My Journey [back] to Prefolds

When I first started cloth diapering Gehrig, he was 13 months and I was doing it to save money. My friend had told me that the cheapest way to do cloth was to use prefolds and covers. So I found a lady on www.diaperswappers.com who said she was selling 26 toddler prefolds for $35. That was the best deal I could find so even though it killed me to spend that much, I went ahead and bought them. Of course my first experience there would be a bad one--when I got them, I couldn't figure out how to make them fit on Gehrig. They seemed so small! Well, after checking measurements, turns out they were infant prefolds.

So I was stuck with 26 prefolds that were too small. I felt like I couldn't quit after spending that much money, but I wasn't sure what to do. I posted on diaperswappers that I was looking for cheap, cheap diapers and explained my predicament. An AWESOME mama messaged me and offered to send me a box full of pockets, fitteds, inserts, and a wetbag if I would just pay shipping. Those diapers lasted through Gehrig being potty-trained.

When Logan came along, I had the opportunity to try out a few different types of diapers. I loved fitteds and covers when he was little, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I continued to use fitteds and pockets with him, but I started to get kind of tired of them. I kept having smell issues for one thing. I was having to strip all the diapers every other week. And for another, vaseline is the only thing that works on Logan's dry skin, but I couldn't use it with fitteds and pockets.

I started trifolding the infant prefolds I had in covers so that I could put vaseline on Logan, and within a few days I was hooked. I've traded almost all of my pockets, All-in-ones, and fitteds for larger prefolds. I've gone old school.

And I'll tell you why. A couple things I've already mentioned--no smell issues and no repelling if I use vaseline or diaper cream. They're also a lot easier to fold than stuffing pockets--and no unstuffing to wash them *yuck*. I don't have to be so careful about detergent. They're waaaay cheaper. They're super absorbent--I put off trying one on Logan overnight, but since I've started using them, no leaks. They're easy to travel with (and I've been doing a lot of traveling lately). And, best of all, you can use cute covers over them! :)

So if you're thinking about starting to us cloth, I highly suggest you go the prefold route. That way once you get addicted, you can buy cute covers to feed your addiction and they're considerably cheaper than pockets, AIOs, fitteds, or AI2s.