Types of Cloth Diapers

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Are you a little confused?  What is the difference between a liner and an insert?  What cover works best with what diaper?  Find your answers here:

Diapers

Closures

Liners

Covers

Diapers

Prefold

A pre-fold is a piece of absorbent fabric that has been pre-folded and sewn with a bulk in the middle.  You have to do some folding and tucking when you use a pre-fold.  You also have to use some type of closure be it pins, a cover, or snappie.  People like the pre-fold for the price.  A pre-fold can be a little bulky, though it doesn’t bother most.

Contoured Prefold

This is a prefold that has been contoured by cutting and sewing.   This will eliminate the folding.   This does take away the bulk of a prefold, but it also takes away some of the absorbency.  You will probably want to use some sort of a booster for these.

Fitted

A fitted is a diaper that has been cut and sewn into a diaper shape.  There is no folding involved like there is with the prefold.  They usually have elastic to help make a better fit.  They usually close using a snap or velcro.  They need some sort of cover too.  These are the most breathable of the diapers and your baby will have less chance of diaper rashes if you use a fitted, especially if you use a fitted with a wool cover.

All-in-ones (AIO’s)

These are like the fitteds except there is a layer of PUL (polyurethane laminate) that is waterproof.  This makes it so the diaper doesn’t need a cover.  Some people love these, because there is less to deal with.  On the other hand they aren’t breathable and if your baby gets rashes this can cause them or make them worse.  They also take a long time to dry because the absorbent layer is sewn in.

Pockets

These are like the AIO’s except the absorbent layer isn’t sewn into the diaper.  You stuff the pocket with an insert for absorbency.  These are nice for drying purposes.  With the insert separate they dry faster.  They have a PUL layer and don’t need a cover.  These are great for on the run diapers.  If you send your little one to a daycare these are great for others watching them, for the ease.  A lot of people use Pockets because you can stuff more inserts into them to “bulk up” the diaper.  This adds more absorbency to the diaper.  These are said to be breathable, but I have tried to “breathe” though PUL, and I can’t.  I found that with my kiddos they tended to get rashes more often if we had pocket diapers on them.  I strongly suggest if you use pockets during the day to use a fitted or a prefold for nights.  This will give the baby’s bum some time to breath.

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Tie-Nappies

This is a diaper that ties on your baby.  They can be made out of a variety of fabrics from old t-shirts to hemp and bamboo.  Usually you want a lay-in insert for more absorption.  They are not to diffucult to tie on. You can even tie them in the back if you have a child that you think will untie them, or won’t lay still for a diaper change.  This diaper needs a cover.  It is great for affordability though.

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Closures

This is just a personal preference.

Pins: I hate pins.  I was always sticking myself and worried about sticking the baby, but they do let you customize the fit of the diaper.  And they are a cheap alternative! You will only have to use these on the pre-folds and some fitteds.

Snaps: I love snaps!  I bought an industrial snap press when I started making my diapers and I still stick with it.  The snaps don’t leave red marks on the baby, and they hold up really well.  I have diapers I made 6 years ago that the snaps are still 100%!  I love the front snapping diapers too.  I started with side snapping, but after some trial and error, found the front snapping gave a better fit for a longer spread of sizes.  Our diapers fit from 7-35 lbs.

Velcro: When you use velcro on diapers you don’t want it to be velcro, you want it to be aplix or touch tape.  The aplix holds up better.  You want to make sure that it has a washing flap.  This is so you can attach the aplix to something while washing or you end up with a bunch of diapers all stuck together making your aplix wear out sooner.  I personally don’t like this, I found it to difficult to work with.  Plus the kids can take off the diapers easier as they get older.  I haven’t ever used these, but lots of people love them.  You use these with a pre-fold or a fitted that doesn’t have snaps or aplix.

Snappi: this is a glorified rubberband with teeth, that is t-shapped and folds under and around the diaper to hold it all on.  These are used on Prefolds and some fitteds.

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Liners

There are some reusable diapers that use liners that are flushable, but I personally think that if you are using reusable diapers you are doing it for one of two reasons.

• you want to save money (and purchasing liners over and over isn’t doing that)
• you want to be environmentally friendly (I don’t think that flushable diaper liners is the best way to do that, wouldn’t reusable ones make more sense?)

So I think if you want a liner it should be cloth.  Liners have a few purposes.  In some diapers they are just a liner that makes diaper clean up easier.  For others they are used for absorbency purposes.  You can also use them when you have a rash you are dealing with and don’t want to get the cream on the diaper. (creams usually aren’t good for cloth diapers)

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Boosters or Inserts

A booster or an insert is a layer of extra absorption you can add to your diaper.   This will either stuff into a pocket or simply lay or snap inside the diaper.  Our inserts are lay-in inserts.  With this design you have the option of folding the insert in many different ways to get the optimal absorption that your little one needs, where they need it.

You can visit our tutorial on various cloth diaper insert folds.
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Covers

I have lots to say about covers, but I will be short and sweet.  There are four different covers I know of:

Plastic pants: These are cheap, but they aren’t breathable, and my kids always had issues with the elastic on their legs. -throw these away!

PUL covers: These can come with snaps or aplix this is just a personal pref. These are the most common cover out there.  BUT they again aren’t very breathable.

Fleece covers: These are easy to make and easy to find.  Some people like these because they are breathable.  On the down side though you have to wash them every couple diaper changes.

Wool covers: These I love.  Wool is breathable and soft and warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

There are different styles of wool covers:

• Wraps that snap or aplix.
• Soakers that are like bloomers that pull on.
• Longies that are like pants.
• Then you can have fun and make Shorites or Capris, and if you are having a little girl you can have a little Skirtie that you put over either a soaker or a longie.

For woolies you only have to wash them about once a month, unless they get poo on them.  Then you should lanolize them for maximum usage.  This isn’t a hard or long process, for more information visit our wool page.
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