Questions on Prefolds

Ok, so I have 3 months to go, and am researching away. I have bought some pocket nappies and posted questions in that forum, but have some q's about prefolds. I have tried searching this forum, but can't see anything obvious without trawling through pages of discussion on other nappies.

so.....

• looking at a few websites, prefolds seem to come is different sizes. Are there OSFA available?
• am I better off buying from the US given the current exchange rate? - They sell for less than US$2, but I have to obviously factor in postage
• how many would I need? Only planning on having 1 baby, so don't want to overstock, but also don't want to have to wash EVERY day

I like the idea of prefolds, and it has been mentioned you can also use them in pockets, so I'm doubly impressed. Any suggestions on brands or places to buy would also be greatly appreciated.

Hi Treegal- sorry I haven't used prefolds so can't help much, although I do have friends who love them & use them exclusively. I've watched my friends use them & they seem really easy to put on & my friends are happy with containment/ absorbancy. Another big bonus is definitely the quick drying time.

I think they say to factor in about 24 nappies for fulltime use so that you wash every second day.....obviously buy more if you want to wash less often.

You will definitely be able to use the prefolds as boosters & also what I find with my flats is that they come in handy for spew cloths/ nappy free time/ nappy change time.

Cheers.

Hi Treegal

Can you sew at all? It may be that you find that you can buy fabric and make them very cheaply yourself. It also means that you could make them from bamboo which is far more absorbent than cotton if you wanted to use them as boosters in pockets later on as cotton isn't that absorbent once they start doing bigger wees.

The one place where you will find lots of info if you do a search for prefolds is nappycino (just google it) there are some recent threads about prefolds and how many and what type. There is also a thread that shows you how to make them if you are interested. (I just had a look on nc and probably the best thread for you would be one called "prefolds for newborns" - it is about 10 down on the search results if you search "prefold"

Good luck

Thanks for the info everyone - off to look at the nappycino site. I can sew, though my sewing is very limited and wouldn't extend to nappies!!

If you can sew in a straight line, in curves and with zig-zag, than you can make a nappy.

:)

Also best to give it all a go now, before you have Bean here! Good luck!

I say give it a try then - I think that the boys from year 7 home economics class could probably sew a prefold (although none of them would ever admit it LOL!)

prefolds are very easy to make...just get some towelling from spotlight and make sure that the centre part of the prefold has a hidden layer. make them about 30cm x 38cm. oh best thing, you can use them later to stuff your pocket nappies.
I used about 10 preolfds in rotations but also had alot of fitteds...Baby beehinds are great because they are a one size fits all so they arent wasted and used right through until toilet training. Vyolett is almost 2 and is still in the same baby beehinds nappies from birth.

I failed home economics..pmsl and look at me, I sew all the time now.