Prefold Cloth Diapers

A prefold cloth diaper is a rectangular diaper that is made of multiple layers of absorbent material. While they are traditionally made with cotton, you can also find prefolds in hemp or bamboo.

DSQ or diaper service quality diapers are soft, super-absorbent and durable. The kind you'll find at big baby stores is NOT what you want. Get DSQ diapers from a specialty diaper retailer. There are many retailers online that carry DSQ diapers including my store One Lucky Mama ( cloth diapers). Some cities are lucky enough to have brick and mortar diaper stores. Some online retailers will also allow local pickup so you can save on shipping and carbon by shopping local.

I sell cloth diapers, so I have access to any brand of diapers I really want. If I don't sell them, I know someone who does. My daughter has about 4 dozen diapers right now and about half of her diapers are prefolds. Why have I chosen to diaper her with prefold cloth diapers so much of the time? I use prefold cloth diapers because they are easy to use, easy to wash, lightweight and bulk-free in the diaper bag, and because they are cute. Prefolds with covers are super simple. If you are worried about dealing with poop, just add a flushable liner, such as those offered by Bummis.

When your mom or grandma was using cloth diapers, there were few choices in cloth diapering. You had your basic rectangle of birdseye, a flat diaper. You had your basic rectangle of layered cotton gauze, a prefold. To top it off you had your basic choice of wool knit covers or leaky rubber pants.

Welcome to the wonderful new world of cloth diapering!

Today, there are many choices for prefolds. Your basic choices are between Chinese prefolds and Indian prefolds. Chinese prefolds come from...China! Indian prefolds come from...well, often Pakistan, but sometimes India. Chinese prefolds are made with a slightly heavier twill type fabric and the Indian prefolds are made from a softer more open weave. Both are made from cotton and are layered with more thickness in the middle. A typical layering would be 4x6x4 with 4 layers on the edges and 6 in the middle.

You can also find organic prefolds, bamboo velour or fleece, hemp fleece and more. You can even find colored prefolds or tie dye prefolds made with Chinese or Indian prefolds for a dash of fun in cloth diapering.

We love this rainbow patterned bamboo velour prefold from One Lucky Mama's handmade collection on Hyena Cart. It dries in one dryer load and it will fit her for a really long time. This is a medium, so it is folded down a lot to fit her tiny 12 pound self, but that is the beauty of a prefold. You can use them longer than most other diapers since they fold to fit. We use this rainbow bamboo diaper plus the matching doubler for overnights and she wakes up with half her diaper dry.

One of the great things about modern cloth diapering is that you don't need diaper pins. I personally don't find pins and prefolds hard to use, but my daughter can't get away during a diaper change - yet! Thre are two ways to use a prefold without pins.

The first way is to use a little device called a Snappi. Just attach the little plastic teeth to the diaper and it holds the diaper in place with no fuss. Easy peezy!

The second way is even easier, though it does not do quite as good a job keeping poop inside the diaper so you may have to have a few extra covers on hand. Simply fold the diaper to fit inside the cover, fasten cover over baby. Voila! Diapering Zen.