potty-trained shortly after a year, which also solves the wiggly baby issue.









I made my own flats - birdseye and diaper flannel ones - 27" ones and 36" ones.

Truly I do like them and sometimes use them even now, but pockets ended up being more convenient for us (so far anyway). We used Bummi original covers with the flats/prefolds - we did have some blowouts with them, but given what little I know about woolies, I'd far rather deal with a Bummi blowout than washing the wool. I could be wrong though having never used wool.


----------

