I will admit, I have never put a prefold onto a baby before. Add to that, I’ve never even put on one of those “cadillac” cloth diapers like the BumGenius 3.0′s. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to cloth diapering, so I hope Sprout is a patient little child who will let mommy and daddy use her as a guinea pig for a little bit. 
I did start putting some things into her diaper bag this morning though – including some prefolds and her x-small cover. I figured today would be a good day to research some folding techniques for these diapers. I may just have to print the site I found and take it with me to the hospital.
According to this site, there is the basic fold (which seems like something I can handle), the twist fold, the orgami fold (too much for me?), and the fold in thirds method. If you cloth diaper, which fold do you use? Does one work better for boys and one for girls?
For more Talk about Tuesday, visit The Lazy Organizer.
I’ve been a big fan of the fold in thirds method, through cloth diapering with prefolds of 3 kids. To start out, it seems to work better to turn it 90 degrees from the “normal” way (so that it’s more wide than tall) and then fold in thirds. It fits much better into the cover that way.
I started out with boys, so I always folded over extra fabric to the front. Then I had a girl, but I kept folding in the front. It just seemed so uncomfortable to lay on an extra roll like that, and babies these days sleep on their backs… that is, unless they’re being held or worn
I clicked on the link you supplied for different folds. The origami fold is for flat diapers, not prefolds. Do you have flats or prefolds?? Flats are only one layer and are much bigger than prefolds (~27 inches square). I always use the fold in 3 method for prefolds. You can fold in 3 and lay in a cover if you don’t want to pin or snappi or pull the edges out from the back and pin or snappi them onto the front.
I mostly use flatas, though, and alternate between the kite fold and the origami fold. They’re much more trim under a cover than prefolds.
Diaperswappers.com is a great resource for learning about cloth diapering.
Good Luck with the new baby.
g.
I haven’t used the pre-folds much so I’m afraid I have very little helpful there. But, I did want to mention that we have had very good luck with jillian’s drawers. If you find that pre-folds aren’t quite what you wanted, she has a great “try cloth” program that lets you try out lots of different types of diapers for cheap.
You’re my guinea pig for when I have babies and need to learn this myself!
YOu are so brave. I hope it works well for you. I never tried, I know, I’m lame. Good luck, you’ll have to keep us posted.
We’ve done all of the above. If you have a snappi, then the traditional way works well. The fold in thirds is good if you aren’t expecting a blow-out sized poop. Ok I know that sounds strange to the uninitiated.
Different kids = different things for us as well. We started with laying the trifolded diaper in a bummis cover. Simple, but we did have to wash covers more than with the snappi.
Congrats to you on cloth diapering. It takes dedication and lots of hard work!! I could never master the folding.
I have the Cadillac diapers (BumGenius 2.0 actually), but we use prefold most often. I would really recommend the Twist (also called the bikini fold) for when your baby is fresh and has those awesome explosive poo diapers. Just trust me, it keeps the poo in better. We also have tried different covers, and knitted soakers were what we used mostly when our little one was new. (Grandma enjoys knitting, and we gave her projects). We liked the knitted soakers because they were easy to modify by rolling down (you know to make sure the cord is left uncovered.
When my sisters were babies in the ’60s, Mom just used the twist-fold method for her prefolds. It’s quick and simple. Plus, you don’t have to fold the diapers, you can just pull one out of the clean laundry basket. “Quick and simple” is important when you have two kids in diapers and work nights! (Mom’s a nurse.)
Wow- some of those folds are new to me!
I do like the “kite fold” too: http://www.diaperpin.com/clothdiapers/article_artofdiapering.asp
Have fun!
Michele
I’ve used all the above folds. The twist fold in my opinion lets the covers get soiled a bit more than the angel fold. I’ve also just folded in third and layed in a bummis cover, but when there is runny poo, that isn’t fun cause it get’s on the cover. The angel fold is by far my favorite for containing poo and keeping covers clean.
The oragami fold is for flats. You can practice it with flannel recieving blankets. If you get a ton of flannel for cheap or at the goodwill or something, they can make excellent diapers. The oragami fold is not hard once you learn it and basically you are making a triangle an then an absorbant layer in the middle for pee. Works like the angel fold for prefolds when all is said and done.
Get a little bear with legs and start practicing now. You’ll feel more confident when babe gets here. Hugs.
The “jellyroll” fold is my FAVORITE! We use only prefolds and that’s the fold I mostly use. Google it for pictorial directions.